Navigating Research Administration in Oracle Cloud: What Institutions Should Plan For

When institutions move to Oracle Cloud, most of the focus is placed on core finance, procurement, and HR functionality. However, grants management and research administration present a unique set of challenges that deserve more attention than they often receive.

While sponsored research may not be the largest part of an academic medical center or university’s overall budget, it is one of the high risk areas when it comes to compliance. Managing federal funding requires precision and strong internal controls. This can be difficult to achieve when system functionality doesn't fully align with the complexity of research administration.

Based on my work supporting multiple Oracle Cloud implementations, I’ve outlined several key challenge areas to look out for. The goal is to help institutions plan ahead and ask the right questions when working with their software provider and implementation partner. With the right planning, solutioning, and execution, Oracle’s product suite can create a strong foundation for modernizing your ERP and research operations.

Key challenge areas for grants in Oracle Cloud

Some of these areas are partially supported by delivered functionality, while others require creative workarounds or external tools.

• Salary cap adjustments for NIH and other sponsors

• Recharge service centers and research cores

• Internal project billing models

• Cost transfers (e.g., compliance controls, complex approvals, non-project to project transfers, etc.)

• Effort reporting and labor distribution (i.e., payroll cost allocations to projects)

• Internal projects and endowment fund tracking

• Grant interest earned calculations and tracking

• Cash-based drawdowns for federal LOC awards

• Subrecipient monitoring

• Clinical trial billing

• Pre-award system integrations

• Compliance monitoring (e.g., IRB/IACUC authorizations, budget change approvals, etc.)

• Complex F&A/indirect cost arrangements

• Cost share commitments and tracking

• Payroll encumbrance reservation and reporting

• Grant-specific award and project closeout procedures and controls

• Projects with multiple funding sources and related billing requirements

• Participant payments

Recommendations for institutions

It’s important to understand that Oracle Cloud is designed to meet a broad set of needs across industries. Many of the research-specific challenges are not unique to one institution. Planning ahead and selecting the right team can help reduce risk and avoid surprises. Here’s what I recommend before and during your implementation to ensure success.

During software selection

• Talk to Oracle about how other research institutions are using the system and what functionality is in the product roadmap.

• Be specific about your institution’s unique needs.

• Ask how certain research processes are being handled in production today at similar institutions.

When choosing an implementation partner

• Make sure your implementation team includes experts who have worked in research administration and understand the policy, compliance, and operational requirements.

• Ask for examples of prior work with grant-funded institutions, particularly those that receive NIH or federal awards.

• Don't assume that all higher education or project accounting experience includes research. This is a distinct area with its own needs.

During implementation

• Don’t treat research administration as an afterthought. Build in time for focused discussions on grants-specific business processes early in design.

• Ensure your functional leads understand sponsor rules, compliance requirements, and how institutional policies should inform the system configuration across all modules. The grants and projects modules touch nearly every other module (procurement, billing, assets, payroll, general ledger, etc.) so it’s important that your grants team is coordinating closely with other functional teams from the start of planning through execution.

• Involve stakeholders outside the core project team from research administration, post-award, departmental, and compliance teams throughout design, testing, and validation cycles.

• Use testing cycles to validate not just system functionality, but also reporting needs, compliance processes, and downstream impacts (e.g., sponsor billing, drawdowns).

• Document decisions and workarounds clearly, especially where the system does not fully support a requirement out of the box. This helps with training, policy development and future release cycles.

How I can help

I’ve worked directly with institutions and with Oracle to help identify areas where the system needs unique solutioning for research administration and grant management. If you’re just starting an implementation or trying to improve what you already have in place, I can support you through program management, health checks, process improvement, and system planning. I also work with institutions in the software selection phase to help strategize and identify areas of risk.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like to talk more.