UM School of Medicine’s Veterinary Resources (VR) Unveils New Online Business Portal for Animal Operations

The mission of Veterinary Resources (VR) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) is to provide quality care for all research animals and maintain compliance with federal laboratory animal welfare regulations and guidelines. VR faculty veterinarians operate the animal resource program and ensure that all University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) researchers adhere to animal research protocols.

In an effort to improve compliance, efficiency, access, and overall operational transparency, VR recently unveiled Cayuse Vivarium Operations, a new online business portal for animal operations. With the implementation of this new business portal, VR’s ability to support the broad range of logistical needs associated with laboratory animal-based research studies is greatly enhanced.

VR’s new cloud-based portal, which went live on October 1, 2023, interacts with Quantum Analytics, Human Resource Management System (HRMS), and Collaborative Institutional Comprehensive Evaluation of Research Online (CICERO), all easily accessible with myUMB single sign-on credentials.

Approved faculty and staff can now use the portal’s user-friendly interface to:

• More efficiently order animals
• Obtain real-time census information related to their animals
• Retrieve copies of detailed invoices

This new portal is providing VR with powerful visibility into its animal business operations in addition to a smoother animal procurement process, a more accurate census, faster billing activity, and improved data integrity.

A major component of the portal’s success is a newly utilized mobile app, which now scans cages for real-time inventory reconciliation. Subsequently, this has improved the process of verifying orders against the protocol that limits the number of animals and how many times an animal can be used for research purposes. This ultimately ensures that researchers are adhering to regulatory compliance.

“Cayuse puts the investigator in greater control over animal ordering and provides them with real time information on the status of orders as well as animal census and billing,” said Timothy D. Mandrell, DVM, Adjunct Professor of Pathology, Attending Veterinarian, and Director of Veterinary Resources at UMSOM. “As Cayuse communicates directly with CICERO, the IACUC’s application which manages animal protocols, investigators can see their approved animal allocation and use with each order. Providing this information is an important step towards providing better customer service and transparency in Veterinary Resources services.”

With a deep commitment to providing technologies that help foster a safe, ethical, humane, and legal environment for the advancement of biomedical research and discovery, VR’s Administrator, Carey Martin, notes that the new portal aligns with the following UMB core values:

• Respect and integrity – Cayuse enables the VR facility to be accountable for operating ethically and transparently in animal procurement and husbandry provisions.
• Well-Being and Sustainability – Cayuse provides an integrated system for documenting animal use, veterinarian wellness reports, and cage maintenance requests. The portal also supports the responsible use of animal resources enabling researchers to consider factors such as inventory numbers and financial budgeting for future research planning.
• Equity and Justice – Cayuse enables the VR facility to remain consistent in preestablished care guidelines and ensures a consistent rate for service charges among various departments.
• Innovation and Discovery – Cayuse is an innovative animal research management tool that bolsters collaboration between facility administrators, aides, and researchers.

Portal users should expect Phase II of the rollout, Cayuse Vet Care Module, to be unveiled this summer. Currently, the VR facility utilizes paper-based medical records; however, the new module will allow all animals in the facility to have electronic medical records. Caretakers and veterinarians will also have faster communication with researchers on laboratory animal health issues. 

The success of this implementation was a collaborative effort that leveraged the expertise of many of UMB’s talented faculty and staff. VR is especially grateful for their talented colleagues from UMB’s Center for Information Technology Services (CITS), the Quantum Integrations Team, and the UMSOM’s Information Services team. This sentiment is echoed by UMB’s senior leadership.

 “The successful implementation of this technology was the result of an ongoing collaboration and efforts across stakeholders,” said Susan C. Buskirk, DM, MS, BSN, CCEP, Chief Accountability Officer, Vice President, and Institutional Official for Human Subjects Research at UMB. “I am grateful to everyone who has contributed to this success.”

For more information on how to access and utilize the various features of the portal, contact Carey Martin, MA, MBA, CRA, Business Operations Administrator, Veterinary Resources, via email: Carey.Martin@som.umaryland.edu.