All documents are part of a workflow. An inherent workflow exists over the entire grant management lifecycle. Then each document type has its own workflow. A unique workflow exists for opportunities, applications, reviews, grants, status reports, claims and all other documents. All workflows within the system are flexible and configurable. Examples of workflow parameters include the staff involved, the security access rights of those staff, the number of approval levels, branching logic for dollar amount thresholds, negotiation/correcting processes, exception cases and others. Workflows can be configured on a global level and for each program area. Some workflow parameters can also be set on a per funding opportunity basis. Exception cases and unique departures are also supported on a case-by-case basis.

Configurable dashboards are supported in the WebGrants system. Dashboards will display work that has been routed to specific users. In addition, dashboards will display rollup, statistical information for management, staff or grantees. Dashboards can be configured on a per user basis. What information a person sees on their dashboard is configurable on an individual basis and users can sort the data in a specific order.

The People and Organization modules are a full contact management system built into the WebGrants system. People can be added as WebGrants users or as contacts. Once in the system, staff can send emails, alerts, distribution lists and other communications. Contacts can be collected, managed and organized within the WebGrants system. All users have roles and strict security access defined in the system. External users can be added by staff, or they can register and added to the system via a new user approval process. Users can be deactivated or temporarily disabled and reenabled by program staff. All changes are logged in the audit log.

People are associated to organizations. A single person can belong to one or more organizations and a single organization can have many members. Each organization has a profile with many profile fields including the name, address, contact information, website and others. Clients can customize the organization profile and add any number of additional fields to the profile using the form creator tool. The organization information can be updated by both internal staff and the external organization members. The data from the organization will auto copy into the application, grant and other documents.

Awards are money that is received by the client. This money can come from the federal, state or local government or from private contributions. Each award has a profile in the system. This profile includes additional information about the award like the award number, name, amount, type, benefactor, CFDA number, start/end dates and other data. Once the award is created, staff can subdivide the award into one or more fund sources. Each fund source can be used for grants, loans or internal administration. Each fund source has a coding block or a path to the client’s financial accounting system where this money exists. Staff associates one or more fund sources with each awarded grant and commits a certain amount to fund the grant. The funds in each fund source are used to pay the grantee when the grantee submits claims. Grants can be funded from a single source or multiple sources. The percentage of money awarded, allocated, spent and unspent is displayed per fund source.

Funding opportunities can be posted for each program area. There is no limit to the number of FOs that can be posted at one time. Grantees can view all the posted FOs in the system. If they choose, they can apply to one or more FOs. Each FO can have a completely unique application document that the grantee completes and submits within the system. Funding opportunities can be posted for a specific date range, or they can be posted indefinitely. When the end date is reached, the system will shut down the FO and late submissions will not be allowed.

WebGrants contains a complete online application process. Staff can post funding opportunities online for prospective applicants to view. An applicant can create an application by starting a new application or by copying the contents of an old application. Staff can define a 1 or 2 stage application process with a pre-application followed by a final application or just a single final application process. Application forms are created and maintained by client administrators using the form creator tool. Using this tool staff can dictate the questions asked on the forms, they can define the instructions, questions and answer format; whether questions are required or optional, the data type required (date, text, number, drop down, percentage, etc.), any branching logic, maximum length of the answer, any mathematical calculations, and other business rules. There is no limit to the length and complexity of the application.

Users can develop their line itemized budgets in the system. Users can define budget line items like salaries, equipment, travel, etc. Not only can they enter various numbers and perform calculations, but they can also define the overall layout and structure of the budget itself. By using the form creator tool, users can define their own budget forms and templates. Once these are defined, users can enter numbers and perform mathematical calculations, subtotals, and totals. Once a budget is developed, it can be linked. For example, if the budget is developed in the application, it can be easily copied into the grant. There is no need for any data reentry. Budgets can be unique to a particular program area, grant competition or an individual grant. Budgets can also be created at a global level where all documents use the same budget.

WebGrants supports a full lifecycle system including the ability to assign reviews to applications. The Panels module allows staff to define users as reviewers and then assign those reviewers applications to review. WebGrants also supports a Conflict-of-Interest process and a full application evaluation process with customizable review forms and automated scoring and reporting of average scores. WebGrants fully supports the application review process and workflow. Applicants submit their applications online through the system. Staff then routes the applications to various reviewers. Each assignment has a due date. Reviewers can then read each assigned application and they can enter their scores and comments online through online evaluation forms. WebGrants will average all reviewer scores for each application and present the list of applications sorted by score. Staff can then determine the awarded and not awarded applications. WebGrants can then create award letters and receive electronic signatures.

WebGrants contains a comprehensive grant management module called grant tracking for all post award management activities. Each grant is subdivided into many components. Components are used to track various aspects of the grant like the budget, objectives, scope of work, progress reports, payments, contracts, site visits, contract amendments and any other required monitoring or oversite. All the forms associated with a grant are created by the administrator using the form creator tool. All aspects of the grant are user defined and setup according to unique workflows and business rules. Data and forms can flow through the grant management process without the need for any data reentry. Application forms like the scope of work and the budget will link automatically into the grant. Also, once in the grant, these forms can link automatically to the status reports and claims. Meaning that objectives, goals and accomplishments promised in the application can seamlessly transfer to the grantee progress reports without any manual intervention. User defined business rules enforce grantee compliance and built-in automated alerts keep both internal and external staff reminded of all important due dates.

The WebGrants contract module allows staff to define any number of contract templates within the system. These templates can contain both boilerplate text and dynamic data mappings to grant data such as the grantee’s name, budget amounts, scope of work, delivery schedule and other data. Once this document is defined, this document can be generated for each individual grant. Staff can then further edit the contract. The contract can be routed for signature within the system. Both internal staff and the grantee can sign the document electronically within the system. The contract can be printed in both HTML and PDF formats.

The WebGrants software allows clients to design and define unique status reports that require grantees to periodically report upon both financial and non-financial progress. These status reports can include key performance indicators, programmatic progress reporting and compliance. The status report is created using the form creator tool. Clients can configure the reports themselves at any time. Data from the application, grant and other documents can be automatically copied to the status report. Data from the grant can be automatically linked to the status report. This process allows for project progress report monitoring.

Claims in the system can be for reimbursements, advance payments or lump sum payments. All claims are based upon the budget as the budget is defined in the grant. The system will automatically copy the budget format from the grant into the claim. The grantee will enter their expense information into specific fields for expenses this period and matching information. Other fields like the fields copied form the budget are not editable for the grantee. The grantee can enter their expenses this period for each budget line item. The system will enforce business rules like the grantee cannot request more money than is available in the entire budget, or they cannot request more money than what is available in a budget line item, or the grantee can request up to 10% more than what is in a single budget line item if they do not exceed the overall budget amount. The claim can also be customized using the form creator and the grantee can attach any number of electronic files as backup documentation.

Contract amendments are a standard component of the grant. Amendments can be used for making changes to any aspect of the grant. The amendment document can be created by the grantee or by internal staff. The amendment can be created to extend the grant duration, modify the budget, change the scope of work or for any other reason. This document is routed through a multi-level internal approval process. Once approved, staff can make the requested changes to any aspect of the grant.