Deceiving simplicity. Balancing the need for ready-to-use research information with the semantic and technical complexity of research data

Abstract KU Leuven, Belgium's oldest university and member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) generates a myriad of research-related data, managed in different technical environments. Faced with an increased demand for validated key performance indicators to support policy planning at the level of faculties and departments, the university's Research Coordination Office (RCO) set up an institutional central research information system (CRIS) in SAP Business Intelligence (BI) in close collaboration with the ICT office. The road to providing ready-to-use KPIs in such a way that users were not confronted with the underlying semantic and technical complexity of the data proved to be a long and winding one.