NIAID's Real Time Work Planning System
Executive Summary
The NIH reviews ~32,000 applications every year. At NIAID, there are ~45 review meetings every 3 or 4 month cycle. Support staff assist the Scientific Review Officers throughout the review process. Their role is critical in maintaining a confidential, unbiased review.
The problem is that the workload is very difficult to manage due to the complexity of the process, inflexible deadlines, and the large number of support staff with multiple assignments. Further, the Team Leads do not have a unified system to efficiently monitor and report the work/ task completion.
The Innovation: This team has developed a Microsoft Access-based electronic planning system to facilitate the strategic management of complex tasks, deadlines, and staff assignments. The platform is familiar to all staff. Benefits include increased efficiency, drop-down menus, draft timelines, automatic notice of overlapping tasks, central location, accessible to all, sortable, defined reports, data capture for process analysis, and staff familiarity with the platform.
Beta testing will be conducted between October and December 2015, and the entire NIAID Scientific Review Program will pilot test the system in January 2016. If the pilot is a success, the team would like to transition the work planning tool to a web based system for speed, stability, and maintenance purposes by January 2017.
The system will help staff transition from a reactive to a proactive management style. The data will be used to improve understanding of how processes work and establish a culture of continuous improvement.
A project supported by the: HHS Ignite Accelerator
Team Members
B. Duane Price (Project Lead), NIH
Nicole Slade-Acty, NIH
Kelly Poe, NIH
Autumn Hutko, NIH
Kamesha Wallace, NIH
Milestones
June 2015: Project selected into the HHS Ignite Accelerator
July 2015: Time in the Accelerator began
September 2015: Time in the Accelerator ended
Project Sponsor
Priti Mehrotra, Immunology Review Branch Chief, Division of Extramural Activities, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH
Additional Information
Contributing Partners:
Lisa Vytlacil, NIH
