SynSICRIS is based on DSpace-CRIS 7 and offers almost all of it's features. Therefore, for those who are already familiar with DSpace-CRIS, we list here some aspects that are different from common DSpace-CRIS installations.
- In order to facilitate the utilisation of the tool in funding processes, the system has been structured in a project-oriented manner. This enables each project to be managed by the research teams in accordance with their designated roles. Consequently, each project functions as a DSpace community, comprising other entities as collections. The Entities in Table 2 have been organised as collections within a shared community. More than 30 additional entities related to societal impact development and funding processes have been developed.
- SynSICRIS use the „My DSpace“ area only as cache, but not for the management of non-archieved items. In SynSICRIS all items are directly archieved in order to have them visible in the entity-detail page for the whole project team. They stay editable during the whole workflow, in order to plan projects with the description of different items that are itended to be done and can than updated during the project livetime.
- The extended role-model has been introduced to facilitate the utilisation of the tool for project management and funding processes. It enables funders to undertake role management on a programme-specific basis. For the project team, a project-specific role management system has been implemented.
- Interfaces are developed to provide the flexibility to structure information in a way that suits different needs for project management and documentation requirements. They are implemented as an impact pathway, working plan, exploitation plan and interim report (the latter two according to the requirements of German federal research). All Pinboards are also part of the data model.PDF-export via XSL-FO is implemented for whole projects
- The versioning functionality of DSpace-CRIS has been enhanced to enable the versioning of entire projects (including all items in the project collection). This new capability enables data to be shared with funding agencies (or parts of an institution) at different stages of the project for review and supervisory purposes. The inherent function of DSpcae-CRIS to compare versions in single item level is additionally applied on the item overviews in the impact pathway and the working plan.
- The search and filter functions have been upgraded to a two-step search. This new feature allows users to define the search environment in a first step and then specify the search itself in a second step.
- The user interface and input forms include help boxes that provide instructions on how to use the tool for creating proposals and reports, as well as for impact-oriented project management. External help pages with images are also provided for additional user guidance.