Research and Innovation Management System

The Research and Innovation Management System (RIMS) is a comprehensive workflow web-based interactive system that will allow us to collect, validate, manage, and report on research and innovation activities of the SAMRC. Through the development of this system, the organisation is moving towards digital processes for research administration which will integrate with internal and external systems to simplify data import and thus reduce the administrative burden.

RIMS aims to support the five SAMRC strategic pillars for 2020/21 and 2024/25

• Administer health research effectively and efficiently.
• Lead the generation of new knowledge.
• Support, through funding and other mechanisms, technology development and implementation, translation of research into policy and practice, and innovations in health and technology delivery to improve health.
• Build human capacity for the long-term sustainability of the South African health research.
• Translate new knowledge into policies and practices to improve health.

RIMS will enable the following:

• a holistic view of all SAMRC research activities.
• strategic decision making, monitoring and evaluation through data analytics and reporting.
• support for research project risk mitigation from project initiation to closure.
• improved support for project proposal development, scientific review and ethics management.
• tracking of research funding activities across different research units.
• a long-term plan to create and manage CV’s and cv activities in support of grant applications.

RIMS system functionality offers:

• a streamlined workflow process that represents the various steps of each process.
• automated email notifications at various steps of the process to relevant stakeholders.
• visibility and transparency of applications and forms in all stages.
• a ‘one stop shop’ for all activities within the research project’s lifecycle.
• tracking of time taken between various steps of each process to enable process improvements.

The research lifecycle and stakeholder mapping