PLS-8B: Reviewing & Approving Applications

Overview

Reviewing and approving applications is where you make decisions about which students are eligible for housing. This module teaches you how to navigate the Applications section, review student submissions, view form responses and tags, and approve or deny applications individually or in bulk.

Who this is for: Housing directors, application managers, and staff responsible for processing housing applications.

What you'll learn: How to access and filter applications, review individual application details, approve or deny applications, manage waitlists, perform bulk operations, and export application data.

Duration: 15 minutes

Accessing the Applications Section

Navigate to Applications from the main navigation sidebar in the admin portal.

The applications table displays all housing applications with columns for:

• Name: Student name with status badge

• Email: Student email address

• Student ID: SIS student identifier

• Cycle: Which housing cycle they applied to

• Status: Current application status

• Submission Date: When the application was submitted

• Tags: Application-specific tags

Filtering Applications

Click the filter button to narrow your view:

• Filter by Cycle (e.g., "Fall 2025")

• Filter by Status (e.g., "Under Review", "Approved")

• Filter by Submission Date (e.g., "Last 30 days")

• Filter by Tags (e.g., show only "First-Year" applicants)

• Filter by Form Responses (e.g., students who requested specific buildings)

Save frequently-used filters as custom views like "Fall 2025 - Awaiting Review" or "Spring 2026 - Approved" for quick access.

Selecting Multiple Applications

Use checkboxes in the Name column to select applications:

• Check individual applications one by one

• Check the header checkbox to select all visible applications on the current page

• The selected count appears showing "X items selected"

• Click "Deselect All" to clear your selection

Once applications are selected, bulk operation options become available.

Reviewing Individual Applications

Click a student's name from the applications table to open their application review page.

Application Review Page Layout

The review page is organized into sections:

Status Section (Top):

• Current status badge

• Approve button (green, visible when application can be approved)

• Reject button (red, visible when application can be rejected)

• Status options menu (⋮) for additional status transitions

Left Sidebar:

• Profile biography card showing student photo and basic info

• Activity log showing application history and status changes

Main Content Tabs:

• Contact Info: Student contact details

• Tags Management: View and edit application tags

• Application Answers: All responses from YOUR application form

• Housing Preference: Preferred buildings, roommates, room types

• Additional Forms: Any supplemental forms submitted

• E-Signature Documents: Contract status and signatures

• Attachments: Uploaded files and documentation

• Review Checklist: Track review completion steps

• Notes: Internal staff notes about the application

• Transactions: Financial transactions associated with application

• Payments: Payment history and status

• Meal Plans: Meal plan selections

Reviewing Application Answers

The Application Answers tab shows all responses from YOUR application form (the one you built in PLS-5):

• See every question and the student's answer

• View which tags were automatically applied based on their answers

• Review roommate preferences, special requests, and accommodation needs

• See uploaded files for questions that allowed attachments

Example: Your form asked "What's your preferred sleep schedule?" Student answered "Early Bird (10pm-6am)." The tag "Early Riser" was automatically applied. You can see both the answer and the tag in the review page.

Reviewing Tags

The Tags Management tab shows:

• Profile Tags: Permanent tags about the student (e.g., "International Student", "Athlete")

• Application Tags: Tags specific to this application/cycle (e.g., "Priority Assignment", "First Choice: East Hall")

You can manually add or remove tags from this tab. Tags help you filter, categorize, and match students during assignment.

Approving Applications

To approve an individual application:

1. Review all tabs to verify the student meets your requirements

2. Check that required documents are signed

3. Verify payment status if applicable

4. Click the Approve button in the Status section

What happens:

• Application status changes from "Under Review" to "Approved"

• Student becomes eligible for housing assignment

• Student receives notification (if notifications are enabled)

• Application appears in your "Approved" filtered views

• Student can participate in room selection (if self-selection is enabled)

Bulk Approving Applications

To approve multiple applications at once:

1. From the applications table, filter to show applications you want to approve

2. Select multiple applications using checkboxes

3. Click the ellipsis menu (⋮) that appears

4. Select Approve from the menu

5. All selected applications change to "Approved" status

Rejecting Applications

To reject an individual application:

1. Review the application to confirm it doesn't meet requirements

2. Click the Reject button in the Status section

3. Optionally add a note explaining the rejection reason

What happens:

• Application status changes to "Rejected"

• Student is blocked from room selection, payments, and roommate matching

• Student cannot resubmit an application for the same cycle

• Student receives notification explaining the rejection

Other Status Options

Click the status options menu (⋮) next to the Approve/Reject buttons to access additional transitions:

Return to Applicant (In Progress)

Use when: Application needs edits or additional information from the student.

What happens: Status changes from "Under Review" back to "In Progress." Student can edit and resubmit their application.

Move to Waitlist

Use when: Application qualifies but no space is currently available.

What happens: Status changes to "Waitlist." Student cannot reapply but remains in the queue. When space opens, change status to "Approved."

Cancel Application

Use when: Student withdraws or you need to remove the application from active processing.

What happens: Status changes to "Canceled." Unlike Rejected or Archived, student CAN reapply to the same cycle if needed.

Undo Approval

Use when: Application was approved by mistake or circumstances changed.

What happens: Status changes from "Approved" back to "Under Review" for further review.

Archive Application

Use when: Cycle is over and you want to remove the application from active views.

What happens: Status changes to "Archived." Student cannot reapply to the same cycle. Use for historical record-keeping.

Navigating Between Applications

When reviewing multiple applications, you can navigate between them without returning to the table:

1. From the applications table, select multiple applications using checkboxes

2. Click the ellipsis menu (⋮) and select Review Applications

3. The first application opens in review mode

4. At the bottom of the page, navigation controls appear: "< Previous | Application 1 of 5 | Next >"

5. Click Next/Previous arrows or click on a specific application number to jump to it

6. Make your approval/rejection decision on each application

7. Navigate through all selected applications efficiently

Example workflow: You filtered for "Fall 2025 + Under Review" and found 50 applications. You select the first 10, click "Review Applications," then navigate through them one-by-one approving or denying each.

Bulk Operations on Applications

After selecting multiple applications, click the ellipsis menu (⋮) to access bulk operations:

Status Operations

• Approve: Change all selected to "Approved" status

• Reject: Change all selected to "Rejected" status

• Move to Waitlist: Change all selected to "Waitlist" status

• Cancel Application: Cancel all selected applications

Communication Operations

• Send Communication: Send email or SMS to all selected applicants

• Send Additional Forms: Request submission of supplemental forms

• Send E-Signature Documents: Request signatures on housing contracts or documents

Assignment Operations

• Auto-Assign Students: Run auto-assignment on selected approved applications (covered in PLS-8D)

• Move to Resident: Convert approved applications to resident status (creates residency records)

Data Operations

• Add/Remove Tags: Bulk tag management for categorization

• Assign Meal Plans: Bulk assign meal plans to applicants

Exporting Application Data

To export application data for reporting or analysis:

1. Apply filters to show the applications you want to export

2. Click the Export button

3. The system generates a CSV or Excel file with all visible applications

4. Export includes form responses, tags, status, and student information

Example use cases:

• Export all "Approved" applications to share with assignment team

• Export "Under Review" applications to track review progress

• Export applications with specific tags for targeted communications

• Export all Fall 2025 applications for end-of-cycle reporting

Common Review Workflows

Workflow 1: Daily Application Review

1. Filter by Status: "Under Review" + Cycle: "Fall 2025"

2. Sort by Submission Date (oldest first)

3. Review each application for completeness

4. Verify required documents are signed

5. Check payment status if applicable

6. Approve or deny based on your institution's criteria

Workflow 2: Processing Applications by Tag

1. Filter by Status: "Under Review" + Tag: "First-Year"

2. Review all first-year applications together

3. Bulk approve all that meet requirements

4. Repeat for other tags ("Transfer Student", "Graduate Student", etc.)

Workflow 3: Waitlist Management

1. Filter by Status: "Waitlist" + Cycle: "Fall 2025"

2. Check current occupancy to see if space has opened

3. Select students to move forward

4. Use status menu to move from "Waitlist" to "Approved"

5. Proceed with assignment

Understanding What You're Reviewing

When you review applications, you're seeing data from multiple sources you configured:

Form Responses = YOUR Application Form (PLS-5)

Every answer in the Application Answers tab came from YOUR application form. You built the questions, configured the validation, and set up tag mappings. Now you're reviewing the responses.

Tags = YOUR Tag Configuration (PLS-4)

Tags you see were either:

• Automatically applied based on form answers (configured in PLS-5)

• Manually applied by staff for categorization

• Imported from your SIS integration

These tags will drive auto-assignment matching when you run YOUR rulesets (PLS-8D).

Eligibility = YOUR Cycle Configuration (PLS-6)

Applications only appear for cycles where the student meets applicability tag requirements. If a student doesn't have the required tags, they never see your cycle and can't apply.

Example: Your Fall 2025 cycle requires tag "Undergraduate" with AND logic. Only undergraduates can apply. Graduate students don't see this cycle in their portal.

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: Large "Under Review" Backlog

Cause: Staff aren't processing applications regularly during peak periods.

Solution: Establish a daily review cadence. Assign specific staff to review applications. Use filters to see newly submitted applications first.

Issue: Applications Missing Required Documents

Cause: Student submitted application before completing signature requirements.

Solution: Check the E-Signature Documents tab. If documents are pending, either wait for student to complete them or send a reminder using the "Send E-Signature Documents" bulk action.

Issue: Can't Find Specific Application

Cause: Application may be in a past cycle, or student may not have submitted yet.

Solution: Click "Show Past Cycles" to include historical applications. Search by student name or ID. Check if application status is "In Progress" (not yet submitted).

Issue: Approve Button Not Visible

Cause: Application is already approved, or you lack approval permissions.

Solution: Check current status badge. If already "Approved," the button won't appear. Contact your super admin to verify you have appReview and appStatus permissions.

Best Practices

What's Next

Continue your Product Learning Session 8 journey:

• PLS-8C: Manual Assignment Methods - Learn the three ways to assign approved students to beds

• PLS-8D: Auto-Assignment Workflow - Use automated matching to assign large batches of approved applications

• PLS-8E: Managing Residency Changes - Handle cancellations, transfers, and swaps

• Complete PLS-8: PLS-8: Managing Applications & Assignments