Understanding Registration Form Submission Review Modes

 Overview

When a student submits a CRM Registration Form, that submission enters a review workflow. The review mode determines what happens to a submission next. There are three possibilities: it waits in a queue for a staff member to approve or deny it, it's approved automatically with no staff involvement, or its approval depends on the outcome of a linked cohort application.

ConexED Administrators, Institution Administrators, Department Directors, and Group Managers configure the review mode per form. This article explains what each mode is and how it behaves conceptually.

At a Glance

How It Works

Manual Review

When a form is set to Manual Review, every submission goes into the Pending queue. A staff member with reviewer access opens the submission, reviews the student's responses, and either approves or denies it.

• Approving a submission moves it out of Pending and triggers any configured approval actions (such as cohort placement or notification emails).
• Denying a submission removes it from the Pending queue and can trigger a denial email notification to the student.
• Submissions remain in Pending until a reviewer acts on them — there is no automatic timeout.

Default review mode: A form without a cohort application field defaults to Manual Review. Switch a form to Auto Approve only if you want its submissions approved without staff review. A form with a cohort application field defaults to Cohort Decision instead.

What reviewers see in a submission: When a staff reviewer opens a submission in Manual Review mode, they can see the student's form responses across all steps and fields, the account creation fields (first name, last name, email address, and phone number captured if the student's ConexED account was created through the form submission), and any in-progress submission data entered before the student submitted the form. Uploaded files aren't visible until the student finishes and submits the form — they're only stored at final submission, not while it's in progress.

A form can be configured to use either a default template or a custom template for the review process. Reviewers can add details to the Explanation field on the Review Decision page, and this information will be included in the email. Use of a custom template leaves the Explanation field information out of the email sent to the student.

Auto Approve

When a form is set to Auto Approve, submissions are approved instantly upon submission — no staff action is required and no submission enters the Pending queue. Any configured approval actions fire automatically.

Use Auto Approve when the purpose of the form is data collection or open enrollment rather than gatekeeping. It is not appropriate for forms where eligibility needs to be verified before a student is placed or notified.

Cohort Decision

Cohort Decision is the existing behavior for forms that include a cohort application field. Approval follows the outcome of the linked cohort application: when a student is fully accepted into the cohort, the submission is Approved; when they are not accepted, it is Denied. A third outcome, Partially Approved, applies when the student applied to multiple cohort programs through the same form and at least one program accepted them while at least one denied them.

Please note: Review mode is per form, not per institution. Each form has its own review mode setting. If you manage multiple forms with different purposes, configure each one independently.

Please note: Pending submissions are not time-limited. In Manual Review mode, submissions stay in the Pending queue until a reviewer acts on them. Build a regular review cadence into your team's workflow to avoid a growing backlog.

Please note: Auto Approve fires approval actions immediately. Any cohort placements, attribute assignments, or other automated actions configured for form approval will execute at the moment of submission — there is no opportunity for staff review before those actions run.

Please note: Changing a form's review mode affects only future submissions. Submissions already in the Pending queue are not retroactively changed when you update the setting.

Use Cases

• Manual Review — An honors program application form where staff must verify prerequisite coursework and supporting documents before admitting a student.
• Auto Approve — A general interest or information-request form for prospective students, where there is no admission decision to gate.
• Cohort Decision — A student applies to two limited-enrollment nursing cohort programs through the same form. If both programs accept them, the submission is Approved; if both deny them, it's Denied; if one accepts and the other denies, the submission is Partially Approved.

Decision Guide

Ask these questions to choose the right mode for a form:

• Does someone need to personally review each submission before a decision is made? → Manual Review
• Should every submission be accepted automatically, with no review step at all? → Auto Approve
• Is this form tied to a cohort application, where acceptance into the cohort is what determines the outcome? → Cohort Decision

Next Steps

• Understanding CRM Registration Forms
• How to Create CRM Registration Forms
• How to Configure Registration Form Submission Review Mode & Decision Notifications
• Reviewing CRM Registration Form Submissions
• Understanding Form Fields