Grant and subsidy management software: GrantCore
GrantCore is the platform for grant consultancies built by KERN-IT. Every call spotted, every application prepared, every consortium coordinated, every piece of expense evidence collected and every success fee invoiced lives in one place, for all your clients and every funding body: regional, federal and European. Each file has its own document space, linked to your Google Drive or Microsoft Teams if you wish. Paid monthly, all inclusive, with no upfront investment: that is our leasing model.
It is one of our business platforms: complete software products, designed, hosted and maintained by our team in Brussels. Built for firms that track dozens of files today across spreadsheets, Word templates, personal calendars and inboxes full of attachments, and for research labs juggling their funding, milestones and reports.
GrantCore comes with an AI assistant: it reads a call and extracts the criteria, drafts a first version of the application sections, checks that nothing is missing before submission and answers your questions about the portfolio. It prepares, your consultants write and sign.
A grant consultancy's daily life, between funders and spreadsheets
Calls tracked site by site
Each funding body has its own site, calendar and rules. Finding the right call for the right client takes hours, and a missed call sometimes does not come back for a year.
Applications rebuilt from an old Word file
Each application is rebuilt from the previous one, with its sections, page limits and annexes. The client's details are copied over once again.
Consortia coordinated by email
Mandates, budgets, commitment letters: each partner gets a spreadsheet, replies when they can, and the coordinator pulls it all together the night before submission.
Documents that arrive late
Timesheets, invoices, proofs of payment: evidence arrives incomplete, reminder after reminder, and an ineligible invoice is discovered at the final report.
Deadlines in a personal calendar
Submissions, reports, audits, payments: the dates live in each consultant's calendar. When one is away, nobody knows what falls due next week.
Success fees that slip away
Months go by between the decision, the grant payment and the firm's invoice. A forgotten success fee is lost revenue.
From call to success fee, one single thread
Call watch and files
Open calls ranked for each client, then one file per call pursued, with its steps, deadlines and consultant. The dashboard shows the firm's whole portfolio.
Single files and consortia
A regional premium with one beneficiary or a European project with ten partners: steps, milestones and Gantt adapt. In a consortium, each partner is invited by link and sees their share.
Writing and financial analysis
Application templates per funding body, pre-filled from the client and project records. Budget by category and by partner, eligible costs, project cash flow.
Evidence, payments and invoicing
Invoices and proofs of payment collected and matched to the budget, grant payments tracked, fees and success fees invoiced via PEPPOL at the right time.
And everything that keeps the house running
Client and partner portals
Each client and partner uploads their documents in their own space and sees what is expected of them, and by when. No more attachments lost in an inbox.
Automatic reminders
Submissions, reports, documents, payments: reminders go out on their own, in the recipient's language, once the consultant approves. Latecomers show at a glance.
Client records from the CBE
Size, region, sector, annual accounts and aid already received fill in the client record. Eligibility and the de minimis total are calculated from public data.
Audit-ready
Each piece of evidence is filed with its proof of payment, budget line and period. The export for the auditor or the funder takes one click.
One space per file
Call, submitted application, grant agreement, reports, evidence, correspondence with the funder: every document has its place, versions and access rights. Clients and partners only see what concerns them.
Linked to Google Drive and Microsoft Teams
Your team works in Google Drive, SharePoint or Teams? The file space links to a shared folder or a team: files dropped on one side show up on the other, and deadlines and reminders are posted in the project channel.
A look at the platform
A week with GrantCore looks like this. On Monday, the dashboard shows the submissions due in the next thirty days and the files waiting for a document. Call watch suggests three new calls for a client: one becomes a file in a click. For a Brussels premium, the reminder goes to the client: without a signed quote, the application cannot be filed before the assignment starts. For the large European project, partners upload their budgets in their space and the application is written in the funder's template. On running projects, invoices and proofs of payment arrive, matched to the budget. On Friday, an instalment payment triggers the firm's success-fee invoice.
The firm's dashboard: all your files, all your clients, every funding body.
- Active files, submissions in the next thirty days, amounts requested and secured
- Upcoming deadlines, file by file
- Files by funding body: Wallonia, Brussels, Flanders, federal, Europe
- Success rate, payments expected and fees to invoice
Call watch: open calls ranked for each client.
- Regional, federal and European calls in a single catalogue
- Match calculated against the client profile
- Profile filled from the CBE and annual accounts, aid already received included
- Call reading by the assistant: criteria and documents to prepare
A regional premium file: one beneficiary, every step in its place.
- The funder's steps, from eligibility to payment, with what is blocking
- The unforgiving rule: the application filed before the assignment starts
- Estimated premium, the client's annual ceiling and the firm's fee
- The client's documents in their space, from the CBE to proofs of payment
Following a Prime Digitalisation: from the MyBEE application to payment, every step dated.
- The full timeline: application, receipt, decision, assignment, payment claim, payment
- The end of the assignment monitored (6 months at most) and the client warned in time
- The client's annual ceiling tracked: what is left for a second assignment
- The firm's fee invoiced when the premium is paid
A file's documents: every document of a project, from application to final report.
- Filed by stage: application, decision and agreement, reports, expense claims, evidence
- Version, author and date of each document, status with the funder
- Annual accounts imported from the NBB, no re-keying
- Preview, version history and sharing with the client in one click
The consortium: partners, their role, their budget and what they still owe.
- Partners invited by link, in their own space
- Mandates, signatures and budgets tracked up to submission
- What still blocks the submission, in plain terms
- Automatic reminders to late partners
The project plan: work packages, milestones and deliverables on a Gantt chart.
- One work package per lead partner
- Milestones linked to reports and payments
- The current month visible across the whole project
- Plan export for the application
Writing the application: the funder's template, section by section.
- Templates per funder and programme, kept up to date by the firm
- Sections pre-filled from the client and project records
- Budget synced with the financial analysis
- Assistant suggestions against the evaluation criteria
The file space: all of a project's documents, filed by stage and linked to your tools.
- Folders by stage: call, submission, agreement, consortium, reports, evidence, correspondence
- Each document linked to its period and budget line, with its versions
- Connection to Google Drive, SharePoint or a Microsoft Teams team
- Access rights by role: firm, coordinator, partners, client
Financial analysis: the budget, eligible costs and project cash flow.
- Budget by cost category and by partner
- Contribution granted, payments received and to come
- The firm's projected fee
- Audit obligations flagged per funder
Document collection: what each partner owes, and what is missing.
- Timesheets, invoices, proofs of payment and technical reports per partner
- One request per reporting period
- Scheduled reminders, approved by the consultant
- Latecomers reminded in one click
Payments and invoices: from expense evidence to the firm's success fee.
- Invoices and proofs of payment matched to the budget: eligible, out of period, to decide
- Grant payments tracked: pre-financing, instalments, balance, delays
- Fees and success fees calculated on amounts paid
- PEPPOL invoicing and audit export
The AI assistant: a question in plain language, an answer drawn from your files.
- Queries files, calls, consortia and payments
- Cites every source: schedule, partner spaces, documents
- Drafts reminders, you approve before anything is sent
- Read only on your data, hosted in Europe
For your clients and partners
The partner space. Each consortium partner gets a link to their own space, in your colours. They see what is expected of them for the period, upload their timesheets, invoices and proofs of payment, and find their share of the budget, their pre-financing and their next milestone.
The firm receives documents already filed, ready to check before the report, without digging through an inbox. The same space exists for your clients.
For research labs and centres
A research lab's portfolio. A lab runs regional, national and European funding in parallel, each with its milestones, scientific and financial reports, and justification rules. GrantCore brings them together: projects under way, upcoming deadlines, the quarter's milestones and the budget managed.
Researcher time is allocated to projects every month, and those records feed each funder's expense claims directly. Doctoral grants, supervisory committees and end-of-project reports follow the same thread.
AI prepares, the consultant writes and signs
A grant application puts the credibility of the firm and its client on the line in front of a jury: the text must stay human, accurate and defensible. GrantCore's AI assistant works on what takes time without calling for judgement.
Reading calls
Eligibility criteria, evaluation criteria, limits, required documents: the assistant reads the call text and turns it into a clear summary attached to the file.
First draft of the sections
From the client and project records, it drafts a first version of the application sections in the funder's template. The consultant reworks and signs it.
Checks before submission and reports
Incomplete section, missing annex, invoice without proof of payment, out-of-period expense: the assistant flags what would sink a submission or an audit.
Questions in everyday language
“Which files have missing documents?”, “Which success fees fall due this quarter?”: the answer comes in seconds, with its sources.
Safeguards: the assistant works read only and cites every source. It sends nothing without approval. When a funder asks applicants to declare AI use, the platform keeps a record of what was suggested and what was kept. Your data stays hosted in Europe and is never used to train a model.
Spreadsheets, Word and inboxes or your digital core
Before
- Calls tracked site by site, client by client
- Every application rebuilt from an old document
- Partner documents scattered across emails
- Success fees tracked from memory
After
- Calls ranked for each client, every week
- One template per funder, pre-filled from the records
- One space per partner, with what is expected and what is missing
- Every payment triggers its invoice
What everyone gains
The consultant
Less manual call watching, re-keying and chasing. Time goes to the substance of the application and the client relationship.
The firm's partner
The file portfolio, consultant workload, success rates and upcoming fees, always up to date.
The client
They know where their file stands, what is expected of them and by when. Evidence issues surface in time, not at the final report.
Consortium partners
A clear space, in their language, with their share of the project, their deadlines and their documents. Fewer spreadsheets, fewer emails.
Who is it for?
Grant consultancies
From solo consultants to firms with dozens of consultants, from small regional premiums to European consortium projects: many clients, many funders, fees and success fees.
Research labs and centres
Several grants in parallel, milestones, scientific and financial reports, researcher time to justify: one portfolio instead of one spreadsheet per project.
Collaborative project coordinators
Competitiveness clusters and companies coordinating regional or European consortia.
Companies running their own applications
SMEs and scale-ups that chain Brussels or Walloon premiums, R&D and the occasional European call, and want serious tracking without a consultancy. A light plan exists for a single project.
What you are comparing
Spreadsheets, Word and email
Free on paper, costly in time: calls, applications, documents and fees rely on everyone's memory. GrantCore replaces them without changing your method.
European project management software
Solid for running a Horizon Europe project, but designed for an organisation, not for a firm tracking dozens of clients across several funders, nor for invoicing its fees.
AI writing tools
Useful for a first draft, but limited to writing: no tracking, no consortium, no evidence, no payments. GrantCore builds writing into the rest of the file.
Designed and supported in Belgium by the KERN-IT team, hosted in Europe. We know the trade from the inside: KERN-IT ran a 24-month research project in a consortium co-funded by Innoviris and VLAIO, and supports its Brussels clients with their Prime Digitalisation applications. Your files and your clients' files are confidential: every access is limited to the right role, every action is written to the audit log, and exchanges are encrypted. Your data belongs to you: exportable at any time, guaranteed reversibility, GDPR by design.
Support is local too: you talk to the people who build the platform. An issue reported in the morning is often fixed the same day, and your change requests feed straight into the product roadmap.
Start without switching everything
A demo on your files
Show us two or three typical files, anonymised: we show them to you in GrantCore, from call to success fee.
A pilot on one funder
Start with a single funder or team, your Walloon files for instance, alongside your current tools. You extend once the team is convinced.
Your templates carried over
Your application templates, clients and open files are imported at the start. You do not start from a blank page.
How does it work? Made-to-measure software
Full custom development is costly and takes months, and off-the-shelf software knows neither Belgian funders nor a consultancy's trade. Our business platforms are the middle way: a proven base, fitted exactly to the way you work.
1. A base already cut to shape
Files, portals, documents, planning, reminders, PEPPOL invoicing, AI assistant: the core relies on building blocks already in production on our other platforms, and you do not pay for their development.
2. Fitted to your firm
Your funders, your templates, your steps, your fee model (fees, success fees) and your accounting: from configuration to custom-built modules.
3. Paid monthly, all inclusive
Hosting, backups, updates and support included. The monthly fee is set by two dials: the amount of customisation and the pace you want to move at. It includes a reserve of development days over the year, and a purchase option can be written into the contract, just like a real lease.
Getting started
1
1. A demo on your files
A demonstration on your reality, with your funders, your clients and two or three of your anonymised files.
2
2. Configuration
Funders and programmes, steps, application templates, reminders, fee model. Client and partner portals in your colours.
3
3. Your data imported
Your clients, open files, deadlines and templates imported. You start with a portfolio already filled in.
4
4. Launch & support
Consultant training, portals opened, ongoing support and improvements based on your feedback.
Related articles
Frequently asked questions
Our business platforms are complete software products built and operated by KERN-IT, ready to use for a given sector. GrantCore for grant consultancies, InvestCore for investment funds, CargoCore for transport. You get a mature product without funding its development, and it stays customisable because we master all of its code. All platforms are presented on this page.
All the ones you work with: Walloon, Brussels and Flemish regional aid, federal schemes, European programmes. Each funder has its templates, steps and justification rules, which you configure and which we can set up for you.
No. Most files have a single beneficiary: a digitalisation or consultancy premium in Brussels, Walloon Region aid, a regional R&D project. The file then follows the funder's steps, with no partners to invite. Consortium features only switch on for collaborative projects.
Yes. A lab tracks all its funded projects there, with their milestones, deliverables, scientific and financial reports, and the monthly allocation of its researchers' time. Evidence and expense claims are prepared from the same data, funder by funder.
They get a link to their own space, in your colours. They see what is expected of them, upload their documents and follow progress, with nothing to install.
Yes. Each file space can link to a shared Google Drive folder, SharePoint or OneDrive, or a Microsoft Teams team. Files dropped on one side show up on the other, and the file's deadlines and reminders can be posted in the project channel. Your team keeps its habits, and GrantCore keeps track of the file.
Yes. Each file carries its fee model: fixed fee, hourly fees, success fee on the amount granted or paid. The platform calculates the amount at the right time, prepares the invoice and sends it via PEPPOL.
No. It reads calls, drafts a first version and checks completeness; your consultants write, review and sign. It works read only, cites its sources, and keeps a record of its suggestions when a funder asks applicants to declare AI use.
Yes, that is what we recommend: one funder or one team, alongside your current tools. Your open files are imported from day one.
GrantCore runs on an all-inclusive monthly subscription with no upfront investment: like a lease, the monthly fee covers full use of the platform, and a purchase option can be included. It depends on the amount of customisation, the pace you want to move at and the size of your firm, with no charge per client or invited partner. We present a costed proposal during the demo.
On servers in Europe, in line with the GDPR. Daily backups, encrypted exchanges, audit log of every action. Dedicated hosting is possible for firms that require it.
See GrantCore on your own files
Tell us about your firm: your funders, your clients, how you are paid. Show us two or three typical files and we will show them to you in the platform.