Dear AU Research Community,
It has been about a month since we kicked off the Huron Research Suite (HRS) implementation, and we are excited to share a quick update on the progress underway.
Over the past several weeks, we have formed our project teams and working groups and begun digging into the Huron Research Suite. Our teams are now working directly in a test and simulated environment, learning the product, exploring its capabilities, and beginning to understand how our current processes can translate into HRS.
Although there is not a lot to show off just yet, a great deal of foundational work is happening behind the scenes. We are taking the time to understand how the system works, identify opportunities to improve our processes, evaluate different approaches, and determine how HRS can best serve Augusta University and our research community. This early work will provide the foundation for the decisions, configurations, testing, training, and broader engagement that will come later in the implementation.
The project is on track, and we are excited about what we are learning and the possibilities ahead.
In the days ahead, we will continue our deeper exploration of the Grants & Agreements module and begin work on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) module. AU's goal is for all four modules, Grants & Agreements, IRB, Conflict of Interest (COI), and Employee Compensation Compliance (Effort Reporting), to go live together in Fall 2027.
As the project progresses, we will continue to keep the broader AU community informed and engaged. We plan to hold community and stakeholder update meetings at least quarterly. As we get closer to key decisions and implementation milestones, we will expand engagement with members of the research community to help make important decisions, test concepts and workflows, and prepare for campus-wide training and resources.
There is still a lot of work ahead, but we are off to a strong start and are excited about the opportunity to build something that will meaningfully improve the research administration experience at Augusta University.
If you have questions, comments, concerns, or ideas along the way, please don't hesitate to reach out. We are excited about this opportunity for AU and the progress made so far, and we look forward to sharing more of what we are learning and building with you in the months ahead as we continue this important work, together.
