Technology That Brings Efficiency, Clarity and Results to the Grant Lifecycle Process

When Educational Measures evaluated what grantors were using to create, manage, and evaluate grant activities, we discovered that a true start-to-finish solution was difficult to find, i.e. something to cover the entire “lifecycle” of a grant.

The Grants Management Lifecycle (GML | System™ ) was created to cover all these needs, but in a manner flexible enough to suit a variety of approaches found within the pharmaceutical industry. While grantors may choose to use any single, or combination of modules, the true power of the GML | System is in the complete cycle. From assessing vendor capabilities, to managing grant requests, to reconciling budgets, to analyzing post-activity evaluation data, to dissecting outcomes data, the GML | System addresses it all.

Assess and Qualify Vendors/Providers Online

An efficient requestor experience:

• A step-by-step, user-friendly process to gather all desired information about the requestor organization and affiliations.
• Requestors can be prompted to submit experience levels on a range of topics such as disease states, educational tactics, etc.
• Requestors can upload documents to complement their profile.
• Once approved, vendors receive a username and password to a unique dashboard page.
• Multiple users allowed.

Internal versatility:

• Approve or deny vendors
• Search and extract entered values via the reporting tool. For example, Requestors can be searched by organization name, contact name, etc.
• Create a Wiki so staff can post comments and document any conversations with the requestor.
• Review documents that were uploaded by the requestor.
• Use GML | Assess data at any point in the grants process.

Over time, requestors can be rated based on specifications. Additional ratings can include:

• Capabilities Rating
• Field Associate Rating created by staff members who audited activities
• Ratings created by the participants of the activity

Managing the Grants Application Process

Dashboard-based for easy day-to-day use:

• Approved requestors have a dashboard that enables them to initiate grant requests, update data, receive RFPs and more.
• Internal users have wide grants management functionality that originates from unique user dashboards.

The application process:

• Requestors complete detailed online applications that gather any information you require.
• Detailed budgeting module with post-activity reconciliation.
• Upload documents.

Internal review, notification, and management:

• A completed grant request is sent to designated staff members.
• Staff can review, search, forward, comment and accept/deny.
• Automatic notifications are sent to the vendor and appropriate internal contacts (eg. Accounting).

In-progress and post-activity tracking and data collection:

• Vendors are prompted to make updates to the activity profile as activities occur (eg. Actual attendance)
• Automatic request for budget and data reconciliations are sent when activities are complete. Includes timed follow-ups.
• Budget reconciliation calculates variances and creates an invoice for any funds to be returned.

Budgeting Made Easy

A clear, straightforward template:

• A start-to-finish process that provides a clear picture of the requestor’s budget.
• Collapsable sections for easy maneuverability
• Requestors can update until final submission
• Checkmark indicates section is complete

Detailed information:

• All pertinent budget categories – fully customizable to your needs
• Requestors indicate other funders and percentages
• Creates a detailed audit trail for post-activity assessment

Built-in budget reconciliation:

• Once activities are completed, vendors receive automated emails prompting them to reconcile the budget
• System will continue to prompt at specified intervals until reconciliation is completed
• The reconciliation inferface populates with all original budget numbers, and provides new fields for actuals
• The system calculates variances and creates an invoice for any funds to be returned
• Internal staff members receive notifications of reconciled grants

Detailed Tracking for Activities in Progress

• Enables tracking and analysis of the evolution of a grant while activities are still in progress, providing timely feedback so you do not have to wait until a grant reconciles to assess the value of the activities.
• The system notifies the vendor via email to update the status of the grant at predetermined intervals, usually monthly or quarterly, depending on requirements.
• The vendor is asked if new information is available for the grant profile. If no new information is available, then an email notifies the grant manager that there is no action needed. The vendor will receive another email notification in the next cycle.
• If there is new information available, the vendor will be directed to the appropriate form to input the updates. This form will pre-populate with all activity details as outlined in the grant request.
• Once the vendor updates any activity level data, an email notification is sent to the grant manager. These updates may then be viewed in the grant profile.
• In addition, if an activity segment is completed, the vendor is prompted to fill out actual data points. The system allows the vendor to update activity data before the grant is complete, so the final reconciliation process is more manageable

Analyze and Report the Effectiveness of Supported Activities

Make the most of your data:

• Provides a platform to analyze the effectiveness of all the supported activities and a means to report activity success to stakeholders.
• Data collected from other GML | System modules is accessible along with additional reconciliation data in a user-friendly interface.
• Compare and contrast grant data in a relational format spanning therapeutic areas, format types, delivery methods, etc.
• The system can also provide benchmark data that can be used to compare supported activities to ratings from non-supported activities.
• An array of filters allows users to “mine down” into the most detailed data set in order to answer questions and determine the cause for a specific outcome.

Flexible reporting:

• Standard, Custom and Ad Hoc reports
• Therapeutic area reports compare cost per head, rating, participation rate and total grant cost.
• Users can view the location of certain activities as they relate to CDC prevalence and mortality rates.
• Once a report has been created, the user can save the report, portray the data in charts, and export data to Excel and/or PowerPoint

View the GML | Evaluate demo here.

Evaluate the Comparative Quality of Educational Outcomes

Standardizing and Tracking Educational Outcomes:

• The system standardizes outcomes and measures into consistent formats that enable comparison and evaluation
• Quality parameters focus on Moore’s outcomes levels, specifically levels 4, 5, and 6.
• At the outset, vendors propose which level of outcomes they anticipate reaching. The grant is then tracked on a regular basis through the duration of the activity and the vendor will provide data based upon quality criteria.

Flexible Layout and Reporting

• Data fields are determined internally, with assistance from EM, and are a reflection of the policies or requirements that have been created for activities to qualify for certain outcomes levels.
• The data collected is available in a reporting format for staff to analyze and compare