In November 2007, CASRAI announced its plan to develop a CV standard for use in research administration, and issued a call for members of the community to participate in a Working Group to manage its development. That process is now well underway.
The purpose of this memorandum is to request your comments on a working draft CV standard. This standard is intended to encompass all data elements likely to be used by research funders, researchers, graduate students, research performing institutions, and community research partners.
Comments on this first public release of the draft standard are requested by January 16, 2009.
What is CASRAI?
CASRAI is an independent, not-for-profit organization that develops, maintains, and promotes information standards for research administration data. CASRAI standards are both open and technologically neutral, allowing users to employ any IT systems they prefer.
What is a CV Standard?
A CV standard specifies the overall universe of potential data elements in a CV and the way those elements are structured, formatted, and labeled. Users (e.g. post-secondary institutions, research funders, researchers) determine the data elements that are required for their business needs and use the prescribed format of those "standard CV data elements" in their business processes. Pan-Canadian acceptance of such standards will make the electronic exchange of business documents much more cost-efficient and timely, and ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data in such transfers.
How Was this Draft Standard Developed?
The CASRAI CV standard was developed under the auspices of a CASRAI Working Group comprising members from research performing and funding institutions chaired by Martin Kirk, Office of Research Services, UBC and John Fryer, Canada Foundation for Innovation. Two source platforms were employed - 1) from a research performer - the data model donated by UBC and 2) from research funders - the data elements of the Canadian Common CV (CCCV), augmented with additional data elements in the social sciences and humanities.
How does the CASRAI CV Standard Relate to the CCCV?
The CASRAI CV provides a structured formulation of all of the CCCV data elements within a larger pool of CV data elements that would be used by researchers, research partners, research funders and research performing institutions. The CASRAI standard is maintained current over time and is cross referenced with relevant international standards. The intent is that the CCCV will use CASRAI data standards to ensure data coherence and facilitate interoperability and data exchange.
What does the Standards Development Process Entail?
The standards development process is outlined here. This public release is the first step of an iterative process of consultation with the research funder and performer communities to ensure comprehensiveness and robustness of content from the diverse community of potential users. The input and feedback from these consultations will be reported and assessed by the CV Working Group for adequacy of diverse perspectives and organizations. The final draft of the standard will be approved by the CASRAI board and widely communicated.
Who Should Respond?
The CASRAI CV Working Group is seeking comments on the substantive content of the draft CV standards from all potential users. A later stage will involve a technical consultation phase (XML encoding etc), however, recipients may wish to engage their IT departments and vendors as part of this stage of the process.
Where to Locate the Draft Standard and How to Submit Comments
The CASRAI CV data standard spreadsheet is available here. There, you will also find a downloadable Comment Form (a MS Word file). Please use that form to list your questions and requested changes. When you have entered your comments, email the Comments Form to info@casrai.org. All comments will be reviewed by the CV Working Group.