Program Activities

The January 2027 Launch: Kicking Off Implementation

Following a preparatory Program Initiation phase starting in October 2026, the official eRA Program implementation begins Monday, January 11, 2027 (Program Week 1). This launches a three-and-a-half-year partnership between Notre Dame and Novelution Corp., extending through final program closeout in July 2030.

Starting in January 2027, the University community will see active implementation work across several key areas.

Pre-Implementation & Progressive Discovery

Before software configuration begins for each module, Notre Dame subject matter experts and Novelution teams engage in collaborative discovery sessions. These sessions review institutional policies and business rules, establish baseline requirements, and design tailored workflows, forms, and approval routing.

Agile Sprint Build & Solution Development

System development proceeds in two-week agile sprints. Novelution configures standard platform features while building 77 custom enhancements requested during initial alignment—such as enhanced role-based salary privacy, automated routing rules, and specialized reporting metrics.

Hands-On SME Acceptance Testing

To ensure the system works smoothly for Notre Dame, NDR research administrators, research integrity committee members, and research faculty and staff participate in iterative user acceptance testing (UAT) following development sprints, validating features in real-world scenarios.

Organizational Change Management & Community Outreach

Implementation is supported by a comprehensive change management strategy. Starting in January 2027, outreach activities include:

• The Change Network: Unit representatives across central offices and academic departments acting as local contacts to share updates, collect feedback, and support local adoption.
• Informational Sessions & Roadshows: Town halls, Research Academy presentations, and departmental briefings to keep everyone informed.
• Readiness Assessments: Periodic surveys and reviews to gauge community preparedness and address questions early.

Phased Rollout Schedule (2028–2030)

Rather than launching everything at once, the eRA Program uses a phased approach across seven specialized modules and a financial forecasting prototype. Modules progress in coordinated, overlapping workstreams to ensure high quality and thorough testing before going live.

Module/Capabilities	Focus Area	Tentative Go-Live Date
Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)	Biosafety protocol submissions, risk assessments, and committee reviews	January 24, 2028
Sponsored Projects (including Subawards)	Proposal development, budget setup, routing, award setup, subaward management, and burn-rate tracking	August 7, 2028
Financial Forecasting Prototype	Prototype for multi-year projections, scenario modeling, and portfolio views	October 29, 2028
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)	Animal research protocols, veterinary reviews, training verification, and compliance reporting	February 12, 2029
Non-Financial Agreements	NDAs, Data Use Agreements (DUAs), Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), and teaming agreements	June 4, 2029
Research Security	Restricted-party screening, Technology Control Plans (TCPs), regulated data handling, and visiting scholar intake	November 26, 2029
Institutional Review Board (IRB)	Human subjects research protocol submissions, committee reviews, and reliance management	March 4, 2030
Effort and Payroll Reporting	Payroll confirmation, faculty certification workflows, and audit reporting	April 29, 2030
Program Closeout	Final transition to steady-state operations and system closeout	July 7, 2030

eRA Program Timeline