Address Grant Management Challenges with Unit4 & GrantsNow’s solution
Managing grants effectively is a perennial challenge for organizations that are highly dependent on external funding. From identifying funding opportunities to post-award financial management, the process is often complex, time-consuming, and fraught with manual tasks and bottlenecks.
This blog highlights key insights from the webinar, showcasing how Unit4 and GrantsNow are transforming grant management with automation, seamless integration, and powerful analytics – keep reading to find out more!
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Understanding the Challenges of Grant Management
Grant management spans a variety of activities, each posing its unique complexities, all of which require meticulous attention to detail - But the challenges don’t stop there.
Ian McGowan, Director of GrantsNow highlights that: “Grant cycles are filled with numerous workflows, from identifying opportunities to drafting proposals and managing approvals, not to mention the financial complexities of post-award.” This illustrates how manual and resource-intensive the process can be.
Across sectors such as higher education, research institutions, and non-profits, organizations face several common hurdles:
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Many institutions still rely on manual processes or disjointed tools, which lengthen approval timelines and increase the risk of errors.
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A lack of integration between pre-award and post-award processes creates data silos, making it difficult to gain meaningful status reporting across the grant lifecycle.
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Managing multiple funders often entails complex compliance and eligibility requirements. Without strong systems in place, organizations risk errors in reporting or, worse, jeopardizing future funding opportunities.
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The discontinuation of legacy platforms puts additional pressure on organizations to modernize their processes—sooner, rather than later
How Unit4 & GrantsNow Simplify Grant Management
Unit4 and GrantsNow deliver a robust, end-to-end solution that simplifies every stage of the grant lifecycle. By integrating their strengths, both entities provide tools to help organizations significantly reduce administrative burdens, improve data accuracy, and achieve increased funding for institutions.
Ian McGowan highlighted this synergy during the webinar, noting, “With Unit4 ERP and GrantsNow, winning a grant is no longer the end of a struggle; it’s the beginning of a streamlined success story.” Here’s how:
1. GrantsNow for Pre-Award Management
GrantsNow streamlines the intricate pre-award process. This includes identifying funding opportunities, managing ethics and due diligence reviews, building accurate budgets, and automating approval workflows. Key features include:
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AI-driven funding recommendations - By analyzing keywords and research interests, GrantsNow identifies relevant funding opportunities that match organizational and individual needs.
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Customizable workflows - Automated workflows ensure that proposals and approvals move seamlessly through the pipeline, eliminating delays.
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Comprehensive dashboard and analytics tools - These provide clear insights into metrics such as bid success rates, year-on-year revenue growth, proposal status and cost variances.
Click to read Unit4 Education HCM & FP&A solutions (Gated)
2. Unit4 ERP for Post-Award Management
Once a grant is awarded, Unit4 ERP takes over to manage post-award activities effectively. Core functions include:
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Expense tracking and budget management - Real-time dashboards allow organizations to stay on top of financials with precision, ensuring smooth execution of grant-funded projects.
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Robust support for project management - Unit4 ERP and GrantsNow streamlines processes, enhancing visibility, and ensuring seamless transitions between pre-award and post-award phases.
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Compliance and reporting - Automated processes help ensure adherence to funder requirements, while powerful reporting tools simplify preparation for audits.
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Seamless integration - Unit4 ERP offers a single suite integration with GrantsNow, enabling data from the pre-award stage and project benchmark reporting to flow directly into post-award project management without manual intervention.
3. A Single Integrated Solution
Together, Unit4 and GrantsNow deliver true system integration across the entire grant lifecycle. For example:
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When an award is confirmed, detailed project data—including budgets and allocations—flows seamlessly from GrantsNow into Unit4 ERP with a single click.
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Unit4 ERP offers real-time project tracking, allowing organizations to monitor budgets, resources, and performance metrics effectively.
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Project managers can access data on resource utilization, funding status, and task progress, empowering them to make informed decisions – all in their ERP
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Regular updates ensure that the system evolves to meet the changing needs of users, such as adapting to new compliance regulations or adding advanced analytics features.
Practical Benefits of Using Unit4 & GrantsNow
Organizations that adopt Unit4 and GrantsNow experience tangible benefits, including higher efficiency, better compliance, and greater funding success. During the webinar, real-world applications of these technologies illustrated their impact.
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Efficiency Gains - GrantsNow reduces administrative time by automating manual tasks such as data entry, funder searches, and budget preparation. “Our integrated system has reduced the administrative time for grant management by over 30%,” Ian McGowan notes.
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Improved Compliance - Unit4 ERP helps mitigate risks by embedding compliance controls into workflows. Alerts for project deadlines and reporting obligations ensure organizations stay ahead of their commitments.
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Enhanced Decision-Making – Customer stories in the webinar cite the value of real-time analytics available through these systems. Project managers can access metrics such as bid success rates, budget consumption, and resource allocations directly from project dashboards, eliminating guesswork.
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Scalability - With features such as multi-currency functionality and quarterly system updates, the solution is highly adaptable. Whether an organization focuses on international research or regional grants, Unit4 and GrantsNow cater to diverse needs.
The Future of Smarter Grant Management
Unit4 and GrantsNow not only provide solutions for today’s challenges but also position organizations for future success. By aligning innovation with user needs, these tools promise to redefine grant management in the years ahead.
Key focus areas in their development roadmap include advanced AI capabilities for predictive funding analytics, improved collaboration tools for cross-departmental teams, and enhanced compliance measures to keep pace with evolving regulations.
Sanam Majeed notes: "A lot of organizations face challenges with limited oversight of project performance, reliance on Excel, and managing multiple funding sources. Unit4 ERP, in conjunction with GrantsNow, eliminates these issues by providing real-time insights and automated processes."
From resource allocation to billing and funder compliance, Unit4 ERP automates key processes, saving time and reducing administrative burdens. The system's flexibility allows for tailored solutions to meet unique organizational needs.
Sanam adds: "ERP can handle complex billing rules for multiple funding streams and automate cross-departmental recharges, ensuring compliance with funder requirements through workflows and audits."
Partner with GrantsNow and Unit4 for Grant Management Simplicity
Unit4 ERP and GrantsNow provide a fully integrated system that addresses every stage of the grant lifecycle, from pre-award budget and proposal management to post-award execution.
Sanam Majeed highlights how "With Unit4 ERP, you get real-time insights into performance, commitments, and financials using dashboards, analytics, and flexible reports that allow you to slice and dice data however you need."
If you're ready to transform your grant funding process, these tools offer the streamlined workflows, analytics, and compliance support you need to achieve success.
Learn how Unit4 and GrantsNow can revolutionize your approach to grants by watching the full webinar. With GrantsNow, you gain access to an unparalleled toolset designed to simplify processes, enhance collaboration, and ensure your resources are directed where they’re needed most — towards your mission.
To learn more about Unit4’s ERP and other grant management capabilities that are designed for nonprofits organizations like yours, visit our website, talk to sales, or get a tailored demo – today!
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