Brian Benjamin, deputy chief of staff at the Idaho State Controller’s Office, said agencies were “having to use separate systems — all these different spreadsheets — email, jot forms, trying to patch that together.” Those siloed approaches slowed things down; reimbursements to agencies and community partners could take weeks, sometimes even more than a month.
The delays were something agencies experienced firsthand. Amy Duque, program administration manager for the Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance, said grant payments “could be one week if we were lucky, more likely two or three, and there were points in time when it was even more than a month.”
For organizations that rely on grant funding to deliver services, the waits created uncertainty. To address the issue, instead of keeping systems separate, Idaho connected its grant management platform to its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Luma, by working with Euna Solutions, a provider of cloud-based software designed to simplify procurement and grants management.
That shift changed how payment requests move through the system. With the integration in place, requests now follow a defined, system-driven workflow that keeps data consistent across platforms. Pilar Martinez, manager of customer success for Euna Solutions, said the process now begins when a grant recipient submits a payment request through the system. That request includes details like the amount, the date and supporting documents such as receipts or invoices.
After submission, a grant manager reviews the request to confirm everything is accurate. Once approved, the system generates what Martinez called a “payment authorization,” which signals the next step. From there, an automated daily process gathers approved payments and sends them in batches to the state’s ERP system, where the payments are issued.
The process continues after the payment is made. The ERP system sends a confirmation back to the grant platform, including details like payment status and reference numbers. This exchange allows both systems to give users visibility into what has been processed. Essentially, the integration allows information to move between systems through automated steps.
The platform is designed to support the full life cycle of a grant — from application and approval to payment and reporting — while the ERP system handles the financial transactions. And for Idaho, its system adoption is still ongoing. Currently, 10 Idaho state agencies are using the grant management platform, and seven of those are actively using the payment integration with the ERP system, according to the Controller's Office.
For those agencies, “integrated” means that once a payment is approved in the grant system, the data flows automatically into the ERP system for processing, reducing manual steps and shortening timelines. Other agencies are using the platform without the integration or are still evaluating whether to adopt it.
But the state’s efforts to connect systems extend beyond payments. Idaho has also begun implementing a second type of integration focused on the grant-seeking side. In this case, financial data such as expenses can be pulled from an agency’s financial system into the grant management platform. This allows agencies to view budgeted versus actual spending alongside program information, providing more context than financial systems alone typically offer.
That more comprehensive focus on integration was intentional. Amy Edmondson, a project manager at the Idaho State Controller’s Office, said the system was designed with a “statewide approach” in mind. It allows agencies to adopt the platform using shared standards and interfaces, rather than building entirely new processes individually.
And as more states look to modernize how they manage funding, Idaho’s experience reflects a growing interest in connecting operational and financial systems, according to Martinez. Demand for these types of integrations is increasing, she said, noting that “most of our new business has some type of integration.”
Other states are exploring similar models as interest in these integrations grows; Nebraska is currently testing Euna's platform. As adoptions expand, these systems are expected to continue evolving. Additional agencies may come online over time, and further automation may be introduced as processes mature and states refine how their systems work together.
That evolution is also beginning to include emerging technologies. AI is starting to play a role in grant management, though not within the payment process itself. Martinez said Euna’s current AI efforts are focused on helping organizations identify and apply for grants, rather than managing payments.
For Idaho, the early impact is already visible in specific cases. Processes that once took weeks can now be completed in one day, using the integrated ERP grant management payment system.
