From Reporting to Action: Building AI-Assisted Tools for Post-Award Grants Management
Research teams often have plenty of data, but turning that data into clear priorities and practical action is much harder.
In this session, Ismael Carpintero from the Francis Crick Institute will share how he used Power BI, Excel and Microsoft Copilot to build two practical tools for post-award grants management without developer support, additional budget or a large IT project.
The first is a Grants Manager Portfolio Dashboard that turns a monthly portfolio extract into a prioritised overview of where attention is needed. It highlights key portfolio indicators, identifies overspends and underspends, and flags projects approaching their end dates according to the level of action required. The dashboard is now used monthly by Grants Managers to support structured portfolio reviews and help teams focus on the projects that need attention most.
The second is a forecasting tool that projects budgets, expenditure and remaining balances forward from a finance-system snapshot. It can account for staff with different contract end dates alongside recurring costs such as consumables and facilities, helping Grants Managers develop a clearer view of how projects may evolve over time.
Ismael will demonstrate how the tools work, share what he learned while developing them, and reflect on what worked and what did not. The session will also explore how research management teams can start building useful tools themselves using technology they may already have access to.
The focus will be on practical experimentation: identifying a real operational problem, starting small, using AI to support the build process, and keeping professional judgement at the centre.
About the speaker
Ismael Carpintero is a Research Grants Manager at the Francis Crick Institute, where he manages a post-award portfolio and builds the tools his team uses to oversee it. He previously worked in research operations at the University of Cambridge as a Research Finance Analyst in the School of Technology, and has around ten years of experience in research management across UK higher education and the independent research institute sector, with a background in accountancy.
He has built a suite of AI-assisted tools for post-award grants management: portfolio dashboards, funder-compliance agents and forecasting templates using Power BI, Excel and Microsoft Copilot Studio, without developer support. He is currently working towards the ARMA UK Certificate in Research Management (Advanced).
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