This is a series of SUMS that trace the flow of research project information through research systems across the sector. The central tenant of these SUMS is that a research project record plays an equivalent role to the subject, (or unit) in Education systems. Just as a subject is one of the key interoperability points between many systems including student systems, learning management systems, and scheduling systems, it is the record of a research project that should be the key interoperability point between systems in research such as grants assessment systems (eg the Australian Research Council), research data management systems, research management systems, and eResearch project facilities.

There are two main differences between subject and the research project analogy, however. The first difference is that systems interoperability around research projects is embryonic. Most of the time research project information is manually rekeyed by researchers or administrators as it moves between systems. This project will be to use eFramework SUMS to demonstrate the conceptual benefits of designing research systems around a common record of research.

The second difference is that the interoperability points for research projects are much more likely to cross organisational boundaries –the relationship between an external funding body and a university's research management system being a key example of this.

SUMS in this series include:

* The use of research project information within a University department.

* The use of research project information in a high performance computing facility

* The use of research project within a research funding agency.

* The use of research project information in a research data collections registry (APSR ORCA collections registry)

* (tentative) The use of research project information as it relates to The Macquarie University Research Activity flow and Middleware Priorities project (RAMP)