The University of Nevada, Reno is implementing a new electronic processing system for grant-proposal submissions called InfoEd, which will streamline the workflow for faculty grant submissions.

InfoEd is a web-based software suite that provides a complete grants management solution for the University. The software includes a search engine for locating grant opportunities and a proposal development module to prepare and track proposal submissions. The University’s Office of Sponsored Projects began to train faculty and staff in December 2013 starting with the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources. Training will continue throughout April 2014.

“It will be a one-stop shop,” Charlene Hart, director of the Office of Sponsored Projects, said. “InfoEd will keep more faculty and administrators informed on the proposal process from start to finish.”

InfoEd allows proposals to be uploaded or created directly in the software system which can then be approved electronically. This is especially beneficial to faculty in rural areas.

“It is great that you can complete the whole process on the web-based program,” Kim Higgins, program officer in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, said. “You no longer have to walk around from department to department getting signatures.”

The software will also provide faculty with a way to search for grant funding opportunities within the system.

“The funding resources are available currently,” Higgins said. “But with InfoEd, people will not have to search on various websites for grants. It is all in one place and more streamlined.”

The software gives University administrators the ability to easily run reports about the number of grants submitted and who is submitting proposals.

“This is a huge change for the University in such a positive way,” Erika Waday, information and training specialist in the Office of Sponsored of Sponsored Projects, said.

Waday has been at the forefront of training University faculty and administrators in the InfoEd software. She trained faculty from the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts in February. She said the reaction to the software has been very positive as more of the people in the colleges are trained in the software.

“It continues to be a beneficial aspect for campus,” Waday said. “Now that more people have been trained, we are starting to get more action in the system.”

Professor Marie-Louise Ricketts, assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition and Veterinary Sciences, was the first professor to complete a proposal through the new software. Rickets completed the proposal with Higgins after attending a training session by Waday.

“It was really pretty straight forward,” Ricketts said. “I did run into a problem because my proposal was a resubmission rather than a new proposal. But we called Erika and she was able to help us right away. I think it will be a good addition for the University.”

The Office of Sponsored Projects has trained more than 270 people in InfoEd. The Reynolds School of Journalism is the next college scheduled to receive training. For more information about InfoEd, go to http://infoedglobal.com/.