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Introducing the Grant Spend Verification Tool

January 31, 2025

We’re thrilled to announce the release of the Grant Spend Verification Tool—a solution that simplifies grant expense tracking and compliance. This tool provides a clear view of expenses by grant and fiscal period, streamlines the verification process with built-in commenting and electronic signatures, and securely stores records for the required retention periods. With this tool, reviewing your grant expenses and staying in compliance is more efficient, transparent, and reliable.

Collaborating to Meet Requirements

Creating this tool was a true team effort!

  • DATAGroup (UW Finance Planning & Budgeting) provided subject matter expertise, gathered user requirements, and shared feedback to guide development.
  • Business Intelligence (UW-IT) built a report to meet user, security, and metadata requirements.
  • Enterprise Document Management (UW-IT) integrated DocuSign and DocFinity to enable verification and storage.

Additionally, finance reporting users from the School of Medicine, College of Education, and College of the Environment participated in User Acceptance Testing, helping to identify issues, provide feedback, and refine the tool.

About the Solution

The Grant Spend Verification tool leverages the BI Portal, DocuSign, and DocFinity. Here’s an overview of how it works.

Step 1: Run the Report (BI Portal)

The Grant Manager initiates the Grant Spend Verification process by running the Grant Spend Verification report in the BI Portal. This report shows expenses by grant and fiscal period for a Principal Investigator.

A screenshot of the Grant Spend Verification report in the BI Portal.
Example: Grant Spend Verification Report in the BI Portal

Step 2: Review and Verification (DocuSign)

The Grant Manager routes the report through DocuSign for PI (or designee) review. The PI is notified, reviews the report, adds comments if needed, and signs electronically to verify the report.

A screenshot of DocuSign from the PI's perspective.
Example: DocuSign Form for PI or Designee Verification

Step 3: Document Retention (DocFinity)

Once finalized, the verified document is stored in DocFinity, an electronic document storage solution, for secure access throughout its retention period.

A screenshot of the DocFinity user interface.
Example: DocFinity Electronic Storage

This end-to-end process ensures compliance while saving time and effort across departments. To get started and for more detailed instructions, refer to the Grant Spend Verification job aid.

Note: If working offsite, you connect to Husky OnNet (VPN) to access the above link. For more information, refer to Husky OnNet.

Need Support?

If you have questions and/or would like to request a demo or training session for your department, please email datagrp@uw.edu with “Grant Spend Verification” in the subject line. We’re here to help!