Paving the Way

Applying for and managing grants funding has emerged as a top priority for many state and local government agencies. With tax revenues declining in a "down" economy, grants associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and other programs have become an important source of funds for government agencies. However, stiff reporting requirements and tight application deadlines attached to stimulus funding and other grants will require more sophisticated solutions for managing government funding streams, and tracking the requirements associated with them.

One forward-thinking government agency has already started down the path to more advanced grants management. The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) launched an agencywide transformation that will help it take full advantage of available funding. The focus on efficient grants management is nothing new for CDPH - the department relies on grants for about two-thirds of its annual budget, so it's critical that the agency maintain or increase the amount of grant funding it receives from year to year. As part of its overall effort to streamline operations, CDPH is integrating previously siloed processes and strengthening management of its grants portfolio.

To ensure the agency secures as much funding as possible, CDPH is now managing its grants like projects. CDPH uses Web-based project management software from CA to track critical timelines, spending levels and other requirements over the grant's life cycle. The new approach helps the agency anticipate trouble spots and fix them before they impact funding.

"We deployed the CA Clarity tool because we needed a comprehensive tool to get control of our grants life cycle," says CDPH First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Financial Officer Carlo Govia. "Whereas in the past, it was sort of more functional, now we think about it as more project-driven."

The new project management approach helps the department meet grant obligations and reduce the number of requests it makes to carry over unspent funds to the following year. Carryover requests are a problem because they can jeopardize future grant awards. If an agency doesn't use all of its awarded funds one year, the award will likely be reduced the following year. As a grant moves through the five phases of its life cycle - ideation, application, award, implementation and closeout - a variety of factors can cause the agency to finish the grant year with funds unspent.

For example, a change in the award amount would require budget revisions. If not carefully tracked, those revisions can impact the procurement of necessary equipment, delaying the project and resulting in unfinished work and unspent funds at the end of the year. CA Clarity PPM On Demand provides a comprehensive view that allows the agency to predict these hang-ups and avoid them.

Maximizing Funds

CDPH's grants management team consists of six staff members, who track the agency's grants throughout the full life cycle. Until recently, CDPH's approach to managing the grants was like many other agencies' across the country.

"We really were doing that on spreadsheets," says Govia. At the time, the department was requesting carryover of about 10 percent of its grant funds annually.

The department began searching for a tool to better manage the 70 or so grants it typically administers, and eventually settled on CA Clarity PPM On Demand. Since deploying the solution, the department has reduced its carryover requests from 10 percent to 1 percent. Govia says the agency looked at other grant management tools, but they were geared more toward nonprofit entities, and CDPH needed a more robust solution that managed the full grants life cycle. The agency can now put its grants into perspective, monitoring the various phases of each grant and making decisions based on that information. This helps the agency respond with agility to changes in the project timeline, grant awards and resources available, rather than allowing the project to be