AI4RA Tip of the Week #2

What RA processes are easily automated using Vandalizer? 

One of the most difficult parts of incorporating AI into your daily workflow happens before you ever touch a computer: identifying the processes to be automated. Research administration incorporates a large range of tasks integrated throughout a variety of processes, which differ depending on structure, role, and system usage. Vandalizer allows you to automate many of these tasks, following the criteria below. 

Tasks which can be easily automated typically have one or more criteria below: 

• The task is highly repetitive with low variation 
• The task has clearly describable inputs and outputs 
• The task is the identification of a pattern 
• The task requires information retrieval and synthesis 
• The task uses rule-based decision making 
• The task includes classifying information and routing it to different locations based on those classifications 

Tasks which cannot be easily automated and require human involvement typically have one or more criteria below: 

• The task requires genuine human judgement 
• The task has an outcome which is subjective 
• The task requires human relationship management 
• The task has poorly defined goals or success criteria 

Take for example the process of award setup and negotiation. An RA might (1) flag unusual award terms for review, (2) negotiate award terms with the sponsor, (3) extract key terms from award notices, then (4) setup accounts and budgets in financial systems. In this process, step 1 is pattern recognition against standard vs non-standard language, step 3 has clearly describable inputs and outputs and uses information retrieval, and step 4 is rule-based data entry and routing, making all these steps potentially fully or partially automatable. Step 2, however, requires legal judgement, relationship management, and institutional authority, meaning this task should be completed by an RA rather than AI.