The Kuali Financial System (KFS) community of the Kuali Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of VivanTech as their development partner for phase 1 of the Contract and Grant Billing (CGB) functionality of the Kuali Financial System.  VivanTech will provide a turn-key solution based on KFS 4.0.  The CGB enhancements are for initial implementation at investing partner sites and eventual integration into the KFS baseline code for public download.

Kuali Contract and Grant Billing will be a robust set of enhancements to the existing Accounts Receivable (AR) module of the Kuali Financial System.  The new functionality will automate the routine billing tasks associated with post-award grant administration. 

The software is based on the proven post-award research administration system developed by the University of Maryland called BARS (Billing and Accounts Receivable System); just as BARS integrates with Coeus to receive award information, KFS Contract & Grant Billing will include an optional interface with Kuali Coeus to import project and sponsor information.  The system scrubs the general ledger for eligible expenses on reimbursable contracts and grants, establishes billing schedules for milestone-based contracts, and tracks eligible expenses on Letters of Credit to facilitate timely and accurate draw downs and reporting.

“We usually get 80% of our invoices generated by the automated batch process.  The system also helps us to make accurate LOC draw downs and get funds reimbursed quickly” notes Muddu Salem, University of Maryland senior analyst and BARS developer.

Yaa-Yin Fong, Director of the Office of Research Services at the University of Hawaii, noted that, “automating the generation of contract and grant invoices will give us the ability to manage our billing and letter-of-credit draws more effectively. The collections function of the BARS system will also be a great benefit to the university. Therefore, the decision to participate in the Contract and Grant Billing effort was not hard to justify.”

KFS Contract and Grant Billing investing partners include: Colorado State University, Cornell University, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, the University of California Davis, the University of Connecticut, the University of Maryland, and the University of Hawaii.  Opportunities to invest are still available; investors receive access to interim code releases, early access to the completed code, and the opportunity to contribute toward software requirements.  Interested institutions should contact Eben Sutton, KFS AR Lead Subject Matter Expert, at esutton@ucdavis.edu or 530.752.5873 for more information.

About VivanTech

VivanTech delivers innovative solutions for higher education and leverages its experience with financial institutions, large software companies, and a multi-billion dollar non-profit organization.  The company’s competencies include Kuali migration services, KEW automation, complex software development, Kuali stack and Java training, systems integration, and project management.  VivanTech is fully committed to Kuali having worked on KFS and other Kuali projects since 2007.  As a Kuali Commercial Affiliate, VivanTech developed and offers the first Kuali Mobile App, provides complimentary KFS and KC sandboxes, and has developers dedicated to the Foundation’s core development of KS and KC.  VivanTech is headquartered in San Diego, CA.  For more information visit:http://www.vivantech.com/