A point of clarification to the email regarding centralization of post award invoicing sent on December 16th.
The SOM Finance Business Office Finance & Research Support Team (FiRST) will create and submit invoices, receive and reconcile payments, provide reports to study teams, and manage financial closeout for the SOM only. The OVCR Finance Service Center will create and submit invoices, receive and reconcile payments, provide reports to study teams, and manage financial closeout for those conducted outside of the SOM.
Original Email Below:
Colleagues –
By now many of you have heard of the project to implement OnCore, an enterprise-class clinical research management system. Once implemented, OnCore will help the University better manage clinical research by increasing efficiency and compliance, as well as providing for better reporting and analytics of Carolina’s clinical research portfolio. The implementation of this system will occur in phases, with the first few departments (dermatology, radiology, pulmonology, benign hematology, and psychiatry) going live in the coming weeks. Other departments are in the planning stages of this transition. The OnCore project team will be in touch with departments to plan their transition soon. You can read more about the project at https://research.unc.edu/systems/oncore.
OnCore provides us with the opportunity to re-evaluate how we manage clinical research. Historically, Carolina has operated decentrally, borne out of necessity because of the lack of an enterprise-class platform. With the implementation of OnCore, however, we have the opportunity to retool. One area identified for change is post-award financial management of clinical studies, specifically billing and collections.
Given the challenges that have been experienced historically in this area, the School of Medicine (SOM) Dean’s Office and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) have considered this issue and decided to centralize post-award invoicing and reconciliation of payments through the SOM Finance Business Office (FBO). With this new centralized model, study teams will record invoiceable items in OnCore, and members of the FBO Finance & Research Support Team (FiRST) will create and submit invoices, receive and reconcile payments, provide reports to study teams, and manage financial closeout. This new model will provide greater transparency and reduce financial management burden for study teams.
The SOM Financial Business Office (FBO) will lead the efforts to centralize financial management for the SOM, and the OVCR will do so in partnership with the other Schools and the College of Arts & Sciences. The purpose of this change is to improve efficiency, compliance and performance of our clinical research enterprise while ensuring a high-level of service to our faculty researchers and sponsor partners. You can read more about the planned change below.
As the OnCore project team works with units to plan the transition to OnCore, SOM FBO and/or the OVCR will also be in contact to discuss the changes for clinical trial management. If you have any additional questions, you can feel free to contact us.
Thanks,
Andy Johns
Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
Patricia Oliver
Associate Dean, School of Medicine
Interim, Adams School of Dentistry Finance and Business