U S E R G U I D E. Grant Management System (GMS) Portal. Regional Development Australia Fund Round Two

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1 U S E R G U I D E Grant Management System (GMS) Portal Regional Development Australia Fund Round Two January

2 Contents Overview of the GMS Portal 3 Introduction 3 Internet Browser Compatability 3 Using the GMS Portal 4 Overview of the RDAF Round Two Full Application Process 4 Submission Period 4 Contingency Arrangements 4 Application Form 5 Completing the Webform 5 Background 5 Creating or Continuing an Application 6 Responding to Questions in an Application 7 Saving information in the Webform 8 Completing Fields 8 Submitting the Application 13 Printing an Application 13 Cancelling an Application 13 Withdrawing an Application 14 Disclosure of Information 15 Help and Support 15 Glossary of Terms 16 2

3 Overview of the GMS Portal Introduction The GMS Portal is a secure website managed by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport. The GMS Portal enables applicants and recipients of grant funding to: - manage the Department s record of their organisation s details; - view upcoming grant programs or program rounds; - complete and submit applications in open program rounds; - upload supporting documents; and - complete and submit reports for funded projects. Organisations must register for access to the GMS Portal online on the GMS Portal home page. Each organisation that uses the GMS portal must have: - an ABN; - an Administrator, who is responsible for managing, adding and deleting users; and - a signatory (usually a Chief Executive Officer or General Manager), who is responsible for completing legal authorisations and declarations for applications. All registered users can update their organisation s contact details within the GMS Portal, however only the Administrator can perform some functions (such as adding users). Internet Browser Compatibility To access the GMS Portal you must have internet access and use Internet Explorer version 7 or above. IMPORTANT: You must use Internet Explorer version 7 or above to open the GMS Portal. Internet Explorer is available to download to your computer for free at: 3

4 Using the GMS Portal To enter the GMS Portal you must: 1) open the GMS Portal link ( 2) if your organisation is not already registered, register your organisation by clicking the Register Here link to be ed your user name and password; 3) login using your user name and password; 4) check that your organisation s details are correct (if not, you should correct the details at this stage); and 5) if you are an Administrator, you must check that the user details are correct (if not, you should correct the details at this stage). Administrators can also register other users at this stage. You then access the Home page for your organisation. From the Home page you are able to: - create, continue or submit applications for open program rounds; - create or continue applications for upcoming grants; - view applications for grants where the application period has closed; and - manage and submit progress and final reports for projects that received a grant. Overview of the RDAF Round Two Full Application Process Submission Period On Wednesday 11 January 2012 the RDAF Round Two application form will be available on the GMS Portal to organisations whose projects have been considered as one of the top three priority projects by their RDA committee. Applications, including all supporting documents, must be submitted online by 5.00pm AEDST Wednesday 15 February Late applications will not be accepted. Contingency Arrangements Where technical issues are experienced by the Department that prevent the submission of applications, contingency arrangements will be employed to enable the submission of applications. All applicants will be notified by if contingency arrangements are activated, including an extension to the application submission period. 4

5 Application Form The RDAF Round Two application form is web-based (a webform), similar to those used for internet banking. The application is viewed, completed and submitted via the GMS Portal. Only the person nominated in the GMS Portal as the signatory for the organisation can complete the Legal Authorisation and Declaration of Conflict of Interest and submit the webform. IMPORTANT: You cannot submit an application form that has not had the Legal Authorisation and Declaration of Conflict of Interest completed by the organisation s signatory. Completing the Webform How the Webform Works The application form for RDAF Round Two is a webform, which is different to the SmartForm used for RDAF Round One. Webforms are viewed and completed on the internet - not downloaded onto your computer. The webform is divided into sections and each section is accessed via a tab. Tabs sit in a row near the top of your screen, and each tab relates to a different aspect of the application. Some tabs contain sub-tabs that form a row under the primary tabs (for example, click on the Applicant Information tab). You must complete the 'Before you Begin' and 'Eligibility Checklist' tabs before you can access the remaining tabs. It is recommended that you read through the entire application before you begin answering questions from the 'Applicant Information' tab onwards. You can only jump (or skip) tabs once all tabs have been opened. The webform detects when you have not answered a mandatory question or your answer is not within the system parameters, for example, you put the project end date before the start date. The tabs guide you with colour codes, ticks and crosses to reflect the status of the information in the tab: - white means that the tab has not yet been opened; - yellow indicates that the tab is currently open on your screen; 5

6 - red (with a cross) means that there are invalid or incomplete fields on the tab; and - green (with a tick) means that all the required information has been provided and has been validated by the system. If you have a red tab, notifications will appear in a box at the top of the screen to inform you of the fields that require rectification on that tab. IMPORTANT: You cannot submit an application form that has invalid or incomplete fields. Creating or Continuing an Application To create or continue an existing application, go to the Home page: 1) select the Create/Continue/Submit Applications button next to RDAF Round Two under Available Grants (see Figure 1); and Figure 1. Home page. Click on link (circled in red above) to create, continue or submit an application. 6

7 2) start a new application by pressing the Create a new Application button (see Figure 2), or continue an application by pressing the Continue Application button (see Figure 3). Figure 2. RDAF Round Two page. Click on the button (circled in red above) to create an application. Figure 3. RDAF Round Two page. Click on the button (circled in red above) to continue an existing application. Responding to Questions in an Application Questions in the webform should be considered in conjunction with Regional Development Australia Fund Round Two Guidelines, Frequently Asked Questions and other supporting information available from 7

8 All questions in the webform are mandatory unless specified or greyed out. For example, if RDAF funding is requested for a project then fields relating to the activity are not mandatory (see Glossary for a definition of project and activity ). Some fields are pre populated with other information stored in the GMS Portal, for example in the Applicant Information tab, or elsewhere in the webform, for example if your response to Question 29 is yes then the answer to Question 30 is pre populated with a yes. Saving Information in the Webform Press the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save your responses in webform and remain on the same tab. Press the Next>> button at the bottom of the screen to save your responses and continue to the next tab. Completing Fields Questions in the webform must be completed by filling out the free text, currency, date and tick box fields and uploading documents. 1) Free text fields Type or copy and paste into free text fields. All free text fields have a character limit that is identified in the question and the Remaining Characters at the bottom of the text field (both circled in red in Figure 4). IMPORTANT: Care should be taken when copying and pasting into free text fields as characters over the character limit will be cut off when pressing Save or Next >> at the bottom of the page. Figure 4. Example of a text field. 8

9 2) Currency fields Enter a number into a currency field (Figure 5) by highlighting the text in the field and typing over the top. You do not need to include a dollar sign or commas. Figure 5. Example of a number field. 3) Date Fields Entering dates by pressing the calendar icon (circled in red in Figure 6) and selecting a date from the calendar. Figure 6. Example of date fields. 4) Tick boxes Tick a box by clicking on an empty square (circled in red in Figure 7), or remove a tick by clicking on one that is already present. 9

10 Figure 7. Example of tick boxes. 5) Upload documents Attach supporting documents to your application in the GMS Portal by pressing the Browse button (circled in red in Figure 8), navigating to the document in the window that opens, and pressing Open in Windows Explorer. Press the Upload button (circled in red in Figure 9) to upload the document and attach it to the application. You must wait until the document appears as it does in Figure 10, which provides an example of an uploaded document, before continuing with the application. Press View to open the document, or press Delete to remove the document from the system. Figure 8. Example of area to upload documents. Figure 9. Example of a document that has been opened but not yet uploaded. 10

11 Figure 10. Example of a document that has been successfully uploaded to the system. IMPORTANT: Supporting documents must be less than 15MB and have a file name less than 45 characters (including the file extension). IMPORTANT: You cannot submit an application form that has missing mandatory documents. File Size It is a system requirement that supporting documents are less than 15MB. Documents that are 15MB or larger will generate an error message and will not be uploaded by the system. Applicants using a slow internet connection may experience a slow document upload speed. It is recommended that document sizes be kept to a minimum to reduce upload times. To reduce the file size of documents you can try converting the document to a PDF (by opening the document, selecting Save As and choosing PDF (.pdf) ) or by removing images. Where only a part of the supporting document is relevant to the application, that part plus the necessary cover and contents pages should be copied and provided rather than the entire document. File Name Character Length It is a system requirement that supporting documents have a file name of less than 45 characters, including the file extension (for example,.docx or.pdf ). The suggested file names in Table 1 will ensure that file names are less than 45 characters. 11

12 IMPORTANT: If you experience difficulty uploading documents you should contact the Department s information line on or rdaf@regional.gov.au BEFORE the application submission period closes. Document Project Location Business Case Asset and Operations Management Plan Project Management Plan Risk Management Plan Project Quality Plan Procurement Management Plan Previous three years financial statements Naming convention [RDAF ID]_[location name] [RDAF ID]_Business_Case [RDAF ID]_Asset_and_Op_Plan [RDAF ID]_Project_Man_Plan [RDAF ID]_Risk_Plan [RDAF ID]_Project_Quality_Plan [RDAF ID]_Procurement_Plan [RDAF ID]_Financial_statements OR [RDAF ID]_Financial_statements_Yr1 etc Evidence of Licences or Approvals Evidence of Experience Evidence of Partner Funding Evidence of Community Support Confirmation of Broader Benefit [RDAF ID]_ [licence name] [RDAF ID]_Evidence_of_Experience [RDAF ID]_Partner_Funding_1 [RDAF ID]_Community_Support [RDAF ID]_Broader_benefit Selection Criteria documents [RDAF ID]_Selection_Criteria_1 etc Table 1. Suggested file names for supporting documents. 12

13 Submitting the Application Only an organisation whose project has been considered as one of the top three priority projects by their RDA committee can proceed to the full application stage. The webform is submitted to the Department by the organisation s signatory nominated in the GMS Portal logging into the GMS Portal, opening the webform, completing the Legal Authorisation tab and pressing the Submit button at the end of the webform. The webform can only be submitted to the Department once all mandatory questions in the form have been completed and all mandatory documents have been uploaded. All of the tabs apart from the Submit tab must be green and ticked before the application can be submitted (see Completing the Webform, page 4). The previous tabs in the webform will be locked once the Legal Authorisation tab has been completed, allowing only the Submit tab be completed. Applicants should allow an appropriate amount of time to complete and submit their webform submission of applications should not be left until the last minute. A copy of the webform contents, including a list of all uploaded documents, is automatically ed to the signatory as confirmation that the application has been received by the Department. Printing an Application If you would like to print your application you should the application to yourself and print the . You are able to a copy of the application to yourself at any time during the application submission period by pressing the me a copy of this application button on the bottom left of your screen. The contains a list of supporting documents that have been uploaded onto the GMS portal. Cancelling an Application Unsubmitted applications can be cancelled by applicants within the GMS Portal. To cancel an application, select the Cancel Application button (circled in red in Figure 11) on the RDAF Round Two page. This will cancel the application and leave an archived version in your list of RDAF applications. 13

14 You will receive an automated confirming the cancellation of your application. Figure 11. RDAF Round Two page Cancel Application button (circled in red above). Withdrawing an Application To withdraw a submitted application you must provide written notification to the Department via to rdaf@regional.gov.au. Please allow three working days for the Department to process the withdrawal of an application. A new RDAF Round Two application for your organisation cannot be commenced until the withdrawal process has been completed by the Department. The 5.00pm AEDST Wednesday 15 February 2012 submission close time still applies if an application is withdrawn and another application submitted in it s place. IMPORTANT: Applicants cannot withdraw their application within three working days of the application submission period close date and expect to submit a new application within this time. The person requesting the withdrawal will receive confirmation via from rdaf@regional.gov.au when the request has been received and when the withdrawal process has been completed. The withdrawn application will appear as an archived withdrawn application in the GMS Portal and the Create a new Application button will reappear. 14

15 Disclosure of Information To verify your claims and determine your ability to deliver the Project, your application and supporting documents may be provided to relevant Australian, state, or local government agencies, organisations and individuals, including those you identify in your application. Information relating to individuals will be protected under the Privacy Act Requests for access to such information, where not agreed to by proponents, will be dealt with under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act The Commonwealth Grant Guidelines require that all projects that receive grant funding are listed on the supplying agency s website. As such, a list of projects that receive grants under RDAF Round Two will be published on the Department s website. A full list of Expressions of Interest will also be published on the Department s website. Help and Support If you are experiencing any difficulties regarding the completion of the application form please contact the Department s information line on or rdaf@regional.gov.au. 15

16 Glossary of Terms Activity The component of the Project for which RDAF Round Two funding is being sought in this application. If RDAF Round Two funding is being sought for the entire scope of work to be undertaken in the Project, then the Project is the same as the Activity. Available grants The Department s grant programs where the application Submission Period is open. Cancel (an application) To repeal an application for funding that has not yet been submitted. This can be conducted within the GMS Portal. Create (an application) To generate a blank RDAF Round Two webform in the GMS Portal. Grants Management System (GMS) Portal A secure website managed by the Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government that enables applicants for grant funding to create, develop and submit applications and reports. Project The entire scope of work proposed to be undertaken by the applicant or consortium. It is the largest part that the applicant may choose to define for the application. It may be part of a larger development venture and may include partner funding. 16

17 Register (an organisation) To enrol an organisation in the GMS Portal. This involves recording the organisations details (such as address, Australian Business Number etc) and recording users and a signatory. Signatory The authorised person within an organisation that has the delegation to sign a funding agreement with the Department. This is usually the Chief Executive Officer, General Manager or equivalent. Submission Period The phase between the application open time (12.00am Wednesday 11 January 2012) and the close of applications (5.00pm Wednesday 15 February 2012). Submit (an application) To electronically tender an application for funding to the Department. This must occur within the Submission Period. Upcoming grants Grant programs where the application submission period has not yet opened. Webform A web-based form that must be completed on the internet. Withdraw (application) To repeal a submitted application for RDAF Round Two funding. This must be done in writing not via the GMS Portal. 17