Open Proposals: A Pre-Competitive Interactive

Space for Research Community

Oksana Gologorskaya, M.Sc.Product Manager, Virtual Home Program, Clinical and Translational Science Institute,

University of California, San Francisco

Learning Objectives

“Crowdsourcing” ideas and proposal development at biomedical institution

Insights from 5 years of practicingOpen Proposals Tool Demo Invitation to collaborate

Harvesting Ideas in Academia

Request for Proposals

RFP Timeline

Imagine a friendly community…

Add “social” phase to the process

What is different?Proposal Ideas are shared with community

before they are submittedEveryone knows what everyone else is

proposingAnyone in community can comment on the

ideas Valuable contributors can join proposal teamsProposal teams can merge

Open Proposal Process• Share Online

• Discuss & Improve

• Submit for Review

• See Everyone’s Results

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First Open Forum

18 ideas 41 comments

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First Open Forum: Implementation

Section on existing Drupal website Simple features:

Post ideas Comment Vote Anonymous participation ok

2009 UCSF CTSI Grant Renewal RFPac

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.ucs

f.edu High stakes: ideas for

$112 M grant 53 ideas 47 comments We got the grant!

Practical Insight 1: Starting Conditions

•Collaborative audience

• Non-$ motivations to participate

•Support from the top

UCSF CTSI Pilot Awards 2012ac

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28 ideas 292 comments

Participation Increased. Why?

2009 2009 2009 2010 201218 27 53 19 2841 39

476

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Open Forums Participation 2009-2012

Proposals Comments

Behaviors Observed:

Proposals improved Connections made between participants

Proposals withdrawn

Practical Insight 2: Process Matters

1 2 3 4 518 27 53 19 2841 39

47

6

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Open Forums Participation 2009-2012

Proposals Comments• Design process to encourage participation

• Manage the audience

First Non-CTSI Challenge 2012 UCSF IT Innovation Contest

Target Audience: All Staff & FacultyCompeting against other solutions

Solutions Considered

EmailSalesforce ChatterOpen Proposals

UCSF Open Proposals Tool

Custom Branding for Opportunity Sponsor

UCSF Open Proposals Tool

Standalone, easy to use space for discussions

UCSF Open Proposals Tool

Transparent & efficient process

Open Proposals Provided:Transparent & efficient processStandalone space for discussionsEasy to useCustom branding for sponsor

IT Contest 2012 - Results48 proposals, 5 awarded73 people posted 216 commentsWithdrawn/merged proposals: 1517 unique visitors in active phases

A Hard Learning

Department of Medicine Funding Patient Cohorts 2012Funding to allocate: $200,000Target audience: DOM Faculty (~620)Collaborative opportunity: reusing

patient cohorts

DOM Funding Patient Cohorts 2012 - Results

14 proposals, 2 awarded30 people posted 66 commentsWithdrawn proposals: 1431 unique visitors in active phases

Surprising FeedbackOpportunity Sponsors: “We won’t use it again”

End Users:– Overall experience: 2-dissatisfied / 6 –

neutral / 7 - satisfied– Proposal impact: 2- improved / 7 – no

change / 2- worsened– Team impact: 2- added team members

Practical Insight 3: Supportive Sponsor, Engaged Community

• Make sure the audience understands the process (no, it is not a popularity contest)

• Early ideas have more room for feedback than fully baked proposals

• The audience will not engage without Sponsor’s support

Other types of opportunities that benefited from OP

Building Community to Revamp Medical School’s curriculum

Department Strategic PlanningAdministrative Process Improvements

UCSF Open Proposals Toolop

en-p

ropo

sals

.ucs

f.edu Standalone Drupal Website

Integrated with UCSF Single Sign On

Optional IP restricted access Linked with UCSF Profiles

UCSF Open Proposals UIop

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UI: Forum Space1. Sponsor branding2. Opportunity

title/subtitle3. Intro text – opp.

description4. Opportunity

timeline5. Proposals main

feed6. Forum menu7. My Proposals

shortcut8. Topic filter9. Activity feeds10.Footer menu11.Search

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UI: Proposal Page1.Proposal title2.Proposal view tabs3.Proposal info4.Proposal body

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UI: Adding Proposal1.Instructions /

format requirements2.Title (required)3.Taxonomy fields4.Primary author – if

proposal is submitted for someone else

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UI: Adding Proposal5. Proposal body6. Multi-file attachments7. Single file attachment8. Post (submit) button9. Preview button

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Automation: Updates and Subscriptions

Proposal authors and commenters are automatically subscribed to the updates on their proposal

Forum visitors can “Follow” the forum or its selected proposals

Key Ingredients for Success

• Process

• Tool

• Engaged Community

• Supportive Sponsor

ChallengesHow to engage community?

– Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation for community reviewers

Community balance

• Narrow enough to remain

relevant and collaborative

• Wide enough to provide

valuable input

Benefits of Open Proposals

Open, transparent process Collaborative spaceEfficiencyBetter teams

Better proposals

Less Obvious Benefits

Reviewers get not only proposals but also community’s reaction that may inform them as well

Every idea is captured and stays there (usually online) forever…

Active participants build relationships and get noticed

Winning proposals draw more attention

IT Innovations Contest

OpenSocial Gadget Contest

DOM Patient Cohorts RFA

Funding Shared Equipment RFA

CHV Caring Wisely Initiative

2013 CTSI Annual Pilot Awards

Funding Shared Equipment RFA Round 2

UCSF Coursera Course CFP

CTSI 2016 NIH Renewal Launchpad

2013 IT Innovations Contest

DOM 2013 Strategic Planning

CHV Caring Wisely 2 Initiative

2014 Innovations Funding for Education

SOM Dean's Office Bureaucracy Busters

0 5 10 15 20 25

Average comments for winning proposalAverage comments for other proposals

Avg. # Comments, All ForumsWinning vs. Non Winning Proposals

Avg. comments per proposal0

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WinningNon Winning

UCSF Open Proposals Today

23 forums Since launch in 2012 700+ proposals 18,000+ visitors $ 4,000,000+ funding distributed Shared with 2 institutions

What’s Next?

• Research Administration, Infrastructure, Strategic Planning

• Collaborative Research Opportunities

Thank You

UCSF Open Proposals is managed by the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), part of the Clinical and Translational Science Award program funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (Grant Number UL1 TR000004) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Special Thanks

Mini Kahlon and Clay Johnston, for introducing the idea and making it come to life

To Brad Bulger, for building the toolTo Cynthia Piontkowski, for creating the

tool’s people friendly sideTo Leslie Yuan, for support and inspiration,

and winning decisions

Special ThanksTo Rachael Sak, for figuring out tricky details

of the process and making it a success when most people were skeptical

To Lisa Schoonerman, for help with winning hesitant new customers and for invaluable practical insight

To Anirvan Chatterjee, for the most creative ideas for the tool and its introduction to the bigger world, and for huge help with this presentation

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.Napoleon Hill, one of the great writers on success

Publication on Open Proposals

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cts.12147/full

ctsi.ucsf.edu * open-proposals.ucsf.eduGitHub Project (ask us for access):

https://github.com/CTSIatUCSF/dreamcatcher

open.proposal@ucsf.eduoksana.gologorskaya@ucsf.edu

Contact Us

Media CreditsNoel Hidalgo,

Hand made "like us on Facebook" sign. , Flickr

Kfergos, Abstract Lights , FlickrSasha Gologorskaya, Friends,

Everyday PhotosRen Kuo, Dreamcatcher, Flickr