Smarter [FASTER] Funding Decisions Through Streamlined Workflows

Let’s paint a picture.

Imagine a world where funding decisions feel effortless. Where each phase of the grants management process moves seamlessly, transitioning elegantly from the application stage through peer reviews to awards, and well beyond. Where funding organizations and researchers operate in lockstep. And perhaps most importantly, where the outcomes and impact of your grant programs are not only front of mind, but truly at your fingertips.

This is the goal. But for too long, this picture has felt just out of reach. Not anymore.

How do we make it happen? Let’s start by considering the key steps involved in scientific research grants. Here are the basics we know all too well:

• Program Setup
• Request for Proposals
• Proposal Applications
• Peer Reviews
• Award Grants
• Research Commencement
• Ongoing Review & Impact Analysis

And what about the key audiences involved?

There are funding institutions, certainly, and the researchers and research teams conducting critical scientific inquiry. But there are also numerous key groups, all of whom need to remain aligned and coordinated along the way, including the funding leadership team, the board of directors, peer reviewers, and other interested stakeholders.

So how do we synchronize all of these stages—and all of these people—as effectively, effortlessly, and speedily as possible? With Altum’s highly intuitive ProposalCentral grant funding platform.

In fact, there are an array of meaningful efficiencies baked straight into Altum’s functionality, like automated application assignments, payment and report scheduling, built-in notifications, and even automated error checking.

And beyond a few of the increasingly available automations we can embed into our day-to-day, there are numerous other benefits to using a central grants management platform. To name just a few, Altum promises thoughtful integrations (ORCID, in particular), seamless updates through a cloud-native environment, and even on-call support from our team of technology and industry experts.

But the most valuable benefit to leveraging a grants management platform: everything in one place. That’s right, all grants management data in one spot, managed securely and accurately, so you have one system of record for all stakeholders to use as a shared home base.

As we see it, there are ten invaluable benefits to streamlining our workflows:

1. When we streamline our workflows, we can reduce or eliminate routine annual & clerical tasks (something we can all absolutely get behind)
2. When we streamline our workflows, we can reduce the bottlenecks of manual, redundant methods
3. When we streamline our workflows, we can accomplish processes quickly & accurately
4. When we streamline our workflows, we can increase our productivity
5. When we streamline our workflows, we can improve consistency
6. When we streamline our workflows, we can reduce our labor costs
7. When we streamline our workflows, we can mitigate the effects of labor shortages
8.  When we streamline our workflows, we can ensure compliance with reporting requirements
9. When we streamline our workflows, we can enhance communication & collaboration across stakeholders
10. And lastly, when we streamline our workflows, we can improve the stakeholder experience across the board

And the results speak for themselves. We’re proud to serve more than 200 funding organizations and 600,000 researchers in pursuit of meaningful scientific breakthroughs and impact. Every year, we incorporate additional efficiencies and automations to empower our communities. And every year, we see enhanced workflows carry funders and researchers farther—and faster—than any year prior. 

So let’s make 2023 the smartest, faster, most efficient year yet. Because that’s a pretty good-looking picture, if you ask us.