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Navigating GrantSolutions

Last updated: January 13th, 2014

The purpose of this video is to provide ACL discretionary grantees a basic introduction to logging into 

and navigating GrantSolutions. 

Beginning October 1st, 2013, all ACL discretionary grantees are required to use GrantSolutions to:

• view and manage their organization’s grant information; 

• view and submit financial reports; and 

• to request grant amendments, such as carryovers and no cost extensions

To begin navigating the system, you will go to www.grantsolutions.gov and click on “Login to 

GrantSolutions” (0:25 to 1:17 of video). 

• To log in, you will type in your username and password.

• If you forget your username or password, there is a link you can click called “Reset 

Password/Unlock Account” under the log in fields. 

• If you need further assistance accessing your account, you can contact the GrantSolutions 

helpdesk at the email or phone number listed. 

• When you log in, you will see My Grants List, which should include all the active grants that your 

authorized official representative (AOR) has requested that you have permission to view. 

o If you do not see a grant you are looking for in the list, you should click on “Show 

Expired Grants” to see if it is there. 

o If you still do not see the grant you are looking for in your list, please contact your ACL 

grants management specialist. You may not be assigned the appropriate role for that 

grant and, therefore, may be unable to view it. 

At the top, left hand corner of the screen, you will see a heading that says “Account Management”. 

Under Account Management, you can: update your profile; change your password; change your 

notification preferences; and view your CCR information (1:18 to 1:38 of video). 

To start, let’s look at “Update Profile” (1:39 to 1:59 of video):

• If you select “Update Profile”, you will be able to view and make changes to your personal 

information. If you have had a change in title, phone number, etc., you can make the change 

here. 

• Once you have made any changes, you can click “Save”. If you decide not to make any changes 

after all, you can click “Cancel”.

Next, let’s look at “Change Password” (2:00 to 2:38 of video): 

• If you go back up to “Account Management” and click “Change Password”, you will arrive at the 

Change Password screen.
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• Please carefully read the GrantSolutions Password Policy before making any changes to your 

password. 

• To make changes, you will have to enter your current password, then enter the new password 

you want and the new password again, then click “Submit”. If you do not want to change your 

password after all, you can click “Cancel” (which is what we will do for this demonstration).

• If you have any problems updating your password, you should contact the GrantSolutions 

helpdesk for assistance at the email or phone number provided. 

Next, let’s look at “Notification Preferences” (2:39 to 3:28 of video): 

• If you go back to the “Account Management” heading and click “Notification Preferences” in the 

drop down, you will be able to view a list of the different types of notifications that ACL 

discretionary grantees may receive related to their grants. These notifications come through 

auto-generated notifications to grantees via their email. 

• You can turn off notifications by unchecking the box next to the type of notification. However, it 

is sometimes helpful to leave all notifications on, especially when you are new to 

GrantSolutions, so you know when action may be required on your part, when a revised notice 

of award has been processed, and so on.

• When you have made changes you can click “Save” or, if you have decided not to make any 

changes after all, you can click “Cancel”. 

Next, let’s look at the CCR validation (3:29 to 3:47 of video):

• You will go back up to the “Account Management” heading and click on “CCR Validation”, where 

you will see the CCR information for your organization.

• Depending on your role in GrantSolutions, you may or may not be able to edit this information. 

Now, let’s look at the other tools at the top of the page.

Going back to the menu bar, the next item is “Funding Opportunity” (3:48 to 4:14 of video): 

• Here, you will be able to view some – but probably not all – of the federal funding opportunities 

your organization may be able to apply for. However, ACL does not accept grant applications 

through GrantSolutions at this time. 

• Please refer to the specific federal funding opportunity announcement for instructions on how 

and where to go to apply for grants through that opportunity. 

The next heading is “Grants” (4:15 to 4:26 of video): 

• This is a central point of management for grants.

• Most grant information may be obtained and post award actions can be viewed at this location. 

The next heading is “Reports” (4:27 to 4:41 of video): 
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• ACL will not be using the fillable, online report features in GrantSolutions at this time. All 

programmatic performance reports, financial reports, and other reports (if applicable) should be 

submitted in GrantSolutions as a Grant Note.

• A separate video (“Adding a Grant Note”) is available how to submit report and/or other 

documents as Grant Notes. 

The next heading is “Online Data Collection”. ACL will not be using the GrantSolutions Online Data 

Collection feature at this time (unless otherwise instructed by your ACL project officer or grants 

management specialist) (4:42 to 4:49 of video). 

The final heading is “Help/Support”. The “Help/Support” link will give you the contact information for 

the GrantSolutiosn helpdesk, as well as links to some generic grantee training information (4:43 to 5:08 

of video).