PLS-4 Self-Guided Practice: Tags & Rulesets Exercises

Last updated: October 7, 2026

Overview

These hands-on exercises reinforce what you learned in PLS-4. Complete all four exercises in your sandbox environment to build muscle memory with tags and rulesets. Expect to spend 2-3 hours total.

Prerequisites: Watch or read all four PLS-4 modules before starting these exercises.

Practice Environment: Use your sandbox environment for these exercises. Your sandbox has sample data (profiles, applications, inventory) that you can safely experiment with.

Exercise 1: Create Tag Categories and Tags (20 min)

What You'll Learn

How to create tag categories with exclusive/non-exclusive settings and build individual tags within those categories.

Steps

1. Create "Sleep Schedule" Tag Category (Exclusive, Public)

  1. Navigate to Setup → Tags → Tag Categories

  2. Click "New Category"

  3. Name: "Sleep Schedule"

  4. Check "Exclusive Tags" (students can only have one sleep schedule tag)

  5. Leave visibility as Public (students will see these in Roommate Finder)

  6. Click "Create"

2. Create Three Tags in Sleep Schedule Category

  1. Navigate to Setup → Tags

  2. Click "New Tag"

  3. Name: "Early Riser" | Category: "Sleep Schedule" | Color: Yellow | Visibility: Public | Applicability: Profiles/Applications

  4. Click "Create"

  5. Repeat for "Night Owl" (Purple) and "Flexible" (Blue)

3. Create "Study Habits" Tag Category (Non-Exclusive, Public)

  1. Navigate to Setup → Tags → Tag Categories

  2. Click "New Category"

  3. Name: "Study Habits"

  4. UNCHECK "Exclusive Tags" (students can have multiple study habits)

  5. Click "Create"

4. Create Three Tags in Study Habits Category

  1. Create "Quiet Study" (Green)

  2. Create "Study Music OK" (Orange)

  3. Create "Group Study Preferred" (Teal)

  4. All Public, Applicability: Profiles/Applications

5. Create "Gender Identity" Tag Category (Exclusive, Private)

  1. Name: "Gender Identity"

  2. Check "Exclusive Tags"

  3. Visibility: Private (admin-only, students won't see these)

  4. Create tags: "Male," "Female," "Non-Binary"

Check Your Work

  • Navigate to Setup → Tags → Tag Categories

  • You should see three categories

  • "Sleep Schedule" and "Gender Identity" should show "Exclusive" badge

  • Navigate to Setup → Tags

  • You should see 9 total tags (3 per category)

  • "Sleep Schedule" and "Study Habits" tags show Public visibility

  • "Gender Identity" tags show Private visibility

Why This Matters: Exclusive categories prevent data errors (students can't be both Early Riser AND Night Owl). Non-exclusive categories allow flexibility (students can prefer quiet study AND group study). Public tags appear in Roommate Finder; private tags are admin-only.

Exercise 2: Apply Tags Using Multiple Methods (30 min)

What You'll Learn

How to apply tags manually, in bulk, and automatically via profile fields.

Steps

1. Manual Tag Assignment (5 min)

  1. Navigate to Profiles

  2. Click on any sample student's name to open their profile

  3. In the Tags section, click "Add Tag"

  4. Select "Sleep Schedule: Early Riser"

  5. Select "Study Habits: Quiet Study"

  6. Repeat for 4 more students, varying the tags

2. Bulk Tag Assignment (15 min)

  1. Navigate to Profiles

  2. Select 20+ students using checkboxes

  3. Click the ellipsis (•••) → "Manage Tags"

  4. Under "Tags Assigned to All," click "+ Tag"

  5. Select a tag (e.g., "Housing Priority: New Student")

  6. Click "Save Changes"

  7. All selected students now have this tag

Practice "Assign to Some":

  1. Select 10 students

  2. Click ellipsis → "Manage Tags"

  3. Under "Tags Assigned to Some," click "+ Tag"

  4. Select a tag

  5. Select only 5 of the 10 students from the list

  6. Click "Save Changes"

  7. Only those 5 students receive the tag

3. Automatic Tag Assignment via Profile Fields (10 min)

  1. Navigate to Setup → Field Management

  2. Find the "Class Standing" profile field (or create a test field)

  3. Click "Edit"

  4. In the tag mapping section, configure:

    • If Class Standing = "FR" → Apply tag "Class Year: First-Year"

    • If Class Standing = "SO" → Apply tag "Class Year: Sophomore"

    • If Class Standing = "JR" → Apply tag "Class Year: Junior"

    • If Class Standing = "SR" → Apply tag "Class Year: Senior"

  5. Click "Save"

  6. Navigate to a student profile, change their Class Standing field

  7. Verify the corresponding Class Year tag is automatically applied

Check Your Work

  • Navigate to Profiles → Filter by one of your tags

  • You should see the students you tagged

  • Open a few student profiles → Verify tags appear in the Tags section

  • Change a student's Class Standing field → Tag should update automatically

Real-World Use: Manual tagging handles exceptions. Bulk tagging corrects imported data. Profile field tagging keeps tags synchronized with SIS data automatically.

Exercise 3: Configure Tag Applicability Logic (15 min)

What You'll Learn

How AND, OR, and Exclude logic controls who can access housing cycles and phases.

Steps

1. Find or Create a Practice Cycle

  1. Navigate to Setup → Cycles

  2. If your sandbox has a practice cycle, use it

  3. If not, create a test cycle: "Practice Cycle - PLS-4"

2. Create a Room Selection Phase with Applicability

  1. Open your practice cycle

  2. Navigate to the Phases section

  3. Create or edit a Room Selection phase

  4. Set dates (any future dates for testing)

  5. In the "Applicability Tags (AND)" section, add "Class Year: First-Year"

  6. Leave "Applicability Tags (OR)" empty

  7. In the "Exclusion Tags" section, add a test tag like "Financial Hold" (create this tag if needed)

  8. Save the phase

3. Test the Applicability Logic

  1. Tag a few students with "Class Year: First-Year"

  2. Tag one of those First-Years with "Financial Hold"

  3. View the cycle as a student (or check eligibility in admin portal)

  4. Verify: Only First-Years without "Financial Hold" can see this phase

4. Practice OR Logic

  1. Edit the same phase

  2. Remove the AND tag

  3. In "Applicability Tags (OR)," add: "Class Year: Sophomore" AND "Class Year: Junior"

  4. Save

  5. Verify: Now Sophomores OR Juniors can access (students need at least ONE of these tags)

5. Practice Combined Logic

  1. Edit the phase again

  2. Applicability AND: "Housing Priority: Athlete"

  3. Applicability OR: "Class Year: First-Year," "Class Year: Sophomore"

  4. Exclusion: "Financial Hold"

  5. Save

  6. Verify: Students must be Athletes AND (First-Year OR Sophomore) AND NOT have Financial Hold

Check Your Work

  • Create test students with different tag combinations

  • Verify which students can/cannot access the phase based on your applicability rules

  • Change tags on a student → Verify their access changes accordingly

Common Mistake: Remember that AND logic requires ALL tags, OR logic requires AT LEAST ONE tag, and Exclude blocks if ANY exclusion tag is present. All three types of logic are evaluated together.

Exercise 4: Build a Ruleset for Roommate Matching (25 min)

What You'll Learn

How to create hard rules (must match) and soft rules (should match) for automated roommate matching.

Steps

1. Create a New Ruleset

  1. Navigate to Setup → Rulesets

  2. Click "Create Ruleset"

  3. Name: "First-Year Matching Ruleset"

  4. Click "Create"

2. Add Hard Rule: Gender Identity Must Match

  1. Click "New Rule"

  2. Rule Type: "Must" (hard rule)

  3. Tag 1: "Gender Identity: Male" (select any gender tag)

  4. Scope: "Roommates"

  5. Logic: "Person with TAG1 must match roommate with TAG1"

  6. Click "Create Rule"

3. Add Hard Rule: ADA Needs Must Match ADA Rooms

  1. Click "New Rule"

  2. Rule Type: "Must"

  3. Tag 1: "Accessibility Needs" (create this tag if needed, Applicability: Profiles)

  4. Tag 2: "ADA Accessible" (create this tag if needed, Applicability: Inventory)

  5. Scope: "Rooms"

  6. Logic: "Person with TAG1 must be assigned to inventory with TAG2"

  7. Click "Create Rule"

4. Add Soft Rule Priority 1: Sleep Schedule Should Match

  1. Click "New Rule"

  2. Rule Type: "Should" (soft rule)

  3. Tag 1: "Sleep Schedule: Early Riser" (select any sleep schedule tag)

  4. Scope: "Roommates"

  5. Click "Create Rule"

5. Add Soft Rule Priority 2: Study Habits Should Match

  1. Create another soft rule

  2. Tag 1: "Study Habits: Quiet Study"

  3. Scope: "Roommates"

6. Add Soft Rule Priority 3: Class Year Should Match

  1. Create another soft rule

  2. Tag 1: "Class Year: First-Year"

  3. Scope: "Roommates"

7. Order Your Soft Rules by Priority

  1. Drag soft rules to reorder them

  2. Top = highest priority (Sleep Schedule)

  3. Middle = medium priority (Study Habits)

  4. Bottom = lower priority (Class Year)

  5. Hard rules cannot be reordered (always enforced first)

Check Your Work

  • Your ruleset should show:

    • 2 hard rules (Gender Identity, ADA matching)

    • 3 soft rules (Sleep Schedule, Study Habits, Class Year) in priority order

  • Navigate to Setup → Cycles

  • Assign your ruleset to your practice cycle in the cycle settings

  • Verify the ruleset appears as assigned to the cycle

How This Works: When you run auto-assignment, hard rules are ENFORCED (assignments that violate hard rules are blocked). Soft rules are SCORED (the system tries to maximize matches, prioritizing rules at the top of the list).

Final Practice: Full Workflow (Optional, 30 min)

Put it all together:

  1. Create 5 sample "students" in your sandbox (or use existing profiles)

  2. Manually tag them with:

    • Gender Identity tags

    • Sleep Schedule tags

    • Study Habits tags

    • Class Year tags

  3. Create a housing cycle with a room selection phase

  4. Set applicability: Only First-Years can access

  5. Assign your "First-Year Matching Ruleset" to the cycle

  6. Tag some inventory (rooms) with "ADA Accessible"

  7. Run a test auto-assignment (or manually assign students to test rule enforcement)

  8. Verify:

    • Students are matched with same Gender Identity

    • Students with Accessibility Needs are assigned to ADA rooms

    • Sleep Schedule matches are prioritized

What's Next

After completing these exercises:

  1. Plan Your Real Tags: List the tag categories and tags YOUR institution needs

  2. Create Production Tags: Build your real tag structure in production

  3. Move to 📄 PLS-5: Building Forms for Applications & Roommate Matching- You'll learn how to build forms that automatically assign the tags you just created

Keep Practicing: The more you practice tag creation and ruleset building in sandbox, the more confident you'll be when configuring your production environment. Don't be afraid to experiment!