LIRA System FAQs | Office of the Vice Provost for Research

You are here

The FAQs found below will be expanded as the LIRA system does. Please email inlira@lehigh.edu with your questions.

General Information

What is LIRA?

The Lehigh Integrated Research Administration (LIRA) Suite will be used to develop, route, review and submit externally sponsored project proposals, initiate and complete ancillary reviews, create, negotiate and track agreements, set up funded awards, create and track subawards and request modifications to funded awards.

LIRA may be used to submit and track the following items to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP):

Proposal or Grant Application
Contract
Sponsored Agreement
Material Transfer Agreements
Data Use Agreements
Confidentiality Agreements
Non-Disclosure Agreements
Award Modification Request (Rebudget, No Cost Extension, PI Change, etc)

Future module that will be added to LIRA:

Conflict of Interest (COI)

Why is Lehigh implementing a research administration suite?

LIRA will provide faculty and staff with enhanced proposal submission and award management tools, and will support improvements in the processes involved in preparing, submitting, accepting, and managing grants. The goal of this system is to reduce administrative burden, manual and duplicate entry of data and will include an interface with our university financial system to streamline the award set up and modification process.

LIRA will also provide transparency into the status of proposals, contracts/agreements in negotiation, subawards in development and award set up.

Who will be using LIRA?

Faculty or staff who submit proposals to external sponsors for funding
Faculty or staff with active sponsored awards
Designated research staff in the colleges
Contract and grant specialists in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP)
Other departmental, college, and university leadership for reporting purposes

What data is being brought into LIRA?

In preparation for our go-live date of March 6, 2023, the following data will be imported into LIRA:

All pending proposals
5 years of award history
All active awards

We will not be importing unsuccessful proposal data into LIRA.

Processes

Will I still be able to submit a proposal the way I’ve always done it?

Once the LIRA Grants and Agreements modules are implemented in March 2023, all proposals for externally sponsored projects will need to be developed and submitted through the new system. Training will be provided to faculty, departmental staff and central office users prior to the implementation.

Until the LIRA implementation, submissions for externally funded projects should continue to follow the existing process by submitting an Intent to Submit through ORSP.

LIRA will not replace the Lehigh internal research investment programs at Lehigh, which will continue to be submitted and processed through InfoReady.

What are the biggest changes to the proposal and award process?

Proposals will begin in the department within the LIRA system, replacing the Intent to Submit form on the ORSP website.
The workflow within the LIRA system will route proposals for all required approvals, and allow for back and forth commenting
Proposals will be electronically submitted to some federal sponsors via Grants.gov
At any time, all involved in a proposal can view the status of the proposal

This new process eliminates complicated email-based proposal development, and lack of clarity around the status of the proposal. LIRA will provide one location for all proposal documents, including agreements like material transfer agreements, data use agreements, and others.

Will I use LIRA to submit for internal grants?

LIRA will not replace the Lehigh internal research investment programs at Lehigh, which will continue to be submitted and processed through InfoReady.

Will I be able to access grant financial data in LIRA?

LIRA is not a replacement for Banner's financial data, nor reporting tools like Desktop Finance or Argos. All financial transactions will continue to be recorded in, and reported from, Banner.

Training

When will training begin?

Training for LIRA will begin in on January 16, 2023, and continue through February. Sessions will be held by audience: faculty, department users, ORSP, and associated offices.

Sessions by audience
Full schedule

Sessions will be held both in-person and online.