Approving Forms

Some forms shouldn’t reach parents until a manager has read them. An accident record is the usual example: a room practitioner fills it in from the register, and a manager checks the wording, adds their signature and then sends it on. When a form needs approval, staff can still raise and fill it in, but they submit it rather than send it. It then waits in an approval queue until a manager or form approver approves it. Approving is what sends it to parents.

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Step 1: Turn on approval for a form

1. Go to Settings → Forms and open the form, or create a new one.
2. Set Assignment Type to Child.
3. Set Staff access to Create – manager approves before sending.
4. Click Save Form.

See Staff access for what the other options do.

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Step 2: Decide who can approve

These people can approve forms:

• Managers (staff with the Manager role)
• The site owner
• Any staff member given the Form Approver role

To give someone the Form Approver role, open their staff profile and tick Form Approver under the additional roles. See Staff Permissions. A form approver who isn’t a manager sees a Form Approvals item in the sidebar. It shows only the approval queue, not the rest of Form Submissions.

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How staff submit a form for approval

Staff raise the form from the register as normal, on the web or in the mobile app. Then they click Save & Submit for Approval (Save & Submit in the app). The form’s status changes to Awaiting Approval. Parents can’t see it yet. Save on its own only saves. The form stays a draft (Created) with the staff member until they submit it, however much of it is filled in. Staff can submit the form while some required staff fields are still empty, such as a signature only a manager can add. The approver fills those in before approving. If a field is set to be needed To submit for approval, such as Recorded by, staff must fill it in first. You choose which fields are which in the form builder; see Required fields on forms that need approval. Required fields that belong to the parent, such as a parent signature, never count here, because the parent fills those in after approval.

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How approvers find out

When a form is submitted, every manager, form approver and the site owner gets one email saying which forms are waiting. If a staff member submits several at once, the email lists them all. Waiting forms also show:

• in the Awaiting Approval tab on Form Submissions
• as a number next to Form Submissions (or Form Approvals) in the sidebar
• as a forms awaiting approval card on the mobile app’s home screen

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Step 3: Approve a form

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On the web

1. Go to Form Submissions and open the Awaiting Approval tab.
2. Click the pencil icon on the row to open the form. Read it, then add your signature or correct anything that needs it. Click Use my signature to add your saved signature instead of drawing it; see Signing with your saved signature.
3. Click Approve & Send. If the form has writing rules, Pigeonhole checks the wording first and may suggest fixes. You can accept them or Proceed anyway.

Approving is done from the open form, so you always see what you’re approving.

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In the mobile app

1. Tap the forms awaiting approval card on the home screen.
   
2. Tap the form to open it, then check it and sign it if needed.
   
3. Tap Approve & Send, then confirm.
   

On a shared device, the app may ask for your PIN before it approves the form. That records you, rather than whoever last signed in, as the approver.

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What happens when you approve

• If the form has something for parents to fill in, such as a parent signature, it’s emailed to them and its status changes to Sent.
• If there’s nothing for parents to fill in, the form is completed straight away. Its status changes to Completed and parents are emailed a copy.

Your name and the date are recorded on the form. Staff see Approved by under the form when they open it. Parents don’t see who approved it. A form can only be approved once every required staff field is filled in. If one is missing, Pigeonhole tells you which one, and nothing is sent.

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Send a form back for changes

If something in a form needs changing, send it back to the person who raised it rather than editing it yourself. They’re told what to change, and the form comes back to you when they resubmit it.

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On the web

1. Open the form from the Awaiting Approval tab.
2. Click Send Back for Changes.
   
3. Under What needs changing?, write a note for the staff member, then click Send back.
   

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In the mobile app

Open the form, tap Send Back for Changes, write your note and tap Send back. The app may ask for your PIN first, as it does for approving.

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What happens next

• The form goes back to being a draft (Created) with the staff member who raised it. It is not sent to parents.
• The staff member is told, wherever they work:
  • By email, with your note, if they have an email address.
  • In the mobile app, with a notification (“Dave Mills asked for changes to Accident record for Theo Adeyemi”) and a forms need changes card on the home screen. Staff who only sign in to the app with a PIN, and have no email address, find out this way.
• The form appears on their Changes Requested tab, with your note at the top of the form. See When a manager sends a form back.
• When they’ve made the changes and resubmitted, the form is back in Awaiting Approval, and you’re emailed as before.

Send Back for Changes only appears on forms that have been submitted for approval. A draft that’s never been submitted has nothing to send back.

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Keeping track of forms you’ve sent back

Forms that have been sent back and not yet resubmitted are listed on the Changes Requested tab of Form Submissions. Managers and form approvers see every one on the site, so you can chase anything that’s been waiting a while. The form leaves the tab as soon as the staff member resubmits it.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Can I just fix the form myself instead of sending it back?

Yes. You can edit anything on the form before you click Approve & Send. Send it back when the staff member needs to add something only they know, or when you’d like them to learn from the change.

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Can staff send the form to parents themselves?

No. For a form set to Create – manager approves before sending, nothing reaches parents until someone approves it, even if a staff member uses an older version of the app that only shows Save & Send.

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Two managers approved the same form at once. Was it sent twice?

No. Only the first approval counts. The second person is told the form has already been approved.

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Can I switch approval off for a form?

Yes. Change Staff access to Create and send to parents. Forms already waiting stay in the Awaiting Approval tab. Approve those, or send them from Form Submissions.