Managing grant proposals using the Grants Proposal playbook

Versão de lançamento: Australia

Atualizado 12 de mar. de 2026

12 min. de leitura

You can use the Grants Proposal playbook to review information provided by the applicant along with other relevant documents. Create and assign merit review tasks and allocate budgets and propose funding.

Nota:

Verify that the Grants Management application, which is separate from the Public Sector Digital Services Core application, has been installed and configured. For instructions, see Install Grants Management for Public Sector Digital Services.

The Grants proposal workflow provides a structured process for managing grant proposals from submission for the pre-award phase. It begins with proposal intake, where applicants submit required forms and eligibility is verified. The review and evaluation phase involves initial screening, technical assessments, and scoring to determine funding recommendations. Once selections are made, agencies proceed with award decisions and notifications. By default, the following stages are available in the Grants Management in the CSM Configurable Workspace.

Intake
Screen
Evaluation
Decision

Stages in a Grants Proposal playbook

The Grants Proposal playbook experience starts with the Intake stage. This stage is the default playbook stage for a new grant program request case. Use this playbook stage to gather key information about the applicant, the project, the budget and funding being requested, and other documents relevant to the project. You can also request additional information about the proposed project or other compliance-related data from the applicant.

The playbook continues with the Screen stage. In this stage, as the grants program manager or the grants program director, you can review the proposal details and the required documents from the proposal. After verifying the documents, you can assign the proposal to yourself, and either reject the proposal or move it to the Evaluation stage.

The playbook continues with the Evaluation stage. In this stage, the grants program manager selects a review group and creates merit review tasks for each person in the group. The grants program manager tracks the reviews across the proposal, monitoring the state, score flag, and the time remaining to complete the review task. When the merit review is complete and the grants proposal is scored and ranked, the merit review activity auto-completes and advances to the Build funding proposal activity. The funding information is updated based on the inputs and submissions by the merit reviewers. The grant proposals are compared, budgets are allocated, and the grants program manager either submits funding proposals to the grants program director for further approval or declines the proposal along with the reasons. The status of the proposals is updated to reflect the grants program director's decisions and the applicants are notified about the outcome.

The final stage is the Decision stage. In this stage, you can create results documents that are used to compose letters that inform the applicants of results, with template options for Award, Rejected (Ineligible), and Rejected (Decline). The applicant may choose to either acknowledge the award or decline it. The outcome is then recorded and the case is closed.

Complete the Intake stage in Grants Management

Complete the Intake stage as your first step in managing a grant proposal using the Grants Management.

Antes de Iniciar

Role required: Admin

Por Que e Quando Desempenhar Esta Tarefa

In this stage, an applicant initiates a case for a proposal under a specific Grant Program. Each program is configured by the Grant Program Manager, who defines a set of eligibility rules. Applicants are required to respond to these questions as part of the application process.

Procedimento

In the Grants Management Portal, navigate to View Opportunities > All, and select the grants program the applicant wishes to apply for.
Select Apply Now.
Confirm the applicant’s eligibility by answering the eligibility questions.

If the applicant is ineligible, a message stating, “You may not be eligible” is displayed. Applicants have the option to review and update their answers.
Select Start Application to create a case for the grants proposal.
Enter the details of the applicant and the organization that is submitting the proposal, then select Mark Complete.
Opcional: Add an authorized representative to act as a signatory for your organization.

Business contact can add an existing contact by in the Individual field. Existing business contacts can only be added if they are already associated with the business/organization. You can create new contacts by adding their details in the form. This will create a new business contact, which can be approved by an admin in a later stage of the application. You can add multiple representatives to the application, or you may leave this section blank.

Enter the Proposal information and select Mark Complete.


Field	Description
Project Title	Enter title for the proposed project.
Project Abstract	Provide a summary of the project's abstract.
Proposed Funding Start Date	Select the intended start date for funding from the calendar input.
Proposed Funding End Date	Select the anticipated end date for the funding period. This date must be chronologically later the start date.

Add at least one project goal.
A detailed narrative can be entered in the text, or provided via a file upload.
Create a deliverable.
Add the required key personnel to the application.
Provide information about the budget that will be used for your project, including allocations and relevant documents.
Input the total budget required under the requested budget total field. The amount entered cannot exceed the limit set by the Grant Program Manager. Allocate budget for each category under Cumulative budget totals. The sum of the category amounts must match the total requested budget total. Once the cumulative category amounts match the requested budget total, the total budget allocated will appear in green.
Upload any other required documents.
Upload any letters of intent, memoranda of understanding, or other relevant documents that demonstrate partnerships or collaborations for your project.
Add any optional attachments to provide further context of the proposed project, such as appendixes, images, and extended data.
You may leave this section blank.
Review the application in its entirety and correct any errors before submitting the application.
You can edit any information from previous activities by selecting on the pencil icon next to each activity. You can export the application details to a PDF format using the Export button.
Sign off on the grants proposal.
The applicant's signature can be either typed or drawn. The terms and conditions can be modified and adjusted as well.
Select Submit to route it to the agent and move it to the Screening stage.
The case is moved to the Review stage, and the Intake stage is marked complete.

Complete the Screen stage in Grants Management

Complete the Screen stage as your second step in managing a grant proposal using the Grants Management.

Antes de Iniciar

Role required: Admin

Por Que e Quando Desempenhar Esta Tarefa

In this stage, as the grants program manager or the grants program director, you can review the proposal details and the required documents from the proposal. After verifying the documents, you can assign the proposal to yourself, and either reject the proposal or move it to the Evaluation stage. The case details entered by the constituent in the intake stage are displayed to the agent in an accordion view for a comprehensive review experience.

Procedimento

Review the information collected during the intake stage, and confirm that the information is complete and correct.

If the agent is selecting the case from an unassigned queue, they will see the option to Assign to Me, which will update the case state from New to Screening. If the case is auto-assigned, they will see the option to Mark Complete.
Correct any errors before submitting the application, and select Mark Complete.
Select the pencil icon to navigate back to an Intake stage activity that needs to be corrected. If the proposal needs to be rejected, select Reject Application to update the case state from New to Screening Failed, moving it directly to Decision.
Review the results of the eligibility screening, and select Mark Complete if there are no changes to be made.
Based on the provided responses, the system determines whether the applicant meets the eligibility criteria and classifies them as eligible or ineligible. The results are consolidated and displayed in this step for the agent to review.
Review the list of contacts entered in the Add authorized representatives activity.
The list of contacts will only display if the contact does not already exist in the system, and a contact approval request is now routed to the admin, who can accept or reject via the Grants Management workspace. The case continues once the admin has responded to the request. This activity is automatically skipped if there are no new contacts to approve. For information on how to approve a contact registration request, see Approve registration for a new business contact or organization in Grants Management Portal.
Opcional: If the approval request is rejected, you can review the reasoning behind the rejection, and either:
- Close the case by selecting Reject Application, moving the state of the case to Screening failed, and the stage to Decision. The state of the case task for the Approve new contacts activity is moved to Closed.
- Make changes and request new approvals. Edits can be made to the Add authorized representative activity, and the new approval request will be sent.
Opcional: If the approval request is approved, select Mark Complete, to close the case task, or Reject Application to reject the application and close the case.
Review and verify the files and supporting documentation attached to the application.
Here, you can flag documents for further verification, request additional documents, or close the case by moving it directly to Decision.
Select Mark as Complete once all documents have been verified and any flagged documents have been resolved.
Select Move to Evaluation once the screening is complete.

Resultado

The case is now moved to the Evaluation stage.

Complete the Evaluation stage

Complete the Evaluation stage as your third step in managing a grant proposal using the Grants Management.

Antes de Iniciar

Role required: Admin

Por Que e Quando Desempenhar Esta Tarefa

Evaluation consists of two tasks: Conduct merit review(s) and Build funding proposal, In the evaluation stage, the grants program manager oversees, tracks, and manages the reviews across the proposal.

Procedimento

Navigate to All > CSM Configurable Workspace.
Navigate to Lists > Grant Proposals and select My grant proposals.
Select the grant proposal and navigate to Evaluation.
In the Conduct merit review(s) task, select the reviewer group from the drop-down and select Create Tasks.
A review task is created for each of the reviewers from the selected review group. The reviewer groups are created by the grants program manager during the grant setup stage.
Review or edit the reviewers and select Update Review Tasks.
The grants program manager can edit the reviewer group at any time before any one review task is complete.
Assign the review tasks and notify the selected reviewers by selecting the review tasks and select Release Tasks.
The state of the selected review tasks is now In progress and the reviewers receive notifications on the Reviewer Service Portal.
Review and manage the merit review tasks across the grant proposals by selecting View all reviewers for this program and switch to the workspace view by selecting the Record Details icon .
Move all the selected review tasks back to Draft state by selecting Reset State.
If any of the reviewers from the group decline the review, the grants program manager is notified and can either cancel that review and move the review task to the next stage. Alternatively, the grants program manager assigns a new review group, which restarts the review process.
When all the review tasks are complete, the playbook automatically advances to the Build funding recommendation task.
The grants program manager can track the progress of the funding status and view requested budget, allocated budget, and the rank based on the merit review scoring.
In the Build funding proposal task, review and manage the funding proposals by selecting View funding proposal.
All the scored proposals appear in the Funding proposal tab along with the ranks and budget details.
From the list of scored proposals, select one or more proposals to perform either of these actions:
- Decline funding and provide a reason by selecting Propose Decline.
- View the funding proposal page from where you can allocate budget, submit the proposals, and notify the grant program director for further approval by selecting Add to Proposal
As the grants program director, view the funding proposals in the CSM Configurable Workspace by navigating to List > My approvals.
From the list of available funding proposals, as the grants program director, select one or more proposals to perform either of these actions:
- Decline funding and provide a reason by selecting Reject.
- Award the grant by selecting Approve.

Resultado

When the grants program director approves the funding proposal, the evaluation stage is complete and the grant proposal advances to the Decision stage.

Complete the Decision stage in Grants Management

Complete the Decision stage as your last step in managing a grant proposal using the Grants Management.

Antes de Iniciar

Role required: Admin

Por Que e Quando Desempenhar Esta Tarefa

Decision consists of two tasks: Create results documents and Record outcome. In the Decision stage, the grants program manager creates letters or document templates that are used to inform applicants of their proposal status, and applicants can view their results and acknowledge or decline the awarded grant.

Procedimento

Navigate to All > CSM Configurable Workspace.
Navigate to Lists > Grant proposals and select My grant proposals.
Select the grant proposal and navigate to Decision.
In the Create results letter task, select the Results letter tab and enter the details such as dates, response deadline, and the decision reason.
The results letters that are selected by the grants program manager during the setup stage are updated and ready to send.
Update the merit review summary by selecting the Merit review summary tab.
Only if a proposal is declined or awarded, the Merit review summary is available.
Update the selected document templates by selecting Update document.
Select Mark complete.
The results letters are created and completed and the playbook automatically advances to the Record outcome task. The grant proposal moves from the Draft state to the Ready state for release.
In the Record outcome task, view the list of all the proposals for the grant program along with the task numbers for each of the grant proposal records in the Result notices tab by selecting view program record.
Select Release Results.
You can only release the results if all the grant proposals are in the Ready for release state. The tasks move from the Ready for release state to the Closed state, and an email is triggered to the applicant about the results. The applicant can view the results by logging in to the applicant portal and either acknowledging or declining the award before the deadline.
In the Record outcome task, the resolution code is auto-populated based on the award status such as:
- Ineligible
- Declined by agency
- No response by applicant
- Award acknowledged
- Award declined by applicant
The outcome of the grant proposal is recorded and closed.
Enter the resolution notes and select Close.