Written by Claire, Marketing Manager, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based life form. The end of March 2017 will see the official launch of our brand new feature, the Question…
Written by Claire, Senior Marketing Executive and Creative Lead, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based life form.
We’re building Flexi-Grant® to be a product everyone can use with ease, no matter what role you’re in! So when it came to our latest release (November 2016), we focused on the Reviewer journey. We introduced new features and layouts that will not only help Reviewers review applications more easily but will make the setup of reviews as simple as possible!
Setting up reviews just got easier!
Administrators have been able to set up reviews for some time in Flexi-Grant® but now you can send out reminders to reviewers individually or in bulk, view stats on how many reviews each of your reviewers has in progress…
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I might have mentioned this before … I do not like flying. It’s a frequent and necessary part of my job but not one I take any pleasure in. With clients across the UK and some even further afield I sometimes feel that I now know many airport terminals better than I know our offices!
I have often pondered why it is that I don’t like flying. The vast majority of airline staff are courteous and friendly, most of my flights are on time and I get to travel to meet and work with some lovely people. Basically what it boils down to is my fellow passengers.
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I recently watched an interview with the film director John Boorman. He spoke at length about his experiences making the film Deliverance (1972). The studio was nervous. The film had no female cast members, no known big stars and the budget was being continually nibbled away. The director’s original plan was to have a composer and full orchestra to do the film score. As the budget came under further pressure John Boorman decided to dispense with the composer and orchestra. It was a bold decision.
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I, like many, was saddened to hear of the passing of Ronnie Corbett. I have many happy memories of watching “the Two Ronnies” when I was much younger and my wife and I regularly quote from their famous “four candles/fork handles” sketch. If you have never seen this it is definitely worth a viewing. The humour is smart and effortlessly delivered by two brilliant comedians.
Our last blog from Bob, former Implementation Consultant at Fluent Technology, now taking time out to travel and see the world!
And I would write 500 more, just to be the man who wrote 1000 words to meet your maximum word limit. It’s a pity Christmas is over as I believe I have the makings of a number 1 right there.
Excuse me, I believe I have gone a bit mad. Please read on.
Written by Claire, Marketing Executive at Fluent Technology, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based life form.
I was never a morning person. I’d wake up at 11am, go to sleep at 3am (earliest!) and tut at people with 9-5 jobs. Then I became one of them 🙂
Written by Bob, Implementation Consultant at Fluent Technology, office ‘Flex-pert’, keen musician and resident Dr Love.
There is an episode of Father Ted where the housekeeper Mrs Doyle, disgusted when a salesman informs her that the TeaMaster “Takes the misery out of making tea”, says with a scowl “Maybe I like the misery!” If you haven’t seen it, here is the link…
Written by Jackie, Office Manager, proof reader, fan of combining travel, photography and food, novice cocktail maker and mum of three.
Our daughter lives in Zurich and we have just returned from a week-long visit. This was our first visit to Switzerland and as with all holidays to new places I did my usual pre-holiday prep: buying, reading and sticking post-its in a Travel Guide (this time it was Lonely Planet’s Discover Switzerland) and googling stuff on the interweb. Once all this painstaking research had been carried out my usual next step would have been to draw up a detailed itinerary of things to do and places to visit on each day of the holiday…
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I have managed small projects, large projects and some very, very large projects. Some projects have lasted weeks, others have stretched into years. Some have been really complex, others have seemed straightforward. No matter the size or shape of the project I have at times found myself going round in circles wondering how I ever ended up in the middle of this! When problems arise (and even when they don’t!) I try to take a breath and remind myself of something I first encountered over 2 decades ago – the project management triangle (sometimes known as the triple constraint)…
Co-written by Claire, Marketing Executive at Fluent Technology, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based life form; and by Jackie, Office Manager, proof reader, fan of combining travel, photography and food, novice cocktail maker and mum of three.
The VRF raised a staggering £2.3million in their Radio 4 2014 Christmas appeal, have awarded 3,245 grants nationally in 2014 and use a grant management system that has been described by one applicant as “the best of all the charities I’ve used”…
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I was onsite with a client earlier this week and making small talk before the meeting started. The young lady I was talking to had had a few issues with her house and being (a little) aware of this I asked if these had been resolved. She described having a fire start in her bathroom and the damage resulting in very hefty repair bills. Obviously she was feeling stressed about this so I decided to lighten the mood and focus on something more positive. “How are your wedding plans going?” I asked. “It’s off” was the short reply…
Written by Jackie, Office Manager, proof reader, fan of combining travel, photography and food, novice cocktail maker and mum of three.
In the comedy series The IT Crowd there is a wonderful scene where the IT geeks give their boss, Jen, a box and tell her that it IS the internet and that she must treat it with great care. Of course she believes them and much to their amusement proudly displays it at her next staff talk. They also tell her that if you type Google into Google search you will break the internet. Now I know this is a joke but being in confession mode I have to say that, like looking under your bed at night, I would be reluctant to do this just in case…..
Written by Bob, Implementation Consultant at Fluent Technology, office ‘Flex-pert’, keen musician and resident Dr Love.
The work involved in getting a submitted application to award should not be tedious, it should not be difficult, and it should not be time consuming. After all, your real efforts should be focused on ensuring your awards are being put to good use.
Submit. Click. Award.
Wouldn’t it be nice? An application is submitted, you click, and hey presto it’s either awarded or it isn’t…
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
Some days you just feel the need for something tasty. OK, to be specific, some days I feel the need for something tasty. Today I felt like fried chicken. I tried to tempt a colleague to join me in a quick trip to a local purveyor of fine fried chicken but he declined. You just can’t get support when you need it! I will not name and shame my colleague who let me down in my hour of need but hopefully Bob will do better next time…
Written by Claire, Marketing Executive at Fluent Technology, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based life form.
Many of our clients are grant experts. They’ve been managing and distributing grants for a number of years, in many different capacities. They know where to go to get advice, they know how to create meaningful data from applications and they follow best practice like it’s going out of fashion.
BUT there are those of us out there that are beginners, (like myself two years ago). They enter the market knowing nothing and needing to know EVERYTHING…
Co-written by Matt, Operations Manager, MBA student, seasoned traveller, music festival fan and husband of Jenni; and by Jackie, Office Manager, proof reader, fan of combining travel, photography and food, novice cocktail maker and mum of three.
If you’re not familiar with the Investors in People (IiP) management framework I strongly encourage you to check it out! It’s a worldwide recognition for excellence; the prestigious accreditation is all about one thing – creating a high performance organisation through its people.
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
It was all going so well. The project was running smoothly, every team-member knew their responsibilities. We were on time and to budget. But then it happened…
Written by Claire, Marketing Executive at Fluent Technology, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based lifeform.
We don’t know about you, but we love images! Why? Because a picture speaks a thousand words.
We’re in the middle of the ‘image marketing era’ and the direction that social media is taking is the testament to how true this is. Platforms like Instagram are getting triple the amount of engagement than that of its counterpart, Facebook (source: The Marketing Eye, Sept 2015). This is all great in theory…BUT stock photography is expensive (especially if you’re a small organisation with an even smaller marketing budget!)
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I hate flying. While I don’t like heights it’s nothing to do with that. What gets to me is the chaos that invariably ensues during boarding. I can hear you sighing and saying “Is that it?”. Ok, I admit it, I am a process nerd. I like things orderly and running smoothly, that’s when I’m at my happiest. Try boarding a plane and watching what happens. Try sitting on a plane that’s full and listening to the Flight Attendants’ continual announcements that passengers should stow small baggage at their feet as the overhead bins are too full. A good test of their patience (passed with flying, excuse the pun, colours), not so good if you are listening and wondering why everyone didn’t understand it the first 3 times…
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
I have been fortunate to sit in on a number of review panels over the years and have observed many different ways in which review panels and committees reach their decisions. What I find most interesting is how different individuals approach the job of scoring applications. Even though there can be guidelines and a common scoring framework some reviewers like to be generous with their scores and take off points if they feel applications are missing essential details. Others reviewers are “less generous” with their scores (I was tempted to say meaner but that would be cruel!) and only award points when they feel an application merits it…
Written by Claire, Marketing Executive at Fluent Technology, research nerd, travel fanatic & coffee-based lifeform.
So you’ve made the decision as an organisation to upgrade your grant management system…but you need something that’s tailored to you. Your grant process is different from others, you have more review stages, your grants are larger, you only have a limited amount of resources in terms of finance and employees. Whatever the reason…you can’t get a new system until you assess where the current one is working for you and where it’s not…
Written by Keith, MD of Fluent Technology, grant management guru, process engineer, frequent flyer, father of 3, ufology geek and keen cook.
While giving a product demonstration last week I was inevitably asked “What reports do you have?”. I hate that question! Why? Because I know as soon as I start to show any standard reports that we have in Flexi-Grant I will invariably hear: “That’s great but what I really need is…”. As a result I try to avoid showing reports as an immediate response to that question!
