Getting Your OpenApply Setup Ready Before Admissions Season Opens
A pre-season readiness guide from the OpenApply team - covering pipeline configuration, forms, communications, and the checks that prevent avoidable chaos once applications start arriving.
Admissions season waits for no one. Once applications start arriving, your team's attention shifts entirely to families - and there is little time to fix configuration issues, update forms, or redesign workflows. The schools that run the smoothest admissions cycles are the ones that invest in setup during the quieter weeks before the season opens.
This guide is written by the OpenApply team to walk admissions leads and school administrators through the key areas to review and confirm before the first application arrives. It is equally useful for schools preparing for their first admissions season in OpenApply and for those running their third or fourth cycle who want to tighten up their setup.
From the OpenApply team: The most common source of admissions-season stress is not application volume - it is preventable configuration gaps. A structured pre-season review, ideally completed four to six weeks before opening, eliminates the majority of these issues before families ever see your application portal.
Review Your Pipeline and Stage Configuration
Your admissions pipeline is the spine of your OpenApply setup. Before the season opens, confirm that it accurately reflects how your school actually processes applications - not how it was set up two years ago, which may no longer match current practice.
Work through the following questions with your admissions lead:
- Does each stage in the pipeline have a clear definition and a designated owner who is responsible for moving applications through it?
- Are the stage names meaningful to everyone on the admissions team, including staff who joined since the pipeline was last configured?
- Are there any stages that applications regularly get stuck in? If so, is that a workflow problem, a staffing problem, or a configuration problem?
- Does your pipeline include stages for deferred applicants, waitlisted families, and withdrawn applications - and are these handled consistently?
- If your school runs rolling admissions across multiple entry points or year levels, does the pipeline structure reflect this, or is everything funnelled through a single linear flow?
If your pipeline has not been reviewed in over a year, treat this as a priority task. A pipeline that no longer matches your process creates confusion for staff and delays for families.
Audit Your Application Forms
Application forms accumulate over time. Fields get added to accommodate one-off requests, sections become outdated as school policies change, and required fields multiply until the form is longer than it needs to be. A long or confusing form increases abandonment rates and generates more queries from families.
Before the season opens, review each form with fresh eyes and ask:
- Is every field genuinely necessary at this stage of the application? Information that is only needed after an offer is made does not belong on the initial application form.
- Are required fields marked clearly and consistently? Families should never be surprised by a validation error on submission because a required field was not signposted.
- Is the form language appropriate for your school community? In multilingual schools, consider whether key instructions are accessible to families whose first language is not English.
- Have any fields become redundant due to changes in school policy, programme structure, or year level naming? Outdated fields create confusion and pollute your applicant data.
Complete a full test submission of your application form from the family portal before the season opens. This is the single most effective way to catch issues that are invisible from the admin side.
Review Automated Communications
OpenApply's automated email communications are often set up during initial implementation and rarely revisited. Before the season opens, audit every automated message that families will receive and check the following:
| Communication | What to Check |
|---|---|
| Application received confirmation | Correct school name, contact details, and realistic timeline; does not contain outdated fee information or intake dates |
| Stage transition notifications | Triggers are correctly configured; messages are appropriate in tone for the stage (e.g., an assessment invitation should not use the same template as a general update) |
| Document request emails | Required documents are correctly listed; deadlines referenced in the email match your actual admissions calendar |
| Offer and enrolment communications | Offer letter template reflects current year tuition information; enrolment confirmation steps are clearly explained |
| Decline and waitlist notifications | Tone is appropriate and consistent with your school's communication standards; no outdated references to specific staff or contacts |
Send test emails to a personal address and read them as a family would. What seems clear from the admin side often reads very differently from the recipient side.
Confirm Team Access and Responsibilities
Before the season opens, confirm that everyone who needs access to OpenApply has it - and that no one who should not have access still does from a previous cycle.
- Run a user permissions audit and deactivate any accounts for staff who have left or changed roles since the last season
- Confirm that new admissions staff have been onboarded and understand their role in the pipeline
- Clarify who is authorised to make offers, move applications to declined, and access financial or sensitive applicant data
- Designate a primary OpenApply contact who will be the first point of escalation for team questions and the main liaison with FariaSupport during the season
Pre-Season Readiness Checklist
| Area | Action | Done? |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline | Reviewed and confirmed against current admissions process | ☐ |
| Application forms | Full test submission completed from family portal | ☐ |
| Automated emails | All templates reviewed and test-sent; dates and fees updated | ☐ |
| User access | Permissions audited; new staff onboarded; leavers deactivated | ☐ |
| Document requirements | Required documents list reviewed and confirmed for each entry point | ☐ |
| Intake capacity | Year level capacities confirmed and set in OpenApply | ☐ |
| FariaSupport contact | Primary OpenApply contact confirmed; support plan reviewed | ☐ |
In Summary
- Complete your pre-season review four to six weeks before applications open - not the week before.
- Test your application form from the family portal; what is clear from the admin side is often confusing from the family side.
- Audit all automated communications and update any outdated dates, fees, or contact details.
- Confirm team access and designate a primary OpenApply contact before the season opens.
The OpenApply team is ready to support your pre-season setup review. If you would like a guided walkthrough of your pipeline and form configuration, contact your FariaSupport representative to arrange a session before your admissions season opens.