Frequently Asked Questions About OpenWater’s Software

OpenWater is a comprehensive application and review management platform designed to streamline every aspect of abstract, awards, scholarship, fellowship, and grant management. Leveraging OpenWater helps boost administrative efficiency with these processes, increase program applications and participant engagement, and inform decision-making.

OpenWater is designed for professional and trade associations, private and public foundations, and higher education institutions, serving more than 750 organizations across these categories. The platform works equally well for all of these organization types, and organizations of any size can use OpenWater, whether you work for a small foundation that’s just shopping for a grant management solution or an enterprise-level, multi-chapter association that wants to leverage the platform across multiple programs. 

Application and review management describes the step-by-step procedures for administering programs that involve applicant submissions, application judging, and subsequent decision-making. Some processes that fall under this umbrella in the association and higher ed space include abstract management, awards management, scholarship management, fellowship management, and grant management for grantmakers (not grant recipients).

Application and review platforms are specialized solutions for managing application-based programs and procedures. The best application and review systems (like OpenWater!) cover every step of the process, including:

• Collecting applicant submissions
• Conducting multiple rounds of judging
• Making and communicating decisions
• Completing post-decision tasks like recognizing award winners, tracking grant funding disbursement, or transferring approved abstracts to event schedules
• Analyzing and reporting program data

OpenWater’s main standout capabilities as an application management solution are its versatility and end-to-end nature. Most application platforms are either designed to manage fewer processes than the five that OpenWater can handle, or they begin and end with submission collection, whereas OpenWater covers every step of management. Users also praise OpenWater for its customizability, ease of use, breadth of integrations, and helpful client support team.

OpenWater is owned by Advanced Solutions International (ASI), which acquired the platform in 2022. ASI is a leading global provider of cloud-based software for associations and nonprofits and is best known for developing the iMIS Engagement Management System, which OpenWater seamlessly integrates with. Other ASI-owned solutions include the TopClass learning management system (LMS) and Clowder, a mobile engagement app for professional communities.

Yes! Your organization can leverage one, a few, or all five of OpenWater’s functions at any given time under the same subscription (although your pricing may change based on how you use the solution). The platform is designed to scale with your needs, so if you start out using it for one process and need help setting up another one down the road, our client support team is happy to assist you!

OpenWater lets you customize the platform for your organization’s unique needs and goals at every step of the way. For example, you can:

• Incorporate your branding into application landing pages, submission forms, email templates, and other public-facing tools
• Establish different conditions, requirements, and submission form fields for each application (e.g., you could have some awards that involve nominations and others where applicants submit their own materials in a contest-style format)
• Accept attached files of nearly any type, size, and format, including supplementary materials like portfolios and recommendation letters (although OpenWater doesn’t support recommendation requests directly within the platform)
• Process submissions in any language written from left to right (English, Spanish, French, etc.) and that contain special scientific characters
• Create review forms with specific judging criteria for each call for submissions
• Construct dashboards and pull reports in multiple file formats that visualize the data that’s most important to you

After applications close, each submission is randomly assigned to multiple reviewers. When they log in to OpenWater, each reviewer can see all of their assigned applications and complete the associated review forms in any order. 

Then, all scores for a batch of submissions are automatically compiled into a single dashboard so you can see which applications received the highest total and average scores. The system supports double-blind judging, but removing names from submissions is an optional feature you can use on a case-by-case basis.

OpenWater provides comprehensive management of all post-award procedures related to grant and scholarship management. Progress dashboards let you monitor the status of all decisions made and reports collected, and our fund tracking system helps you keep tabs on funding amounts, payment dates, and program-specific budgets via easily digestible charts and graphs.

Yes and yes! Submission landing pages are designed to be mobile-responsive, and the OpenWater app lets your team handle all administrative and review functions from any device. OpenWater also supports WCAG compliance through both our default theme and third-party customization widgets that can help you ensure adequate color contrast, font scalability, aria labeling, and other accessibility features in applicant- and reviewer-facing areas of the platform.

As of early 2026, OpenWater AI is available as an opt-in beta feature for existing customers. OpenWater AI is intended to supplement (not replace) human review and decision-making by analyzing submissions, surfacing insights, and automating data collection based on the prompts and parameters administrators define for their programs. This feature’s goal is to break down silos between application and review solutions and popular AI tools, enabling more efficient and effective decision-making while keeping users fully in control of their AI usage.

OpenWater integrates with more than 65 popular AMS, CRM, directory, and payment gateway solutions, making it the most widely integrated application management platform. Some of OpenWater’s notable integration partners include:

• iMIS
• Salesforce
• Higher Logic
• Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT
• Microsoft Dynamics
• Community Brands (including YourMembership and Nimble AMS)
• Personify/Wild Apricot
• Google Sheets
• Stripe
• PayPal

OpenWater includes many features your organization can leverage to keep data secure, such as single sign-on (SSO) capabilities, app encryption, two-factor authentication, CAPTCHA for logins, and password strength requirements. The platform also supports GDPR compliance with cookie consent, email consent, and data deletion request options, and we require all integrated payment gateways to be PCI-compliant.

OpenWater runs on a subscription-based payment model and provides custom quotes for each customer depending on individual usage needs. Contact our team to request a quote for your organization!

OpenWater’s highly-rated customer support team is ready to help your organization make the most of the platform every step of the way, from implementation with a dedicated representative to ongoing problem-solving and question-answering. Our team’s average response time for support queries is 10 minutes, and we guarantee that you’ll get an answer within one business day.

In addition to hands-on support, OpenWater provides many resources that your team can use to learn how best to use the platform independently, such as:

• Our Help Center, which stores documentation on many common technical processes and problems
• Our Learning Center, where you can try out new software functions in a practice environment or take free asynchronous training courses
• Product demo videos that walk through individual features of OpenWater in detail
• Blog posts, downloadable guides, and webinar recordings to help you learn more about OpenWater and application and review management more generally

If you’re already an OpenWater customer, reaching out to your customer support representative is your best bet for getting unique questions answered. If you don’t use OpenWater yet, you can email your questions to info@getopenwater.com or schedule a demo to see our solution in action and speak directly with a platform expert about your needs and goals.