We have assisted many foundations, trusts, and endowments over the years in their efforts to identify and implement new grants management systems (GMS). With all GMS related projects, our level of involvement can range from low to high based on your needs.
Requirements Gathering: We help you identify stakeholders, document business processes and workflows, and potential integrations, as well as function and data migration needs.
Vendor Selection Support: We can create RFPs/RFIs based on requirements, suggest vendors for consideration, identify selection criteria, create a demo script, and support your final decision making. We can also participate in and facilitate demos from vendors and the evaluation of the vendors, including tracking evaluation results. We provide leadership approval support to help communicate the options and recommendations to leadership and can provide guidance in contract negotiations.
Project Management: We can help define roles and responsibilities, develop a schedule and budget, coordinate stakeholders, plan and facilitate meetings, prepare regular stakeholder communication, coordinate and communicate with vendors on your behalf, and track deliverables for the project.
Project Management: We offer full project management support which includes defining roles and responsibilities, scheduling, budgeting, coordinating stakeholders, coordinating and facilitating meetings, preparing and distributing updates to stakeholders, coordinating and communication with vendors, tracking deliverables, trainings, and planning for the system go-live.
Quality Assurance: As part of our quality assurance work, we create test plans and test cases, coordinate test case execution, track test results, and provide feedback to the vendor.
Vendor Deliverable Evaluation: We can assist with reviewing documentation for the vendor’s requirements, design, and implementation, and review system releases to ensure they conform.
Contract Change Order Support: Should the need arise, we can assist with identifying changes to the project scope and creating change orders, documenting details, and reviewing proposals.
Data Migration Support: In addition to helping identify all sources of data that need to be migrated to the new system, we can help map the data, conduct transformation planning and execution and import planning and execution.
System Integration Support: We can identify and develop a strategy for integrating external systems (such as CRM, finance, e-signature) and work with third party vendors to execute the strategy.
Training Support: We can help identify training needs and create a strategy to address those needs, including providing training directly to users. We also create documentation to support users, coordinate trainings.
Coding System Reengineering: We can help evaluate existing coding systems, analyze your needs and potential changes or improvements, develop new systems, map strategy between an old and a new system and implement a new system.
Grant Process Re-engineering: If you expect or wish to explore making changes to the grantmaking processes as part of the change of GMS systems, Philanthropy.io can help guide that work.