We’re always looking for new ways to make your work life easier. Scroll down to read more about new OmniStar features that’ll free up time for you and your colleagues.

Approve grants anywhere, anytime. 

Grant approvals have never been easier in OmniStar. With the familiar ding of an email notification, decision-makers can click on a link containing all the information they need to make, and notify their decision, without even having to log on. All the supporting documentation needed will be right there. 

Given the possibly sensitive nature of information in these links and the associated decisions, an expiry date can be set to render an emailed link unusable after a given period. 

Powerful, daisy-chained approvals lighten the load. 

Enjoy more benefits of automation, with daisy-chained approvals. With OmniStar’s new daisy-chained approvals, approvals can be sequenced. Approval actions are then triggered by actions on the previous approval in the sequence. 

So how does this look in practice? 

  • When a workflow is created, so is the set of associated approvals. 
  • A grant administrator assigns approvals to users (appropriate decision-makers or action takers for each approval). 
  • A grant administrator can tailor a daisy chain of approvals by inserting and removing approvals in the chain.
  • Assigned users will only be notified that they have an approval needing action when the previous (or predecessor) approval in the approval chain has been actions (e.g., decision recorded).
  • An assigned user can then update/record their approval. 
  • Where an assigned user is unable to record a decision (due to absence etc.) another user can be assigned in their place to prevent delays in the approval process. 
  • If a decision is made that means subsequent approvals in the process become unnecessary (assuming no decisions have been recorded for subsequent approvals). 

The power of daisy-chained approvals built into specific workflows removes the burden of needing to update workflows, removes the burden of needing to update workflows when decision points impact approval processes. 

What’s not to love? 

Fast-tracked access to the information you need. 

Get reliable, up-to-date information on any aspect of your giving, research, or governance, at your fingertips, with OmniStar’s new ad-hoc reporting and lockup functionality. 

OmniStar’s enhanced Smartforms and search capacity provide better and faster access to information on the go. All types of users can benefit from improved information and insights via dashboards and reports. 

More flexibility and control with new Milestone actions

Great news. 

For OmniStar users, reaching a Milestone can often trigger a need for action of one kind or another. Traditionally, OmniStar managed this by incorporating actions into a dew, limited types of predefined Milestones.  

But now, as soon as a Milestone has been included in an OmniStar workflow, you can add specific Milestone actions to trigger actions(s) associated with reaching that milestone. These actions might, for example, send an email to notify certain people that the milestone has been reached or release a new report.

Milestone actions are time-dependent, workflow actions that occur in your grants, research, or ethics management process. Once defined, you can edit Milestone actions to change the actions (s) or switch the actions on (activate) or off (deactivate). With so much flexibility you’ll have way more control over milestone-related actions. 

Floating Image Floating Image

Related Insights

OmniStar Research Logo OmniStar Research Logo

Challenges in Research Management

Research has grown at 3.71% from 2010 to 2014. Although this is a good sign of a thriving industry, various problems come with it. In this article, we will discuss top hurdles that research administrators and managers are facing and how they can manage it.

OmniStar Grants Logo OmniStar Grants Logo

Why is Grant Management Important?

Managing grants efficiently is critical to ensuring that the money is used appropriately and results in positive community impact. To get the most out of grant funds, they need to be managed closely.

5 Features To Stay On Top of Your Projects

OmniStar Insights

Here’s a round-up of our top five favourite OmniStar features and a brief description of them we put together for you—in case you have missed them in our release notes.

Let’s get in touch