Vidatum: one research management system for all externally funded projects
With the number of externally funded research projects at the university on the rise and funding bodies setting ever-stricter requirements, it can be challenging to keep track of budgets, deadlines and reporting. The new Vidatum tool makes managing external projects easier for researchers and research support staff. How are the first users finding it?
Robbert Bosch, Vidatum project manager
‘Vidatum is the university’s new management system for externally funded research projects. It makes it easier to keep track of budgets, deadlines and time, ensuring that all project information is clearly organised and digitally accessible. Project controllers and managers were the first to start entering projects and are already actively using Vidatum.
‘Together with the faculties, we’ve now entered most externally funded research projects into Vidatum. This will be over a thousand by the end of the year. We’re also preparing to migrate to Vidatum from the current SAP time-tracking system. The planning is that from 1 December, researchers and other staff will be able to record and approve time in Vidatum. More information will follow soon. The Vidatum links will also be migrated as we transition from SAP to the new BAS InSite basic administration system. I’m proud of how our project team is rolling out the system with all the faculties and expertise centres.’
Gert Renkema, Head of Financial and Economic Affairs / Business controller at FGGA
‘Until now, we managed all our financial project data in Excel, with each institute using its own method. I’ve long supported the idea of a university-wide system. Vidatum allows us to work not only uniformly but also more professionally. As a project leader, you get a real-time overview of your project’s financial progress. The approval process – which is now done manually – will be fully digital, making it quicker and more transparent.
'As a project leader, you get a real-time overview of your project’s financial progress.'
‘Vidatum also offers features that we don’t currently have. The system can make reports and overviews of which actions are required and when, reducing the risk of missing deadlines or tasks. We currently have good project-level reports, but for simple questions like how many active projects we have, who our funders are and how this is changing, we now have to manually compile data. Vidatum produces this information instantly – a great dataset making our work easier and more transparent.’
Nuray Turan-KOC, project administrator at the Observatory
‘I’m glad we now have a single system where all the project data and documents can be uploaded. This makes my work easier to manage and reduces the need to mail files back and forth. Another advantage is that we can enter multiple budgets under one project number, so you can immediately see the status and progress per lead researcher. There’s still room for improvement: Vidatum could be more user-friendly, for example, in how it displays projects and large numbers. I’m curious to see what changes would make the system even easier to use.’
Lian Olsthoorn, Operational Director, Leiden Institute of Chemistry
‘We already had a well-functioning system at the LIC, but a university-wide system is definitely an improvement for the entire organisation. We expect the biggest benefit to come from the new reports, which are still under development. These will help us support project managers, researchers and business operations within the organisation with broader insights. Vidatum currently focuses mainly on financials, but project management is about more than just money. Good scheduling, workload information and tracking development by research grant type are also important, especially since we are trying to raise more external funding together. Such Vidatum analyses would be a valuable addition in the future.’
Want to know more about Vidatum?
To learn more about Vidatum and how it is being implemented, see the programme page. You will also find practical information about the system, including the manual and contact details for your faculty’s support team.