Research Costing Tool Project

The research costing tool project aims to improve the University’s ability to accurately cost research activity and will allow staff to model costs throughout the lifecycle of a research project. A product called BlackDackel, a web-based tool will be implemented at The University of Manchester.

Project update

Roles & privileges (ie user access) have been assigned in BlackDackel and is currently going through rigorous testing. Research Operations Managers have been consulted regarding certain access in the system and updated workflows have been requested to the developers.

Integration with Pure is still ongoing and end to end processes have been mapped to ensure all data moving from one system to another has been captured and replicated. Facilities have been ingested in to the system and testing will commence shortly.

Forthcoming developments

• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) has begun its development stage. Schedule planning is being put together along with test cases from Research Services.
• Business readiness activities and support models are in development. These will create user support systems, such as helpdesks and escalation processes, should any questions or issues arise when the product is launched and post-launch.

Launch

Due to the acceptance of the Request for Change in August, the Research Lifecycle Programme Board has agreed to delay the launch of BlackDackel. This delay will allow the enhanced integration to be completed as well as provide an extended testing period. The new launch date is planned for January 2021. 

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