Create Contract Forms

1. To start from scratch, select Add Contract . By default, the contract is named based on the Contract Type and School Year. You can edit the name in the settings for the contract form.

   Otherwise, find an existing contract and select Copy. Then enter a Name for the new contract (such as Day Student 2017-2018).

2. Select the appropriate Contract Type.

3. Select the School Year for the contract.

   Note: For each year, there can only be one contract form per contract type. If a year can't be selected, a contract already exists for that contract type. If the year you need does not appear at all, publish the year from Years & Terms task in Core.

4. If you're school uses Blackbaud Tuition Management or Blackbaud Billing Management, the integration options can be selected under the Billing system setting. Otherwise, select No billing system integration to continue using EMS-based contracts.

5. For Due date, you can set a Specific date or Days after generated.

   • Specific date - Use this to specify a hard date for when the contract is due.

   • Days after generated - Alternatively, this option can be used to set a conditional due date based on the number of days after the contract is generated for the candidate or student. Keep in mind that when copying a contract, the Days after generated value is kept on the new contract too. In addition, admissions managers can also edit a Candidate or Student Contract Due date and Reminder Option even with a conditional due date applied

6. Four questions, which are disabled by default, can be turned on as needed. You can auto enroll the candidate or add a school signature as soon as the contract is processed, allow the user to rpoceed to the next form, or allow the contract to be auto-processed even if there is no in-school payment.

7. The option to set a Reminder Notification is also available including how long after to send it and what to include in the email body. Use available placeholders to pull in data values like the student name, contract name, due date, and others.

8. When ready, select Save & Close. The form then appears in the list of contract forms. If you're ready to build the contract, then press Save & Edit Form and jump down to the Sections and Blocks area of this help topic to go through the contract builder process.

9. From the list of contract forms, determine the Status of the form.

   • When you're ready to publish the contract for families, select Active.

   • Select Inactive when it shouldn't be published.

   For more information, see Publish Contracts.
   

10. From the list of contract forms, select the form to Edit. Next, you'll update the Sections, Blocks, Fields, and Elements as necessary.

    Warning: After at least one family views the contract, most of these elements are locked; you'll only be able to edit the Deposit and Confirmation sections.

    After you edit the form, select Preview Contract to review it in a new browser window. 

11. From the list of contract forms, determine the Status of the form, if necessary.

Use sections to organize information with the form. When a family views the contract, each section appears as a tab at the top of the screen. Examples include: Welcome, Policy, Fee Schedule, Payment Plans, Review, Deposit, and Confirmation.

• To add a section, select Add Section and enter a Name (such as "Policy"). You can rename a section from Section Settings.

• To reorder sections, select the section's name and then drag and drop it to the desired location.

• To remove a section, select Section Settings and then select Delete.

Note: By default, all contract forms include sections for Review, Deposit, and Confirmation. These sections can't be reordered or removed from the form. However, the Deposit section only appears for families if the block settings are established.

Within each Section, add and edit Blocks, Fields, and Elements.

Warning: After at least one family views the contract, most sections are locked; you'll only be able to edit the Deposit and Confirmation sections.

Blocks include the fields that families will review or complete. Add blocks to any section you create. However, you can't add blocks to the Review, Deposit, or Confirmation sections. Each block can only be used in one section.

• To add a block to a section, select the name of the section. Then drag and drop the block into the section. All of the available fields for that block appear for you to edit.

  Tip: After a block is used, you can hover your cursor over the block name in the list of blocks to quickly see which section uses it. 

• To reorder blocks, select the name of the section. Then drag and drop the block into the desired location.

• To remove a block, select the name of the section. Then select Remove Block and Confirm (or Block Settings, Delete, and Confirm).

Consider using these blocks:

• Student - show information about the candidate/student (including first name, last name, grade, date of birth, and entering year)

• Fee Schedule - enter fees that will appear on the contract (such as tuition or graduation fees)

• Payment Plans -select which payment plans are available on the contract

• Policy - enter text for the contract policy

• eSignature - require constituents who are “listed as parent” or who have “parental access" to enter their electronic signature. Adjust the Block Settings to determine whether all of these constituents or just one must sign. If All Signatures Required is selected then when a parent completes a contract they can select Continue until all Responsible Signers have finished the contract.

• Special Consideration - show any Special Contract Text. This text is based on information that (re)enrollment managers enter in a candidate’s/student’s profile.

• Signer Acknowledgment - require parents/guardians to accept a section of a contract by adding their initials. Managers can utilize this block multiple times throughout a contract.

• Deposit Options - enable constituents to pay the contract deposit. This block appears in the deposit section by default. However, the Deposit section only appears for families if the block settings are established.

• Not Returning - An option yes/no field that can be added to a student/candidate who is not coming back to the school. A 4,000 character text field is also available if more information is needed as to why the person isn't returning. No additional information or deposit/enrollment fees are required from the parent besides signing and accepting the contract. If a second parent is also assigned to the contract, they will not be able to review or continue the contract if the first parent selected Not Returning and then submitted it.
  

For each block in a section, the available fields appear. For fields in the Student, eSignature, and Deposit blocks, (re)enrollment managers can:

• determine the Form Visibility. For each field, select Show or Hide based on whether the field should appear on the contract. Some fields (such as First Name and Last Name) can't be hidden. 

• determine whether fields are required. Some fields (such as First Name and Last Name) must be required. 
  

• change the text that appears as the field's label (Display As). For example, you can change Date of Birth to Birthday).

  Warning: These fields affect reports, so don't change the meaning of the field. For example, don't change the Date of Birth to Graduation Year. 

• reorder fields within the block. Select a field and then drag and drop it to the desired location. .

For more information fields in the Fee Schedule and Payment Plans blocks, see Contract Tuition & Fees and Contract Payment Plans. 

Elements are static items on the contract (such as headers, instructional text, spacers, and images). Add them between or within blocks for aesthetics and organization. 

• To add an element to a section, select the name of the section. Then drag and drop the element into desired location.

• To reorder elements, select the name of the section. Then drag and drop the elements into the desired location.

• To remove an element, select the name of the section. Then select X for the appropriate element.

When attempting to edit a locked form, a blue banner now appears at the top indicating that the form is in use and locked for editing. However, admissions managers can now select Edit Form on the left side which will open a warning screen that needs to be confirmed before the form can be edited.

Edits made after the form has been locked are also added to an audit log, which will keep track of changes made including the date of the change, the user who made the edits, which fields were changed and the previous and new values. The logs are accessible from View History under Edit Form.