About Research Manitoba and RITHIM Harmony
Research Manitoba is a Canadian provincial research agency that promotes, supports, and coordinates the funding of research excellence and innovation in health, natural and social sciences, engineering and the humanities in Manitoba. Research Manitoba supports local talent development by providing research support to early career researchers and graduate students, along with fostering strategic partnerships to strengthen research and innovation in Manitoba.
Research Manitoba’s ambitious vision to transform health research approvals led to the creation of RITHIM Harmony (Research Improvements Through Harmonization in Manitoba), a unique, fully integrated system powered by Ethics RM. By uniting ethics, privacy, and institutional reviews under one process, RITHIM Harmony has redefined research governance in Manitoba. The result is faster approvals, less duplication, and greater accountability.
Stats: Quick wins in first three months post launch
- 427 applications submitted
- 168 applicants trained
- 103 reviewers registered
Challenges: Ambitious goals and a limited starting point
Research Manitoba sought to overcome long-standing challenges in health research approvals. Its flagship initiative, RITHIM required a solution capable of uniting ethics, privacy, and institutional reviews into a single harmonized process which would be the first of its kind in Canada.
Early digital solutions provided glimpses of promise but quickly revealed major limitations. Dependence on vendors to make any system adjustments slowed progress on the software, while the current system could not keep pace with policy shifts or complex review requirements.
What RITHIM needed was a more flexible, configurable platform – one that could adapt to the ambitious goals of integrating ethics, privacy, and health institutional reviews while keeping pace with policy changes and operational growth.
Why Ethics RM: Configurability, control and intuitiveness
Ethics RM stood out for its flexibility, intuitive design, and the ability to make internal changes without relying on the vendor – a key factor in reducing long-term costs.
“Configurability was key. We wanted a system we could manage ourselves – to be nimble, responsive, and not wait on a vendor every time something changed.” - Elizabeth Lylyk, Director RITHIM, Research Manitoba
Configuring for complexity – A multi-stream model without custom code
Research Manitoba faced a fundamental challenge: integrating ethics, privacy, and health institutional reviews into a single, harmonized application process. This consolidation of reviews would be highly valuable, reducing duplication, shortening timelines, and giving researchers a clear path to conduct research, while also ensuring that feedback was efficiently routed to institutions to strengthen accountability and oversight.
Each stream had its own criteria, timelines, and stakeholders – and the system needed to support both parallel review and sequential decision-making.
Many platforms would require costly custom development to support this kind of complexity. But with Ethics RM, Infonetica was able to deliver a fully integrated, multi-stream model entirely through configuration – no custom coding required.
“It’s not just three parallel reviews – we’ve essentially built six interconnected review cycles into the system, and we’ve done it all through configuration. That kind of flexibility is what made this implementation possible,” - Elizabeth Lylyk
Collaborative implementation to deliver a smarter system
Close collaboration was central to the project’s success. Through regular meetings and open dialogue, Infonetica and Research Manitoba co-developed a system that evolved in step with Manitoba’s needs.
“There were so many lightbulb moments. We’d realize we didn’t have to do things the old way anymore – and that opened up much better paths forward.” - Mark Pinder, RITHIM Program Officer
Jeremy Rivera, Infonetica’s implementation lead for the project, played a pivotal role. His ability to adopt Research Manitoba’s terminology and translate complex requirements into smart, flexible solutions helped turn ambition into reality.
Training that builds confidence and capability
One of Infonetica’s core aims during implementation is to equip System Administrators with the expertise to manage and reconfigure the system independently – ensuring long-term adaptability and the lowest total cost of ownership.
Training reflected that goal. It was embedded throughout the implementation. Infonetica combined structured materials with responsive, hands-on guidance tailored to the iterative build process.
This flexible, contextual approach meant Research Manitoba’s understanding grew in parallel with the system itself.
“I really appreciated that we could just get in there and start poking around the system. I didn’t have a fear of changing configuration settings – and that helped build our internal expertise quickly,” - Elizabeth Lylyk
This ability to experiment safely and learn quickly has set Research Manitoba up to manage and improve the system long after go-live.
Early user feedback: “User-friendly and efficient”
Although still early in its rollout, Research Manitoba has already seen positive signs from users engaging with RITHIM Harmony.
“In the past, submitting documents to multiple committees to start a new trial was often a time-consuming and repetitive process, with the same information needing to be entered multiple times. Participating in the testing of the new RITHIM Harmony system was a very welcome change. The platform is user-friendly, efficient, and only requires information to be submitted once – which saved a great deal of time. This is especially helpful for trials involving multiple sites across the city, whether within or outside the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. The support from the RITHIM team is also exceptional, making the experience smoother and more personal." – Angela Recio, Clinical Research Coordinator, Department Internal Medicine and Critical Care, University of Manitoba
Looking ahead: A system Research Manitoba can own and adapt
With implementation complete and early adoption underway, Research Manitoba is already looking ahead. One of the most valued outcomes of the project is the ability to configure and evolve the system independently without relying on vendor intervention for every change.
“The power it gives us to set our own schedule for updates is huge. We can be really responsive to what’s happening in the Manitoba research landscape.” - Elizabeth Lylyk.
With this foundation in place, RITHIM plans to expand the use of Harmony by working with additional partners across the province. The goal is to bring more reviews into the system – either in parallel or integrated into existing workflows – to further streamline the health research approvals in Manitoba. This next phase will deepen Harmony’s impact to support a more connected, responsive research ecosystem across the province.
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