Manage Approvals

When a form has an approval process enabled, changes are not written to the PowerSchool database until the form is approved unless it was submitted through the Admin portal. The approval process includes approval activation, form submission, and form approval.

Activate Approvals

1. From the Start Page, choose System Management, Forms, then Manage Forms.
2. Click the Edit Form icon on the form record to launch the Form Editor.
3. Select the form Title.
4. Select the Approval option in the form properties.
5. Enter an Approval Password.
   1. Share the password with designated approvers.
6. Click the chain link icon to display the Approval Options window.
7. Select the number of individual approvers.
   • By default, approval only requires one administrator to approve a form.
   • You can set the process to require up to five individual approvers.
8. Click Apply.
9. Select Edit Pending Responses to allow approvers to edit a response before proceeding with approval.
   • The form continues to appear as submitted by the responder (parent).
   • Edits are made to the existing response record rather than creating a new one.
   • Approvers can edit responses for all fields except the Event Calendar. Static and read-only field elements cannot be edited.

   • Admins see the latest changes on the pending response made by other admins.
     

     

     This feature is not applicable to individual teacher and student forms.
10. PowerSchool recommends using the Notification feature in conjunction with approval.
    1. Select Notification.
    2. Enter the approvers' Email addresses, separated by commas. Each time someone submits the form, these approvers will receive an email notification.
11. Click Save Form.

Submit the Form

The Approval feature only works on the Parent, Student, and Teacher portals. Forms with Approval active are automatically approved if submitted through the Admin portal.

When users submit a form on the Parent portal, the form turns yellow and an information message alerts them the form is pending approval. Any form elements linked to PowerSchool fields and updated in the most recent responses will have a red flag appear above them. Hover the pointer over a flag to display the old and new field values.

Approve the Form

Locate Pending Approvals

Approvers can locate forms that are pending approval in several ways:

• If notifications are set up in the form properties, the approver receives an email when the responder submits a form. The email contains the form name and student or teacher ID, if appropriate.
• The approver is alerted in the Admin portal's Notifications icon. When selected, forms awaiting approval are displayed with a count of students or teachers. Select the number link to view the selection of students or teachers, then choose a student or teacher record to locate the form. The row in the form list will be assigned the status Pending Review.
• The approver can run the Response Report for the form to view forms awaiting approval. Filter the Approval Status to view Pending responses. Select the Student Number to view the form.

Review Responses

When the form is opened, it displays the most recent responses. The approver can choose a different response by clicking the Previous Response panel. A dialog displays the previous responses; those highlighted yellow are awaiting approval. Select a response and click Load Response. Approvers should be most concerned with fields marked with a red flag. These are the elements the responder has changed that are linked to PowerSchool fields. Hover the pointer over the flag to display the old value compared to the new value.

If Edit Pending Responses is enabled in the Form Properties, the approver can edit pending responses, if needed.

Reject or Approve the Form

To reject or approve responses from the form itself:

1. Click Reject or Approve.
2. If you are rejecting the response:
   1. Enter the Approval Password.
   2. Add a Reason/Note, if needed.
   3. Click Reject.
3. If you are approving a response:
   1. Enter the Approval Password.
   2. Click Approve.

To reject or approve multiple responses at once, use the response report:

1. On the Start Page, choose Data and Reporting, Form Reports, then Response Reports.
2. Locate and select the report.
3. Filter the approval type by Pending approval.
4. Click Generate Report.
5. Use the checkboxes to select multiple responses.
6. From the Actions menu, choose Approve Selected or Reject Selected.
7. If you are rejecting the responses:
   1. Enter the Approval Password.
   2. Add a Reason/Note, if needed.
   3. Click Reject.
8. If you are approving the responses:
   1. Enter the Approval Password.
   2. Click Approve.

If the parent submitting the form has their Parent Preferences set up to notify them when the status of the form has changed, they will receive an email indicating the form was approved or rejected.

After the approver accepts the form, the form record on the responder's Forms page is assigned an Approved status.

If a form is rejected,  the form record is assigned a Rejected status. If the approver provided a reason for rejecting the form, a message appears when the responder opens the form. When the responder clicks Edit Rejected, the form opens as it was rejected, and the responder can make changes and resubmit the form.