How to Choose Application Management Software: Buyer’s Guide

When your association, foundation, or higher education institution first launched an abstract, award, grant, scholarship, or fellowship program, you probably relied on spreadsheets and other disparate tools to manage these processes. However, application management is most effective when data storage and workflows remain unified across all processes, which is where an end-to-end platform comes in.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to choose the right application management software for your administrative needs. We’ll cover:

• Application Management Software FAQ
• How to Select an Application Management Platform
• A Closer Look at OpenWater's Application & Review Software

Before we dive into the purchasing process, let’s review the basics of application management platforms.

Application Management Software: Frequently Asked Questions

What is application management software?

Application management software is a technology infrastructure designed for streamlining the administration of abstracts, awards, grants, scholarships, and fellowships. It keeps data storage and multi-round workflows unified throughout every process for associations, foundations, and higher education institutions.

What is application management?

Application management is the administrative process of overseeing candidate selections for all application and review processes, from initial submission through evaluation and final reporting. It requires coordinating applicants, reviewers, and program administrators to create a seamless operational flow—a goal that dedicated software is particularly helpful for reaching.

Why use application & review software?

The benefits of application management software are plentiful, but some of the most important reasons to leverage it include:

• Saving time and resources, so program staff can focus on strategic and relationship-oriented tasks rather than logistics.
• Unifying information storage to prevent data silos from forming and facilitate better decision-making.
• Reducing manual-entry errors through workflow automation and integration of various tools.
• Simplifying review processes and reducing inconsistencies and bias to ensure a fair, transparent competition judging experience.

Of course, your organization will see these advantages most clearly if you choose the right platform for your needs and work with your vendor and team to incorporate it effectively into your workflows.

How much does application management software cost?

Pricing for application management solutions varies depending on how many programs you run, the volume of submissions you process, and your organization's specific technical requirements. As with many types of software, some organizations use a tiered pricing structure where higher subscription costs unlock access to additional features, while others (including OpenWater) provide custom quotes for each customer.

When evaluating costs, factor in the return on investment (ROI) you’ll gain by streamlining workflows. Look for pricing options that can scale alongside your program's growth, and remember that you often get what you pay for with free or budget solutions.

How to Select an Application Management Platform

Choosing the right application management software involves evaluating your unique program requirements, defining clear goals, and identifying a platform that effectively unifies your processes. To make your buying decision easier, here are six steps to follow as you consider the solutions on the market and how they can work for your organization.

1. Evaluate Your Current Application Management Situation

Before you can determine how to improve your processes with software, you first need to know where you currently stand. A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for conducting this type of analysis of your application and review approach, since it helps you figure out your programs’:

• Strengths: What are you doing well with application management that your new software should help you capitalize on? For example, if your team has been very consistent about communicating your decisions to applicants on or before the date you promised, communications features may not make or break your decision, but your software at least shouldn’t hinder this ability.
• Weaknesses: What bottlenecks or pain points do you want your software to solve for? Surveying staff members, applicants, and reviewers can provide deeper insights into this process. Let’s say you realize your submission form abandonment rates are high, so you ask applicants what they think could be improved in this area. If they dislike that your forms aren’t branded since it makes them doubt whether they’re in the right place, you’ll know to look for a solution that lets you build branded forms.
• Opportunities: What future plans or ideas do you have that you want to make sure your software can accommodate? Perhaps you’re only collecting abstract submissions right now, but you’re considering launching an awards program in a few years. In this case, it’s best to invest in a multi-function platform now rather than adopting a system that’s only made for abstract management and having to switch solutions to add on awards management later.
• Threats: What external circumstances could impact your application and review programs that you’ll need software to assist with? For instance, if more organizations have recently started offering grants that would attract the same applicants as yours, assess what you’re doing better than those grantmakers and make sure you can continue promoting those selling points as you adopt new software.

If you’re ready to start on your SWOT analysis, use the interactive template below to brainstorm ideas!

2. Define Platform Goals & Requirements

Like most of the initiatives your organization undertakes, successful application software implementations always begin with clear goals. Use what you learned during your SWOT analysis to articulate SMART goals (i.e., objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) to guide your decision-making.

Returning to the submission form abandonment rate example, a SMART goal might be to lower this metric by 20% within the first six months of implementing your new solution. If you know this target, you can prioritize solutions with highly customizable submission form builders and read case studies or ask vendors questions to see if other organizations have used those systems to hit similar targets.

Take time at this stage to document your technical requirements for an application management platform as well. Your platform needs to comfortably handle all of the programs you run, accommodate the exact review process (number of stages, automated routing, etc.) you want to implement, and integrate with key solutions you already use, such as your association management system (AMS) or constituent relationship management software (CRM).

3. Brainstorm Must-Have & Nice-to-Have Software Features

With your goals and technical requirements established, compile a definitive list of capabilities that your organization needs to look for in its buying process. Besides the aforementioned software integrations, these features may include:

• Application form builder: A robust form builder allows your team to easily construct unique submission portals for every program and opportunity you run. Pick a builder that allows you to incorporate your organization’s branding, utilizes drag-and-drop functionality so it’s easy to add the exact form fields you want, accepts many types of attached files, and lets you set conditional logic.
• Multi-round review: This capability gives you the ability to design an evaluation process that minimizes bias and more clearly pinpoints the best submissions. Make sure you can automatically route applications to multiple judges, who can then see and score all of their assigned submissions in one place. Additionally, you should be able to create your own standardized scoring rubrics and remove names from applications before review.
• Built-in communication tools: Email features enable you to automatically send out calls for submissions, deadline reminders, and applicant status updates in the same system where review occurs. Like with your application forms, your email template builder should be drag-and-drop and allow you to add your organization’s branding to convey trustworthiness and professionalism.
• Progress and fund tracking: Especially if you’re managing grants, scholarships, or fellowships, financial dashboards provide essential visibility into distributed funds and program-specific budget vs. actual numbers. Make sure you can also track and visualize non-monetary progress in your system, such as impacts made through grant-funded projects, other types of support you provide to fellows, or award winner recognition.
• Reporting & analytics: Your system’s analytics tools should compile raw submission data to generate reports on program growth, reviewer completion rates, applicant trends, and other essential areas for decision-making. Reports need to be easy to customize and download in multiple formats for these features to be top-quality.

In addition to these must-haves, make a list of nice-to-have features that may not be your top priorities to look for, but their availability could help you choose between two otherwise similar platforms. These capabilities might include program landing page builders, online galleries for recognizing award winners, conference scheduling based on approved abstracts, or AI-powered review assistance.

4. Research Potential Software Providers

At this point, you’re ready to start your software search! Browse various vendors’ websites and compilations of the best tools for specific application management functions, and read customer testimonials both on individual solutions’ sites and on third-party review platforms like G2 or Capterra to get a full sense of how each system works.

Besides making sure each solution you consider provides all of your must-have features and at least some of your nice-to-haves during your research, investigate various platforms’:

• Pricing structures
• Implementation timelines
• Scalability
• Customer support offerings
• Data privacy and security measures

You might not fully understand all of these factors until the next phase of your buying journey, especially if vendors provide custom quotes. But having a general understanding of them can help you decide which platforms are worth demoing.

5. Demo Your Top Picks

After completing your research, choose your three to five favorite platforms to schedule demos for. There are a few ways you can go about this, including:

• Standard platform demos. This format is the most time-consuming, but they allow you to ask very specific questions of a platform expert one-on-one.
• Quick-tour or product videos. This is the most flexible method since you can digest information in bite-sized chunks when you have the time, although it’s challenging to clearly see how a solution will work for your organization using these general resources.
• Sandbox environments. While these temporary login environments aren’t the most common demo type, they give you the freedom to work within a simulated software interface to get a hands-on feel for how to use a system.

Pay close attention to both the administrative backend and the applicant-facing interface of each solution you test, and take notes during demos for future reference. You might even create a rubric to rate each platform based on its different capabilities so you can directly compare your options and consider your priorities at a granular level (e.g., if two solutions got the same total score, would you lean toward the one that scored higher on affordability and lower on customer support or vice versa?).

6. Make Your Final Decision

Finally, you’ll pick the platform that most effectively meets all of your requirements! Remember to read your provider’s contract carefully before signing it to ensure you understand the terms in case “small details” (e.g., warranties or opt-out clauses) become relevant later.

From there, you’ll just need to complete the setup, migrate your existing program data into your new system, and train your team to use the software.

A Closer Look at OpenWater's Application & Review Software

OpenWater is an end-to-end application and review platform built for associations, foundations, and higher ed. Designed to help you leave spreadsheets and disjointed individual tools in the past, OpenWater keeps data storage and workflows unified throughout every step of your abstract, award, grant, scholarship, and fellowship management processes.

Whether you leverage one, a few, or all five functionalities, you’ll get the same user experience and customization capabilities across the board. Other benefits of OpenWater’s platform include:

• Drag-and-drop builders for submission forms, landing pages, and email templates that require no coding and minimal technical expertise to use.
• Branded experiences featuring your organization's logo, colors, and fonts across every external-facing aspect of the system.
• Submission-specific customization so you can tailor every application, review process, communication cadence, dashboard, and report to individual programs or opportunities.
• Extensive platform integrations with more than 65 AMS, CRM, directory, payment gateway, and member engagement systems for seamless, secure data sharing.
• Best-in-class customer support—we’ll walk you through every step of implementation, and our team’s average response time to ongoing support tickets is 10 minutes.

No matter your application and review needs, we’ll help you navigate. But don’t just take our word for it—check out our case studies to see how real organizations like yours have benefited from OpenWater!

Wrapping Up: Additional Resources on Application Management

Upgrading your application and review systems takes time and effort, but the ROI and improved experiences your association, foundation, or higher ed institution will see from doing so make the buying process worthwhile. Use the steps above to get started, and make sure to keep OpenWater on your list as you research all-in-one application management software providers!

For more information on application management, check out these resources:

• What Is Awards Management? Everything You Need to Know. Dive deeper into a fundamental application and review process and learn how software can help with it.
• The Ultimate Guide to Streamlined Conference Management. Learn how to navigate multiple application-based programs simultaneously in an event planning context.
• All-in-One, Powerful Application Management Software. Explore the features and benefits of OpenWater’s application and review platform in greater detail.