Configure automatic trigger to change Candidate Status field from Inquiry to Application

Sharie Sprague
Sharie Sprague
Second Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud K–12 Education Solutions™ General Discussions

Hello,

We would like to automatically trigger a change in a student's “Candidate Status” from “Inquiry” to “Application” when an application has been submitted. Once the parent has submitted the application, we want the “Candidate Status” to automatically update from “Inquiry” to "Application".

The system now updates the “Candidate Status” to “Inquiry” when an inquiry is submitted. We want the same functionality when an application is submitted.

Your help is most appreciated!

Comments

  • Bryan Lorenzo
    Bryan Lorenzo Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi @Sharie Sprague - you may be able to enable the “Auto-Waive Prior Steps” on your Application step depending on the steps prior to your application . Keep in mind this would wave any steps above the application form step.

  • Coco Parham
    Coco Parham
    Eighth Anniversary Kudos 5 December 2025 Monthly Challenge Name Dropper

    @Sharie Sprague In the checklist, we created milestones that candidates achieve as they go through the process: inquiry, applicant, file complete, decision, new enrolled. as soon as I process an inquiry, they achieve that, once the application is complete, they are an applicant and once all materials are in, file complete.

    I also have another milestone for letters we send out that do not effect status. Does this help?

  • Troy Burki
    Troy Burki
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Sharie Sprague it sounds like what you're looking for is adding/adjusting a milestone on your candidate checklist(s). I would set up a test checklist/copy an existing one to test this out and not recommend modifying an existing one at this point.

    If you haven't already, under Admissions → Admissions Setup → Checklists select the Statuses button at the top and create the status of Applicant or whatever you would like it to be.

    Once you have the new checklist, you can select ‘add milestone’ at the top and call it Applicant, select the Applicant candidate status you created, and select the ‘exiting milestone’ option. Within that milestone section, you would add the application form checklist item.

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    Once the application form checklist step has been added under the Applicant milestone for your checklist, when a candidate submits their application and it is processed, their status will change from inquiry to applicant. Like Bryan said, you can also enable the option to waive all prior steps when the application is submitted and processed if you would like (we have an initial contact step that we automatically waive if a candidate didn't fill out an inquiry form and just went straight to creating an account and submitting an application.

  • Sharie Sprague
    Sharie Sprague
    Second Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @Troy Burki We have the Application milestone configured but even when people have reached the Application step (they have attended a tour), the Candidate Status is not changing to “Application”.

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  • Coco Parham
    Coco Parham
    Eighth Anniversary Kudos 5 December 2025 Monthly Challenge Name Dropper

    @Sharie Sprague it might need to be an exiting milestone to change the status. It has been a while since i have done this, but give it a try.

  • Troy Burki
    Troy Burki
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Sharie Sprague it likely has to do with the existing milestones/steps that occur above the application milestone and the entering vs. exiting milestone setting for your application. We had something similar happening with an optional step not allowing candidates to have a complete file status. I ended up moving the optional steps to the bottom of the checklist and made sure that the milestones they were in were set to no change.

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