In an effort to deliver great government service that more efficiently serves all Hoosiers




Press Release from the Office of Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE




Thursday, December 12, 2019





*_Crouch Delivers on Promise to Provide Great Government Service_*

*INDIANAPOLIS (December 12, 2019) *In an effort to deliver great government service that more efficiently serves all Hoosiers, Lt. Governor Crouch challenged her family of business to find new ways to work together and collaborate to serve communities better. The first initiative taken on was a joint effort between the Lt. Governors office, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to automate and implement an electronic GrantsManagement System and retire the numerous spreadsheets and paper processes previously in use.

Our 21st century economy requires a government that can not only keep up, but that can competitively participate and adapt to our ever-changing needs, said *"Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch."* We must push aside antiquated processes that are costly and time consuming, in favor of technology that reduces costs and resources utilized, improves services and satisfaction and delivers reliable information for data driven decision making. I am proud of the work that went into implementing the electronic Grants Management System and am confident this is another step that will take the State of Indiana and how we serve our communities to the Next Level.

This newly implemented electronic GrantsManagement System replaces what was previously a paper heavy, labor intensive and multi-layered process with one user-friendly Salesforce based system that manages funds dispersed for initiatives on both the federal and state level. With this update, the State of Indiana will now be able to better monitor and improve management and delivery of large-scale community development projects that previously placed an undue burden on grant administrators and staff.

Continuousimprovement of our agencys services is an ongoing priority and a critical piece of our strategic plan, said "*Jodi Golden, Executive Director, Office of Community and Rural Affairs*""." This new system was built to create efficiencies for everyone involved in the grant process, from application to closeout, and will allow us to better serve our rural communities now and in the future.

Speaking for the agriculture industry, time is precious, said "*Bruce Kettler, Director, Indiana State Department of Agriculture*". Thats why were constantly looking for ways to improve efficiencies and modernize our approach, and this grants management system is the latest example. As a government agency, we need to match the pace that industry moves at, not the other way around.

This system will continue to grow and add additional grant programs and other functionality through several future phases of implementation. Additionally, work is being done to explore how to best leverage the system to further reduce the amount of information communities are required to provide, ultimately creating a historical database that auto fills and validates information. The system will also provide much needed data that will allow the state to analyze and review our grant programs, view applicant trends and identify gaps in our offerings.

*Statements of Support:*

High five and kudos to the entire OCRA staff and the Salesforce team on the new GMS application process, said *"Amy Miller, Owner and Grant Administrator, Cornerstone Grants Management, Inc".* It was such an easy process compared to past application submittals, and made what is normally a stressful part of my job much easier.In fact, as I was filling out the application my laptop completely died and left me in a panic that all my work had been lost. Had it not been for the GMS and the auto-save feature, it would have been disastrous.

Please allow me to congratulate OCRA on creating a user friendly application for the Site Certified Program, said *"Randall Miller, CEO, Randall Miller and Associates".* There were many applications prior to this version which were difficult at best. The staff assisted us in compiling and inserting the relevant information for site selectors and developers to view all of the benefits that the sites have to offer. We look forward to making application for Logansport and other communities in the future.

I am a big fan of anything being done electronically and saving paper, said *"Ray Allison, Vice President of Development, Indiana State Fairgrounds and Event Center"*"." The ability to begin my application in the Electronic Grants Management System, save it and return later to continue working on the application before finally submitting has been a game changer. We are looking forward to continuing to utilize this system in the future.

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*Media Contact:
*Sara Broadwater
[email protected]
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