The OpenWater application has been great for our team because we can now all work in one platform versus sending PDFs and excel documents back and forth to each other. It has also saved our team hours - we no longer have to wait for a mailed application to come in and then have to scan it in manually and save it to a folder not everyone has access to. The platform has allowed us to come into the modern century and provide an easy way for our applicants and staff to manage our scholarships. We've even been able to implement new scholarship and grant programs because of it! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The program could use a UX refresh for both back end and front end users - everything looks a little outdated and is not intuitive to find. I understand that there are a lot of moving parts, but many features are in places that are titled something similar and you have to go around to find things. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the AI feature. Have been testing it out and hope to use in practice soon. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Make it easier to label applications for judges when seeing their assignments. Support was helpful and they were able to do the work on their end as it was a development fix but it should be something I should be able to do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about OpenWater Application is the integration with our AMS system as it streamlines the log in process and allows for reduced data entry. Additionally, the onboarding process is intuitive, it allowed for more ownership by me and department staff. Ongoing support continues to be an added benefit. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There isn’t much I’ve found to dislike, but if I had to point to an area for ongoing improvement, it would be usability. Building “prettier” forms often requires in-depth CSS knowledge, plus time to experiment and test. It would be great to have a bit more flexibility out of the box for that, so it’s easier to achieve a polished look without so much custom styling. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Our organization uses Open Water to manage our awards submission and review. As the primary manager, I find the application user friendly and capable of meeting our needs. Every time I use Open Water I find something that makes my job easier. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

From a user standpoint there is not anything that I really dislike. Every once in a while I find something I wish the app would do but there is usually an easy work around. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The way judges are added is very easy. We never have any issues with judges accessing their assignments or logging in. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's not very easy to copy over a program from one year to the next if there are any changes to the categories. Also, the design options could definitely be improved for a better overall look and feel. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have been using Open Water daily since 2021 and I will continue to do so. For the moment, I haven't found a reason to stop doing it or to look for an alternative option. This is because OpenWater has always been able to find new uses of OpenWater or adapt it to our new needs. Given my use of OpenWater, I consider I know it very well.

Out of all the features, the judging process is probably my favourite. The review process of the 1600+ sessions we receive involves more than 80 internal and external experts. We divide the experts according to programmatic areas. Open Water then allows you to assign the proposals by category. It also lets you decide how many sessions each expert should evaluate and other features. It is a very personalized and user friendly experience. Sessions can also be assigned randomly at first, and then easily moved between judges as needed, ensuring that the right expert evaluates each proposal. If the review process is key to your work, then OW is definitely worth it.

In addition, one of the best aspects of OpenWater is its library of resources, for example, their online training. I do it every year before we begin our review cycle to refresh myself. There is always one feature that you forget that you can use to make better. If you are not DIY, which I am, their customer service is amazing and you can always count on them. They are always there to answer any question that you need or to help you come up with an answer to a problem that is bothering you. In summary, the platform offers an excellent balance between responsive customer support and comprehensive resources for self-learning.

The above has allowed us to implement new features each year that improve our workflow and make the system even easier to use. I now only contact customer support when I encounter a significant issue, and their responses are always prompt and direct me to helpful resources. On this point, ease of of implementation is guaranteed. I truly enjoy working with our account manager.

In terms of value (money), it is a good option. I like that it does not charge per application or participant. This is a great feature, especially, if you don't know how many submissions you plan to receive for your different programs. I know that some other companies prices based on limits. Also, depending on your package, you can have different programs. We use severa and this is positive because you can have a different program for each of your needs.

While most folk used OW for grant or scholarship management, we use it to collect session proposals for our yearly conference. The overall process is quite similar, and we collaborate with OW to refine our evaluation process to fit our needs. The number of features really is in line with our needs.

In case you need it, they also have an integrations hub. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is true that OpenWater could enhance its Dashboard. It can be difficult to follow all the key data points of your program. For example, seeing how many sessions have been submitted, completed, or are still in process is not always straightforward. Plus, the look and feel is outdated.

However, the reporting features is amazing and compensates the above. It is really tailored to any report that you need.

As for the interface, it may have looked outdated until recently, but they are currently working on a redesign, which I am very much looking forward to but still waiting for. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how many options there are to set up our programs and to collect the information we need from applicants. I can customize each program to match our specific requirements, and I keep discovering additional ways to use OpenWater Application and Review Cloud that I hadn't anticipated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only thing I don't like about OpenWater is the fact that only one person can talk to support without paying for an additional admin seat. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Applications are highly customizable. You can create almost any type of application field that you may need. Help Center is extremely helpful when looking for more information on how to do a specific action. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The website slows down when there is a lot of traffic and often operates slower then other sites that I use.

The interface can be confusing for users that seldom are on the site, especially navigating through the different areas of an application and knowing exactly where to go within an application on the admin side.

Knowledge of HTML is helpful and not all users have that.

Our integrations only go one-way, so once an applicant starts an application and then goes back to update their member profile on our organization's website, the new content does not get updated through the API on their local OpenWater application. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We regularly use the email/communication function in OpenWater to stay in touch with our cohort of applicants throughout the year. While the formatting can feel a bit clunky at times, the ability to pipe in application data is excellent. We especially appreciate being able to add additional contacts to the CC line. The option to create and maintain unique links that allow non-users to download data reports is also incredible. In my experience working with two other comparable application/review platforms, OpenWater really stands out as the exception when it comes to this tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Formatting in OpenWater’s outreach tool can feel clunky. It would be much easier if we could match the tool to our organization’s style and brand—fonts, colors, and similar elements—without having to manually customize everything.

My biggest complaint, though, is the lack of bulk application management options. In our program flow, we include an optional form, and when applicants leave it incomplete, our team has to manually finalize and complete it for every person who didn’t submit. With a group of 500+ applications, this ends up taking roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Also, the OpenWater feature that hides applications older than 120 days creates more problems for us than it solves. Our program runs for 13 months, and applicants log in and see “0” applications even though they know they previously submitted two other forms. That creates a lot of confusion and anxiety, and clearing it up takes significant staff time that could be better spent elsewhere. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like most about OpenWater is the strong customer support. Their support team is responsive and helpful when questions or issues arise, which is especially important during high-volume submission and review periods. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One current limitation is that we are not able to fully manage all of our data within OpenWater. For example, we collect initial conference session information from one person (the session organizer), including speaker details, but then we must create a separate program for individual speakers to submit their own required information, which is not linked to their session(s). As a result, we rely on a separate system to manage these connected data points, which creates a duplicative and time-consuming workflow. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.