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Building a Submission Portal

Lara Proegler
  • Updated

This article links to other articles that are considered appropriate for administrators or workspace users with an intermediate or advanced level of knowledge about submission portals. For more information on how submission portals work, please see:

For more information about how the collection of articles on submission portals is organized, see Introduction to Submission Portals: START HERE.

 

Main Article Collection

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Contents

 

Overview

The main purpose of a submission portal is to provide a comprehensive way to collect and follow up with target end-user’s information. Zengine submission portals offer a multitude of features and tools designed to help manage applicants through the full lifecycle of a program. These features and tools can all be configured and customized in different ways through the Submission Portal Settings.

This article will cover the steps to build a functional, basic submission portal, followed by a list of configuration articles about portal settings that can be configured and customized to meet a program’s individual workflow and requirements. Each item will be linked to a short article explaining the process. These articles are organized following the most straightforward order to continue building a submission portal.

 

Requirements to Build a Submission Portal

Before setting up a submission portal, there are a minimum of three forms that need to exist in a workspace. Each of these forms must contain one or more mandatory components for the submission portal to function properly.  To learn more about each of these forms and submission portal requirements, see:

Forms needed for a submission portal:

  • User Form
    • The User Form is a simple form that usually contains only an email field to capture applicant or portal user’s email address, providing a unique login identifier.  Other forms link to the User Form sequentially, connecting all records related to that user and ensuring only that user’s data is accessible when they log into the Submission Portal.
    • Mandatory field: a text field validated as an email. 
  • Profile Form 
    • A Profile is a form that collects a limited amount of user data that identifies that unique user.  A Profile form should contain basic biographical and contact information about an applicant, end-user, or organization (depending on the program type) and can be updated at any time in the submission portal. Typical Profiles may include the full legal name of the applicant or primary contact, entity/organization applying to a program, and/or applicant location.
    • Mandatory field: a Linked Form field to the above User Form, set to No Duplicates to create a one-to-one relationship.
  • Primary Form 
    • A program’s Primary form is the form that is used to drive the submission portal process in Zengine. This is typically the main/first form applicants will fill out after completing the Profile form.  Other forms in the program’s process will usually link to this Primary form.
    • Folders on the Primary form will control which Stages the end-user has access to. The Primary form should have one folder for each intended Required Stage in the submission portal, and one or more folders for each External Stage.
      • Mandatory folders: a minimum of two folders, one for drafts (of the primary form) and one for completed submissions.
    • Mandatory fields: a Linked Form field to the above Profile form.
      • This Linked Form field can be set to No Duplicates, creating a one-to-one relationship, if only one application package should be created by a portal user. Duplicates can be allowed, creating a one-to-many relationship, if each portal user can submit more than one application package in the same submission portal. 

While only these three forms must be defined when creating a new submission portal, building additional Stages and Steps require additional folders to be created on the Primary form, and forms to collect information submitted as a portal user completes Steps. Each form must include a Linked Form field to the Primary form.

For more information on the relationships between forms, folders, Stages, and Steps, please see:

For more information about building forms and using linked fields, please see: 

 

--- IMPORTANT ---

Please make sure the above forms are set up before proceeding.

 

 

How to Build a Submission Portal

Accessing or Creating a Submission Portal

To access or create a submission portal:

  1. Select the workspace settings from the navigation bar.
  2. Select the Submission Portal tile in the Plugin Settings section.


If the workspace does not have the Submission Portal tile in the Settings & Tools section, please contact Zengine Support to have it installed.

 

Creating a New Submission Portal

After selecting the Submission Portal tile from Plugin Settings, a listing of existing submission portals will be displayed, if the program has any. 

If no submission portals have been created for a workspace, a message may appear at this point indicating that the plugin needs permission to properly function.

 

 

--- IMPORTANT ---

If this is the first time a submission portal has been created in the workspace, it may be necessary to authorize the plugin before continuing. Please contact the Zengine Support Team if this is the case.

While it is possible for a workspace owner or administrator to authorize this plugin by selecting the here link and providing their Zengine login email and password, the submission portal will only continue to function as long as the authorizing individual remains in the workspace. If that individual leaves the workspace, the submission portal will cease to function properly. The Zengine Support Team can authorize the plugin in a way that ensures continued functionality, regardless of who is a member of the workspace.

Once the Submission Portal Plugin has been authorized, being the process of creating a new submission portal by selecting the green +Create Submission Portal button located in the top right of the screen.

  1. On the screen that is shown next:
    • a. Designate the User Form for the submission portal.
    • b. Select the user email field from the User Form. This must be a text field validated as an Email Address.

 

 

--- REMEMBER ---

The Profile form links to the Users form, providing a connection to all records related to that portal user.

 

  1. On the next screen:
    • a. Select a Profile form for the submission portal.
    • b. Select a Primary form for the submission portal.
    • c. Select the folder for drafts of the Primary form when applicants are working on them and not ready to submit. This must be a folder on the Primary form.
    • d. Select the folder for submitted Primary forms. The folder of the Primary form will automatically be changed to this folder when the first stage (usually the Application Stage) is submitted. This must be a folder on the Primary form.



On this screen, Zengine is defining these mandatory forms for a submission portal.  Additionally, up to 20 forms can be associated with Steps to be used throughout a program.  

Remember that folders on the Primary form move records through a submission portal process.  When the Primary form was created, at least two folders should have been created:

  • A folder for drafts, or forms that were started but were not submitted.
  • A folder for completed submissions.

As the submission portal is configured, additional folders may need to be created for subsequent stages in the process. (For more information about editing existing folders or adding folders to the Primary form, see the article Form Builder Overview (Folder Settings).)

  1. Select Save Settings to complete the initial setup of the submission portal.

  1. The next screen will confirm the settings have been saved and will show prompts about how to continue the configuration.



Navigation Buttons

Before continuing to set up a submission portal, it is important to highlight a few key navigation elements.

At the top of the screen, there are three main navigation buttons, with a secondary way to access the submission portal lower on the screen: 

  1. Select the Portal Settings button on the top navigation bar to access basic configuration settings for the Submission Portal. These configurations include changing the Submission Portal URL, setting a start date for the Submission Portal to open, changing the text and appearance of the login screen, and more.
  2. Select View All Submission Portals on the top navigation bar to return to the list of submission portals for this workspace.
  3. Select Test Submission Portal in the upper right corner of the navigation bar to access the submission portal applicant experience for testing. 
  4. A second way to access the submission portal is by navigating to the URL section under the General Settings tab and selecting the Go to Submission Portal icon to the right of the URL slug. 


 

Portal Sections

Another element of the screen to be familiar with is Portal Sections, found on the left side of the screen. Portal Sections contains a list of the Stages and Steps which a portal user will progress through during the full lifecycle of their submission portal experience. 

Selecting one of the Stages or Steps will bring up the configuration page for that Stage/Step on the right side of the screen.  All of the links found under the Homepage section have the same options for configuration, except Submissions.




Selecting Submissions will bring up the Submission Section Settings page, which will display a linear flow of the stages through which a portal user will progress. 

Please note that Stages and Steps can be renamed to better reflect the unique program, so the image above may look different.

 

Next Steps

Now that a basic submission portal has been created, the next steps in setting up a portal that corresponds to a program’s individual workflow and requirements involve setting up a portal structure by adding Stages and Steps, configuring the way those Stages and Steps behave, and finally, customizing the portal experience by adding images, instructional text, and more.

Each section below contains a list of configuration articles, ordered roughly in the manner that is most efficient for building out a submission portal. If a particular article or topic doesn’t apply, feel free to skip it and continue on.

 

Setting Up Initial Structure

The first major component of building out a submission portal is creating the structure by adding Stages and Steps.  We recommended starting with customizing the submission portal URL.

  1. The Submission Portal URL
  2. Add a Submission Portal Stage (Advanced)
  3. Delete a Submission Portal Stage
  4. Change the Order of Submission Portal Stages (Advanced)
  5. Change Folder(s) Associated with a Submission Portal Stage
  6. Add a Step to a Submission Portal Stage
  7. Change the Order of Steps in the Submission Portal
  8. Move a Step to a Different Stage in the Submission Portal
  9. Delete a Submission Portal Step
  10. Configure Listing Steps (Advanced)
  11. Make a Step Optional in the Submission Portal
  12. Make a Step View Only (Advanced)
  13. Requests (Advanced)
  14. Progress Reporting (Advanced)
  15. Enable Multiple Submissions per Profile in a Submission Portal (Advanced)

 

Configuring Stages & Steps

Now that the submission portal structure is in place, the next step is to configure the way those components behave and operate.

  1. Changing the Name of the Homepage, Profile, Stages, or Steps in a Submission Portal
  2. Editing Field Labels for the Profile in the Submission Portal
  3. Editing Field Help Text for the Profile in the Submission Portal
  4. Changing Field Order for the Profile in the Submission Portal
  5. Showing or Hiding Fields for the Profile in the Submission Portal
  6. Prevent Edits to the Profile in a Submission Portal (Advanced)
  7. Editing Field Labels for a Step in the Submission Portal
  8. Editing Field Help Text for a Step in the Submission Portal
  9. Changing Field Order for a Step in the Submission Portal
  10. Showing or Hiding Fields for a Step in the Submission Portal
  11. Customize the Listing Page (Advanced)
  12. Prevent Portal Users from Deleting Listing Items (Advanced)
  13. Profile Mapping (Advanced)
  14. Submission Portal Stage Deadline
  15. Submission Date Capture
  16. User Consent Messaging (Submission Portal)

 

Customizing the Portal Experience

Once the submission portal is set up in a way that allows administrators to effectively manage their applicants, it’s time to customize the portal experience with effective instructional text, branding logos/images, labels, colors, and more.

  1. Submission Portal Header Image
  2. Submission Portal Font
  3. Submission Portal Login Page Text
  4. Profile Section Header Text (Submission Portal)
  5. Editing the Submission Card Section Header
  6. Submission Portal Card Colors
  7. The Submission Page Description
  8. Submission Portal Stage Pre- and Post-Completion Text
  9. Step Description Text
  10. Step Page Text
  11. Enable Submission Portal Help Page
  12. Submission Portal Email Display Name
  13. Submission Portal Background Color
  14. Customize the Stage Completion Button

 

Final Steps

  1. Submission Portal Start Date
  2. Submission Portal Language Translation
  3. User Consent Reports (Submission Portal)
  4. Enable Google Analytics/Tracking for Submission Portal Visitors
  5. Submission Portal Inline Frame Code

 

 

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