The DNA of Grant Management Processes

Alex Sirota

A Story
Summer Company is yearly entrepreneurship experience for 15-29 year olds.
www.ontario.ca/summercompany

Business Process Reengineering began in 2002 Now in v9

eService Business Consultant wrote requirements with program input Economics and Business Cluster implemented code Yearly project charter < $100,000 Total budget spent - $400,000 over 5+ years Summer Company Registration, Eligibility and Evaluation Network (SCREEN) is result
Reusable internally by other clusters

The problem
Fix program mechanics & measure results
Lead time for applications too short Not enough applications to fill 300-600 grants Incomplete and non-standard applications Identifying successful completion Reporting measures of success

The solution
Yearly continual iterations to improve Build Front and Back Office together Workflow built in based on grant best-practices Easy to learn and use Provide access to pre- and post-approval application processes for ALL stakeholders Rudimentary Reporting and Integration with Finance to Disburse Cheques
https://stage.ontariocanada.com/screen (Front Office) https://stage.ontariocanada.com/screen_bo (Back Office)

Status Quo
All paper applications have been deprecated
SCREEN has processed over 15,000 applications since 2003, over 2000 approved applications.

Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) completed by OCIPO with 10 recommendations to continue to remove private information from all existing paper-based processes (disbursement requests to Finance) Organizations have recently approached us to use the code and model
Issues: Liability, timing, support, open-source, making system a generic platform, cost not usually an issue

In short
Success in grant management is *much* more than effective processing and administration Important to properly address:
Privacy Complete applications Provide control to proponents during pre/post-approval Relationship management Measuring financial forecasts/actuals Tracking the story of the project Measuring success Reporting longitudinally And Privacy, again

Agile Guiding Principles

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

A proposal
Approach in incremental steps, implementing only shared, common needs and functionality Work from a strawdog approach, testing a standard logic model Leverage an open source model of development both from a business process and a code perspective
Build an abstraction layer to benefit all who use the system

Build a strong community of practice with process and code as the backbone

Benefits of Proposal
Incremental approach will yield quick wins for organizations that can adopt proposed grant model Creating a shared grant logic model will make it easier for others to install-and-run Open-source will make it easy for organizations in the BPS to contribute and receive benefits from code library Learning from each others successes and failures in a community of practice centered around the project

How unique are grant processes?

Is there a shared DNA between different grant processes? Imagine:
An easy to configure, scalable, inexpensive grant management process that is available to anyone in the OPS or the Broader Public Sector.

True or False?
We have plenty of time to get this right?
Culture change takes 5+ years, not 1 or 2, consultants are always available to help Government collects and spends money, we are good at collecting, but spending effectively and measuring outcomes?

Technology solutions are the answer?

Appear to solve the mechanics problem (20%)

We know how to measure performance and outcomes?

Program measurement, performance and outcomes are not usually addressed effectively (80%)

One DNA strand for GM

A logic model:
Eligibility Check Application Inquiry (aka Part A) Authentication Formal Application (aka Part B) Submission Recommendation Evaluation Approval/Initial Disbursement(s) Project Monitoring Successful/Unsuccessful Completion Project/Outcome Reporting

References
Lawrence Lessig Code is Law harvardmagazine.com/2000/01/code-is-law.html Agile Methodologies www.agilemanifesto.org and www.agilealliance.org Independent Blue Ribbon Panel From Red Tape to Clear Results www.brp-gde.ca Project Streamline report from foundations in US www.projectstreamline.org Open Proposal Appraisal http://sourceforge.net/projects/opa Vista Veterans Administration open source solution, runs Mexicos health care system

TODO
Create mapping of SCREEN modules to Common Process Model/Workflow
Intake, filtering, funding provision, monitoring & closure Agreement Management, Financial Management, Information Management, Operations, Performance Information & Referral, Client Advice, Community & Industry Advice, Service Development & Monitoring, Governance, Framework Management, Integrity Management need to be worked out

Explore ROI of Build vs Buy

Solutions for grant management are immature, long term cost for support could be a lot larger than you think customization is always hidden cost Building your own, deployment on cloud computing systems like Googles App Engine