Adapting CERIF for a national CRIS: A case study

A development and implementation of a national Current Research Information System (CRIS) in Croatia is on its way. During the design of the system, global trends in the area of research information management and exchange were considered. The initiative to share knowledge among a broad variety of stakeholders in the national research community resulted, among other, with CERIF case study. CERIF is a research information data model recommended by the EU and governed by euro CRIS. From a broad point of view, it meets the initial requirements for the system. In the area of semantics and multilingualism CERIF is effective and valuable. Nevertheless, at the very beginning of implementation, functionality gaps emerged and it was necessary to make certain adjustments, especially regarding temporal aspects. With the intention to achieve the resolution of observed gaps within the model and to satisfy key stakeholders' concerns, architectural modifications and extensions of the model were made. This paper includes the presentation of Croatian CRIS, CERIF and the case study explaining what is needed to adapt CERIF for a national research information management system and vice versa, all this while paying attention to the critical aspects.