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Automated Grant Routing and Classification System
Discovery Logic leveraged its Synapse™ software to help the National Institutes of Health create an
automated system to analyze the content of 80,000 grant applications each year and direct the applications
to appropriate review bodies. In addition to Synapse, Discovery Logic leveraged Service Oriented Architecture (SOA),
the Microsoft .NET Framework, SQL Server and Oracle
Discovery Logic helped the NIH create an automated system to analyze the content of some 80,000 annual grant
applications and direct them to appropriate review bodies.
The NIH, whose external research program generates a steady flow of grant applications (~80,000 in Fiscal Year 2007)
had relied on a manual receipt and referral process for decades. About 75% of all grant applications, including
most investigator-initiated applications for NIH funds, were manually referred to integrated review groups (IRG's)
by some two dozen expert referral officers.
In September 2006, the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) decided that an automatic document routing system
was a strategic objective. This system had four objectives: (1) provide electronic decision support for
referral, (2) shorten the review cycle, (3) increase transparency and consistency, and (4) free experienced
staff members for programmatic and review work.
Discovery Logic, under contract to the NIH Center for Scientific Review, addressed this challenge by
analyzing the grants database and developing an Automated Referral Workflow System (ARWS), nicknamed
“Route 424,” to electronically analyze the grant applications and provide routing recommendations.
The ARWS proof of concept system was launched in February 2007. When fully implemented, NIH can choose to
have grant applications referred manually in exceptional cases.
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