Subject : Grant Management Systems

Liz Mazzella asked about systems for tracking grants and financial
management. AT U Md. Collge Park we use an in-house designed main
frame  based system, newly redesigned.
Off the shelf packages did not have enough of what we needed
and would have required modificatios. Also, we have a talented group
of tecchies assigned to the needs of the Graduate School , of which we
are a part.It was best to do our own and have the system talk to , and
draw from, other campus databases for relevant data such as the
faculty appointments, personnel, and payroll data. The system allows
us to send info electronically to the Comptrollers office so that they
can set up a sponsored account; subsequently the Project Directors
receive notification of their established account by e-mail with a
standard form.The system produces various kinds of standard management
 reports on proposals submitted and grants awarded; special searches
and reports can be done on-line by our office.
I suspect that one has to balance the size of the operation against
the cost of ready-made or custom designed.

V Medina
University of Maryland , College Park
xxxxxx@grad.umd.edu