While completing an opportunity package in Workspace, you may encounter problems and receive occasional error messages. Below are examples of such scenarios -- along with tips on how to avoid them.
When a Workspace Participant action triggers an error, an alert message will appear – either at the top of the Manage Workspace page, or in a popup window. In most cases, the issue must be addressed before the desired action can be completed.
For example, if the workspace forms are out of date, you will see the following message when you try to complete a form-related action:
ALERT: The set of forms in the Opportunity Package was updated by the Grantor Agency. This change does not remove any forms from the Opportunity Package. Previously entered form data is preserved. Please click “Get Updated Grantor Package” button in the Workspace Actions to proceed.
Follow the directions outlined in the alert and you will be able to continue your action. If you receive a Cross-Form Errors message after clicking the Check Application button, refer to the Cross-Form Errors help article for more detailed information about this validation error.
Below are a range of additional scenarios Workspace Participants may encounter while completing an application package using Workspace:
When a Workspace Owner loses access to a workspace, this prevents any further work in the workspace. However, Participants are still able to download existing form data from this workspace. Losing the Workspace Owner means the Submit, Complete, and Reopen buttons will all be deactivated.
How does a Workspace Owner lose access? There are several possible causes:
After submitting a workspace package, a PDF confirmation attempts to open in your internet browser. Depending on the internet browser settings for opening PDFs and your Adobe software version, this confirmation may not be able to open. Refer to the Adobe Software Compatibility page in the Applicants tab on Grants.gov for information on how to configure your browser settings to open PDFs using the appropriate Adobe software.
When an opportunity package passes the closed date, Grants.gov no longer accepts submissions and prevents additional form uploads in the workspace. The grace period is used in conjunction with the closed date to define when an opportunity package is closed.
Once an opportunity package is closed, the form action links, as well as the Submit, Complete, and Reopen buttons, will be deactivated. Additionally, the package hyperlink is removed so that new workspaces cannot be created for the closed opportunity.
In some instances, the grant-making agency may need to delete an opportunity package. When the grantor deletes the opportunity package or the complete funding opportunity announcement, users can still download existing form data. However, they cannot continue further work in the workspace. As a result, the form actions links, as well as the Submit, Complete, and Reopen buttons, will be inactive.
If you subscribed to change notifications in step five of the Create a Workspace process, then you will be notified of the deletion. If you did not subscribe, then you will not be notified.
At any time prior to the close date of an opportunity, the grant-making agency can change the forms or other components of the opportunity package. In doing so, the grantor may change forms in the opportunity package to a different set of forms than the forms you were previously completing.
In this scenario, users can download existing form data but cannot continue progress with the workspace until they click to update the forms list to the revised set in the opportunity package. Until you update the forms list, the form action links, as well as the Submit, Complete, and Reopen buttons, will not be active.
The forms update process will retain the data in forms that the grantor did not change. By updating the forms list in the opportunity package, the status of the workspace will change to In Progress.