MS Access Grant Management Database for Post-Award Offices

Post-award work starts the day a sponsor says yes. From that point, a research office has to watch the money, the people, the invoices, and the dates that actually close an award. Spreadsheets and email threads scatter that work. The MS Access grant management database (the Post-Award Grants Manager in the download) is a single Access application built for that stretch of the grant: after the award is active, and before it is closed.

The app is organized as one workspace. A navigation bar stays on the left. Every screen reads from the same awards, people, and budget lists, so a change in Setup shows up on the dashboard, the request form, and the reports. The download is a Microsoft Access .accdb file with sample data you clear before going live.

Preview the Access screens from the download. Click or swipe through the dashboard, awards, requests, expenses, subawards, effort, deadlines, reports, and Setup.

It is a Microsoft Access application for the people who administer awards after they are funded. It keeps seven jobs in one place:

Use this file if you administer a small-to-mid portfolio of sponsored awards and you already work in Microsoft Access or are willing to. Typical users:

If you later outgrow a single .accdb, the usual next step is the same Access forms with tables moved to SQL Server. That is a separate migration project, not a rebuild of the screens.

Open the application and you land on the dashboard. Refresh reloads counts from the current records. Six figures sit across the top: active awards, active funding, available balance, requests to review, due in 30 days (with a separate overdue count), and effort alerts.

Under the totals, the page splits into the queues a grants manager actually works: requests waiting for you, deadlines and follow-ups for the next 60 days, budget alerts (over budget or 90 percent used earlier than the award's pace), and a watch list of awards ending soon or off pace. The dashboard does not replace the other screens. It tells you which award, request, or person to open next.

The Awards screen is the portfolio. Search by text, filter by status, or add an award. Each row shows sponsor number, title, principal investigator, end date, amount awarded, amount spent, and what is still available. Spent percent sits beside time percent. Pace compares the two: On track when they are close, Underspending when a large balance remains late in the project.

New award opens a form, not a blank table. Fill in the Overview tab and click Save. The other tabs stay locked until the award is saved. After that, the workspace has Overview, Budget vs actual, Budget, Expenses, Requests, Subawards, Cost share, Personnel, Deadlines and mods, and Notes. Overview captures sponsor award number, internal fund number, status, title, Assistance Listing (CFDA), PI, sponsor, department, dates, prime sponsor when the award is flow-through, total awarded, F&A rate, and F&A base (the sample form defaults the base to MTDC).

Faculty ask for travel, purchases, and other charges before the money is spent. The spending requests screen is the review queue: date received, award, PI, type, description, amount, status, and the date the PI needs an answer. Status in the sample queue includes Submitted, Under Review, and Needs Info.

Open Review and the decision is made on one form, with the budget sitting beside the request. The Budget check panel updates when an award and a budget category are selected. It shows the category budget, spent to date, committed, available now, and what will remain after this request, plus the award's overall available balance and end date. Actions are Approve, Need info, Deny, Mark completed, Email PI, and Save and close. Need info sends the request back to the PI without a yes or a no. The note on that decision is what the PI receives.

Expenses is the charge ledger: payroll, purchase orders, travel, and other direct costs after they exist as transactions. Pending means an encumbrance or a charge that has not posted yet. Posted charges, such as university payroll, sit in the same list as a purchase that is still pending. Filter by award, category, or search. Add a row, import a file, or download a template. Categories in the sample ledger include Salaries and Wages, Fringe Benefits, Materials and Supplies, Travel, Other Direct Costs, Consultant Services, and Publication Costs.

When part of an award is passed to another organization, that balance is tracked on its own, then posted back to the prime award when an invoice is approved. The top grid is one row per subaward: prime award, subrecipient, subaward number, end date, amount, approved to date, remaining, invoices waiting, and a risk rating. Select a subaward and its invoices open underneath. Approve and post adds that invoice to the prime award's spending.

Effort is where a grant gets into trouble quietly: a person committed past 100 percent, or a drop large enough that the sponsor expects to be asked first. The screen watches two conditions: commitments over 100 percent, and reductions of 25 percent or more. People lists everyone appointed on an award. A person over 100 percent committed is marked Over-committed. Effort reductions to review compares committed and actual effort on a single award and notes when the drop is 25 percent or more and sponsor prior approval may be required.

Reports, invoices, and closeout dates live on one list instead of on a separate calendar for each sponsor. Types in the sample list include final invoice, progress report, financial report (including a quarterly SF-425), internal review, and closeout items such as equipment inventory, final Federal Financial Report, final RPPR, and a final invention statement. A deadline entered here is the same item that surfaces on the dashboard's 60-day list and in the 90-day deadlines report.

Reports are printouts, not extra entry screens. Each one opens in print preview. Use the Access ribbon to print or save a PDF. Seven reports cover budget vs actual (one award or all active awards), PI portfolio summary, requests waiting for review, deadlines for the next 90 days, closeout checklist, and effort summary.

Setup is the reference data. Edit a cell directly. New rows go at the bottom. Clear sample data removes the fictional awards, charges, and people before a department starts entering its own records. Five lists feed the rest of the application: Faculty / PIs, Sponsors, Departments, Budget categories, and Personnel. Adding a principal investigator, a sponsor, or a budget category here is what makes that value available on the award form and the request form.

The free file is a working post-award starter. If your office needs extra request types, cost-share rules, a different F&A treatment, or reports that match a specific sponsor package, that is custom Access work. We scope it as a fixed project after a short review of your current lists and pain points.