This article will cover the following topics about how to build your BigSIS Application. If you have already created an application and need to copy or edit it, click here.

Part One: About Applications

What is an Application
Widgets (aka: Page Items)

Part Two: Building Applications

Building a New Application
Adding Pages 
Adding Widgets 
Adding Alerts to your Application

Additional Resources: Managing, Releasing and Tracking Application

Part One

Part One of this article will cover application basics. This can be used as a reference for anyone experienced with building applications or can serve as an out of the box guide for anyone learning to build these for the first time. 

What is an Application?

Applications will be the method for your families to apply for the school and will be filled out in a secure portal. They are customizable per school and can incorporate a wide variety of widgets to gather information about the child and/or parents/family.

You will learn more in training about sending signup invitations to lead parents but it is good to keep in mind that applications will require a parent to create a username and password to access a secure admissions portal to fill out the application.

Widgets (aka: Page Items)

Widgets are what you will place on each page to customize your application. There are a wide variety of widgets to choose from including household information, uploading a lead image, uploading documents (e.g., teacher recommendations, development screening, etc.), application fee, and more. You may also use custom form widgets to gather and store custom data when necessary.

Using custom form widgets can be very powerful to ensure you can gather whatever information you need as well as filter for it when needed. This is a very popular concept for applications as they often are made up of custom questions that may be specific to your school. You can even store custom data Part Two below will discuss how to add widgets and will also discuss what widget options you have. 

Part Two

Building an Application

1. Go to Admissions/Leads > Online Application > View/Edit Application Forms
2. Click New button to create a new application.
3. Give your application a new Title such as “2020/2021 Grades Online Application,” "2020/2021 EC Application" or “2020/2021 High School Re-enrollment Application.”
4. Select if this form should require a Signature.
5. Select the Signatures Allowed.
   • You will have the choice of eSignature, Offline, or Any.
6.  Select Payments Allowed.
   • Depending on if you have an Authorize.net account set up with BigSIS and what those account options are you will have the choice of Credit Card, eCheck, Offline Check, Credit Card or Offline Check, eCheck or Offline Check, Online Only (Credit Card or eCheck) or Any. 
     Tip: If you do not use Authorize.Net with BigSIS you will only be able to select Check as your payment method. This will be required so leave this option selected even if you don't plan to take any online payment through BigSIS. To explore more information about signing up for Authorize.net and using tuition management with BigSIS Click Here
7. Select if you would like to Show Logo in the upper left when printing application: None (no pages), First Page Only, or Every Page 
8. Select if you would like to Show Address in the upper right when printing application: None (no pages), First Page Only, or Every Page  
9. Select if you would like to Show Page Numbers
10. Select if you would like to Include Watermark
11. Enable 'Help Us Cover Costs' Option (see help bubble for more information)
    1. Click Save and Continue.

Adding Pages 

To start building your application you are going to add pages. You will add pages first and then after you add pages, you will be able to add widgets based on the needs for your application. Each application can be as many pages as you need them to be.

1. Click the New button to add a new page.
2. Add a Title for this page, such as “Terms and Conditions,” “Payment Schedule Selection,” or “Verify Health Information,” etc.
3. Click Save and Continue to add more pages to your application.
4. Click Save and Back when you have added the pages you need.

Adding Widgets

After you add pages to your application you will add widgets to customize it. This section will discuss the steps to start adding widgets and the different widget options you will have. 

1. Start by editing the page you want to add widgets to.
2. Click New to add a new page item. You will have several widgets to select from. This is a brief explanation about each widget but testing your applications will allow you to see what the widget looks like. For steps on how to test your applications Click Here.
   
   1. Agree To - provides a message to the user and includes an "Agree To" checkbox
   2. Custom Form w/ Field Data tied to the Application - allows you to use a custom form and tie the data to the student record
   3. Custom Form w/ Field Data tied to the Lead - allows you to use a custom form and tie the data to the lead record
   4. Custom Form w/ Field Data tied to the Request  - allows you to use a custom form ONLY and data is not tied to any other record (this option is NOT recommended)
   5. Custom Form w/ Field Data tied to the Student - allows you to use a custom form and tie the data to the student record
   6. Discount - provides a discount field to offer optional or required discounts along with a message to the user (this widget directly connects with the below Fee widget and is a discount of that fee) 
   7. Fee - provides a field to offer an optional or required fee (the discount widget can be used in conjunction with this widget)
   8. Fee with Discount - provides a field for an optional or required field for both fee's and discounts
   9. Generic Text Area for gathering large text - allows you to add a message to the user and the user will be provided with a multi-line text box to type into
   10. Html Test Message to User - allows you to provide a formattable message for users to read
   11. Lead Household Management - a widget that shows the parents their household information and allows them to add guardian or additional household information
   12. Lead Summary - shows information about the lead including name, grade level application is for, academic year the application is for, gender, and date of birth (this information is not editable by the parent)
   13. Upload Document tied to the Request - provides an upload option for users and allows you to download the document from the application preview
   14. Upload Lead Image - allows you to provide a message to the user; the user will be able to upload an image
   15. Yes or No (not None) Choice - allows you to provide a message to the user; the user will be able to select yes or no
   16. Yes or No Choice - allows you to provide a message to the user; the user will be able to select yes or no AND none
3. Once you have added all of the Widgets to your MPF click Save and Back to go back to your list of pages. 
4. Edit each additional page with these same steps to customize each page to your liking. Once you have added customized your MPF it is time to add alerts and test your form. For steps on how to test your applications Click Here.

Adding Alerts to your Application

After you create your application we recommend you set up email alerts to be notified when the MPF is completed. These alerts will be set up just like any other alert, with the exception that you set up the alert from the MPF, NOT from the alerts table. Follow these quick steps to add an alert to your MPF.

1. From the left menu go to Admissions/Leads > Online Applications > View/Edit Application Forms.
2. Edit the Application you want to add an alert to.
3. Click New to add a new alert.
   (Click to enlarge image)
   
4. Select a Distribution List (How to Set up a Distribution List) and an Email Account (Setting up New Email Accounts to Send From BigSIS) to send the alert from (you will only see Email Accounts that your user is tied to here). Click Save and Back and you are done!
   
5. You are done setting up the alert for this application!