In many research offices the spreadsheet is the costing tool and the grants system only records the result. Staff time, non-staff costs, overheads and the recoverable amount are calculated manually, then keyed into the grants management system again. Principal Investigator time inputs do not flow into the costing module, so the costs are calculated again, printed and sent back. Every change creates another version, and the funder recovery rule is still selected manually for each line. That costs time, because the same figures are recalculated at every stage, and accuracy, because every transfer out of a spreadsheet is another chance to key a number wrong.

GrantsNow calculates the costing inside the grants process. Staff costs, overheads and funder recovery rates are applied by predefined rules as the data is entered. Costing models are reusable, so a full economic costing template or a 25 percent EU overhead model is loaded rather than rebuilt. A revision copies the existing version and updates only what changed. Funder rules are configured once, applied repeatedly and uploaded in bulk. Spreadsheets can still be used to check a figure. What goes is the need to recreate the same costing several times before submission.

Download the white paper to see what each role gains, or schedule a demo to see your own funder rules applied to a live proposal.