Non Profit Communications Leader
Web Enabled Grants Management System

Business Challenge

Our client, a non-profit communications leader, is a recipient of government grants which disburses funding to other public television and radio stations. Their method of grants management was cumbersome and inefficient.  They also wanted to update their system with more current technologies that would ultimately reduce their development costs and streamline their operations.

The Solution

Acumen Solutions was hired to develop and implement a large new multi-user web application to function as a high quality, user-friendly, maintainable, end-to-end grants management solution. This full software development lifecycle project provided the grant recipients functionality such as posting, viewing, and reporting financial data and other supporting documents.  It also enabled our client to approve or reject the financial data, calculate grants, and initiate the grants payment process. Interfaces were custom designed and the database was restructured by Acumen Solutions’ development team.

Acumen Solutions employed our unique DRIVE™ methodology to architect the user interface, interactions, and visual design the technical team created a design that supported: email communication, complex security requirements for authorization and authentication, and historical data views that can be customized by the user.

Technical/Business Expertise

Acumen Solutions conducted several, extensive requirement-gathering meetings with key client stakeholders. Through the course of these sessions, the team identified requirements and process improvements.

Our expert business analysts were able to:

• Validate their understanding of the business rules and the desired functionality for the application.
• Document solid requirements and validate the priority.
• Work closely with the user experience team to create thorough user interface specifications.

Our user experience team recommended a visual design approach that significantly improved the users’ experience and adoption around these six principles: Ease of Use, Intuitive Navigation, Create Opportunities for Communication, Show Context, Automate Where Possible, Provide the right reference material, in the right manner, at the right time.

There was a testing cycle during post development which was conducted by our quality assurance team. The team ensured accurate functionality as well as requirement accuracy and response times.

Return on Investment

As a result of the new multi-user web application, our client benefited from improvements in its processes as well as an increase in their employees’ productivity. This implementation will provide a complete solution and a more enjoyable experience for the grants recipients, thus facilitating stronger relationships and partnerships between our client and their constituents.  Our solution to our client’s current grants management system is more than just a technical solution; it is a communication portal that represents a critical business process. We have been able to create a catalyst for information exchange between our client and their key constituents. 

Non-Profit Communications Leader Web-Enabled Grants Management System (PDF)