FundSvcs Community

Hello everyone,

My team is looking for recommendations on how to organize a complex file structure for grant document storage in an affiliated organization. We are seeking the ability to have grant writing staff, program staff, and leadership from multiple affiliates be able to view and collaborate on grant applications, but making it so staff don't have the permission to delete others' work. 

Can anyone chime in with their experience with a complex file structure system and permissions system? Thank you!

Hello everyone,

My team is looking for recommendations on how to organize a complex file structure for grant document storage in an affiliated organization. We are seeking the ability to have grant writing staff, program staff, and leadership from multiple affiliates be able to view and collaborate on grant applications, but making it so staff don't have the permission to delete others' work. 

Can anyone chime in with their experience with a complex file structure system and permissions system? Thank you!

Hi Isaac, of course.

Currently my organization has both Google Drive and Microsoft Teams for document storage and collaboration. Collaboration is very easy in Google Drive, but managing the file system and permissions is not so robust. My organization has been using Google Drive for many years, and the file system that existed has become quite disorganized. Everyone on the Development team can share editing access with others, when staff leave the organization their files get lost, new staff don't understand the file paths or how to get to documents, it's not easy to QC to make sure documents are stored on this system (instead of on their desktops), no one can find each other's files, and it's possible to delete other's work, etc. 

Our organization got Microsoft Teams around 3 years ago but the Development team did not adopt it at that time. The learning curve is slightly higher than Google Drive, and the rollout/ training process was not very thorough, so we didn't gravitate towards it. Now, my Development team is looking at Microsoft Teams as an alternative to the Google Drive system that has gotten disorganized. My Development Operations team believes that Microsoft Teams is a more sustainable approach to file organization than Google Drive. The main thing we like about it is that Microsoft Teams and Salesforce can be connected. Our idea is to make it so every time a grant record is created in Salesforce, it automatically creates a set of folders in Microsoft Teams for each document (grant application/ award letter, etc.). We believe this will help with consistency of file storage. The main issue we have with this system is permissions. We want to make it so 1.) members of the grant team, as identified by the lead grant writer, can collaborate, 2.) everyone who writes grants can have-view only access across the board, and 3.) no one can delete or edit other's work without permission from the lead grant writer. We have around 20 Development staff, plus around 30 program staff and leadership who collaborate with development to write grants. The grant teams are fluid depending on what the grant is, so we don't have a precise designation of "who the grant team is", including cases where the lead grant writer is actually NOT on the Development team. 

We are wondering if any other folks have experience with a medium to large organization where there are multiple grant writers and grant teams who want to collaborate and share information. Can you share how your file system is organized? Can you share documents, policies, or standards for how your teams organize files and collaborate on grants or major partnerships? Thank you for any thoughts!

Leslie

Hello everyone,

My team is looking for recommendations on how to organize a complex file structure for grant document storage in an affiliated organization. We are seeking the ability to have grant writing staff, program staff, and leadership from multiple affiliates be able to view and collaborate on grant applications, but making it so staff don't have the permission to delete others' work. 

Can anyone chime in with their experience with a complex file structure system and permissions system? Thank you!

Hi Isaac, of course.

Currently my organization has both Google Drive and Microsoft Teams for document storage and collaboration. Collaboration is very easy in Google Drive, but managing the file system and permissions is not so robust. My organization has been using Google Drive for many years, and the file system that existed has become quite disorganized. Everyone on the Development team can share editing access with others, when staff leave the organization their files get lost, new staff don't understand the file paths or how to get to documents, it's not easy to QC to make sure documents are stored on this system (instead of on their desktops), no one can find each other's files, and it's possible to delete other's work, etc. 

Our organization got Microsoft Teams around 3 years ago but the Development team did not adopt it at that time. The learning curve is slightly higher than Google Drive, and the rollout/ training process was not very thorough, so we didn't gravitate towards it. Now, my Development team is looking at Microsoft Teams as an alternative to the Google Drive system that has gotten disorganized. My Development Operations team believes that Microsoft Teams is a more sustainable approach to file organization than Google Drive. The main thing we like about it is that Microsoft Teams and Salesforce can be connected. Our idea is to make it so every time a grant record is created in Salesforce, it automatically creates a set of folders in Microsoft Teams for each document (grant application/ award letter, etc.). We believe this will help with consistency of file storage. The main issue we have with this system is permissions. We want to make it so 1.) members of the grant team, as identified by the lead grant writer, can collaborate, 2.) everyone who writes grants can have-view only access across the board, and 3.) no one can delete or edit other's work without permission from the lead grant writer. We have around 20 Development staff, plus around 30 program staff and leadership who collaborate with development to write grants. The grant teams are fluid depending on what the grant is, so we don't have a precise designation of "who the grant team is", including cases where the lead grant writer is actually NOT on the Development team. 

We are wondering if any other folks have experience with a medium to large organization where there are multiple grant writers and grant teams who want to collaborate and share information. Can you share how your file system is organized? Can you share documents, policies, or standards for how your teams organize files and collaborate on grants or major partnerships? Thank you for any thoughts!

Leslie

Hello everyone,

My team is looking for recommendations on how to organize a complex file structure for grant document storage in an affiliated organization. We are seeking the ability to have grant writing staff, program staff, and leadership from multiple affiliates be able to view and collaborate on grant applications, but making it so staff don't have the permission to delete others' work. 

Can anyone chime in with their experience with a complex file structure system and permissions system? Thank you!