Awards for E-rate Manager for Applicants

Funds For Learning has won numerous awards for E-rate Manager for Applicants. Here are just a few:

2008 Tech & Learning Award of Excellence

Tech & Learning Magazine has awarded Funds For Learning their 2008 Tech & Learning Award of Excellence for E-rate Manager for Applicants. E-rate Manager for Applicants is our suite of online tools that enables schools, districts, libraries, and consortia to complete the entire E-rate application process online.  E-rate Manager for Applicants is one of only 35 products honored in this year's competition.

2008 Tech & Learning Award of Excellence

2004 EdNET Pioneer Award

The Heller Reports, a QED company and leading provider of education market news and events, recognized Funds For Learning for its significant contributions to the advancement of the education technology industry by awarding FFL the 2004 EdNET Pioneer Award. 

2004 EdNET Pioneer Award

Praise for E-rate Manager for Applicants

We have received lots of praise from users about E-rate Manager for Applicants. Here's just one example from Donna Thornhill, Support Manager for Texans CAN!

When my supervisor and I took over the E-rate program at our organization, about six months after the previous staff left, I was completely overwhelmed. I discovered that there were a number of things that should have been done during that six-month period that we weren't even aware of.

After a couple of months, he came to me and said, "I've found a product that I think can help us. It's an online program called E-Rate Manager for Applicants."

I looked him straight in the eye and said, "I'm already bogged down in details and on system overload. I don't need anything else to learn right now."

He looked back at me and replied, "I'm getting two accounts for this - one for me, and one for you." And that settled that.

It's not often that he's completely right and I'm completely wrong, but this is one of those rare occasions. ERM is about the best thing that's happened to me since I became responsible for all E-rate filings and documentation. ERM has enabled us to cut costs by reducing the time spent on form preparation, facilitating receipt of information from USAC, and eliminating much paper storage.

We inherited more than an entire filing cabinet of documents, from 2001 on. E ach year, there was an elaborate (and expensive, at $5.00 each) file folder for each school site, containing all forms and a great deal of the supporting documents. All of the forms and documents were also duplicated multiple times - in a file for each vendor and another file for each form. Wherever you might think to look for something, it was there. That's a good thing, of course, but also present were needless reams of paper. If forms arrived on colored paper, the copies were printed on the same color of paper. I purchased the expensive folders and colored paper for the 2007 year, but the labeled folders sit empty. The reams of pink, blue and yellow paper have never been opened. That's because ERM has eliminated the need for elaborate files and duplicate documentation.

The ERM Archive has all of the documents I can ever need, and I can retrieve them from my desk in seconds to view or print. When we file BEAR forms, I scan in the invoices used to document the form and link them to the appropriate FRN. I can even scan in the check stub provided to me by the accounting department when the reimbursement arrives. From the 470 application to receipt of funds, all is documented in ERM: the 470, technology plans, vendor proposals, scoring matrix, discount calculation records, 471s, RALs, PIA process documents, FCDLs, SPIN changes, Service Subs, Form 500s - and anything else I can save electronically or scan in. If the Archive alone were the only benefit from ERM, it would be worth the subscription price. But there's lots more.

ERM's Alerts feature notifies me of form deadlines and status changes. When funding has been approved, we hear it first from ERM. When a form such as a service sub or SPIN change has been processed by USAC, we learn about it first with an email alert from ERM. When USAC has issued payment to a vendor from a BEAR invoice, we are notified of the date and amount by ERM. I can alert the Accounting department to the check that should be arriving from a Service Provider, and I know when to contact the vendor if it doesn't arrive within a month.

Another feature that has saved considerable time is the Forms area. Wizards are available that create 470s, 471s, 500s, service subs, etc. Some forms can be submitted online through ERM directly to SLD., and I have found the ERM wizards much easier to use and more reliable than those on the SLD website.

Instead of waiting for the quarterly report from USAC for payments, I can run one of ERM's many reports at will. I can customize and export the reports.

Support from ERM is phenomenal, even for small conveniences. While working through a task one day, I noticed that the list of FRNs on that screen did not seem to be in any order, and there was no way to sort them. I placed a support request, noting that having the FRNs in numerical sequence would facilitate my locating them. Within 2 hours, the FRNs were sorted numerically. When viewing the archive, I choose to see the "Details" view rather than the "Icons" view. I noticed that I had to select my preferred view each time I entered the Archive screen, and asked if the system could retain my preferences. That was changed in less than a day's time. Many companies wouldn't bother with such small changes, or would hold them and make a single update at their convenience. The response from Funds for Learning tells me that they value the time I spend working in their product and their function is to facilitate my work.

ERM for Applicants is probably the best investment we've made, and my supervisor loves to remind me that I resisted its purchase. We are going to need to cut spending with the state of today's economy, but cutting ERM is not even a consideration. I would not hesitate to recommend ERM for Applicants to anyone dealing with the complications of E-rate filing and documentation.

Donna Thornhill
Support Manager
Texans CAN!