SmarterSelect Features

Matching feature for scholarship program; online evaluation function; linkage between applications that eliminates need to fill-in fields multiple times.

Frequency of "bugs" combined with inability to contact customer support by phone. The inability to contact customer support is not specifically a software issue, but it complicates the process as a user/administrator, particularly when the issue is time-sensitive.

I can customize the whole system to what I need it to do in order to fit Mt needs. So simple to add additional information when needed. So easy for my applicants, evaluators and myself to use. Love I can pull reports when I want.

Nothing I have found yet. Everything has worked great for us. We found some things like we need to have a person view each application since the applicant could download anything and shows it is complete when they are missing information still.

The product was easy to use by the applicants to our initiative, by the evaluators who reviewed the proposals submitted and by Initiative staff who managed the process and who had to extract data for our management review and decision making. This was our maiden experience and we had no system breakdown.

Grant management team would need to supply this answer.

As a super small non profit we needed a way to allow applicants to apply to our program and the services that we offer via an online application. We worked with smarter select to customize the application as much as the platform currently allows.

Not super user friendly for our needs. We need it for online application purposes. The software was set up mainly for grant purposes.

Customizable, has recommender feature so recs can come through the same system (which is missing from competitors), and easy to export information

UI isn't always clear, so I spend a lot of time playing customer support rep with applicants.

The system is highly customizable. The ability to imbed evaluator reviews was a plus. My team enjoyed the online instructional videos from SmarterSelect.

Please consider adding fillable tables as an application response option.

Our staff loves how fast and easy it is to create custom applications with a host of unique and useful functions. Our review committees enjoy being able to have online access to applications -- it makes their job a whole lot easier! And our applicants enjoy the ease and efficiency of being able to apply online. All in all, Smarter Select positively enhances our grant and scholarship application process while positioning us as a leader in our community.

If I could offer any improvement, it would be to add some additional options that could help to brand the system so that applicants can visually recognize which organization the are applying for support to. Another foundation in our region just purchased and implemented Smarter Select and this created some confusion for the non-profits in our region. We do include our logo at the top of the program for our applications, but it would be nice if there were ways to add it other places or on the log-in screen.

Hi Mike, Many thanks for your feedback and comments! We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and your team. Regards, Robert

Easy to Use, Great price to quality for the program. Unlike others, they don't raise prices dramatically every year and have kept the prices down, which is great for smaller budgets. Also While keeping prices down they've added more and more features. All problems I've ever had have been user error and not with their program. With the mid-level package there's SO MUCH you can do behind the scene to evaluate and rank (although matching still remains elusive). Any service to the site they've given plenty of notice so we can let students know the site will be down. Site stability and speed has been great.

No number to call right when you're having a problem-you have to send an email. To be fair, this is responded to promptly, but still... Once you know how to use the program it's very easy but there's no manual. Videos/support site and the topics are ok and expanding. Webinars help but can sometimes lose focus.

I really love how user friendly this is for Evaluators

There are a bunch of tabs on the side of the program that I don't know how to use. For Example... it takes me a ton of time to try and find how I change the abstract

Hi, Many thanks for your review! Please reach out to our Support team and they will be happy to schedule a training session for the tabs on the side of the program. Regards, Robert

I like that it can be customizable. It can have as many questions you want. It is versatile enough that we can use it for both our scholarship and our grant applications. It is easy to have the option for attachments.

I don't like that you cannot pick up a phone and call someone. A phone call has to be scheduled via email. Any issues have to be dealt with via email/chat. Sometimes it is a lot quicker/easier to explain a problem by talking rather than writing. I wish there could be a way to create a chart for applicants to complete on questions such as activities or work history over the years. Right now you have to ask a the same question for each time frame. It gets a bit redundant.

I really enjoy the variety of options they have in terms of filling out an application, creating a survey, or even submitting an essay. There's all sorts of ways to create documents and make them user friendly for my students. The tracking system is great! They email you results and make it easier for you to gather information.

I would like if they included a back and forth on the pages. Easier to back out of certain parts of the creation of a document. I've had an issue with the reminder emails being sent directly to the spam folder but this may just be for our company.

Hi Patricia, Many thanks for your review! I'll have our Support team reach out regarding your questions on back and forth. Thanks, Robert

This product is user friendly and easy to export reports.

Would like a way to search all applications for a single applicant.

Smarter Select is so easy to use. It can be adapted so that you can ask the questions that you require for your grant or funding. The customizable feature is great plus the added bonus of being able to put tips besides questions for applicants to see as they fill in, so that they get the right information in. Being able to create a Frequently Asked Question area, was simply and easy to do and a big...

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Sometimes upload is difficult for applicants to use, they have problems as the platforms that they use are not compatible to the systems that can be used. The fact that the body of an email (personal message box) will not let you put in an email address different to what is outside of the letter, and if you put one in and press send it then makes the email disappear and then you have to re write it. The support system is a bit hit and miss depending on how much technical knowledge you have and who you get replying to your enquiry. Chat - itself find that it never really solves the problem and have to request to speak to someone.

Smarter Select is an easy-to-use platform that meets many needs for our organization. We can easily and quickly create custom applications for our variety of grant and scholarship programs. We find it very valuable to have online evaluator access, which allows our committees to get a jump start on the review process, oftentimes allowing them to reduce their number of in-person meetings, which is a...

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Honestly, I have very few negative comments concerning Smarter Select. There are a few quirks to the system that you have to get used to, but once you do, it's very reliable and easy to use. Honestly, I'm hard pressed to come up with an actual con. If I can offer an improvement, it would be that once users log in, they could see any applications they have yet to complete, instead of just past applications. I would also like a way to better sort disabled past applications -- we have a lot of different apps and it gets a little crowded looking through our history. Other than that, it really is a great product.

Hi Katrina, Many thanks for your review! Our support team will contact you shortly with info on how applicants can view apps they need to complete. Regards, Robert

The program continues to evolve in response to user input. Technical support and online tutorials make program creation and editing simple. The ability to copy & edit programs makes preparation for annual grant & scholarship cycles quick and easy. The creation of 40+ scholarship programs, some requiring unique applications and some utilizing a common application was initially a daunting task, but once the initial time investment was made, each year requires less and less time. The program itself is not difficult to use. The more complex and diverse your needs, the more complex the process becomes; however, an information technology or programming specialist is not required.

Latency. The time it takes to move between applications can cause frustration for system administrators and evaluators.

The software allows me to easily create a new scholarship application that is unique and reflective of the donors desires. The fact that I can continue to access data from previous years allows me to remain in contact with our recipients.

The integration inner business was not difficult. Right out of the box, there is a steep learning curve. However, the customer support is very responsive and helpful. I have suggested a few enhancements over the years and have found that SmarterSelect was eager to listen to my concerns and If they could not provide a workaround they will often fix the issue in a subsequent update.

SmarterSelect is very easy to use and the customer support is exceptional. Our organization has been using SmarterSelect for several years and the software continues to get better. I like that they continue to improve the software. I also like they make it a point to train their customers on their new features and upgrades.

There is not much that I do not like about the software. There are some back-end reporting things that I find cumbersome such as when a parent/guardian creates an application for their son or daughter that person's name appears on the reports first not the actual applicant's​ name. This poses a challenge when you are looking up applications by the applicant's name. Another issue with this is the...

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Hi Alex, Many thanks for your review! Regarding the parent situation, just have the applicant/parent click My Account to change the First and Last Name to the student's name. Thanks again! Robert

I have done a lot of research into software that could improve the work we do at our Foundation, specifically our management of a 65+ scholarship fund portfolio that kicks off nearly $500k each year. SmarterSelect allowed us to take our manual paper process to an incredibly efficient, streamlined, paperless approach. Since implementation we have increased our application submissions by over 400%

The ONLY reason I might consider another software is for the integration aspect. Our Foundant and Blackbaud have similar products but the edge they bring is the ability to integrate with our accounting software. That said, I am still not convinced that the integration will improve our system because I truly have been so pleased with the product, and the price, that SmarterSelect has to offer.

The ability to create and customize applications.

Sometimes it's difficult to navigate and could use more sorting options.

There are a lot of great things about this software. I enjoy the ability to customize the site easily, even for those without any sort of web-design knowledge. Being able to send reminders from within the platform is a great time-saver and helpful. The applicants who've used it seem to be able to operate it without much trouble, including from mobile devices. The reports feature is critical for us to track and make notes outside of the platform via Excel. Being able to amend the applicants records and attachments is also simple and helpful when they're running into issues or user errors.

The reminder feature for scholarship applicants could be clearer. In my experience, in order to send reminders to those on "incomplete" statuses and "pending" statues you have to go to two separate parts of the site. It's not the most clear. There's almost too many features. I wish there was a bit more simplicity. It can be very time-consuming. When our reviewers (independent scholarship committee) go into do their part, we've found that the software sometimes will not hold their ratings even though they are saving as they go. This results in a 0 being given in certain categories which was really mess up the metrics. This also requires additional time being spent reviewing the scores to catch any software errors.

It's incredibly user friendly and easy for applicants to use. Our evaluators are also happy with product's ability to be so user friendly. Their customer service is phenomenal, fast, friendly and useful.

I would love to be notified, per program, of evaluators completing their evaluations. The logic of some questions could also use some improvements. I also wish there was a way to copy a question so I didn't have to repeat the work multiple times.

Easy for even not tech-savvy people to pick up, but with a respectable amount of customization. The look is modern for both the front- and back-end and I appreciate how much thought went into making features on both ends appear and feel as such. Customer support is responsive and have gone through great lengths to identify issues and stress-test solutions, which is again greatly appreciated.

This has only happened once to my knowledge but when some back-end autoscore stuff broke, the process to identify the problem and fix it took longer than we had hoped, and it really dragged down our evaluator experience. So I would say perhaps the stress-testing is not rigorous enough.

Hi Jackie, Many thanks for your review! FYI, earlier this year, we added a dedicated software Quality Assurance person because "even rarely breaks" is not good enough for us. Also, we have some Single Sign-On CRM integrations and are planning for more.

Using the SmarterSelect software is very intuitive, and translated well from the hard copies of applications we used in the past. It is very easy to track when applications come in, and then to assign to evaluators. We are able to use the software for awards nominations, for scholarships and grants, and even for approving trademark designs. With applicants from across the country, there is easy access through the links we put on our website. Our evaluators are also able to access the applications from any location. Staff members find it easy to set up new applications with the copy feature, and adjustments area also simple to make.

We have not had any difficulties. If the staff have questions, the support team is always very timely with their responses.

The application creation and design is very easy. The autoscoring, bulk e-mail messaging, data export, copying of existing programs for the next year, application review are all great features that make the grant and scholarship application very smooth. We use the common application for our scholarships which eliminates duplicate data entry for the same questions on the part of applicants.

It would be nice to be able to import applications into other software. It looks like in the last question in the survey askes about integrating with other products. I would like more information on that. Also while the e-mail support works sometimes it would be nice to be able to speak to someone in person.