Office of Program Development and Funding Electronic Grants Management System Tutorial #3: Reviewing a Grant Application (for External Board Review)

Once Logged on to GMS, click the “Accept” button

Log in to the system. Most default Usernames are your first initial, last name. The default password is the same, with an asterisk Added to the end of the password.

To begin an application, select “Project” from the left menu frame

A list of currently active grants will be returned. Click “Search” to find the Project you wish to review.

In the box for “Project Number”, enter the first 9 characters in the Project Number. Click Search.

Your search will return a grid displaying the Project you requested. Click on the blue Project Number to open the Project for review.

This is the Project General screen, containing basic information from the grant application. Now go to the “Participants” tab – Participants are Grantees and/or Implementing Agencies.

The Participant tab displays information about those agencies involved in the Project, whether as the Grantee or an Implementing Agency. Contact persons associated with the grant are also displayed.

The next tab is Budget. The top of the screen displays a summary of the budget information entered by the applicant.

Scrolling down, you’ll see the detail lines of the budget. Click on any blue-colored line to open it.

By opening the budget detail line, you see the justification given for that budget line.

The next tab is the Work Plan. This displays the Project Goal, as well as the Tasks, Objectives and Performance Measures entered by the applicant.

Scrolling down will bring all of the Work Plan into view. Click on any blue-colored Objective or Task to open it.

Opening an Objective or Task allows you see the details of just that Item.

Next is the Contract Tab. This area displays general information about the contract, if any, as entered by OPDF staff. Prior to approval of the application, information in this area is limited.

By the same token, information in Contract Tracking will be very limited or blank. This area records the processing of and application/contract throughout its life.

Skipping the Review tab for a moment – the Activity Log tab records correspondence between OPDF unit staff and the applicant/grantee.

Now move on to the Review Tab. In this area, OPDF staff creates its formal reviews of the application. This screen shows a brief summary of the reviews completed. Click on any blue-colored number or Representative name to open a review.

Here you can see who did the review, on what date, and any general comments made by the reviewer.

By scrolling down you will see the questions used in the formal review, along with their scores, comments, and a tabulation of scores.

By clicking on a blue-colored question, you open the detail view. Here you can see an individual question, along with its score and any reviewer comments.

By clicking on “Attachment” in the left menu frame, you can access any additional files uploaded by the applicant in support of their application.

When you have finished reviewing an application, please remember to Log Out of GMS. Thank you for viewing this Tutorial. End.