Course Overview

This course is part of the comprehensive training program for the FEMA eGrants system. This course is the second in the series of Independent Study (IS) courses for eGrants and will address the functions in the eGrants External System used by Applicants. The purpose of this course is to provide you with the knowledge to:

Manage eGrants administrative functions
Enter paper "intake" subapplications into eGrants
Review subapplications
Complete, update, submit, and review the status of Applicant acting as Subapplicant subapplications
Complete, update, submit, and review the status of applications
View and print award packages
Submit Quarterly Performance Reports

Terms Used in this Course

The Office of Management and Budget streamlined the Federal Government’s Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards into a consolidated set of regulations. These regulations are located in Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 200, and are referred to as the "Super Circular." The Super Circular also introduced new terminology, including "Recipient" instead of "Grantee" and "Subrecipient" instead of "Subgrantee."

Because terminology has changed, many of the terms used in the eGrants Internal and External Systems screens are not consistent with the current terms used in the Super Circular. This course will reference eGrants screen labels as they appear, but will use Super Circular terminology throughout the rest of the course. Below is a table to assist you in understanding the terminology you will encounter in this course.


Super Circular	eGrants Screens	Definition
Federal Award	Grant	The Federal financial assistance received directly from FEMA
Subaward	Subgrant	The Federal financial assistance received indirectly from a pass-through entity (Applicant to a Subapplicant)
Applicant	Applicant or Grant Applicant	A state agency, territorial government, or federally-recognized tribal government submitting an application to FEMA for assistance under FEMA's mitigation award programs.
Subapplicant	Subgrant Applicant	A state agency, local government, territorial government, federally-recognized tribal government, or qualified private non-profit organization submitting a subapplication to an Applicant for assistance under FEMA's mitigation award programs.
Application	Grant Application	Application for federal financial assistance directly from FEMA
Subapplication	Subgrant Application	Application for federal financial assistance indirectly through a pass-through entity (Subapplicant to Applicant, Applicant to FEMA)
Applicant working as Subapplicant subapplication	Grant as Subgrant Application	A state agency, territorial government, or federally-recognized tribal government submitting technical assistance or management costs subapplications which will be included in an application for assistance under FEMA's mitigation federal award programs.
Recipient	Grantee	An Applicant whose application has been approved and federal award obligated.
Subrecipient	Subgrantee	A Subapplicant whose subapplication has been approved and subaward obligated.

Lesson Overview

This lesson provides an overview of the course and an introduction to various course features and functionality.

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to describe the:

Course structure
Course navigation
Knowledge Check functionality
Slideshow functionality
Screen features and navigation tools

Course Structure

Take a moment to review the course lesson plan for this course. The lesson plan is labeled Lesson List and is located on the right side of your screen.

This course contains 13 lessons. The lessons may be accessed in sequence or independently. The time to complete each lesson varies. A page tracker is displayed at the bottom middle of the screen to help you gauge your movement through the lesson. The estimated time required for each lesson will be stated on the lesson’s first screen.

After completing the course materials, you will take the Final Exam to:

Gauge your knowledge of the topic
Receive credit for taking the course

eGrants User Scenario

Listen to Sally

Audio transcript

This course will cover the various responsibilities and the types of applications and subapplications Applicants can create and manage in the eGrants External System.

As part of this course, you will participate in a scenario in which you are a first-time user of eGrants.

You will play the role of a new Mitigation Grants Coordinator at the Columbia Emergency Management Agency. Your supervisor, Sally Watkins, will show you how the State of Columbia uses eGrants to create and manage its applications and subapplications as well as manage its federal awards for FEMA's hazard mitigation grant programs.

Hello. I’m Sally Watkins, the Hazard Mitigation Grants Supervisor with the State of Columbia Emergency Management Agency. Welcome aboard. This quarter we’ll be working together to create and manage FEMA applications to fund a variety of flood mitigation activities around the state. But first, I would like you to learn about the different mitigation federal awards available and the electronic grants system, or eGrants, we use to create, process, and manage subapplications and applications.

Screen Features

Click "Close" to exit the course
Review Guidance and Troubleshooting advice with the "Help" button.
Use the "Glossary" to look up key definitions and acronyms.
Use the dropdown menu to move between lessons within the course.
Move forward and back using the "Previous" and "Next" buttons at the bottom of the screen.
The "Plug-Ins" button will provide a list of downloadable plug-ins.

Navigating Using Your Keyboard

Below are instructions for navigating through the course using your keyboard.

Use the "Tab" key to move forward through each screen's navigation buttons and hyperlinks, or "Shift" + "Tab" to move backwards. A box surrounds the button that is currently selected.
Press "Enter" to select a navigation button or hyperlink.
Use the arrow keys to select answers for multiple-choice review questions or self-assessment checklists. Then tab to the "Check" button and press "Enter" to complete a Knowledge Review or Self-Assessment.
Warning: Repeatedly pressing "Tab" beyond the number of selections on the screen may cause the keyboard to lock up. Use "Ctrl" + "Tab" to deselect an element or reset to the beginning of a screen’s navigation links (most often needed for screens with animations or media).
Job Access With Speech (JAWS) assistive technology users can press the "Ctrl" key to quiet the screen reader while the course audio plays.

Viewing Slideshow Simulations

Slideshows have been inserted into this course to display the eGrants screens a user would encounter when entering data.

You will see a "Scroll down to see slideshow captions" message. A shaded box with navigation buttons and a slide counter indicate the presence of a slideshow.

Select the slideshow's Next button to begin the presentation. Audio narration and captions will explain the data entry procedure. Select the link to hear the audio narration. A media player window will appear when audio narration is activated.

To navigate through the slideshow, select the Back to the Beginning, Back, Next, and End of Presentation buttons. Select the Next button to move to the following slide.

The slide counter indicates the total number of slides in the presentation and which slide you are currently viewing. Keep in mind that the presentation is on a loop and will repeat.

To exit the Slideshow, select the Next button at the bottom of the course screen.

Completing Knowledge Checks

At times during a lesson, there will be a Knowledge Check activity to review one of the concepts from the lesson. Instructions will appear at the top of the screen explaining how to complete the activity.

After you select the Check button, feedback on your answer selection will appear in a dialog box. To close the dialog box window, select the close link at the bottom of the window.

Try the sample Knowledge Check question below.

Receiving Credit

Students must complete the entire course and pass the final exam to receive credit for the course. Each lesson takes a variable amount of time to complete. If you are unable to complete the course in its entirety, you may close the window and reopen the course at any time. However, depending on the system used to take the course, it is possible you may have to repeat a portion of the last lesson you were studying.

Lesson 1 Summary

You have completed the first lesson. In this lesson, you learned about:

The goals and structure of the course

How to navigate within the course using screen features and your keyboard

How to access slideshows

How to interact with Knowledge Checks

Remember, you must complete all lessons and pass the Final Exam to receive credit for the course.

Now that we have introduced the course goals and discussed the various navigation elements and features of the course, let’s get started. To begin the course, select the Next button or choose a lesson from the Topic drop-down list.