SEVEN KEYS
24 CAPTURE. COSTTREE 2016 Q4 ISSUE
Grants Management System Requirements
Harris County, TX:
Harris County is the nation’s third-largest county by population. The county wanted a vendor to provide a turnkey enterprise grant tracking and management software system for the Harris County Budget Management Office and other county departments. The objectives of the system were to improve comprehensive grant reporting by the county, track the county’s success rate in obtaining grants, identify grants available to fund projects, track expenses on a grant and department-level basis, monitor grant deadlines and deliverables, and establish an audit trail for all grant activities. The grants management system was also required to perform the following key tasks:
• Search and allow access/submission to all available governmental and private foundation grants (updated frequently)
• Allow access to a database of previously accepted grants submissions for review purposes
• Ability to track in detail the actual costs expended compared to the grant budget for an unlimited number of grants (or, at a minimum, 750 open grants at a time)
• Ability to track expenditures vs. time remaining on grant(s)
• Ability to integrate reimbursement, expense, budget, and performance metric data from one, or many, sources to the grant software
If you are in the process of selecting a grants management system for your local government, or plan to include the cost in a future budget cycle, use these seven keys to formulate a good review process.
City of Detroit, MI:
Following its bankruptcy in 2013, the city of Detroit sought a grants management system that would support improved and compliant accounting practices and enable accurate and timely reporting. The system would have an intuitive user interface, support grants management best practices, utilize current technology, enable expedited implementation, and integrate with the city’s current and future financial systems (Oracle).