Configuring Application Form is the sequence of steps that takes a new Application Form from an empty container to a form families can start, sign, and pay. Every step below links to the article that describes the page in detail. The Website Full role is required for the Website administrative pages, and the Finance setup requires the corresponding Finance roles in Campus.
Before starting, prepare the following in Campus.
- Products for tuition, fees, and deposits on the ledger the form will post to, with their deposit and proration settings.
- Invoice groups and invoice templates with the payment terms families will be offered.
- Household splits on Finance > Splits for the billing category used by the form, for every student whose charges are shared between households. Review Split Parents.
- Auto-pay configurations for credit card and e-check payments. Review Auto-Pay Configuration (Finance).
- Student Saved Filters that describe each group to be invited, for example returning students and newly admitted students. Review Creating DAT Filters.
- Financial aid awards for the academic year, when the form should show and apply aid.
Create the form.
- Open Admin > Applications > Application Forms and click New. Review Application Form List.
- On Application Form Details, enter the Name, Academic Year, End Date, Ledger, Contact Email, and Split Billing Category. Decide the signature policy: leave Bill on first signature unchecked and choose a Second-signer detection filter, or check it when one signature is enough. Save.
Build the pages.
- On Application Form Pages, add one page per step of the form and one final signing page. Order them with Reorder top level pages.
- Open each page in the CMS page editor and add the fields and text. Use check box, radio option, and bound field widgets for priced items and set their Product, Invoice Group, Invoice Template, and Is Selected on the Application Form tab. Review Application Form Widget Properties.
- For each policy the family must acknowledge, add a required check box and, when initials are wanted, a TextBox from the CMS Widget - Updatable Wizard with Input Mode set to Initials. Review CMS Widget - Updatable Wizard.
- Where a price or a pre-selection differs by group of applicants, set the Override Scope on the widget and author the overrides on Application Form Overrides.
- On the form's master page, configure the CMS Widget - Menu with the form's site map as its Site Map Provider and Track Completion enabled, so that the signing page can require every page to have been completed. Add a CMS Widget - Button with the Save And Next behavior to each page.
- On the signing page, add the CMS Widget - Submit Summary, the CMS Widget - Deposit (Application Form) and CMS Widget - Payment Schedule when a deposit or installments apply, the credit card and e-check payment widgets, the CMS Widget - Signature Pad, and the CMS Widget - Sign and Submit button with its payment configurations and PDF title.
Create the entry point.
- Create a portal page for logged-in parents that holds the CMS Widget - Application Invitations widget, and place it on the parent portal menu.
- Set this page as the No-invitation redirect page on Application Form Details.
Prepare second signatures when the signature policy can require two signatures.
- Create a portal page with the Alternate Id AFSecondarySign that holds a CMS Widget - Signature Pad and a CMS Widget - Sign and Submit button. Signing link emails open this page.
- Review the correspondence template named Application Form - Secondary Signer Invitation, which is created automatically the first time a link is sent. Keep the [[SignerGreeting]] and [[SignInvitationLink]] merge fields in the body.
Invite the families.
- On Application Form Invitation Type, create one invitation type per group with its Saved Filter.
- Invitations are created automatically as parents open the invitation page while the form is open. To invite a student ahead of time or outside the filters, add the invitation on Application Form Invitation.
Test before opening.
- Log into the parent portal as a test parent whose student qualifies for each invitation type, start the form, and walk every page.
- Compare the Submit Summary, the Deposit, and the Payment Schedule with the expected amounts for a day student, a boarding student, a student with financial aid, and a student with split households.
- Sign with the Sign and Submit button configured to Process In Test Mode, then open the PDF and check the invoice in Campus.
- Reset the test invitations with Reset Snapshot on Application Form Invitation, or delete them, before opening the form to families.
Note: Review Application Form Signing and Application Form Billing before choosing the signature policy, since the number of signatures a household needs is frozen the first time it is resolved.