As someone new to the nonprofit world, I’ve spent the past few months getting hands-on experience with iMIS and platforms like OpenWater. Through my work at John Consulting, I’ve come to appreciate just how complex and critical submission workflows can be for non-profit associations. Whether it’s collecting speaker proposals, award nominations, or abstracts, these processes are often time-consuming and manually managed
If you’re an iMIS user who has ever had to manage submissions through spreadsheets, manual emails, or clunky third-party tools, OpenWater might be the upgrade you’ve been waiting for.
Here’s a simple breakdown of what OpenWater offers and why it’s such a useful platform for busy staff and volunteers alike.
Submission Forms: Clean, Flexible, and Client-Managed
Every OpenWater experience starts with a form, and that form can be as simple or as detailed as your process requires. With drag-and-drop fields, conditional logic, and built-in file uploads, OpenWater’s form builder lets you guide users through clean, structured submissions.
You can create sections, show or hide questions based on user responses, and design the form to adapt as users move through it. Better yet, fields like name and email can autofill directly from iMIS, making the process faster and more seamless for your users. Most importantly, it is so easy that staff can create forms and make updates without waiting on a developer.
Bonus tip: Clear forms lead to cleaner submissions, which makes the review process much smoother down the line.
Workflows: Automate the Process Without Losing Control
OpenWater lets you build workflows that mirror your real-world process. Need multi-round reviews? You can set them up with ease. Want to assign submissions to specific reviewers based on category or other criteria? That is built in. Need automatic emails to remind users or judges about upcoming deadlines? OpenWater handles that too.
By reducing manual steps and scattered communication, workflows bring structure to the process. Every submission moves through a clear sequence making it easy for staff to stay on top of progress.
Review Panels: Make Judging Easier for Everyone
OpenWater makes the review experience simple and consistent. Judges can log in, view only their assigned submissions, and score them using clear criteria in one place. Whether you use numeric scoring, ranking, comments, or pass or fail options, the platform supports your preferred method. You can also set up multi phase reviews, such as an initial scoring round followed by a final review. Staff can easily track progress, send reminders, and download reports when the process is complete.
If you use iMIS, OpenWater connects easily — with single sign on, demographic fields that auto-fill forms, and seamless syncing that simplifies reporting and avoids duplicate data.
In Summary
After working closely with OpenWater over the past few months, I have seen how much it simplifies submission and review processes. If you are starting to explore how OpenWater could fit into your organization, feel free to reach out. We’d love to help your team make the most of the platform. It has been rewarding to learn how tools like this can ease the daily work of nonprofit teams.
