How CIRM Built a Single Source of Truth for Grants Administration
Industry: Public Sector Healthcare
28,000
applicant records cleaned, deduplicated and unified
7,800
historical grant applications migrated with full data integrity
100%
of applicant emails automatically converted into cases
Background
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is a state-funded agency that administers large-scale stem cell research grants across California. Thousands of researchers and institutions rely on CIRM systems to submit applications, manage awards and track milestones throughout the grants lifecycle.
CIRM operated an in-house Grants Management System (GMS) that reliably handled end-to-end grant operations. However, as application volumes and applicant interactions grew, data scale and frequent profile updates made identity consolidation increasingly complex. During data assessments, fragmented applicant identities across 15,000 applications, 45,000 contact records and 2,300 institutions highlighted the need for stronger data unification without disrupting existing grant workflows.
Industry Challenge
Grant-funding organizations often operate across multiple systems, making it difficult to maintain consistent data across the grant lifecycle. As programs scale, manual reconciliation increases, reporting slows and compliance oversight becomes more complex. These challenges place growing demands on existing systems and processes.
Goals
- Establish a single source of truth for applicants and institutions
- Eliminate duplicate identities caused by multiple emails, institutions and updates
- Strengthen reporting accuracy and leadership visibility
- Improve auditability and governance for public accountability
- Support scalable, long-term grants administration while continuing to rely on GMS
Implementation
Infoglen led a multi-phase transformation guided by a clear principle:
One applicant. One identity. Zero ambiguity.
Phase 1: Foundation for Data Integrity
- Salesforce Service Cloud implementation with a scalable data model
- Migration of:
- 7,800 validated applications
- 28,000 cleaned and deduplicated contacts
- 2,300 standardized institution records
- Real-time Salesforce ↔ GMS integration
- Email-to-Case to centralize applicant communications
- Outlook integration and OneLogin SSO for secure access
Identity Resolution Architecture
- Consolidated duplicate applicant profiles across emails and institutions
- Redesigned Account-Contact relationships to support true many-to-many mappings
- Introduced a custom multi-address model to manage institution-specific and office-level addresses
Phase 2: Full Grants Lifecycle Integration
- Unified pre-submissions, awards, milestones and contact addresses in Salesforce
- DocuSign integration for NDAs and award signatures
- SharePoint integration evaluation using Files Connect
Governance & Quality Enhancements
- Custom Case Forms Framework: A master-data-driven form engine to enforce data hygiene and support conditional logic beyond standard surveys
- Error Logging Engine: Apex-based logging for full integration visibility and faster issue resolution
Impact
Measurable Outcomes
- 28,000 fully accurate, deduplicated applicant records
- 7,800 historical applications migrated cleanly
- 100% of applicant emails automatically converted into cases
Qualitative Outcomes
- A unified, trusted view of applicant and institution data across programs
- Clear audit visibility aligned with public accountability requirements
- Consistent, timely reporting to support leadership decision-making
- Traceable, end-to-end communication with applicants
- Compliance readiness designed to scale with growing grant volumes
Technology Stack
- Salesforce Service Cloud
- Custom Salesforce ↔ GMS Integrations
- DocuSign eSignature
- Outlook Integration
- OneLogin SSO
- Custom Case Forms Framework
- Apex Error Logging Engine
What the Customer Says
It has been a great experience working with the Infoglen team. They helped us implement a robust CRM system and delivered the much-needed business outcome of clean and reliable contact data for our grant application process. I truly appreciate the team’s flexibility, patience and dedication throughout the project.
— Hayley Cohen, Project Manager, California Institute of Regenerative Medicine
Goals
• Create a single, trusted applicant and institution record
• Eliminate duplicate identities across grants and programs
• Improve reporting, auditability and long-term scalability
Implementation
• Salesforce Service Cloud as the unified data layer
• Identity resolution to merge duplicate applicants and institutions
• Real-time GMS integration without disrupting grant operations
• End-to-end lifecycle coverage from pre-submission to awards
Results
• 28,000 applicants deduplicated and unified
• 7,800 historical applications migrated cleanly
• Clear audit trails and consistent leadership reporting
• Reduced manual reconciliation across programs
Products Used
• Custom Salesforce ↔ GMS Integrations
• DocuSign
• Outlook Integration
• OneLogin SSO
