August 2017 - Submission Portal Major Update

It's been almost a year since we first launched our Submission Portal. Since then, we've gotten a lot of feedback on how we can make it better, here are the highlights of this major update:

Applicant Engagement Features

• Multiple submissions: applicants can now apply more than once to the same program. This is a major step forward for those of you with programs that allow the applicant to apply multiple times across various categories, or that allow multiple applications across cycles. 
• Profiles: Profiles allow the applicant to enter their personal and organization information just once, even when applying multiple times.
• Clear status: Previously, if a submission was in an external state that requires no input from the applicant, such as in review, it was not clear to the applicant. Now, the stage that the submission is in is made visible to the applicant when they login. 

Reviewer Features

• Review portals were updated to show more related data, including parent forms. This not only allows a reviewer to see the newly created profile, but it also allows the administrator to optionally share data collected outside of the application that has been pulled into Zengine, such as from Guidestar. 

Administrator Features

• For the last year, all clients using the Submission Portal were required to use our implementation services in order to create or edit a portal. We launched configurations that now allow you to make all changes yourself. This includes a visual process workflow builder, so that it is very clear how a submission moves through an application, through award and post-award stages.