Key Benefits
- Greater efficiency in information management across the various environmental funds and policies, now centralised in a single web portal.
- Time savings and increased responsiveness through process automation and the creation of tailored solutions, promoting efficient collaboration between internal and external teams.
- Greater team autonomy in the solution’s continuous evolution, resulting in reduced HR costs and less need for external support.
Problem and challenges
The creation of Fundo Ambiental aimed to centralise the management of four pre-existing funds, which were discontinued. The objective was to integrate all resources into a single fund and promote more efficient management, ensuring greater effectiveness in implementing environmental policies.
However, at the time of its creation, Fundo Ambiental already had approximately 270,000 registered users, making the management of applications and support programmes even more challenging. In addition, the Fund was a new and complex project, under strong pressure to launch within a very short timeframe, with a small, newly assigned team.
Until then, managing the different funds involved the use of scattered platforms, email, Excel spreadsheets, and other conventional tools, resulting in slower, more complex processes that were more prone to errors and information gaps. In addition, it was very difficult to ensure analysis, auditing, and report production.
In this context, for Fundo Ambiental to operate and fulfil its purpose, Secretaria-Geral do Ambiente required a technology solution that would:
- Centralise the management of all funds: The solution should unify communication, programmes, indicators, and application records, promoting optimised process and financial management, while also ensuring clearer, more comprehensive communication of all information.
- Be flexible: As each call/programme had very specific contexts and stakeholders, the solution needed to adapt easily to the needs and structures of each one in a practical, automated way. Ensure agility: Due to highly demanding and specific communication, registration, and execution deadlines, the timeframe for each call/programme was also a major challenge. Therefore, the solution needed to ensure speed and accuracy in issuing calls and executing processes.
- Enable interaction between stakeholders: The solution needed to facilitate efficient communication between internal teams, citizens, economic operators, companies, public bodies, universities, and other entities involved in the application processes.
Solutions
The Masterlink Platform was chosen to address the project’s urgency and the challenges of centralising and managing Fundo Ambiental’s resources. With no-code technology and Masterlink’s technical support, a robust portal was created, capable of supporting the organisation’s entire workflow.
The Fundo Ambiental Portal was developed and made available in just two weeks, becoming an essential tool for managing all processes. The solution enables efficient management of the entire lifecycle of calls, from communicating the annual plan for awarding support and publishing the respective calls/programmes, to managing and evaluating applications, which in some cases can exceed 100,000 submissions per call.
“This has always been an extremely challenging project. We are talking about multiple calls, each with unique rules and structures, meaning there is no standard template. It would not have been possible to deliver this, in record time, without a flexible platform like Masterlink’s.” – Pedro Fonseca, project manager at Masterlink
Thanks to the simplicity and flexibility of Masterlink’s Platform, each programme/call was structured quickly and in an automated way, with a maximum implementation time of 40 hours. Even with complex processes and a small team, the first two calls were published in just 10 days.
The platform also enabled integration with document management systems and the optimisation of processes associated with PRR calls. In addition, a financial management module is also being developed to support contract, payment, and funding allocation processes, which will bring even greater efficiency to cross-checking and analysing all information, producing reports, and auditing.
“The Fund went from a budget of €300,000 at its inception to €2.3 billion. Masterlink’s automation tools have helped us respond in the best possible way to this growth.” – Pedro Santinho, one of the technicians responsible for the project at Fundo Ambiental.
Results
With its Portal fully operational, Fundo Ambiental recorded substantial improvements across different areas:
Centralised information
The Portal consolidated previously dispersed data, making consultation and analysis easier. It became possible to generate detailed reports in real time, from the number of applications submitted to the amount approved for funding.
Error reduction
The ability to read and analyse quickly, combined with accurate reporting, significantly reduced errors, turning analytics into an important strategic element.
“The Portal has become a single source of data, a centralised ecosystem with distributed use. Everyone acts based on the same information, which prevents errors, duplication, and failures.” – Daniel Gomes, CEO of Masterlink
Engagement of all stakeholders
With a central access point, all stakeholders, internal and external, began collaborating more efficiently, which is especially important in programmes and applications with strict deadlines.
Agile and flexible development
Thanks to the simplicity of the Masterlink Platform and no-code technology, development and update times were substantially reduced, resulting in optimised deliveries and improved service quality.
Reduced HR costs
The initial project was developed with just one Masterlink resource and a small team from Fundo Ambiental. Although the initial configuration was carried out by Masterlink, the use of no-code technology enabled the training of work teams made up of diverse profiles, resulting in significant operational autonomy and reduced costs with external suppliers. Today, Masterlink is only called in for more demanding interventions.
“Our level of autonomy is very high, and the learning curve for new joiners is short. We do not even have internal support documentation. We run a brief training session and the colleague is autonomous to work on their own call. It is truly simple.” – Pedro Santinho, one of the technicians responsible for the project at Fundo Ambiental.
Tailored solutions
The Masterlink Platform enabled the development of structures tailored to the specificities of each programme/call, increasing reliability and efficiency, especially under short deadlines.
Migration to the cloud
Following the Cloud Strategy for Portuguese Public Administration, Fundo Ambiental began the process of migrating its operations supported by the Masterlink Platform. The benefits of this transition from on-premises to the cloud are substantial, such as greater security, scalability, and reduced operating costs.
“I believe the success of this project is measured by the success of Fundo Ambiental. Its significant growth clearly demonstrates the efficiency of the structure that supports it.” – Daniel Gomes, CEO of Masterlink
Solutions developed with the Masterlink Platform
- Fundo Ambiental Portal
- Publication, management, and evaluation of programmes/calls
- KPI dashboard for real-time monitoring
- Application registration and management
- Integration with document management systems
- Ongoing development of modules for contract management and funding allocation, adapted to PRR and other funds
