CRIS.WWU

Technical status of CRIS

CRIS (formerly known as CRIS.WWU) is the current research information system of the University of Münster since 2010. It gathers information on research activities and results of the University of Münster. CRIS serves both as a tool for communicating research activities to the outside world as for handling all reporting requirements internally and externally.

In May 2022 CRIS was updated to a new version of the underlying Converis software. This process will be continued with further update steps.

Through the 2022 update, far-reaching system changes could be implemented. These lead to various improvements, e.g.:

• Stability and speed of everyday operations are increased
• Editing masks and operating logic are optimized
• Content management systems (like Imperia) at the University of Münster benefit from a faster data interface

With the next major update in 2023, CRIS will receive the latest system updates. This will also provide the basis for future changes:

• Improved contrasts as a step towards accessibility
• Checking for existing content with the same title directly on entry
• Optimisation of already known problems, e.g. when content is saved without a related card
• Improvement of general system stability
• Technical basis for import routines still to be tested as well as active e-mail notification in case of changes

Old versus new CRIS as of April 2022

All information collected in CRIS over the first 12 years were transferred in 2022 to the new system, so that you as a researcher at the University of Münster could continue with your data maintenance. The University of Münster's websites that fetch content from CRIS are also served reliably. 

Of course, with such numerous changes, there are also points that require your attention. Especially where the system logic changed, assumptions had to be made for the best possible data transfer. With these assumptions, old data categories were e.g. transferred to new ones. Therefore, when you log in to the new CRIS, please check your content for the following points:

• New mandatory fields: To improve the overall data quality, new mandatory fields are introduced - e.g. for publications, projects, distinctions and CV milestones. If these fields were previously "empty", you may experience display problems. If you notice that e.g. your professorship offers are not displayed correctly in your CRIS internal profile, check the corresponding entries and save possible corrections
• New relations: For improved evaluations, text fields are replaced by so-called relations. For example, an award you received or the publisher of a publication are no longer noted solely as text, but a link to an additional price or publisher list has to be be created. In some cases, this new relation could not be created automatically in the course of the update
• New publication types: With the update of CRIS, the publication types were also revised. This takes into account the requirements of the KDSF standard. In addition, the experiences with previous publication types were analysed for this. Please check the new publication types for your entries. If the automatically assigned, new category is not applicable, you can of course correct it
• New project types: Especially for externally funded projects, new categories had to be introduced. If you find that the new category does not apply to your externally funded project, please contact the CRIS team via cris@uni-muenster.de
• New visibility logic: For data protection and security reasons the logic behind status and visibility was changed to a two-step-process. Because of this, new personal profile are e.g. no longer publicly visible by default, but have to be made publicly visible

If you notice any other discrepancies in your data, please contact the CRIS team via cris@uni-muenster.de. Please describe which information are incorrect or what you would expect instead.

The new research portal of the University of Münster

One way of communicating research activities of the University of Münster to the interested publics is via the University of Münster's research portal connected to CRIS.. The research portal includes:

• Profiles of the individual persons and institutions connected to the University of Münster
• Research activities and results such as publications, projects, talks, distinctions, doctorates and habilitations with participation of the University of Münster
• Links between persons and institutions at the University of Münster and their varied research activities and results

With the update of CRIS, the research portal will also be fundamentally revised and re-constructed. First, presentation and speed will be improved. Next, the research portal will successively offer additional functions, e.g. new search options

Further details can be found in the CRIS manual: