High Level Requirements Document

National Science, Technology
& Innovation Data Linking System

System documentation covering questionnaire input structure, data flow architecture, analytical processing requirements, and dashboard & report output specifications.

Document Type
High Level Requirements
Platform
REDCap Database
Scope
81 S&T Institutions · 16 Universities
Outputs
S&T Dashboard · S&T Status Report
Version
2025 · NASTEC Sri Lanka
01 — Overview

System Overview

A centralised national platform that collects S&T performance data from all research institutions, processes it through a standardised pipeline, and produces the annual interactive dashboard and printed Status Report for evidence-based policy making.

8
Input Categories
703
Data Fields (REDCap)
97
Institutions Surveyed
5
Dashboard Modules
6
Report Chapters
60+
Charts & Visualisations
Purpose

Provide evidence-based intelligence for national S&T policy decisions, track institutional performance year-over-year, and benchmark Sri Lanka against SAARC and global indicators.

Platform

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) web database. Annual CSV/Excel exports processed into interactive dashboard and PDF Status Report by NASTEC.

Coverage

81 S&T institutions + 16 universities across Agriculture, Health, Engineering, Environment, and Science & Technology sectors.

02 — System Flow

Data Flow Architecture

Data moves through five sequential stages — from institution-level questionnaire submission through to published dashboard and printed report.

📋
Questionnaire
8 categories
703 fields
Web-based form
81 institutions + 16 universities
→
🗄
REDCap Database
MySQL backend
Access control
CSV / Excel export
Audit trail
→
⚙️
Data Processing
Cleaning & validation
Aggregation
Indicator calculation
External data merge
→
📊
S&T Dashboard
5 interactive modules
Charts & tables
Institution filters
Year comparison
→
📄
S&T Status Report
6 report chapters
50+ visuals
Global benchmarks
PDF / Print
INPUT
STORAGE
PROCESSING
OUTPUT 1
OUTPUT 2
💡
The system ingests primary survey data from 97 institutions annually, enriches it with supplementary external data (World Bank, OECD, WIPO, NIPO, UN E-Gov, Scopus), and produces two distinct outputs: a live interactive web dashboard and a comprehensive printed Status Report.
03 — Inputs

Input Requirements

The REDCap questionnaire is structured into 8 main categories. Each institution completes one submission per survey cycle. Click a category to expand its data items.

A
General Information
~20 fields
▾
Institution name, postal address, telephone, email, fax, website URL
Text
Parent ministry or department
Text
Whether institution has a corporate / strategic plan
Binary
Major functions (free text description)
Text
Statutory functions — multi-select: Research & Development, Regulatory, Technology Transfer, Training & Capacity Building, Science Popularisation, Advisory Services, Policy Support, Other
Multi-select
B
Human Resources
~83 fields
▾
Approved cadre — by staff category: Research, Support/Technical, Library/Info, Accounts, Executives, Admin, Others (approved + filled + contract basis per category)
Integer
Research staff by academic discipline × gender — Natural Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Medical & Health, Agriculture & Veterinary, Social Sciences
Integer
Highest qualification level — Doctoral, MPhil, MSc/MA, Bachelor, Diploma × male/female
Integer
Age distribution — four bands (Under 30, 31–40, 41–50, Over 50) × gender
Integer
Salary scales — per staff grade: Research Fellow, Senior Researcher, Research Officer, Science Officer, Info Officer, Other
Text
Minimum qualifications required per grade
Text
Online academic profiles — Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Scopus (count per institution)
Integer
Training programs attended — up to 10 programmes: title, duration, staff category, local or foreign
Text
Staff turnover — retirements, new local recruits, new foreign recruits, resignations/personal reasons
Integer
Perks provided to scientific staff — Research Allowance, Medical Insurance, Transport, Professional Allowance, Housing
Binary
C
Physical Resources
~13 fields
▾
Physical infrastructure counts — Laboratories, Workshops, Auditoriums/Conference Halls, Libraries, Central Instrument Facilities, Other facilities
Integer
ICT & digital service availability — Website, Management Information System (MIS), Mobile Application, Internet Access, Digital Library, Online Publications
Binary (Yes/No)
D
S&T Activity Planning
~113 fields
▾
Policy documents referenced in action plan — STIP-2030, National Science Policy, National Research Policy, Corporate Plan, BICOST IX Recommendations, SDGs, NRDF, International Agreements, Regional Plans, Others
Multi-select
NRDF 10 Focus Areas — policy coverage per area: Water, Food, Health, Shelter, Environment, Energy, Minerals, Textiles, ICT, Science
Binary
NRDF 10 Focus Areas — active participation (same 10 areas)
Binary
Collaborations with external parties — Foreign, Public-Private Partnership (PPP), University Linkage, Sister Institutions (1=Active, 2=Not active); free text description of specific collaborations
Select + Text
UN SDG project initiations — 17 SDG goals × project initiation date (text), planned future projects (integer), completion date
Text / Integer
E
S&T Activity Inputs — Funding
~34 fields
▾
Research funding — Treasury: Amount Requested, Received, Spent (LKR Millions)
Decimal
Research funding — NSF, NRC: Amount Requested, Received, Spent
Decimal
Research funding — Foreign sources, Private sector: Amount Requested, Received, Spent
Decimal
Science Popularisation funding — Treasury: Amount Requested, Received
Decimal
Infrastructure Upgrade funding — Treasury: Amount Requested, Received
Decimal
Reasons for fund surplus / underspend (free text)
Text
F
S&T Activity Outputs
~100 fields
▾
Research projects — names and descriptions of up to 6 key projects
Text
Publications — count by type: Scientific Journals, Refereed Journals, Extended Abstracts, Monographs, Books, Book Chapters; plus Total Publications and Total Citations
Integer
Patents granted — up to 5 items: description + whether granted to individual or institution
Text
Awards received by scientists — up to 5 descriptions
Text
Products, Processes & Technologies developed — up to 5 each (free text descriptions)
Text
Technologies transferred and recommendations adopted — descriptions + barriers to transfer
Text
Commercialisation — products/processes commercialised, strategies used, barriers preventing commercialisation (Legal/Mgt, IP, Poor industry linkage, Lack trained staff, Lack funds)
Binary + Text
G
Services
~15 fields
▾
Clients served — count by service type: Testing Facilities, Calibration of Equipment, Training, Product Certification, Accreditation Services, Consultancies, Others
Integer
Revenue earned — LKR value by service type: Testing, Calibration, Training, Product Cert., Accreditation, Consultancies, Others
Decimal
H
Overall Constraints
~16 fields
▾
Institutional constraints — binary flag per type: Funding Issues, Recruitment of Staff, Lack of Cadre, Procurement of Equipment, Overseas Travel Restrictions, Training Scientific Staff, Delay in Receiving Funds, Administrative Issues
Binary
Specific constraint details — Lack of Human Resources, Lack of Research Equipment, Inefficient Planning, Common Administrative Issues (separate from above flags)
Binary
Free text explanation of constraint root causes per category
Text
📌
External data inputs are merged during processing: World Bank (R&D % GDP, researchers per million, Brain Drain Index), OECD (GERD comparison), WIPO (IP filing trends), NIPO (national patent registrations), UN E-Government Knowledgebase (E-Gov Development Index, Online Service Index), and Scopus (scholarly publications per GDP).
04 — Data Analysis

Data Analysis Requirements

The processing layer applies four categories of analysis to transform raw survey responses into national-level indicators and visualisations.

Analysis Type What is Computed Key Derived Indicators Output Use
Cleaning & Validation
Applied to every field before aggregation		 Remove test records; replace empty/placeholder values (" -", "N/A") with null; validate funded ≤ requested; check filled cadre ≤ approved cadre; deduplicate institution submissions Data completeness %; error log per institution Pre-processing
Aggregation
Institution → Sector → National		 Sum numeric fields (staff counts, publications, revenue) across all institutions for national totals; group by sector (Agriculture, Health, Engineering, etc.) for sectoral breakdowns; compute per-institution averages for ranking National totals; sector subtotals; per-institution averages Dashboard
Derived Indicators
Calculated ratios and rates		 Cadre fill rate = Filled ÷ Approved × 100
Female ratio = Female ÷ (Male + Female) × 100
Fund utilisation = Spent ÷ Received × 100
Publications per researcher = Total pubs ÷ research staff
SDG coverage = Active SDGs ÷ 17 × 100
Revenue per client = Total revenue ÷ clients served 		Fill rate %; Gender ratio %; Utilisation %; Productivity ratio; SDG coverage % Dashboard + Report
Cross-tabulation
2D matrices for grouped charts		 Discipline × Gender matrix; Qualification × Gender matrix; Age Band × Gender matrix; Institution × SDG goal matrix (binary); Institution × Statutory Function matrix; Institution × Constraint type matrix Gender-disaggregated breakdowns; SDG heatmap; constraint heatmap Dashboard
Benchmarking
Sri Lanka vs regional & global		 Plot Sri Lanka R&D % GDP against SAARC nations and OECD average (World Bank/OECD); researchers per million vs regional peers; scholarly publications per unit GDP (Scopus); Human Flight & Brain Drain Index vs SAARC (World Bank); E-Government Development Index trend (UN) Ranking vs SAARC; gap vs OECD average; trend lines 2010–2025 Report Chapters
Trend Analysis
Multi-year longitudinal tracking		 Year-over-year change in: total publications, new products/processes/technologies, average research funding per institute, staff turnover rate, patent applications and registrations (NIPO), revenue generated Trend lines; % change YoY; moving averages Report Chapters
🎯
SDG Mapping: Each of the 17 SDG goal initiation text fields is checked for a non-empty value. A binary Institution × Goal presence matrix is constructed, then aggregated to identify: (a) which institutions address the most goals, and (b) which goals receive the most attention nationally.
05 — Dashboard Outputs

S&T Data Dashboard — Output Requirements

The interactive web dashboard presents processed data across 5 modules with filters by institution, sector, and survey year. Each module maps directly to questionnaire input categories.

👥
Module 1 — Human Resources
Input: Category B · External: World Bank
📊
Sectorial breakdown of scientific and non-scientific staff
Stacked Bar
📊
Distribution of staff employed in S&T institutions (by category)
Bar
📊
Approved vs filled cadre — vacancy gap per institution
Grouped Bar
🥧
Gender distribution of research staff
Donut + Bar
📊
Staff distribution by academic discipline × gender
Grouped Bar
📊
Qualification level of research staff × gender
Stacked Bar
📊
Age and gender distribution of research staff
Grouped Bar
📊
Online academic presence (Google Scholar / ResearchGate / Scopus)
Bar
📊
Training program composition (local vs foreign; by staff category)
Stacked Bar
📊
Staff recruitment and turnover (retirements vs new recruits)
Grouped Bar
📊
Perks provided to scientific staff
Bar
📈
Researchers in R&D per million (Sri Lanka trend + SAARC comparison)
Line — World Bank
📊
Human Flight & Brain Drain Index — SAARC comparison and Sri Lanka trend
Bar + Line — World Bank
🏗
Module 2 — Physical Resources
Input: Category C · External: UN E-Gov
📊
Basic infrastructure facilities by institution (labs, workshops, auditoriums, libraries)
Stacked Bar
▬
ICT & digital service adoption rate across institutions
Horizontal Bar
🔲
Digital capability matrix — institution × 6 service types
Heatmap
📈
E-Government Development Index — Sri Lanka trend
Line — UN E-Gov
📈
Online Service Index — Sri Lanka trend
Line — UN E-Gov
📋
Module 3 — S&T Activity Planning
Input: Category D
📋
Policy documents referenced in action plan preparation
Heatmap / Table
📊
BICOST IX policy recommendations referenced
Bar
📊
NRDF 10 Focus Areas — policy coverage vs active participation
Grouped Bar
📊
Collaborations with external parties (Foreign, PPP, University, Sister institutions)
Bar
🎯
SDG project initiations per institution and goal frequency
Bar + Heatmap
💰
Module 4 — Research Funding
Input: Category E · External: World Bank, OECD
📊
Distribution of funds — requested vs received vs spent per institution
Grouped Bar
📊
Funds by identified sector (Agriculture, Health, Engineering etc.)
Stacked Bar
📊
Funds received and spent by funding source (Treasury, NSF, NRC, Foreign, Private)
Grouped Bar
📊
Fund utilisation for research projects by sector
Bar
📊
Fund utilisation for science popularisation by sector
Bar
📊
Average funding (received and spent) per institute — recent years
Bar
📈
R&D expenditure as % of GDP — Sri Lanka trend (World Bank)
Line
📊
Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) — Sri Lanka vs OECD (OECD data)
Bar + Line
📄
Module 5 — Research Outputs
Input: Categories D, F · External: WIPO, NIPO, Scopus
📊
Research projects conducted per institute
Table / Bar
🎯
Line of Sight — intended project contributions to UN SDGs (17 goals × institutions)
Heatmap
📊
Sector-wise development of products, processes and technologies
Grouped Bar
📈
New products/processes/technologies developed per institute — trend line
Line
📊
Scientific publications produced by S&T institutions
Stacked Bar
📈
Trend line of research publications (multi-year)
Line
📊
Scholarly publications per unit GDP — regional and world comparison (Scopus)
Bar
📊
Scholarly comparison — Sri Lanka vs global and regional statistics
Bar + Line
📊
Number of patents granted by sector
Bar
📈
IP Filing & Economic Growth trend (WIPO data)
Line
📊
Barriers preventing commercialisation of products/processes
Bar
📊
Barriers in technology transfer by sector
Bar
⚙️
Services
Input: Category G
📊
Clients served by service type across institutions
Bar
📊
Revenue generated by S&T institutions
Bar
📈
Revenue generated by S&T institutions — trend
Line
⚠️
Overall Constraints
Input: Category H
▬
Constraint frequency — number of institutions citing each barrier type
Horizontal Bar
🔲
Constraint severity matrix — institution × constraint type
Heatmap
06 — Status Report

S&T Status Report — Output Structure

The annual printed and PDF report is organised into an introduction plus five main chapters, mirroring the dashboard modules and enriched with global benchmarks, trend analyses, and policy commentary.

Intro
Introduction
Sector-wise distribution of S&T institutes Major statutory functions conducted by S&T institutions Sector-wise distribution carrying out statutory functions
Source: Survey Category A + NASTEC institution registry
Ch 1
Human Resources
Sectorial breakdown — scientific & non-scientific staff Distribution of staff employed in S&T institutions Distribution of research personnel among institutions Researchers per institute Researchers in R&D per million (World Bank) Gender distribution of research staff Sector-wise gender distribution Staff by discipline × gender Age distribution of research staff Education qualifications × gender Qualification by sector Training programs composition Sector-wise training opportunities Training by staff category Brain Drain Index — SAARC comparison (World Bank) Brain Drain Index — Sri Lanka trend (World Bank) Recruitment & turnover by sector Perks given to scientific staff
Source: Survey Category B · World Bank external data
Ch 2
Physical Resources
Basic infrastructure facilities ICT facilities and services E-Government Development Index — Sri Lanka (UN E-Gov) Online Service Index — Sri Lanka (UN E-Gov)
Source: Survey Category C · UN E-Government Knowledgebase
Ch 3
S&T Activity Planning
Source documents for action plan preparation BICOST IX policy recommendations referenced NRDF 10 Focus Area interventions Collaborations with external parties
Source: Survey Category D
Ch 4
Research Funding
Distribution of funds Funds received and spent — by sector Funds received and spent — by funding source Average funding (received and spent) per institute Fund utilisation for research projects by sector Fund utilisation for science popularisation by sector Average research funding per institute — recent years Reasons for fund remains R&D expenditure % of GDP — global (World Bank) Gross domestic expenditure on R&D — OECD data R&D expenditure % GDP — Sri Lanka trend (World Bank)
Source: Survey Category E · World Bank · OECD
Ch 5
Research Outputs
Research projects conducted per institute Line of Sight — project contributions to SDGs Sector-wise development of products, processes & technologies New products/processes/technologies — trend line Scientific publications by S&T institutions Trend line of research publications Scholarly publications per unit GDP — regional comparison (Scopus) Sri Lanka vs global and regional scholarly statistics Patents granted by sector IP Filing & Economic Growth trend (WIPO) Resident patent applications & registrations — trend (NIPO) Non-resident patent applications & registrations — trend (NIPO) Awards received by scientists Products and processes commercialised Strategies used in commercial adoption Barriers preventing commercialisation Technologies transferred & recommendations adopted by sector Barriers in technology transfer by sector Radar chart — products, processes & technologies per scientist by sector Overall constraints experienced by institutions Clients served with different services Revenue generated by S&T institutes Revenue generated — trend
Source: Survey Categories D, F, G, H · WIPO · NIPO · Scopus
📎
Note on fidelity: All chart titles listed above are taken directly from the STI Data Linking System PDF documentation. Dashboard module names and report chapter structure are the authoritative output specifications for system development.