A call nobody knows about costs the same as one you miss.
First comes the research idea, then the question of funding. The search then covers the programmes people already know and the circular emails still sitting in the inbox. Anything announced since then appears in none of these sources. By the time the list is right, the next deadline is closer than the finished application.
5levelsNational, European, international, foundations, and industry and IIT each publish their calls separately.
2sourcesKnown programmes and circulars in the inbox are the usual starting point.
3weeksA suitable programme often only comes to light this close to the deadline.
1applicationThere is no time for more than one.
Query all five levels in a single pass and the list is ready at the start rather than three weeks before the deadline, and every hit carries its source and retrieval date.
The five levels are this agent's search space. The number of sources, the lead time and the number of applications describe a typical process in research funding; they are not measurements.