The Uniform Grant Guidance, released on Dec. 26, 2014, shifts how grantees are held accountable for performance and results. On April 15 at 1 p.m. EDT, StreamLink Software and public sector consultant, Sandy Swab, joined forces for a webinar on how to connect performance and financial data in the UGG. The one-hour event covered: • Why the UGG is increasing its focus on grant performance. • The goals and objectives of federal programs. • UGG organizational and award performance requirements. • How to identify and address performance measures within your reporting processes. • Tips for collecting the right data and creating data-driven reports. About Sandy Swab Sandy Swab is an independent public sector consultant at SRSwab Consulting. Previously, she was a senior policy analyst with the federal Office of Management and Data and policy manager for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. She managed the Grants Reporting Information Project (GRIP), a recipient reporting project, which was the basis of the 2014 DATA Act pilot project. She regularly speaks on the topics of grants and financial management, data analysis and data standardization, system development and implementation, government-wide reporting requirements and policy analysis.

1. Uniform Grant Guidance:
How to Connect Performance
and Financial Data
Establishing Performance
Measures and Reporting
Presented by:
Sandra Swab
April 15, 2015
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3. About the Presenter
 Sandra Swab is currently an independent consultant focusing on
grants, data standards and performance measurement.
 Over 30 years government experience focusing on focusing grants,
financial and program management.
 Grants experience includes in setting up a federal funding program
and developing reporting requirements for it, overseeing and writing
grants agency policies, as well as developing electronic systems to
support the management of agency grants.
 Sandra also wrote and developed grant government-wide policies
while working at the Office of Management and Budget as a Senior
Policy Analyst.
 She is a member of the National Grants Management Association
(NGMA) and the Association of Government Accountants (AGA).
She is also sits on the Grants Advisory Board for Thompson Publishing.
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4. Agenda
 Performance Perspective
 Proposal Identification of Performance:
Projects & Organizations
 Reporting: Linking Financial and
Performance Data
 Questions
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5. Performance Perspective
GPRA (1993)—Requires strategic plans; long-term goals for
major functions/programs and be results oriented
FFATA (2006)—Reporting on federal spending on a public
website
ARRA (2009)—Central recipient reporting of awards with
managed oversight
GPRA Modernization (2010)—requires publication of
agencies’ strategic plans; accountable official for
performance improvement; and established Performance
Improvement Council (PIC)
DATA Act (2014)—Gov’t-wide data standards for financial
data
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6. View of Federal Performance
Reporting
Agency Goals & Funding
GPRA
Strategic
Plans
Funding
Program
Funding
Program
Funding
Program
Recipients RecipientsRecipients
Uniform Guidance
Budget A-11 Publication
FFATA DATA
Act
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7. Performance Perspective
 OMB’s Uniform Guidance stresses
performance
 Requires federal programs to identify
goals and performance measures
 Requires recipients to be able manage
award, report on identified performance
measures, and address risk
 New award types focus on performance
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8. Performance Perspective
 OMB’s Uniform Guidance stresses
performance of grant funding by:
 Requiring tangible results (outputs) by
recipients
 Requiring management be efficient and
effective
 Anticipating results will support the
proposed goals (outcomes) of the grant
and/or funding program
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9. PROPOSALS: FIRST STEPS IN
IDENTIFYING PERFORMANCE
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10. Funding Announcements
 Agencies or funding opportunity
announcements will:
1. Identify the program goals for the
opportunity
2. Indicate the type of performance
measures for recipients to consider or
use
3. Identify reporting requirements
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11. Proposals
 Proposal Requirements
 Project narrative/scope of work
 Addresses specific priority—identifies the
problem
 Addresses capability to perform to meet
specific priority or criteria
 Identifies expected outcomes and outputs to
support the outcomes
 Relates to funding program/agencies goals
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12. Proposals
 Proposal Requirements
 Funding budget by category
 Creation of budget narrative to justify the
request
 Sub-activities—may require a break-out of the
budget per activity
 Sub-activities—may require separate budget
narrative
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13. Proposals
 Proposal Requirements
 Project design identifying:
1. Detailed work outline or project plan with
timeline—include any measurement activity
2. Identification of any milestones (deliverables)
3. Identification of barriers & steps to overcome
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14. Proposals
 Submitted proposals begin the process
for organizations to:
Identify & define performance measures
to be captured
Identify the financial & resource support
for proposed activities
Identify the timeline for deliverables,
reporting and completing the work
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15. AWARD AND POST-AWARD:
ADDRESSING PERFORMANCE
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16. Federal Awards Identify
Performance Measures
 Based upon review, award can define:
1. Timing & scope of performance to goals
2. Specific programmatic goals, indicators,
or milestones to be accomplished
3. Specific outputs/outcomes
Requires relating financial data to performance
data
Agency
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17. Federal Awards Identify
Performance Measures
 Based upon review, award can
establish:
1. Special award conditions that can affect
meeting performance requirements
2. Additional financial reports
3. Prior approvals for certain actions
4. Additional project monitoring
Agency
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18. Federal Awards Reporting
Performance Measures
 Uniform Guidance requires that
recipient reporting:
Must be done on OMB approved
government-wide standard data
collections
Is required to relate financial data to
performance accomplishments
Frequency be established to determine
progress, as well as supporting agency
program/performance decisions
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19. Performance Reporting
Requirements
 Reporting must cover each program,
activity or function
 Reports require (non-construction):
 Comparison of actual accomplishments
to objectives of the award established for
the period
 Some type of cost or trend data when
applicable
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20. Performance Reporting
Requirements
 Reports require (non-construction)
identification of:
 When goals are met on time or earlier,
and benefits
 Reasons when goals not met—internal
and external impacts
 Any time adjustment
 Any cost overruns
 Unexpected delays
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21. Performance Reporting
Requirements
 Reports require (construction):
 On-site technical inspections and certified
percentage completion data
 Significant developments require
reporting to agency or pass-through (e.g.,
delays or adverse conditions)
 Favorable conditions in meeting
schedules and reduction of resources
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22. Performance Reporting
Requirements
 Pass-through non-federal entities or
prime recipients can:
1. Pass reporting requirements down (flow-
down requirement--§200.101—unless
specified otherwise)
2. Establish additional performance
measures that enables the pass-through
to meet its reporting requirements
(§200.331(a)(3))
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23. MEETING THE REQUIREMENT:
LINKING FINANCIAL DATA TO
PERFORMANCE
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24. Review the Award
 Review the project scope
Identify specific activities within the
project
Identify discrete activities that make up
one major deliverable or objective
Identify the associated resources with
each activity—funds, staff and contracts
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25. Review the Award
 Review the project scope
Set up a timeline for specific measured
activities
Identify required reporting timeframes
and what milestones or deliverables fall
within the timeframe
Establish an internal management report
on the activities
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26. Establish Data Structure
 For each grant or activity
Use a defined data structure to link the
financial expenditures to an activity
Each grant or activity may have
additional internal identifiers
Link internal identifiers to required award
data for required federal reports
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27. Establish Internal Reports
 For each grant or activity:
Produce a defined financial activity report for
each grant/major activity on a regular basis
Establish an internal progress report for each
grant/major activity; may include estimate on %
complete
Both reports should be produced on a regular
basis and should be reviewed internally.
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28. Comparing Performance
Reports to Financial Reports
 3 Key Comparisons
1. Internal progress report to the internal
financial expenditure report (within a
specified timeframe)
2. Total expenditures for the specified
timeframe to the activities identified in the
progress report(s)
3. Results to the overall project plan/detailed
work plan, or the milestones defined in the
award
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29. Reporting the Results
 Recipients should:
1. Associate costs with activities to identify
performance progress
2. Identify potential changes in timeframes for
meeting goals or in costs—which may require
adjustments to the award (budget and scope)
3. Identify clearly when performance goals were
met and clearly identify associated costs and
savings
4. Identify any new strategies used or being
considered to deliver services and meet
program goals
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30. Suggestions to Link Financial
Data to Performance
 Identifying financial expenditures
 Recipients must be able to identify each
federal award with certain data (e.g.,
award ID, CFDA, program, etc.)
 To break-down expenditures for more
than one activity in a grant may require
internal identifiers—mentioned earlier
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31. Suggestions to Link Financial
Data to Performance
 Creating internal identifiers for multiple
activities
 Award ID: ABC:A1; A2; A3, etc.
 Identify resources with each activity and
add tag (e.g., staff resources assigned to
a grant and activity may be ABC: A1 on
any time sheet)
 Identify travel or contracts in same
manner; request all documents contain
the identifiers (invoices, reimbursements)
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32. Suggestions to Link Financial
Data to Performance
 Performance Reports
 Use internal numbering scheme for reports:
Grant ID: ABC:A1
 Establish regular reporting schedule for progress
reports
 Identify the required reporting period covered
under the progress reports (e.g.,
Federal Reporting Period One: April 30
Progress Report covers Jan. 1-15)
 Identify any milestones, deliverables or major
activities that will covered within the reporting
period
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33. Suggestions to Link Financial
Data to Performance
 Performance Reports
 Based on milestone, deliverables or
identified goals—report activities
undertaken:
 Some may be specific: No. client meetings,
provided transportation for clients, # of miles
(quantifiable)
 Some activities may be narrative: Kick-off
meeting with partners (3 hrs.)—outcome draft
schedule of events—next meeting 2 weeks
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34. Suggestions to Link Financial
Data to Performance
 Performance Reports
 Identify or note any expenditures associated
with activity
 Compare time spent on activity and costs to
budget
 Use progress reports to produce grant
award’s performance report with financial
data
 Use electronic systems designed to expedite
& simplify standardized tasks
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35. PERFORMANCE REPORTING
SUMMARY
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36. Performance Reporting
 Performance measures and goals will
be identified by the awarding agency
 May be identified in funding
announcement
 Can be adjusted in the award and may
have specific requirements of what to
measure; program specific
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37. Performance Reporting
 Recipients must identify awards in their
accounting systems to accurately
track funds and report
 May require additional internal data
identifiers for awards with several activities
 Each federal award requires separate
reporting
 Link internal identifiers to required award
data
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38. Performance Reporting
 Identify major milestones, deliverables
or major activities by reporting periods
 Use routine progress or activity reports to
manage performance
 Breakdown activities for manageable
tracking
 Always identify potential changes that
impact dates and funding
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39. Performance Reporting
 Use tools or create standard formats
for internal management reporting
 Use approved data collection formats for
submitted reports
 Use electronic systems that can report at
every level
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40. Performance Reporting
 Recipients should consider:
1. Producing internal management reports
from their progress reports
2. Producing financial expenditure reports
on the grant awards on a regular basis—
outside of the required financial report
Internal report production identifies sound
organizational business practice.
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41. Performance Reporting
 Requires Management and Oversight
 Associated with performance reporting
are other aspects of the award that may
need to be considered:
 Cost-Sharing
 Budget Revisions
 Program Income
 Requesting Payments
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42. Questions
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