This article is considered appropriate for administrators or workspace users with an intermediate level of knowledge about submission portals. If you are a beginner, we recommend reading the following article first:
For more information about suggested learning paths, see Introduction to Submission Portals: START HERE.
Contents
- Overview
- The Purpose of a Stage Deadline
- Where to Find the Stage Deadline Setting
- Setting or Changing the Stage Deadline
- Allowing Portal Users to Reopen and Edit a Stage
Overview
The Stage Settings page in the Submission Portal Settings allows program administrators to customize the way a Stage looks and functions. Among these options is one to set a deadline for the Stage. If enabled, all portal users must complete all required Steps and submit that Stage prior to the designated date and time.
This article will discuss when a Stage deadline may need to be set, detail where to find this setting and how to change it, and explain how the submission portal experience changes as a result of enabling it.
The Purpose of a Stage Deadline
Setting a Stage deadline can be useful for programs on regular application cycles with firm deadlines to deal with internal or external timing requirements. However, note that if the submission deadline for a Stage is set, all portal users will be unable to access that stage after the deadline - including:
- Applicants or portal users with a partially completed Draft submission
- Administrators accessing the portal
- Portal users who successfully submitted before the Stage Deadline, but who need to make revisions and resubmit the Stage, even if their submission is placed in the correct folder.
Leave the Stage Deadline option disabled if the above situations will or may apply to the program.
Where to Find the Stage Deadline Setting
In the Submission Portal Settings, the Stage Deadline can be enabled or changed on the General Settings tab of the Stage Settings page for the Stage to configure.
To add or change a Stage deadline:
- Logged into a program as an administrator, navigate to the Settings & Tools section by selecting the cog wheel icon in the top navigation bar.
- Select the Submission Portal tile from the Plugin Settings section.
- Select the Edit button to the appropriate submission portal.
- To add or change a Stage deadline, navigate to the desired Stage in the Portal Sections pane on the left hand side of the screen. Multiple stages are highlighted in the screenshot below to show there may be more than one.
Note that a deadline can only be set for Required Stages. (For more information on Stage Types, see Submission Portal Key Concepts: Intermediate. For more information on configuring Stages and Steps, see Submission Portal Settings → Stage and Step Settings (section).)
- Selecting a Stage in the Portal Sections panel will change the contents of the right panel and display the Stage Settings for that Stage.
- The Stage Deadline setting appears towards the top of the General Settings tab.
Setting or Changing the Stage Deadline
By default, the checkbox next to Stage has no Deadline will be checked.
- To set a deadline, uncheck the box next to Stage has no Deadline.
- Unchecking the box reveals two new configuration options:
A. An option to set the date and time for the Stage deadline.
B. An option to allow portal users to reopen the Stage for editing prior to the Stage deadline. (This setting will be described below; see the section Allowing Portal Users to Reopen and Edit a Stage.)
- There are two options to change the deadline date; first, select the date field on the left, then either:
a. Type in the desired date (using MM/DD/YYYY format), or
b. Select the month and day using the calendar.
- To change the deadline time on the designated date, use the time fields on the right side. Both the hour and minute can be changed by typing in the numeric amount, or by using the arrows above and below the numbers.
a. Change the deadline hour.
b. Change the deadline minute.
c. Change whether the indicated time is for AM or PM by selecting the AM/PM box to the right of the time.
- When all additions or changes to the submission deadline for this Stage are complete, select the blue Save all settings button in the lower right corner.
Submission Portal Experience
If a Stage deadline has been set by an administrator but not yet passed, a message indicating how much time remains until the deadline will appear next to the green Submit button for the relevant Stage on the Submissions Page for the portal user.
If the Stage deadline has already passed and a portal user has not submitted their Stage, that portal user will receive a popup message indicating that the submission deadline has passed when they try to access their application by selecting the Submission Card on the Homepage of the submission portal.
The specific information displayed here will vary somewhat:
A. This bold text will display the name of the Stage for which the deadline has passed.
B. This text will display approximately how long ago the deadline passed.
Portal users can close this message and progress to the Submissions Page, but the green Submit button for that Stage will be replaced with a blue message indicating that the deadline has passed.
Allowing Portal Users to Reopen and Edit a Stage
To allow portal users to reopen and edit a Stage:
- Select the checkbox next to Allow Stage to be reopened for editing prior to the Stage Deadline; this will allow portal users to reopen the Stage after it has been submitted to edit the information that has been entered into each Step, as long as the Stage Deadline has not passed.
--- IMPORTANT ---
Once the Stage Deadline has passed, portal users will not be able to re-open the Stage for editing without administrator action, even if this setting is enabled.
- After all changes are made as needed, select the blue Save all settings button in the lower right corner of the screen.
Submission Portal Experience
If the Allow Stage to be reopened for editing prior to the Stage Deadline option is enabled, no immediate difference will occur for the portal experience before a Stage is submitted. However, after a portal user submits the Stage in question, a new Edit button and a clock icon will appear in the upper right corner of the Stage section on the Submissions Page.
- Hovering over the clock icon will show how much time is left before the deadline passes and the Stage cannot be re-opened for editing.
- Selecting Edit will allow the portal user to re-open the Stage for editing if it has already been submitted. The user will be presented with a popup message confirming that they wish to continue.
The bolded text in this message will display the name of the Stage, so this may vary.
- Selecting Yes, reopen this stage:
-
- Allows the user to reopen the stage and make edits before re-submitting.
- On the administrative side, this changes the folder of the portal user’s Primary form to the one associated with the intake for this Stage.
For example, if this option is configured for the Application Intake Stage, selecting Edit will re-open the Stage for editing by changing the folder of the Primary form from Application Submitted to Application Intake; no action from an administrator is necessary.
- The portal user can now access their materials in the different Steps for this Stage, edit them, and re-submit the Stage.
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