From Email Chains To Visibility: Western New England University Centralizes Pre-award With Kuali Research

Overview

Western New England University (WNE) implemented Kuali Research Sponsored Programs (Pre-Award) to create its first centralized, institution-wide system for managing grant proposals and internal approvals. As part of a broader effort to strengthen research administration, WNE established new leadership and operational roles and intentionally invested in technology to support a more sustainable, scalable approach to sponsored programs. With no legacy pre-award system in place, the university used Kuali Research to design and launch a modern workflow from the ground up - going live in just five months and setting the foundation for future growth across the research lifecycle.

Snapshot

• Institution: Western New England University
• Product: Kuali Research - Sponsored Programs (Pre-Award)
• Implementation timeline: 5 months
• Status: Live (early adoption phase)
• Primary stakeholders: Associate Provost, Director of Grants, IT leadership, faculty, and administrative approvers

Problem

Prior to Kuali, Western New England University had no centralized system for managing pre-award activity. Proposal materials, approvals, and status updates lived across email inboxes, personal folders, and individual hard drives, making it difficult to track submissions, maintain records, or understand where a proposal stood in the process. Internal review and approvals were handled through long email chains that required manual coordination across multiple roles, increasing the likelihood of bottlenecks and missed visibility. As a result, final approvals often occurred within the last 12 to 24 hours before sponsor deadlines, creating unnecessary pressure for faculty and administrators alike.

Solution

WNE selected Kuali Research because it closely aligned with the university’s critical success factors, including real-time proposal tracking, flexible configuration across grant types, an intuitive user experience, and audit-ready approval workflows. The platform’s configurability allowed WNE to design forms and routing that reflected existing institutional processes while also addressing long-standing inefficiencies. During implementation, the team focused on capturing key financial and compliance details earlier in the proposal process, reducing the need for follow-up questions and minimizing late-stage approval delays.

A cross-functional implementation team - representing grants administration, IT, and faculty - worked collaboratively with Kuali’s implementation support, meeting regularly to configure, test, and refine workflows. Because the system could be adjusted internally, the team could make changes quickly without extensive technical intervention. Training was prioritized early, with multiple sessions tailored to different campus roles, helping faculty, administrators, and approvers gain confidence in the system before and shortly after go-live.

Results

Although WNE has been live for a short time, early results show clear improvements. Proposal tracking is now centralized, giving all stakeholders a shared view of status and approvals. Turnaround times for approvals have improved, with recent proposals fully approved days ahead of deadlines - contrasting sharply with prior last-minute patterns. Faculty and approvers have responded positively to the system’s usability, with only minor wording refinements. With a centralized pre-award foundation now in place, WNE is positioned to further mature its research operations and is already exploring expansion into post-award functionality as funding allows.

Key Takeaways

Western New England University’s implementation of Kuali Research highlights how a focused strategy, flexible technology, and cross-campus collaboration can quickly transform pre-award operations - even without a legacy system in place. Here’s what other institutions can learn from WNE’s experience:

• Define success criteria and ownership early so the system is configured around institutional needs - not just existing habits.
• Design workflows to eliminate bottlenecks upfront by capturing key finance and compliance details early in the process.
• Build a cross-functional implementation team that includes grants, IT, and faculty voices to ensure adoption and long-term success.
• Choose a platform that supports growth beyond pre-award as research operations mature.

‍