Secretariat of Research Committee Aristotle University of Thessaloniki IT Department

1. Project Management and Monitoring System Secretariat of Research Committee Aristotle University of Thessaloniki IT Department

2. resCom • is Research Committee΄s integrated information system, created in-house, • and has proved to be a valuable tool for its operation

3. resCom • Has been operating for more than thirteen years and constantly evolving • Has been very successful in managing funds coming from the Cohesion Fund Projects • Is designed to cover all the requirements of a Special Account for Research Grants • Was created by the IT stuff of the Secretariat of the Research Committee of AUTH

4. resCom • Has been built with the use of advanced technologies • Visual Basic.ΝΕΤ is the programming language that has been used to implement the application • MS SQL Server 2005 is the Database Management System where it is based on

5. resCom • is used as • project management tool • means of communication between customers, traders and Research Committee • means of information for the research activity • data processing tool for the formation of the Committee΄s research policy • content for knowledge transfer to other agencies

6. resCom Philosophy • 1. Integrated application • Implementation and monitoring of the whole project life cycle: proposal – approval of project – deliverable production • Its functions can be extended to cover the additional management needs

7. resCom Philosophy • 2. Independence from third parties • It is developed by those who use it (in – house development) • It is continuously upgraded and adapted to the needs of management and operation of the Research Committee • There's accumulated expertise in user support

8. resCom Philosophy • 3. Alignment • operations - workflows - management rules • The software guides the user to act in accordance with the requirements of each process

9. resCom Philosophy • 4. Error prevention • Management rules enforcement • Preliminary integrity checks

10. resCom Philosophy • 5. Automated operating • resCom is designed to require minimal user intervention in the implementation of standard functions (e.g. production of accounting articles)

11. resCom Philosophy • 6. Interconnectivity : • Communication and data transfer to third parties software systems (Ministry of Economics, Banks, Social Security, Tax Authority)

12. resCom Philosophy • 7. Remote monitoring by the project scientific supervisors and their assistants via internet • Web resCom

13. resCom Philosophy • 8. Organizational capacity for production and support • The IT Department is an organizational unit of Research Committee Secretariat with 13 permanent scientists and technicians • Its subunits are: • Software Development Unit • Hardware Supply and Support Unit • User Support Unit

14. Spread and profits • Five years ago, A.U.Th. Research Committee started selling resCom to other Academic and Research Institutions • It can be easily installed and adapted to any organization that runs research programs • At the time being, 12 Institutions not including Aristotle University use resCom as their project management software • This is very good publicity for the University on one hand, and an extra money source on the other

15. resCom Functions Project Administrative Operations Management Project Financial Operations Management Accounting Operations Management Monitoring of research project’s work Communication via internet- web resCom Business reports - printouts Data security, work flows, good organizing of information

16. A screenshot of the application

17. Thank you for your attention