Initiative Management in Salesforce
This was last updated in 2024.
This is for grants using the Proposal and Grants Objects
Overall Process for a New RFP
When beginning a new funding round the following steps should be used by initiative staff to track the proposals and decisions in SalesForce. If your initiative is not yet in Salesforce, please contact salesforce@povertyactionlab.org and help@povertyactionlab.org to have an initiative record created. Details on how to do the complete steps are included later in the document.
Create a new Initiative Funding Cycle Campaign (found under J-PAL Campaign) with the name of the RFP round (following the previous naming convention, eg: PPE RFP 10)
[Manual] Within the campaign, create a proposal record for each proposal received
[GMS] Every X days, the fields will be pulled into Salesforce and new proposals will be created.
For each proposal, upload all application materials to the linked Google Drive folder on the proposal record (this will be auto-generated). These should include at a minimum the proposal, budget, and letters of support.
During the proposal review phase, update reviewers in the campaign and add them to each individual proposal.
After the funding decision call, update proposal records to reflect decisions marking them as accepted, rejected, or revise & resubmit.
A decision of “accepted” will automatically create a new grant [GR-XXXX]
Upload award letters and any revised budgets to Google Drive - Note: this is a necessary step for the grant to be processed
J-PAL Campaigns
Search for your Initiative in the search bar
Select desired Initiative (ex: CVI, PPE, etc.); if the Initiative does not exist, write to salesforce@PAL to request a new Initiative
Navigate to the “Related” tab on your initiative’s SF page, and locate the “J-PAL Campaigns” field. Press the “New” button in the upper right corner of that field.
Select New J-PAL Campaign
Set campaign record type to Initiative Funding Cycles
Set campaign member type to RFP Participant
Select Continue
Enter J-PAL Campaign Name (naming convention should follow all previous RFPs in that Initiative)
ex: ATAI RFP 8a Summer 2016, GI RFP 12, etc.,
Related Initiative - Should auto-populate
Initiative - Add your Initiative and any other Initiatives involved in the funding round
Contact person - Type, search and select the JPAL staff member responsible for RFP
Start Date - Date the RFP officially opens
End Date - Date the RFP officially closes
Status - Update this throughout the campaign to reflect the RFP status
Budgeted Cost in Campaign - Enter the dollar amount the board agreed to fund for the RFP round
Actual Cost in Campaign - Should auto populate once proposals have been awarded
Adding Board Reviewers & Steering Committee Members
- Navigate to the “Related” tab on your J-PAL Campaign and locate the “J-PAL Campaign Members” field. Select new and then “RFP Participant”
RFP Details
Total Proposals - Will auto populate
Total Proposals Funded- Will auto populate
Finance Information
Total Amount Requested - Will auto populate
Total Amount Awarded - Will auto populate
Select SAVE
Proposals
Select New Proposal
Proposal Information
All of this information can be found in the proposal.
Input Proposal Name as it appears on the proposal
(There is a character limit if the full name does not fit, shorten it to something that makes sense and add the complete name to the Full Proposal Name field.)
Set Proposal Status to Received
(If you are entering a proposal outside of a campaign simply type in the name of the campaign it should be associated with, search (click the magnifying glass) and select that campaign.)
Proposal Funding Round will auto-populate
Select Proposal Type from the dropdown menu
Amount Requested input the dollar amount of funding requested (take from the cover sheet, cross-check with the budget)
Enter, search and select the Country
Enter, search and select the Primary PI
Select the Primary PI Type from the dropdown menu
Other PIs list all other PIs included on the proposal
Off-Cycle Proposal only check this box if this is an off-cycle proposal
Enter, search and select the Institute to Receive Award
Date of proposal submission is now a required field
Proposal Details
Enter the Proposal Effective Start Date as indicated on the proposal coversheet
Enter the Proposal Effective End Date as indicated on the proposal coversheet
If Other Donors for Project: add the name of the organization and the dollar amount of funding received as follows (ex: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation- $10,000).
Enter all the remaining proposal details into the appropriate fields (for example: the “abstract” must be copied & pasted into the field titled “Abstract”)
Find the field in SF for each application question and paste in the applicant’s answer. There will be some fields that you don’t have to enter information in, depending on the proposal type.
Select Save
Avoiding Duplications
Project Lookup should be used when you are entering a proposal for a project which already exists in Salesforce (add-on funding, scale up, an ongoing project that we are now providing funding for).
If the project was funded as a PILOT in the past (or has not been previously funded), leave blank
If the project was funded as a FULL in the past, link to the project page in the “Project Look-Up” section (see below for process for previously funded full projects)**
In order to avoid duplicate projects in Salesforce, you should be searching to make sure that these projects do not exist BEFORE awarding any proposals.
**When we receive proposals to fund full projects which we've already funded, please do the following: when you're adding a new proposal, select "add on funding" under Proposal Type. If the project gets awarded funding, you will need to link the existing project record to the proposal record using "Project Lookup", rather than allowing the proposal record to automatically create a new project record (because we would then have duplicate project records for the same project).
Proposal Implementing Partners and Proposal Reviewers are “related objects” meaning that you will need to enter the basic proposal information and save it before you are able to see or add anything to the fields in a given proposal record.
Proposal Implementing Partners
Select New Proposal Implementing Partner
The related Proposal will be auto-populated
Enter, search and select the Organization (do your due diligence when searching to avoid creating multiple Organization contacts, if there are multiple contacts for the same organization please select the contact with the most information or reach out the salesforce@povertyactionlab.org for help deciding which Org contact to use).
Primary Contact for this specific project at the Organization
Notes use this field to relay any helpful information regarding this Implementing Partner or the Primary Contact at the Implementing Organization.
Select Save
Proposal Reviewers
Select New Proposal Reviewers
Enter, search and select the Reviewer
Select the Reviewer Type from the drop-down menu
Proposal will be auto-populated (if you are entering reviewers from past funding rounds enter, search and select the proposal but be wary of multiple proposals with the same name. If you are unable to discern which proposal is which navigate to this page from each proposal.)
Google Drive
In the google folder linked to the proposal page, create a folder called “Proposal Materials.”
Add proposal documents from Dropbox to this folder.
After funding decisions have been made, save notification email language and award letters for both rejected and accepted proposals in the google drive folder.
Updating Proposals
Proposal Status should be updated through the review process.
Received when the proposal has been received
Under Review once the reviewers have been assigned and the proposals have been sent out for review
Revise and Resubmit when the board decides that a proposal could have merit but requests changes and for resubmission in the next RFP
Accepted proposal has been approved by the board and will receive funding
After you save a proposal with the accepted status a project and grant record as well as google drive folders are automatically created. If this is “Add On” funding, link the related project in the Project Lookup on the Proposal Object under System Information before saving the proposal as awarded
Rejected proposal will not receive funding
Ineligible proposal found ineligible for funding (list reason in the notes section)
Withdrawn proposal was withdrawn after submission
Select Save after any changes
Proposal Details
Enter Approval Award Date this is the date the award letter was sent
Amount Awarded the amount awarded may vary from the amount requested, please enter the amount the board has agreed to award the proposal
Remember to save notification email language and award letters for both rejected and accepted proposals in the proposal documents google drive folder.
Select Save
Proposal Follow-Up
If a proposal is marked revise and resubmit and will be considered in the same funding round please add the date the first revision is received in the First Revision Date field.
Enter, search and select the JPAL staff member responsible for following up with the PIs around revising and (re)submitting their proposal in Responsible for Follow-Up field.
Focus Area Tags
How to use "Focus Area" in the Proposal section for Salesforce (for J-PAL NA only).
The Focus Area tags are used when you need to identify certain proposals and grants that need to be reported on separately. For example:
Homelessness Tag - This is a tag to identify work in the homelessness/housing space.
COVID-19 Tag - this tag should be used to tag COVID-research projects. (You would not use this tag if the research team received add-on funding due to COVID-related delays but whose research is not specifically COVID-related. If you provide additional funding for COVID-related delays, the finance team can help add the funds to the already existing grant).
Grants
Grants are automatically created when a proposal is accepted
Grant Name automatically created by Salesforce
Grant Status set to active upon automatic creation. It is the responsibility of the finance team to update the status as required.
Award Approval Date auto-populated from the proposal
Grant Start Date auto-populated from the proposal. It is the responsibility of the finance team to update this date if it varies from the proposal to the contract issued to the subawardee.
Grant End Date auto-populated from the proposal (see No Cost Extension in Deliverables)
Primary PI auto-populated from the proposal
Administrative Contact both Initiative staff and the finance team will work to identify and input administrative contacts for grant records (J-PAL subawards).
Project auto-populated from the proposal
Initiative auto-populated from the proposal
Proposal Funding Round auto-populated from the proposal
Donor please ignore this field
Funder the finance team will identify the funder (J-PAL Initiative donor) and complete this field once the contract has been finalized
Institute to Receive Award auto-populated from the proposal
Amount Awarded auto-populated from the proposal
Balance on Advance if the finance team issues an advance the amount disbursed minus the invoices received will appear in this field
Total Disbursements total amount sent from Institute (MIT, IFMR, etc) to the Institute to Receive Award
Total Spent sum of received invoices from project
Sub-Award Number Institute (MIT, IFMR, etc) assigned subaward number
Account Number Institute (MIT, IFMR, etc) assigned account number
Requisition Number Institute (MIT, IFMR, etc) assigned requisition number
IAA Status status of the Institutional Authorization Agreement to be updated by J-PAL staff member responsible for ceding
Reporting Frequency all J-PAL Global Initiative funded projects will be reporting semi-annually due to the finance report requirements (adopted Fall 2016)
Last Report Received both Initiative staff and Finance, whoever the report is sent to, should update this to the date any report was received from project staff
Deliverable(s)
Go to the Grants page (you can navigate from the project page)
Scroll down to the “Deliverables” section
In “Deliverables” section, add “New Deliverables” and set due dates based on reporting requirements outlined in the award letter.
For Global:
Annual narrative/technical reports for pilot and full projects are due annually according to the period of performance start date. For pilot projects, final narrative/technical reports are due 60 days after the end of the period of performance. For full projects, final narrative/technical reports are due 4 months after the end of the period of performance.
For full projects costing data is due at the same time, each year, as the narrative/technical reports.
Financial reports are required from all pilot, full and type 3 projects every six months.
Travel Grants and Policy Outreach Funding require a final financial report and project update due sixty days after the end date specified on the accepted proposal unless a no-cost extension (NCE) is accepted.
All other required deliverables such as baseline reports and survey instruments should be rolled into the narrative/technical report template but recorded as received separately in Salesforce.
When a report comes in, save and track it:
Send a confirmation/ thank you email to PIs
Update “Deliverables” on SF Grants page
Update “Date Submitted” for the appropriate deliverables on the grant page under the “Deliverable”
Note that you can not edit “Deliverable Status” but it will update automatically
Go into the google drive linked on the grant page (linked to“Finance Documents:”), create an “Awardee Reporting” folder, and save all reports here.
Policy staff should let Finance and Admin staff know when reports come in.
If there is a No Cost Extension, these will be tracked as a “New Deliverable.” The Finance team will update these on the Grants page. F&O staff should update the grant end date on the grant object, the grant page notes, and adjust the deliverables timeline and reports required as necessary.
How to record Gender Reports:
Pending- if the deliverable is required but has not been sent in
Requested - if deliverable is requested but not required (this would be for any grantee whose Period of Performance end date was before 5/31/2019); write in Deliverable Description “Requested but not required”
Completed - means that the gender template has been sent in (either on it's own or as part of the narrative); if found in narrative write in Deliverable Description - where it can be found (eg: on narrative).
Modified - use if the grantee has submitted something other than the template (such as working papers that include the info) and mark if the Gender team approved this instead of the template;Write in Deliverable Description - where it can be found (in working paper, etc).
Waived - If the grantee wrote to say that they had good reason why not to send it in; copy and pastes that reason in Deliverable Description.
Projects
Funding Object
(If you do not have access to funding objects SF, please write to salesforce@povertyactionlab.org and copy our manager - access requires manager approval)
How to Create a New Funding Object in SF
Click on the 9-Sqr icon in the upper left corner, then choose Funding.
For new funding objects, choose "New" in the upper right-hand corner.
Information Section - required fields*:
*Status
*Grant name
(For Global use this standard naming convention): DONOR_INITIATIVE_PHASE or IDENTIFIER_YY (year accepted)
*Funder (if the funder is in SF already, please choose the correct one as you start typing)
Best Practice: Fill in at least one of these sections: (1) Initiative; (2) Related Project Field; (3) Purpose
If you have a new Initiative that is not yet in the system - please have your Initiative staff contact Brittany Bradley (bbradley@povertyactionlab.org) to help create the new Initiative in the system
*Account numbers based on your institutions finances: eg: 6940135 (parent), 6940847 (subs), 6940848 (MIT expenses) This helps you to find things when you search by account number
*Funding Start Date (as listed on the contract) --> Needed for report filters
*Funding End Date (as listed on the contract) --> Needed for report filters
*J-PAL Staff Contact: The is the person who will receive alerts for when reports are due (alerts go out: 60 days/ 30 days out/ one week out)
Secondary Contact email: (Best Practice: the initiative listserv such as PPE@PAL or secondary person - could be from the sector or finance team or related team) --> will also receive email alerts about reports due
*Related Regional Office - this is only the regional office who receives the funding.
Best Practice: Fill in the Related Sector and Geographic area (where the work is taking place) | We recommend this because it will be useful when applying for new awards and when reporting on activity in sectors and areas.
Leave “Send Grant Reporting Reminders” Checked.
*NEW FIELD: Original Prime Funder - this field is only used when you receive the funding from one source but that source was a subawardee. For reports - this means that if a report is run for “all funding” some funds will be double counted if both the Funder and the Original Prime Funder overlap in funds (eg: J-PAL Global receives $5M from ALJCI and subs $1M to J-PAL Europe). See screenshot. Therefore, depending on what you want to see in the report you will need to add filters for Original Prime Funder and/or Funder.
Under Funding Details
*Grant amount: total grant amount
FOR INITIATIVES ONLY (otherwise, just leave blank): Total Budget for Project Subawards: Amount earmarked just for the project subs (*remember to subtract out any funding for subs that are not initiative project subawards, for example paying a co-PI at another University)
The rest of these fields are auto-populated from the Grants pages... please do not update
Funding notes --> please note anything that the funder is interested in
Grant Reporting --> we are not using this section any more instead click on the Related Tab (see Reporting)
*Related Tab:
*Reports --> complete these by hitting the "New" button; required/recommended fields
Record Type - Type of report such as Financial, Narrative, etc
*Milestone
*Due Date --> alerts will be sent 60/30/7 days from this date to the J-PAL Staff Contact and the Secondary Contact email.
The J-PAL staff Contact and the Secondary contact emails should automatically populate from the details pag
How to find a specific Funding Object later on:
You can write to Salesforce@povertyactionlab.org to request a custom listview (with the funding objects that you will always use)
You can also search by associated Initiative. Go to the App launcher and choose “Initiatives” then choose an Initiative. Then go to the related tab and then you will see the funding objects that are associated with that Initiative.
What do reporting reminder emails look like:
Subject: ACTION REQUIRED: [DONOR NAME] [MILESTONE] [TYPE OF REPORT] due [DATE DUE]
This is a reminder that the [MILESTONE] [TYPE OF REPORT] for [NAME OF GRANT] is due on [DATE DUE]:
Salesforce Unique Funding ID: [link with UNIQUE FUNDING ID]
Account number, if any: [ACCOUNT NUMBER]
Donor Organization: [DONOR NAME]
Related Project (if a project grant): [PROJECT NAME]
Related Initiative (if an initiative grant): [INITIATIVE NAME]
Once the report has been submitted to the donor, please check the “Submitted?” box on the associated reporting record in Salesforce.
Relationship History
A record in Salesforce of a conversation you had in external meeting or with an external partner
Is important for J-PAL’s knowledge management and to ensure we keep track of engagement with external individuals and organizations, particularly which staff met with that individual or organization, what was discussed, and what was the outcome
Relationship histories should be entered into Salesforce after an engagement has occurred as soon as possible.
Best practices and tips:
If you want the information in the next policy training update, please check this box:
When adding content - assume that everyone at J-PAL worldwide can see this
Using the chatter on the right hand side in the RH, you can “@the-other-JPAL-staff” from your meeting. This way they know where to find the notes from the meeting.
Think about how to use this information for initiative narrative reporting and for other reports
To save time, it is helpful to add a Salesforce Chrome extension to your browser. You can find the extension here and a video describing how to install and use the extension here. You can use it to add contacts and relationship histories directly from your email inbox Salesforce.
You can also add the related contacts (called “attendees”) to the relationship history from your email (see below for more information).
You can tag initiatives and related regional offices to help with coordination in an initiative or if the initiative is relevant to a regional office.
If you want to add notes but don’t want a detailed explanation of the conversation, it is better to provide a brief summary of the conversation or meeting and Copy + Paste your notes from a separate document into the Notes section.
You should also link it to a google document or fold and let people know which document they can find more information about the meeting in and keep its access restricted if you don’t want all of J-PAL to have access.
For more information see the following documents:
Documentation on Getting Started with Relationship History in SF and Video in KB
Information about reaching out to donors
