How ApplyCycle works

Follow one grant cycle from program setup through applications, panel review, decisions, payments, and records. Each stage shows who does what, in order.

Each program holds its application form. A cycle holds the dates and applications. Staff define statuses that set what applicants can edit and whether the status counts as an award. Each status can also have an email that ApplyCycle sends automatically when an application enters it. Staff assign panelists to applications directly or through a panel.

  1. Staff set up the program

    • Staff add, reuse, and arrange fields in the program's application form
    • Staff mark application fields required for submission
    • Staff edit application field labels and help text
    • Staff define application statuses with applicant edit rules, notification emails, and an award flag

  2. The cycle opens and applicants apply

    • ApplyCycle opens the application cycle automatically on the date staff set
    • Staff set each organization's application limit per cycle
    • Applicants register through an invitation, or staff accept or decline new registrations with templated emails
    • Applicants complete forms in sections, save drafts, recover autosaved work, and preview applications before submitting
    • Applicants attach files, images, audio recordings, and video links to applications

  3. The cycle closes and staff triage

    • ApplyCycle closes the cycle automatically and moves unfinished applications to a staff-selected status with a logged reason
    • Staff filter the application table by status, cycle, program, and year
    • Staff see the organization's previous applications and award totals on each application
    • Staff change application statuses, change panelists, assign panels, and send templated email in bulk

  4. The panel reads and scores

    • Staff add applications and panelists to a panel, and ApplyCycle assigns those panelists to each application
    • Panelists find their assigned applications on one page, filtered by cycle and review status
    • Panelists see the applications assigned to them
    • Panelists play audio recordings and linked videos inside the application
    • Panelists give one score per application and can mark it reviewed
    • Panelists comment in threads, with each comment marked for the panel or for staff only

  5. Staff record the decision

    • Staff see each panelist's score, who has finished, and the minimum, maximum, and average scores
    • Staff edit application statuses and award amounts directly in the application table
    • When staff move an application to a status that has an email, ApplyCycle sends it
    • Staff publish lists of past awards

  6. Staff track payments

    • Staff record payment amounts, types, dates, and statuses
    • Staff import application and payment data from comma-separated values (CSV) files
    • Organizations can view their own payments

  7. Staff export records

    • Staff configure the CSV export layout
    • ApplyCycle builds a combined PDF of each application whenever it is saved
    • Staff download a cycle's application PDFs together in a zip file
    • Staff compare application revisions and restore earlier versions

Emails and forms

From a list of applications, your staff select any set of them, choose Send Email, and pick an email template. The email goes to every member of each selected organization. Staff write the templates, with placeholders that fill in each applicant's details. These emails are in addition to the automatic emails sent when an application changes status.

Application forms are built field by field. After Zivtech's setup and training, your staff add, remove, and reorder fields, mark them required, show or hide them based on other answers, and accept file uploads, without a developer. The platform also includes Drupal Webform for forms outside the application, such as registration or a survey.

Switching from another tool

If your records live in another tool today, export its applications and payments as CSV files. Staff import application and payment data from CSV files, and organization profiles take sponsor list imports.

Each comparison page says what to weigh when leaving that tool, and where it is still stronger than ApplyCycle.

See all comparisons

What Zivtech does

After Zivtech's setup and training, your staff change forms and statuses without a developer. Zivtech can extend the CSV export, applies security updates roughly monthly, and scopes and quotes each integration during setup.