Project for Approval 2014
PROJECT:
One year trial of UNIWeb software at [YOUR ORGANIZATION].
SUBMITTED BY:
[YOUR NAME, FACULTY/SCHOOL/DEPARTMENT]
SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL:
[DATE SUBMITTED]
OVERVIEW – UNIWeb
UNIWeb is a bilingual software application that has been developed and customized for the
research market. The application allows researchers to reuse their existing CV data in the
production of specialized CV formats – including the Canadian Common CV. UNIWeb’s
interoperability with the Canadian Common CV (CCV) allows researchers to create and maintain
an up-to-date CCV quickly and easily, with its powerful import and export options to the CCV
directly from UNIWeb. As the CCV format becomes increasingly mandatory when applying to
federal and provincial granting agencies, a user-friendly alternative becomes an invaluable tool
when taking time and cost savings into account. In addition, UNIWeb would simplify the
organizational management of academic CV’s through the development of an internal database
of experts derived directly from CCV data. UNIWeb would also provide academic administrators
with the ability to produce faculty-related documents with greater accuracy and efficiency, as
they would have the ability to access detailed faculty information from a centralized source.
UNIWeb functions to address some of the issues that are prevalent in research and academic
administration, while simultaneously strengthening the research connectedness within user
organizations. UNIWeb’s proactive research network facilitates the discovery of
interdisciplinary opportunities, as it will allow our researchers to visualize the research
connections within our institution.
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Project for Approval 2014
ISSUES
Some of the issues with which we are faced include:
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Administrative duplication. Researchers are required to enter the same CV information
multiple times for their Faculty/department and for external funding agencies, thus
reducing valuable time spent on research.
The problematic interface and the arduous nature of the Canadian Common CV (CCV)
creates unnecessary frustration for researchers and graduate students.
Constant updating of research information on the University website is time consuming
for academic personnel.
Tracking the productivity of research clusters is very challenging and thus time
consuming for administrators.
Professors and graduate students find it difficult to be aware of the research work of
colleagues within the University as there is no central source that provides this
information.
Prospective graduate students can easily miss out on key research groups within the
University due to insufficient web visibility.
There is no platform that provides external interest groups with a comprehensive view
of past and present research developments in a functional and efficient manner.
PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
UNIWeb offers a comprehensive suite of value-add solutions:
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Complete and update CV information in one location by easily importing and exporting
the information to various locations and in different templates with just one click.
Solve the interface drawbacks of the CCV as UNIWeb allows researchers to import and
export directly to or from the CCV.
Provide accessible, real-time information on research being done within a Faculty or the
entire University, increasing our international research presence.
Discover hidden research connections and foster interdisciplinary collaborations among
our researchers.
Collect faculty members’ information and research areas from a central source.
Develop an innovative researcher database that effectively recruits and places graduate
students.
Capture and maintain updated research metrics with powerful analytics that present
administrators with essential information regarding our research communities.
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Project for Approval 2014
BENEFITS
RESEARCHERS
ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY/FACULTY/SCHOOL
Less administration time
equals more research time
Manage researchers’ CV’s in
an efficient manner
Advance international research
presence and attract top talent
Greater opportunity for
interdisciplinary
collaboration
Make more informed
decisions with relation to
strategic hiring
Strengthen our position as an
international center of research
excellence
Manage publications
repertoire
and generate numerous CV
styles
in one location
Reduce time spent on
preparing annual reports,
merit reviews and other
personnel related documents
Empower researchers by
providing the means to share
their achievements among local
and global research communities
Eliminate time spent
updating CCV
Evaluate our institution’s
research performance
Ensure sustainability in an everevolving academic and research
environment by uniting our
research community
Obtain more research
funding through the
enhanced collaborations
Produce and maintain up-todate web profiles for faculty
members with minimal effort
Position our institution as a first
adopter of technological
innovation as it pertains to
nurturing academic and research
success
CURRENT ESTIMATED COSTS
The following table illustrates the combined estimated annual costs incurred through the
retrieval and consultation of academic CV’s in the Academic Personnel Office, and the cost
savings accumulated by researchers in the creation and maintenance of their Canadian
Common CV (CCV) using UNIWeb.
Academic Personnel Office
According to the Academic Personnel Office, each CV requires a significant amount of
manpower to locate the CV, engage in follow-up correspondence with the department or
Faculty when the CV is not up-to-date, printing and refiling the CV. With the implementation of
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Project for Approval 2014
UNIWeb, these costs will be eliminated as academic CV’s will be located in a centralized source
and will remain up-to-date at all times.
Canadian Common CV (CCV)
The CCV requires users to input an exhaustive description of their academic and research
backgrounds; however the current CCV interface is difficult to navigate and is extremely timeconsuming. UNIWeb streamlines the updating of the CCV, as it eliminates its interface
drawbacks by allowing researchers to import and export to the CCV directly from UNIWeb.
Academic
Personnel Office
Canadian
Common CV
# of CV’s/annum
Time spent/CV
Pay Rate
Total
Cost/annum
-----
-----
-----
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# of academics
Time savings/
academic
Pay Rate
Total Cost
Savings/annum
-----
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-----
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Total Cost
Savings/annum
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The above figure illustrates that the direct retrieval of updated CVs by the Academic Personnel
Office using UNIWeb, and the cost/time savings generated through UNIWeb in the creation and
maintenance of researcher’s Canadian Common CV (CCV) will save a considerable amount of
organizational resources. Furthermore, the above cost savings figure does not reflect the direct
time savings that would accumulate from other internal academic entities, such as
administrative personnel, Deans, Chairs and Directors. Taking those combined savings into
consideration, the savings would greatly exceed the above projected savings.
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Project for Approval 2014
Competition Comparison
There are a number of alternative organizations that specialize in research information
management; however their product/service offerings and/or existing business models do not
fully coincide with our requirements and as such, would fail to provide the benefits that we
would receive with the implementation of UNIWeb into our existing system.
Important Features of UNIWeb that are not offered by their competitors:
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Low installation cost
No long-term commitment
Compatibility with the Canadian Common CV (CCV)
Non-discriminate user availability (grad students/Faculty members)
It should also be noted that research-based social networking and collaboration sites do not
offer many of the features provided by UNIWeb. Although UNIWeb does deliver similar
technology vis-à-vis research sharing and collaboration acceleration, these facets of UNIWeb
focus on internal research sharing and collaboration. This emphasis on internal research
connectedness will have the effect of increasing our research outputs and attracting more
research funding. As such, the following social networking and collaboration sites should be
seen as complimentary to UNIWeb – not as alternative solutions.
Use generated CV to apply for funding
Official and up-to-date information
regarding people/positions in a
university
Compute metrics for university
administrators from validated data
Identify potential collaborators within
own university
Have research group profile
Label publications
Add pictures to/for publications
Manage students
Announce to selected groups within the
university
UNIWeb
Research
Gate
Academia.edu
Mendeley
Google
Scholar
ORCID
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
YES
Very limited
Very limited
Very limited
Very limited
Very
limited
YES
YES
YES
YES
NO
Limited
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
Limited
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
Search publications across the world
NO
Add abstract and link it to publications
Public web profiles
Private CV
Hierarchical taxonomy of research areas
Matching researchers automatically
Bilingual website
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
Only among
submitted
Only among
submitted
Only among
submitted
YES
Only
among
submitted
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
Limited
Limited
Limited
Limited
Limited
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Project for Approval 2014
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Proximify is a Canadian web-services company based in Ottawa. It was founded in 2011 by
computer science researchers with backgrounds in pattern-matching, artificial intelligence, web
crawling and network security. They endeavored to make software that enabled organizations
to benefit from all of their knowledge and expertise, through the maximization of connections
and collaborations between researchers, and the streamlined management of organizational
talent. As such, they developed UNIWeb. Several Canadian Universities and Faculties are
currently utilizing the software, including the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto and
McGill. Proximify looks forward to implementing UNIWeb within other Canadian institutions
and to be a part of the evolution in Canadian research.
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