Enhancing Customer Experience in ezFedGrants Recipient Portal
Offering a comprehensive solution for grants and agreements management, ezFedGrants allows agencies and recipients to efficiently manage awards throughout the agreement lifecycle. With features tailored for both agency and recipient portals, the system streamlines processes from pre-award to closeout, ensuring real-time data connections, easy claims processing, and full lifecycle management. Recipient users can conveniently conduct all business within the portal, while agency users handle specific functions, fostering a user-friendly and dynamic environment for managing federal grants and agreements.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Efforts to Improve the Customer Experience in ezFedGrants Recipient Portal Daniel Hazlett OCFO
What is ezFedGrants? A comprehensive grants and agreements management solution that gives the agencies and recipients the ability to manage their awards throughout the entire lifecycle of the agreement Pre-award: Solicitation, Application and Evaluation Award: Execution (with electronic signature) Post Award: Claims Progress Reports (Financial and Performance) Amendments Closeout and Financial Audit (A-123 Requirements)
Agencies Using ezFedGrants Six USDA agencies currently use ezFedGrants Agricultural Marketing Service Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Foreign Agricultural Service National Institute of Food and Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement Forest Service coming in 2019
Components of ezFedGrants Part of USDA s FMMI financial system Two components make up the system Agency user portal built in SAP Grantor Recipient user portal built in Pega Connections to HANA, ASAP, and Grants.gov are also maintained
Agency Portal Features Agency users conduct business using agency portal (no recipient access) Agreement creation and management Amendments Claims processing Closeout Real-time data connection to FMMI for financials Manual agreement management (if needed)
Recipient Portal Features Recipient users conduct all business in the recipient portal Agency users conduct some business functions (mainly review and accept artifacts) Pre-award and post award tasks/functions are conducted Full lifecycle management available (except Closeout, which is coming soon) Up-to-date information available at all times
Recipient Portal Functions Recipient Portal Functions: Recipient Users: Search Opportunities Create and Submit Applications View Agreement information create and submit claims create and submit reports create and submit repayments user management Agency Users: Create and publish opportunities Review and approve applications view agreement information review and accept claims Review and accept reports review and accept repayments
Recipient Portal Issues Slow performance Browser issues (different behavior depending on browser used) Screens not intuitive User interface is not 508 compliant Miscellaneous issues
Struggles Significant resources spent on user documentation Step-by-step guides complete with user tricks to overcome issues Staffed help desk to guide users through regular tasks Access requests and management, applications, report assignments Production support team to fix issues on the fly Connection errors and malfunctions common User frustration Constant communication
Plan for Righting the Ship Figure Out Reasons for Issues Understand Features of Pega and Capabilities Develop Plan to Fix and Secure Funding Set Plan in Motion and Commit to Improvement! Communications Strategy for Informing User Base
Improvements Coming Complete restructuring of system architecture Fewer processing errors and increased performance Refreshed user interface Modern look, new color scheme, faster screen load times, 508 compliant Easier to read screen layouts and responsive UI for mobile devices New features Connect users to multiple organizations Empowering recipients to better manage agreement portfolios and users Implementation of Pega Customer Service
Next Steps Plan continued upgrades and enhancements Introduce new functionality Improve workflows and connections Path to success Lower maintenance costs Faster response to change Extensibility to add new agencies
Questions/Comments? ezFedGrants
