Copying an application from one process to another
It would be wonderful to have the ability to copy an application from one process to another. At times we have a process that will pick up some of the funding for another process. It would save a lot of time to be able to copy this instead of having to copy each answer to a new application.
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Cheryl Lee commented
Ran into this again today and decided to look here to see if anyone else has the same issue. We have three processes. We are in the process of adding another one. All of our LOIs, Applications, Follow-ups are identical. It would be so WONDERFUL if we could simply move an LOI/Application from one process to another. We often have grantees choose a process other than the one we would have preferred they apply to and end up copying and pasting everything from one to the other then deleting the originals. It's a long and onerous process.
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Dana Berggren commented
We create a new process for each grant program every year. Because of this, organizations that start applications in one year, but don't finish their application before year end, have to begin a new application in the new process in January. Chris, I'd love to be able to copy over an application from one process to another. If the application is fundamentally different between processes, we ask the applicant to re-create it. However, for those processes that have a rolling deadline and not a set application period, this would be a very helpful option.
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Jessica commented
I ran into a similar problem when our recipients were up for renewal and the report fields did not carry over. It was almost like they were applying as a different person but under the same accounts and all of the report-able information had to be entered again. It also skews out numbers in the reports that we run and I have had to find creative ways to "manipulate" the system.
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Mary Giraulo commented
The questions between our processes would almost never be the same. It's okay - I've moved on to another solution for this particular problem. :)
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Chris Dahl commented
Hi all,
I see a couple ideas here:
1. The ability to move an application from one process to another
2. The ability to copy an application from one process to another
3. The ability to link an application to multiple processes so it does not look like multiple requests to the applicantI have heard #1 and #2 before. The most challenging thing about either of them is the logic to ensure the Application (or LOI) forms are identical for the different processes. We can't very easily program a "best guess" during the move or copy - it really has to be between 2 identical forms. I understand that conceptually it's easy to envision copying all the "same questions" and ignoring those that aren't the same (or something similar), but the last thing we want to do is potentially copy or move the data into a very similar but not identical field.
Ideally, we'd be able to say that 2 (or up to N) forms (say the Application for Grant Process #1 and the Application for Grant Process #2 ... up to Grant Process #N) are the same. Then, if you wanted to move or copy a form, we'd give you a list of the Grant Processes where the identical form existed as options. I don't know how often the forms are identical between processes - but I'd appreciate hearing from you on this (and this general approach).
Idea #3 - linking - is more challenging since logically and workflow-wise, it's fundamentally different than what we do today.
Definitely looking forward to feedback on this. Thanks for taking the time to weigh in!
-chris -
Mary Giraulo commented
This would be great. We have been looking for a similar solution for years (including with our past grants software)... we have a program where one application results in multiple grants, with different requirements, but only one of the grants can have the original application attached. I'd love to be able to attach it in multiple places. I wonder if it would be possible to connect / link the application to other grants WITHOUT copying - so that it doesn't look like multiple requests to the grantee (who might be confused since they only applied once?). Or, would that be more complicated in the software?
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Owen David commented
I agree, we just ran into this issue as well. A couple of our grant processes are quite similar, and occasionally we want to move an application from one process to another.