The Grant Reporting Labyrinth
Key Pain Points & Paid Solutions for Post-Award Grant Management
For program teams and grant managers, especially those navigating 2 CFR 200, the post-award process is a grueling marathon of compliance checks and financial reconciliation. We analyzed the most common frustrations and the solutions they'd be willing to pay for.
What Keeps Grant Managers Up at Night?
The daily frustrations of post-award management are time-consuming and high-stakes. Manual data entry and endless reconciliation dominate the workload, diverting resources from programmatic goals. This chart ranks the most cited pain points by frequency and severity.
The 2 CFR 200 "Compliance Monster"
For federal awards, 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) is the source of the most significant compliance headaches. These aren't just minor issues; they represent major audit risks. This breakdown shows which components cause the most stress and consume the most time.
The Program vs. Finance Disconnect
A core friction point is the communication gap between program staff (who need to spend) and grant managers (who need to comply). Both teams are frustrated by a lack of shared, easy-to-understand data.
The Program Team Asks:
"How much money do I have left?"
The Grant Manager Answers:
"It's complicated... what about encumbrances & allowability?"
The High-Value Solutions Wishlist
Managers are willing to pay for solutions that directly attack these pain points. The most valuable tools are those that automate manual work, reduce audit risk, and provide clarity to non-financial staff. We've mapped the perceived value of top-requested solutions.
The Ideal Solution: A Single Source of Truth
The "holy grail" is a unified system that integrates disparate data sources to provide one simple, real-time view of the grant's status. This workflow visualizes how such a system would function.