A quick snapshot of your post-award world

• How many active awards does your post-award team manage today? Options: Under 100, 100–299, 300–599, 600–999, 1000+
• Tell me about the roles on your team who touch award setup, budgeting, effort certification, and subaward processing.
• How many awards in a typical month require your team to run a close-out, re-budget, or a no-cost extension? Options: 0–5, 6–20, 21–50, 51–100, 100+
• Which reporting formats or sponsor reports consume the most of your team's staff hours each quarter? Options: Federal financial report, Sponsor-specific format, Closeout financial package, Subaward reconciliation reports, Other
• Who on your team is typically responsible for audit response coordination, and how accessible are the files and evidence they maintain when auditors arrive? Options: Grants director, Post-award manager, Financial analyst, Shared across team, No single owner
• Would having no single named owner for audit response at your institution be a showstopper for starting an implementation? Options: Yes, No, Depends on other mitigations

When routine exceptions turn into program risk

• When a PI overspends an award or a cost transfer is flagged, which step in your process tends to create the biggest delay or loss of control? Options: Budget owner review, ERP journal creation, Effort certification reconciliation, Subaward invoice correction, Audit response preparation
• Describe the last time an over-expenditure on one of your awards led to sponsor scrutiny, what the downstream impact was, and who on your staff absorbed the workload.
• In your experience, how many effort certifications require revision or manager follow-up each cycle? Options: None, Under 10%, 10–25%, 26–50%, Over 50%
• If one recurring exception on your awards could be eliminated in the next 90 days, which one would change whether you keep your current process?

The audit finding that would force a change

• What single audit finding would, if it occurred, force your institution to change systems or procedures?
• When was your most recent single audit that touched sponsored awards, and what corrective action followed?
• Which of your internal reports or transaction trails are hardest to produce under audit pressure? Options: Payroll ledgers, Expense invoices, Subaward documentation, Budget modification history, Effort certification evidence, Other
• Who outside your team becomes involved during an audit response, and how does that slow or speed resolution? Options: Controller's office, Compliance/legal, Department admin, ERP support/IT, External auditors, Other
• If the next audit identified an unsupported cost on a major federal award you manage, what internal decision would you expect to follow and how quickly could it be made?

Where integrations will make or break the plan

• Imagine your ERP team only exposes batch file exports rather than APIs, how would that change scope, timeline, and risk for your integrations?
• Identify the functional owner for your ERP feeds and the primary technical contact who would support integration.
• Do you currently have an integration sandbox or test ERP environment your team can make available for validation? Options: Yes, full sandbox with realistic test data, Yes, limited test environment, No, only production exists, Not sure
• List the approvals, security reviews, or data classification steps your institution requires before credentials can be issued.
• Could obtaining ERP read/write access for your project require cabinet-level approvals, and if so, how long does that process typically take? Options: Under 2 weeks, 2–6 weeks, 6–12 weeks, 12+ weeks, Not required/unknown

Where subawards and partner invoices most often stall

• Point to the role or action in your process that repeatedly creates multi-week delays when subaward invoices do not align with approved budgets.
• Approximately what share of subaward invoices your team receives are paid within the month they arrive? Options: Over 90%, 70–90%, 50–69%, Under 50%, Rarely tracked
• Describe the documentation your team maintains for subrecipient monitoring and how easily auditors can trace the payments to approved deliverables.
• What operational outcome at your institution would most likely force leadership to request an exception if subawards were paused for 30 days?

Which alternatives are still on the table

• Name the alternatives your team is actively evaluating, including internal tools, incumbent vendors, or build-in-house plans.
• For each option your team is considering, what would need to be true about it for you to stay with that choice instead of switching?
• Identify any incumbent system or vendor at your institution that currently handles most post-award tasks, and explain why they may remain in place.
• Has anyone at your institution proposed solving these challenges internally without an outside partner, and if so, who owns that proposal? Options: Yes, IT, Yes, Post-award leadership, Yes, Finance, No, Unsure
• Name the single governance, resource, or timeline gap at your institution that would make an internal build infeasible despite comparable cost and outcomes.

If the pilot proves the numbers, what shortens your procurement timeline

• Imagine a pilot demonstrates a measurable reduction in audit exceptions and staff hours for your portfolio, what would need to happen inside your procurement and legal teams to sign within 30 days?
• List the decision-makers at your institution who must approve a contract after a successful pilot and what proof points each needs.
• Specify the acceptance criteria your team will apply to the pilot, and include target numbers where possible. Options: Reduction in audit exceptions, Staff hours saved, Timely effort certifications, Subaward invoice match rate, Other
• State the person at your institution with signing authority to finalize commercial terms if the pilot meets acceptance metrics, and describe any procurement steps that could still block a fast signature.
• Realistically, how soon could your team commit to a pilot after scope is agreed? Options: Immediately, Within 2 weeks, 2–6 weeks, 6–12 weeks, Not ready

Concrete readiness, the checklist that gates configuration

• Point out the specific data owners, system accounts, and test environments your team must have in place before configuration begins, and mark any that are currently unavailable.
• Do you have a named project owner and a single point of contact on your side for ERP access and cutover decisions? Options: Yes, named owner and SPOC, Owner identified but no SPOC, No named owner, Unsure
• Estimate the percentage of your awards where award-level mapping to your ERP account structure requires manual reconciliation. Options: 0–5%, 6–20%, 21–50%, 51–75%, Over 75%, Unknown
• State the regulatory reviews or institutional approvals at your institution that could extend the timeline, and provide the typical duration for each.
• Can a one-day access window to your production systems be scheduled outside fiscal close periods, and if not, what alternative approach would your team accept? Options: Yes, during non-close weeks, Yes, with coordination, No, alternative required, Unsure

Small bets and realistic next steps

• Propose the smallest, low-risk pilot your team would run to validate integrations, workflows, and audit traceability, including which awards to include and the primary success metric.
• Provide the names or roles from your organization that must be on a pilot steering group and the estimated weekly hours each can commit.
• Specify the report or transaction slice your team would want produced during the pilot to prove audit traceability end to end.
• Share your target decision date if the pilot meets its metric, and name any gating issues at your institution that could prevent meeting that date. Options: Within 2 weeks of pilot completion, Within 30 days, Within 60 days, Longer or TBD
• Rate your procurement team's readiness to support a small pilot contract. Options: Fully ready, Mostly ready with minor steps, Requires significant prep, Not ready, Unsure

• Solution Experience Session — Post-Award Operations

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the demonstrated budget control workflow eliminates the overspend rework you described.
• Provide two representative award scenarios, one with an overspent budget category and one requiring a complex sponsor report, plus related subaward invoices.
• You confirm the effort certification process meets your on-time and audit-trace requirements.
• Prove the budget control workflow with your scenario
• Provide a sample ERP extract or schema for a modeled award to validate integration mappings and data boundaries.
• You confirm the subaward invoice workflow and sponsor report proof meet your reconciliation and reporting needs.
• Run the provided scenarios in a sandbox, record the session, and deliver a replay and dataset mapping before the follow-up decision meeting.
• Prove the effort certification workflow with a late-case
• You agree on the remaining integration dependencies and evidence required to make a purchase decision.
• Prove subaward invoice matching and sponsor reporting
• Prepare an integration dependency checklist and a preliminary data migration boundary document for review.
• Identify the internal stakeholders who must validate audit evidence and confirm their availability for the follow-up session.
• Review integration and data migration boundaries
• Validate the future state with the buying team
• Agree next steps and remaining decision evidence

• Solution Experience — Post-Award Operations
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Award account setup and activation in ERP
• Budget configuration with sponsor-specific cost categories
• ERP integration and dual-entry elimination connector
• Award and transaction data migration
• Automated expenditure monitoring and over-budget alerts
• Effort certification processing and federal reporting
• Subaward issuance and invoice processing workflow
• Cost transfer documentation and approval workflow
• No-cost extension and re-budget request management
• Sponsor financial report generation (SF-425 and variants)
• PI-facing budget and spend dashboard deployment
• Portfolio-level risk, deadlines, and closeout dashboard
• Audit-trail packaging and transactional evidence export
• Role-based user provisioning and permissions

Award account setup and activation in ERP

• Confirm the ERP you will activate award accounts in Options: PeopleSoft, Banner, Workday, Custom/Other
• List the ERP chart of accounts segments and example account numbers to be used for award account mapping
• Do you require auto-creation of project or fund structures from award documents during setup Options: Yes, No
• What acceptance criteria will validate account activation in your ERP (examples: award code exists, budget visible to PI, GL segment mapping applied)
• Who will be the authorizer for account activation and what is the approval method (ERP role, emailed approval, ticket)
• When do accounts need to be available relative to the award start date Options: At least 14 days before start, 7-13 days before start, On start date, After start date

Budget configuration with sponsor-specific cost categories

• Which sponsor cost categories do you require configured per award (select all that apply) Options: Salary, Fringe/Benefits, Equipment, Travel, Participant Support, Subcontract/Subaward, Other
• Provide the sponsor-specific budget templates or award budget PDF formats we should source
• Require automated budget validation against sponsor terms (e.g., limits on participant support, salary cap) Options: Yes, No
• Identify threshold rules for over-budget alerts by category (for example: alert at 90% of salary line, block purchases above 100%)
• Specify who approves budget category changes and their institutional title
• When should re-budget requests require sponsor-level justification (examples: any transfer > $25,000, any change >10% of category) Options: Any transfer > $25,000, Any change > 10% of category, Only sponsor-specified thresholds, Custom threshold

ERP integration and dual-entry elimination connector

• Which ERP endpoints will be used for integration (select all that apply) Options: PeopleSoft API/endpoint, Banner report/extract, Workday integration endpoint, Flat-file SFTP export/import, Other
• Provide the ERP integration method available at your institution (REST API, SOAP/legacy API, flat-file SFTP, scheduled GL loads) Options: REST API, SOAP/legacy API, Flat-file SFTP, Scheduled batch GL load, Unsure / IT to confirm
• How will you verify successful elimination of dual-entry (for example: reconciled trial balance within 24 hours of sync, matched project balances)
• Specify the frequency required for financial syncs to the ERP Options: Real-time/near real-time, Hourly, Nightly, Daily batch, Weekly
• List the ERP fields required to map (project ID, fund, org, account, program, activity) and any example field names
• Who is your ERP technical contact for API credentials, certificates, and firewall exceptions

Award and transaction data migration

• Identify the source systems and exports that contain award and transaction history (for example: legacy grant ledger CSV, PeopleSoft reports, Banner exports)
• Estimate the migration volume: number of awards, ledger transactions, and payroll distributions to migrate Options: Less than 500 awards, 500-2,000 awards, 2,000+ awards, Unknown - IT to advise
• Select the migration window you require for historical data Options: 100% of history, Last 24 months, Last 12 months, Custom range
• Describe the evidence that will validate migration completeness (examples: matched transaction counts, dollar-for-dollar GL reconciliations, sample award confirmations)
• Enumerate any transaction types that should be excluded from migration (for example: voided entries, internal recharges, prior-period manual adjustments)
• Attach or link to any existing mapping artifacts we should use (COA mapping spreadsheets, payroll distribution rules)

Automated expenditure monitoring and over-budget alerts

• Select the budget thresholds that should trigger alerts for PIs and administrators Options: 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, Custom per award
• Detail the expense accounts or object codes that require allowability checks against sponsor rules (list account numbers or ranges)
• Do you require pre-approval holds on expenditures that exceed category budgets Options: Yes - block posting, Yes - require pre-approval but allow posting, No
• Indicate the notification channels for alerts Options: Email to PI/Admin, In-platform task/notification, ERP notification, SMS/Slack
• Name who will own alert configuration and tuning during the pilot (title or team)
• How quickly must alerts be delivered after transaction posting Options: Immediate/real-time, Within 1 hour, End-of-day digest, Daily digest only

Effort certification processing and federal reporting

• State the effort reporting cadence you follow for federally funded personnel Options: Semi-annual, Quarterly, Monthly, Other
• Outline your current effort certification policy thresholds and rounding rules used by your institution
• Require automated distribution of payroll effort to awards using department payroll extracts Options: Yes, No, Partial/Needs design
• Describe the format and recipients for certified effort reports required for audits
• Name which sponsors require specialized effort certification reports (for example: NIH salary cap calculations, agency-specific templates)
• Are there existing signed effort certification archives to be migrated for audit trail Options: Yes - full archive, Yes - recent X years, No

Subaward issuance and invoice processing workflow

• Confirm whether you issue subawards using a standard template that should be ingested Options: Yes, No, Some use template, some ad hoc
• Detail the typical invoicing cadence from subawardees and their common invoice formats Options: Monthly PDF invoice, Quarterly spreadsheet, Portal upload, Mixed formats
• Enumerate the validation checks that must run on subaward invoices
• State whether you require automated matching between subaward invoices and the prime award budget line Options: Yes - automatic match, Yes - recommended match with manual review, No
• Enter who approves subaward invoices and the approval SLA (title and SLA days)
• Indicate any sponsor flow-down clauses that affect invoicing or allowability we must enforce

Cost transfer documentation and approval workflow

• Outline your current cost transfer policy time limits and the required justification elements
• Would you like automated flags for cost transfers older than an institutional threshold (for example: 90 days) Options: Yes, No
• Attach which supporting documents must be required for a cost transfer (payroll receipts, effort justification, approvals)
• Designate who signs off on cost transfer approvals and should be configured as approvers in the workflow
• Choose the audit evidence package format for cost transfer reviews Options: PDF bundle, Zipped folder with indexed files, Shared folder with index file
• Are there sponsor-specific cost transfer restrictions we must encode (for example: sponsor notification requirements) Options: Yes - list sponsors and rules, No, Unknown - need counsel input

No-cost extension and re-budget request management

• Note which types of re-budget requests are most common for your office Options: Line-item re-budget, PI salary changes, Equipment additions, Participant support shifts, Other
• Supply your institutional thresholds that require sponsor prior approval for re-budgets or no-cost extensions
• Would you like automated sponsor notification and a packaged report for no-cost extension (NCE) requests Options: Yes - automated package, No - manual only, Partial automation
• Designate who will be the approver chain for extension and rebudget requests (titles and order)
• Enter required attachments for NCE requests (for example: financial status report, justification letter)
• Clarify when the system should prevent NCE submission due to sponsor blackout periods or award closeout windows

Sponsor financial report generation (SF-425 and variants)

• Note which sponsor report types you file regularly Options: SF-425 (Federal Financial Report), Sponsor-specific Excel template, Custom PDF report, Other
• Map the chart of accounts to SF-425 line items or sponsor templates (describe mapping approach or upload mapping)
• Are reconciliation checks required between SF-425 totals and ERP GL prior to submission Options: Yes - must balance to GL, No - reconciliation done offline, Conditional - depends on award
• Choose the frequency and recipients for automated drafts of sponsor financial reports Options: Monthly draft to PI and Admin, Quarterly draft to Controller, Ad-hoc on request
• Clarify who holds final sign-off authority for SF-425 submissions and must be included in the approval workflow
• Are there sponsor-specific audit trails to attach with each report submission (for example: supporting invoices, payroll certifications) Options: Yes - list sponsors, No, Varies by sponsor

• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Subscription Agreement / Order Form
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Implementation Plan & Acceptance Criteria
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Procurement and Security Addendum
• Change Order Agreement
• Payment Schedule and Invoicing Terms

• Go-live Health Check
• First Outcomes Measurement
• Acceptance Gate Review (Day 90)
• Quarterly Operational Review
• Audit Readiness and Incident Triage

• Publish the prioritized enhancement backlog with expected metric impact and delivery windows.
• Publish the Acceptance Gate record with criterion-level pass/fail status and the buyer signatory statement.
• Create remediation work orders for any failed criteria with target close dates and verification steps.
• Execute the incumbent wind-down plan or archive process and publish proof of archive or read-only configuration.
• Trend review versus targets
• Confirm whether effort certification timeliness and subaward processing time are meeting the targets recorded in Solution Scope or require action.
• Identify and document the top five at-risk awards and agree mitigation tasks to reduce audit exposure.
• Maintain a prioritized enhancement backlog that maps each request to its expected metric impact and delivery timeframe.
• Reconfirm success criteria and owners
• Open remediation tickets for the top at-risk awards with target closure dates and verification steps.
• Deliver a quarter summary report showing metric trendlines, incidents closed, and outstanding risks.
• Verify audit artifacts and evidence completeness
• Confirm the number of audit findings is stable or decreasing and that the platform can produce sponsor-required financial reports within the target hours recorded in Solution Scope.
• Ensure all sample awards reviewed contain the required audit artifacts and that any gaps have assigned remediation tasks with dates.
• Reduce open high-priority incidents impacting audit readiness to zero or an agreed low threshold before the next audit window.
• Assemble and publish an audit pack for the reviewed sample awards showing each required artifact and its storage location.
• Create remediation tickets for any missing evidence or access-control gaps with resolution deadlines.
• Provide a runbook for producing sponsor-required financial reports and measure time to produce as validation evidence.
• Confirm that deployment tasks and data migration completed against the cutover checklist and note any open exceptions.
• Identify the top three blockers preventing normal operations and agree remediation steps to close them within the hypercare window.
• Confirm training and initial user access status so adoption monitoring can begin.
• Publish deployment validation logs and a reconciled data exceptions list for the migration window.
• Create remediation tasks for critical blockers with target close dates during hypercare.
• Provide a roster of users who completed training and users pending training for tracking.
• Present first outcome data
• Validate whether percent of effort certifications completed on time is trending to the target recorded in Solution Scope and document the delta if not.
• Measure reduction in hours per week spent on manual sponsor reporting versus the pre-deployment baseline and compare to the target recorded in Solution Scope.
• Agree a time-bound remediation plan for the top root causes driving awards with active over-budget alerts.
• Deliver the filtered data extracts and dashboards used to compute each metric for audit and follow-up analysis.
• List the prioritized remediation tasks for metric shortfalls with resolution dates and acceptance criteria.
• Schedule follow-up checkpoints ahead of the Acceptance Gate to verify remediation progress.
• Restate acceptance criteria and numeric targets
• Produce a documented pass/fail decision for each acceptance criterion recorded in Solution Scope and capture the buyer signatory for the formal acceptance record.
• Agree remediation items and firm timelines for any conditional or failed criteria so acceptance can be achieved within the agreed window.
• Confirm the incumbent decommissioning plan outcome, including archive completion or read-only retention and any contract/renewal actions required.
• At-risk awards and audit indicators
• Incident and ticket burn-down
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• Diagnose gaps and root causes
• Deployment and migration validation
• Enhancement requests and backlog prioritization
• Document pass or fail per criterion and capture formal acceptance decision
• Sample simulation for single-audit pull
• Agree corrective actions and owners
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Agree evidence remediation and access controls
• Blockers and open issues
• Confirm timeline to acceptance gate
• Open issues and remediation status
• Remediation plan and resolution timeline
• Immediate remediation actions
• Incumbent system wind-down checkpoint