Getting Started Part 2/2 Workbook

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SputnikMomentBanner
Congratulations on your decision to streamline your grants management processes with Salesforce, and for choosing Sputnik Moment as your Implementation Partner! We are excited to be on this journey with you!

ABOUT THE WORKBOOK

We've designed this GETTING STARTED WORKBOOK to help you have a successful implementation of your new Grants Management System (GMS) on the Salesforce platform. The best way to be successful, is to be prepared!


Wondering if you are totally ready for this project? 


This workbook will walk you through the following steps:


1. Identify & Prepare Your Project Team
2. Prepare your Schedules
3. Define your Vision and Goals
4. Create your Testing & Verification Plan
5. Create your Communication Plan
6. Uploading all Required Documents


Once you've completed this workbook, we will schedule a meeting to make sure we have all we need to start the project!


If you have any questions about this workbook, please contact us at any time at grantsmanagement@sputnikmoment.com.

NOTE: You'll be able to SAVE & RETURN to this workbook as needed, so don't feel pressured to fill it out all at once, as you may need input from other people at your organization.
    • Click the 'Save my Progress and Resume Later' button at the top
    • Enter your email address and set a password
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Page 2

FIRST THINGS FIRST

YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION
Please let us know who is filling out this form, so that we can contact you if needed, and so we can email you a copy of your completed answers.




Page 3

PREPARE YOUR PROJECT TEAM

On this Page, you will be defining your Project Team. 


A Project Team should not be everyone who will use the system; that list will be defined later. Best practice is one person per "department" or "function".


Review each Project Team Role definition below.

  • Enter the Name (First & Last), Email and Title for each person that will fill that role.
  • You may have more than one person in a particular Project Team Role. If that is the case, use the Add another response link to add additional names.
  • You may have the SAME person acting as more than one Project Team Role. If that is the case, you only need to enter their Name, Email and Title the FIRST time you add them. For any subsequent Project Team Roles, you may just enter their Name.
Project Sponsor/Account Manager

Responsible for contract signatures and typically the final project signoff.
Sometimes this person is different from the Project Manager



Project Manager

Responsible for weekly project updates to executive team. Responsible for coordinating the project timeline with the Lead Consultant at Sputnik Moment.



Primary Contact

This person is the primary day-to-day contact for the Lead Consultant at Sputnik Moment. This person should have thorough knowledge of your organization's programs, grant cycles, grant processes, and reporting requirements. This person will communicate regularly with their Project Team, and consolidate system requirements, key decisions, and testing feedback to the Lead Consultant at Sputnik Moment.

NOTE: It is common for the Project Manager & Primary Contact to be the same person



Data Analyst

If a data migration is in scope for this project, this person is responsible for exporting/preparing all of the data to be imported into the new GMS. This person may need to clean up/normalize data in preparation for import. They will also need to review the data after import to confirm accuracy.



System Administrator

This person will have primary responsibility to maintain the Grants Management System after you launch; this will be the person who handles user management, makes system configuration changes, creates new application forms, etc...

NOTE: Many organizations do not have a dedicated system administrator on staff. Some choose to nominate the Grants Manager or a 'Super User' for this role, but many choose to continue their partnership with Sputnik Moment after the initial implementation. We can discuss support options with you if this is something that you are interested in.



Additional Project Team Members

These will be other key users of the system, such as department heads, or program officers, who haven't previously been identified in another role. 

These users may be called upon as subject matter experts for a specific program, and will typically assist with testing the system. The users should be 'tech savvy'.

Best practice is one person per department or function (ie: Grants Manager, Program Coordinator, Payment Coordinator, etc).



Page 4

PREPARE YOUR SCHEDULES

Project Team Members will need to budget time into their schedules according to their level of participation on this project. We may need to revise our proposed timeline if key members will not be available at certain points in the project (ie: for system testing).


Below are some estimates for project-related activities:


Weekly Project Status Meetings - 1 hour
These meetings typically only need to include the Primary Contact(s) and any subject matter experts for the topic that will be discussed that day.


Internal Project Meetings - Up to 3 hours
These are meetings that you will conduct internally with appropriate team members to discuss items such as business process and system requirement decisions, or to get answers to questions asked by your Lead Consultant.


System Testing - 6 to 8 hours
When we review the proposed project timeline, there will be certain weeks where we will expect your team to conduct system testing. During this time, the team members included in the testing process will need to schedule uninterrupted chunks of time for tasks related to testing.
Please provide 2-3 Day/Time options for the weekly Project Status meetings.
(be sure to include your Time Zone): 
Meeting Options


Ex: 8a-10a, 11a-12p EST
Please provide Dates that specific Project Team Members will not be available, or will have limited availability, in the next 4-5 months (vacations, conferences, board meeting prep, etc.):
Team Member Unavailability


Example: 3/1-3/5 (Out of Office), 4/1-4/2 (Limited Availability)
Please indicate below the desired deadline date for this project. The deadline would be when the system is ready to be "live", and your staff has been trained. Keep in mind that a typical implementation takes 3-6 months depending on the scope of the project.

NOTE: You may have provided a time frame when first discussing the project with Pierre, but sometimes months pass between when discussions first begin and the contract is signed, so the original deadline date discussed may no longer be applicable.


Ex: Next grant cycle begins on MM/DD/YYYY and we'd like to intake those applications on the new portal

Page 5

DEFINE YOUR VISION AND GOALS

DEFINE YOUR VISION


DEFINE YOUR GOALS
What specific Goals would need to be met in order to consider the Grants Management System implementation a success? Define your Goals in terms of the hoped-for solutions, then list how you would measure success of that goal.

See examples below:
Goals and Measurements of Success
List your Goals

(You may add up to 8)

Click the Add another response link to add another Goal


Page 6

CREATE YOUR TESTING AND VERIFICATION PLAN

A successful implementation includes gathering testing feedback to determine that the system we're creating together meets your implementation goals.

In our experience, you will typically solicit feedback from two main sets of Users:

Project Team/Internal Staff: 
These are the users that will be using the system from an internal perspective; looking up or entering grant data, processing payments, reviewing grant reports, etc...

Applicants/Grantees:
These are the users that will be accessing the system from a portal interface; applying for grants, submitting grant reports, etc. If you will not be implementing a portal, you will not need to include these users.

In the questions below, we are asking you to consider who will do testing at each major phase. You may adjust who your specific testers will be as the timing gets closer. These questions are intended to get you thinking about this step as you prepare for your project.


Page 7

CREATE A COMMUNICATION PLAN

How will you get the word out about your new system? Determine the timing, audience and key topics to build enthusiasm and keep users updated on your system implementation.

Again, you will typically communicate to two audiences:

Project Team/Internal Staff

Applicants/Grantees

And communication typically happens during 3 major project phases:

Pre-Launch
Examples: Messaging that a new system is coming; benefits that you are hoping to gain by having a centralized grants management system; run a system naming contest with internal staff (We have one client who named their system 'Pickles' because it was the name of their ED's cat!)

Launch
Examples: Instructions to applicants/grantees on how to access the system, where to get assistance. Instructions to internal staff on where to access system documentation.

Post-Launch
Examples: Recognizing internal users that have been the most active in the new system, holding mini-webinars/training sessions for portal users

Although your communication strategies may shift throughout the project, the questions below are intended to help get you thinking about this often overlooked, but very important, component of the project.
Communicating with Project Team/Internal Staff
For each project phase, specify the message(s) you would like to communicate to the Project Team/Internal Staff and which approach(es) you might consider using. You may also specify concerns you have about communicating with this group during each phase (e.g. some of our staff are not comfortable with change).

ie: Project vision, system benefits, transition plan, system naming contest

ie: Instructions on how to access the system, where to find documentation, training dates if applicable

ie: User recognition for who has been most active in the system, ongoing training sessions (lunch & learn), etc.
Communicating with Applicants/Grantees
For each project phase, specify the message(s) you would like to communicate to Applicants/Grantees and which approach(es) you might consider using. You may also specify concerns you have about communicating with this group during each phase (e.g. some applicants are not comfortable with technology and may need additional assistance).

ie: Announce that a new portal is coming, lookout for new system login credentials

ie: Send an email with new credentials, or with a link to register; Instructions on how to apply or submit reports

ie: User tips and tricks, dates for mini-trainings/webinars, cheat sheet instructions

Page 8

UPLOADING REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Having all of your supporting documents finalized PRIOR to taking on a system implementation is CRUCIAL to your project's success and directly impacts the speed at which your system can be ready for launch.

Below are the key documents that we need you to upload prior to kicking off your project. It's okay if they are almost finalized, but the more final they are, the better.

We will discuss all of these with you to ask questions, and to determine which items are "In Scope" for your Project. For example: You might have 4 Application Forms in total, but have only chosen to include only 2 in the scope.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
APPLICATION FORM(S)
Upload the final (or close to final) versions of each of your Application forms below. Be sure to include your Letter of Inquiry form (if applicable). Our recommended format is Microsoft Word. Please name the forms with a format such as "[Program Name] Application" (ie: Education Application) or "[Funding Type] Application" (ie: General Operating Support Application). If you have more than one form, please click 'Add another response' to upload each form. 

GRANTEE REPORT(S)
Upload the final (or close to final) versions of each of your Grantee Report forms below. We typically see an Interim/Progress Report and a Final Report, but some foundations have Reports for each specific Program. Our recommended format is Microsoft Word. Please name the forms with a format such as "[Program Name] Report" (ie: Education Report) or "[Time Period] Report" (ie: Interim Report). If you have more than one form, please click 'Add another response' to upload each form.

MERGE DOCUMENTS
The most common merge documents we create as part of a GMS implementation are Award Letters, Grant Agreements, Decline Letters and some kind of document for the Board/Committee to review. Please upload a recent example for each type of merge document that you intend to build as part of this implementation. Our recommended format is Microsoft Word. If you have more than one merge document, please click 'Add another response' to upload each example.

COMMON REPORTS
Your implementation comes with a series of predefined reports (such as Grants Awarded by Year). If your project includes the creation of custom reports,  please upload those reports you currently prepare on a monthly, quarterly, annual or ad-hoc basis that you would like to build within the scope of this implementation (might require a change order). Please upload a recent example of each type of report. If you have more than one report, please click 'Add another response' to upload each example. 

DATA EXPORTS/SPREADSHEETS & DATA DEFINITION DOCUMENT
If a Data Migration is included in your scope, we will need either an Export of data from your current system OR if you did not have a system before, provide Excel spreadsheet(s) that you've been using to track your grant data. This is the one thing that we will have you EMAIL to us rather then upload it here, due to the size that export files can be. If you are exporting data from a system or an Access database, please include ALL data columns. We can choose which data elements you'd like to include/exclude when we review the exports with you.

Along with the exports we will need a Data Definition Document. This tells us what each field in your exports/spreadsheets means to you so that we can understand the data in every column. Click here for a sample Data Definition Document that you can use to help you create your data definitions.

One you have all your exported data/spreadsheets and a completed Data Definition Document, please include all files in one ZIP file since the file size can be quite large.

If you'd like, you can password protect the Zip File, and then send us a SEPARATE email with just the password.

Once the zip file is prepared, please email it to grantsmanagement@sputnikmoment.com

Page 9

WRAP UP

Congratulations. This was a lot, right? We know but thanks to your effort, this project is off to a great start! Again, if we could sprinkle confettis all around you, we would!

ie: Monday, March 3rd at 2pm EST
Not sure what to do next? 
Have a look at the self-paced training resources and complete a few more modules.
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