I try not to use this site to promote particular products or services, but occasionally something that is likely to be of genuine interest to readers comes up – hence my previous posting on the Canadian launch of the iPad.
In a similar vein, the development of the Kuali consortium and its goal of developing open source solutions to replace commercial products in the administrative areas of higher education is an important and interesting development. I therefore pass on information I received from Moderas, a Kuali Coeus Commercial Affiliate dedicated to the Kuali Coeus® product for research administration:
As part of our ongoing effort to provide value and help our customers and peers we’re happy to announce that Moderas will be hosting a conference July 25-27th 2010 in Saratoga Springs New York catering to those who are planning to implement Kuali Coeus, and those who would like to learn more about what it has to offer their institution.
In case you haven’t heard, Kuali Coeus is an open source research administration application available from the Kuali Foundation (www.kuali.org). Kuali is just coming off their recent success with the Kuali Financial System designed to replace financial applications like PeopleSoft® and Oracle® in institutions large and small. Kuali Coeus is their ground breaking, free application, capable of supporting the pre and post award functionality of your office of sponsored research.
We hope you can join us for in depth sessions on Kuali Coeus provided by staff from Indiana University, the University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins, and more. Come take advantage of a great opportunity to network with your colleagues during track season in beautiful Saratoga Springs New York and learn more about an exciting new product developed by researchers for researchers. Below is a list of the sessions currently on the agenda.
* Plenary on open source software in higher education
* Overview of the Kuali Coeus effort
* Preparing for an eRA implementation
* Tips for managing your eRA implementation
* Integrating funding opportunities with Kuali Coeus
* Institute Proposal / Proposal Log
* Proposal Development
* Budget Development
* Proposal and Budget work flow
* Pre-award Q&A
* Technical overview of the Kuali Coeus application
* Implementers technical
* Implementers functional
* Setting up sandboxes, test, and production environments
* Data warehousing and reporting
* Support and maintenance, post implementation
* The future of Kuali Coeus
Please visit www.moderas.org/conference for more details, visit www.moderas.org/kc2010 to register, or call us at (518) 698.2446 for more information.
For more information on Kuali, go to: http://www.kuali.org/
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
Great post as always Tony !
I will definitely give Kuali Coeus a try. Having looked at their site, the setup and admin seems a bit complicated.
James
James,
You’re correct that KC installation is not for the faint of heart. The installation instructions unfortunately are not complete which in all fairness to the Kuali team is not uncommon in the open source world.
In terms of configuration that’s a common hurdle regardless of the product you consider. The use of a vendor or “Sherpa guide” is highly recommended for this and the other complexities of implementing an eRA solution.
If you’re looking for a KC 2.0 demonstration site we’ve set one up here http://dedicated2.moderasdev.com:9090/kc-ptd that you can test drive.
We’re available to answer any questions you may have about KC, just drop us a line at info@moderas.org.