For a more personalized, flexible experience when managing Slate applications, use the Portals tool to create an Application Management Page. 

Users can visit your application creation page, which displays different information if they fall within a specific set in the applicant pool. Create as many entries as you want within your Portal tool to customize landing pages and application management pages as finely as your process requires.

What's the benefit of the Application Management Page over a standard application portal?

The addition of Application Creation Behavior allows you to specify which applications are visible depending on the applicant. 

Note: This article will use Graduate Applications as the example throughout.

Create the Login Page

The first step in this process is to create a login page for applicants. This involves two steps:

1. Creating a custom application landing page, and

2. Creating a view.

Follow the procedure below to get started.

Custom Application Landing Page

Next, we'll create the View.

Custom View

This view will determine the look and feel of your pages. In this section, we'll cover the steps to create a  new Login page and a new Application Management Page.

To create a new Login page view:

1. Click New View. An Edit View popup appears.

2. Customize the following settings:

   • Status: Active

   • Name: Login

   • Layout: Two Equal Columns with Header

   

3. Click Save.

We've chosen the layout Two Equal Columns with Header because it most closely resembles Slate's default Login page.

Select Login from your list of views. On your new Login page, you will see a blank header row with two columns below. Within each of these areas, you can insert a Static Content block to further customize the experience.

Next, we'll create a link within each of these static content sections to direct people to the appropriate page.

To create links within each section:

1. Copy the Portal URL.

   

2. Return to the Login view.

3. Within each Static Content Block, use the WYSIWYG editor's link button to create a hyperlink and paste in the copied Portal URL. The link contains the full URL of your instance.

   

To create an embedded URL for your Login and Create Account links:

1. Select the text you wish to hyperlink.

2. Set the Link Type to URL.

3. Set the Protocol to .

The URL should begin with /account/login?r= followed by the URL of your portal, like so:

/account/login?r=http://yourinstitutionslateaddress.edu/portal/gr_app

Repeat the above steps for the Create Account link. In this case, your URL will begin with /account/register?r= followed by your portal URL.

Your login page setup is complete, but you still need to update your portal configurations to include your new view.

1. Head back to the Portal Setup Page.

2. Click Edit.

3. Set the Default View to Start Application.

4. Set the Anonymous Default View to Login.

   

     

Let’s move on to the Application Management Page configuration.

Configure the Application Management Page

Once you've created the Application Management Page, you can go on to customize it as you see fit; however, there are some key components you'll want to configure beforehand, like the widgets described in the next sections.

Application List Widget

Use the Applications List widget to display any potential existing applications a student has on file. You can use filters on the Application List View tab to show specific application types on your page. For example, you could add a Round Key filter to only show Graduate round applications.

In the Application Display tab, under Round Update, select Allow round update (based on round eligibility) if you want applicants with unsubmitted applications to be able to override locked or unlocked rounds. 

Create Application Widget

Insert the Create Application widget to allow a potential applicant to create a Slate application. In this example, we are allowing the applicant to only start a 2021 Graduate application.

The field Application Creation Behavior allows one of four options:

• Default (Active Rounds in Active Periods): This will display only the active rounds in active periods.

• Custom Application Creation Form: Selecting this option reveals the Application Creation Form field below. From this list, you can select an existing application scoped form to pull in to display on the widget.

• Show Specific Round: This replaces the direct round URL.

• Show Specific Period Key: This displays all rounds under a specific key (for example, the keys GR or FR). 

Further Portal Customization

Application Management Portals do not use Methods. If an improperly structured query were to fail, the portal page wouldn't load. So, if you're looking to customize your portal with Merge Fields, create a Static Content Block and select the Merge Fields & Filters tab. From here, you can choose and filter exports. For example, you can display a welcome message that includes the viewer's first name only if their account was created within the last seven days.

Add Home Link to Application Management Page for Specific Application Types

Once complete, it is possible to substitute the default home link that the applicant sees within the Slate application, replacing it with the appropriate Application Management Page for the application type in question. This is done in the Application Editor tool.

In this example, the Graduate application's home may be replaced with a link to this custom portal.

1. From the top navigation, select Database.

2. From the Applications Section, select Application Editor.

3. Click the link you want to modify. In this example, it's /apply/GRAD, but your instance may be different.

   

4. Select Edit Menu from the right navigation.

5. Click Add Link. An Edit Link popup appears.

6. In the popup, enter the following configurations:

   • Type: Application Management (Home)

   • Subtype: Select the appropriate Application Management Portal from the drop-down menu.

   • Label: Give your page a label, such as "Home."

   • Page Key/Round Key filters: Add a page key if the visibility of this page should be limited to only specific applicants. If all applications using this base should see this link, no page keys are needed. 

     • Note: any applications that do not meet the criteria to see the custom home link will see the default home link instead, linking to the standard /apply page.