Planning for the Future
eResearch, the university's platform for research administration, will need to be replaced because the current vendor is discontinuing support for its software products. The systems impacted by this change include:
Preparing for the transition
In preparation for this transition, a cross-disciplinary team has been developing a strategy to move the university's research administration services to new solutions with minimal disruption, while ensuring continuous support.
Team members are comprised of:
- Office of the Vice President for Research
- Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
- Information and Technology Services
- Governance committees
- Steering committee
- Campus research administration and working group members
Project Status
Discovery and Planning Phases
The Discovery and Planning phases came to a close at the end of fall term 2025. During these phases, the university gathered information about business requirements, potential market solutions, and conducted an initial fit-gap analysis (process for identifying the difference between known requirements and proposed solutions) in order to make a strategic recommendation to migrate all four product lines by the deadline.
Peer Benchmarking Key Findings
Peer institutions had positive experiences with both small and large vendors. Interviewed peers recommended:
- Phased deployments, starting with core modules
- Encouraged a tight focus on “must-haves” for initial launches
- Dedicated project teams and backfill planning to minimize disruption to day to day activities
- Early and ongoing stakeholder engagement, as well as empowered decision-making contributed to smoother changes and end-user adoption
Request for Information Key Findings
The purpose of the RFI was to explore what’s currently available in the research administration software market, and inform our Request For Proposal (RFP) process by helping articulate our requirements and inform our evaluation criteria.
- The ability to configure forms, workflows, notifications, etc., and the ability to manage workloads by groups and by roles were key drivers for higher scores in the impression surveys.
- Outdated user interfaces were a key driver for lower scores from initial product demo impression surveys.
Feedback from vendors, the campus survey, and RFI participants helped shape our RFP requirements and selection criteria.
Request for Proposal Phase
Winter term 2026 marks the beginning of the Request for Proposal phase and will include evaluating vendors, selecting partners and beginning contract negotiations. Opportunities for critical input from the university community will continue during this phase.
Planning Project Steering Committee
The eResearch Replacement Planning Steering Committee is responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight to guide the transition from U-M’s current research administration software system to a new, sustainable platform. This group ensures that the project aligns with university goals, meets compliance standards, and addresses operational needs, while engaging staff and end users for input and feedback throughout the process.
The committee reviews project progress, makes key decisions, and prioritizes activities to support a smooth, successful change.
To contact the steering committee, please email [email protected].
Suggestions and Questions
The project team appreciates all the insightful survey feedback shared about current eResearch systems, ideas for improvements, and concerns regarding the eventual replacement. Survey results can be found by clicking "Survey Findings" in the left navigation.
If you have additional ideas or concerns, submit feedback via this form, or email the project team directly at [email protected].