Set up registration questions, approvals and waitlists
Updated . Written by the ProgresslyAI team from the current product. Examples use invented records.
Families request a place through your school's public registration page. Nobody is enrolled until a staff member approves the request, either directly into the class or onto an approved waitlist that fills places automatically in order. This guide covers setup, review, the waitlist queue and what families are told.
Quick answer: edit a class and tick Accept online registration requests, add questions under Registrations > Manage registration questions, share your public registration page, then review each request with Approve and enroll, Approve waitlist or Decline.
Request states at a glance
| State | What it means | Place reserved? | Family email |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pending | Submitted, not yet reviewed | No | Registration request received |
| Waitlisted | Staff approved a waitlist place; enrolls automatically in queue order when a place opens | No, not yet confirmed | Registration waitlist approved |
| Approved | Enrolled in the class as an active student | Yes | Class enrollment confirmed |
| Declined | Closed by staff | No | Registration request closed |
| Withdrawn | Withdrawn by the family while pending or waitlisted | No | Registration request withdrawn |
No payment is taken at any stage. Every email says so.
Step 1: Open a class to requests
- Go to Classes and edit the class.
- Tick Accept online registration requests and save. The class must also be active.
- On Registrations, open your public registration page link and share it with families.
The public page lists every active class that accepts requests. Full classes stay listed as "(Full - waitlist review)". Families enter the student's first and last name, a contact name and a contact email, plus your questions.
Step 2: Add intake questions (owners)
Select Manage registration questions, then Add question for each one. A school has one form with up to 12 questions.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Type | Short answer (300 characters), Long answer (2,000), Choose one (2 to 12 distinct choices, up to 120 characters each), Yes or no |
| Required answer | On or off |
| Applies to | All classes, or Selected classes (1 to 100) |
| Show | Always, or When answer matches one answer to an earlier Choose one or Yes or no question |
A follow-up question must target only classes its earlier question also applies to. If the earlier question is hidden, its follow-ups are hidden too. Select Save questions.
Example: Question 1 "Has the swimmer had lessons before?" (Yes or no, required, all classes). Question 2 "Which level did they finish?" (Choose one: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3), shown when Question 1 is Yes.
If you change the questions while a family is filling in the form, their submission is not saved as-is. Their details are kept and they are asked to review the new questions. Each saved request keeps the question wording and answers from the moment it was submitted.
Answers are information for staff. A yes/no question is not a signed waiver or consent record, and answers do not block approval automatically.
Step 3: Review requests
Owners and instructors review requests on Registrations. Each request shows the saved questions and answers.
- Approve and enroll creates an active student, enrolls them in the class and links the contact email as a parent. It is blocked if the class is paused, full, already has an approved waitlist, or if your plan's active-student limit is reached.
- Approve waitlist gives the request a place in the queue and immediately tries to fill any open place.
- Decline closes a pending request. On a waitlisted request the button is Remove from waitlist.
Approved, declined and withdrawn requests cannot be reviewed again.
How the waitlist queue works
Queue order is the order in which staff approved the waitlist place, not the order families submitted. When a place opens, the earliest approved request is enrolled first.
Promotion runs automatically when a student is removed from the class, the class is edited (for example capacity raised or the class reactivated), a waitlisted request is withdrawn or removed, or an active student is changed to paused or inactive. You can also select Fill available places. Promotion stops when the class is full or the plan's active-student limit is reached. Paused classes never promote.
While a class has an approved waitlist, staff cannot add students to it directly or use Approve and enroll; places go to the queue first.
Worked example (synthetic). Saturday 10:00 Swim Level 2 has capacity 8 and 8 enrolled. Three requests arrive: Kai (Monday), Lucia (Tuesday), Theo (Wednesday). On Thursday staff approve Lucia's waitlist place, then Kai's. Theo stays pending. On Saturday two swimmers leave and staff remove them from the roster. Lucia is enrolled first, then Kai, because that is the order their waitlist places were approved. Theo is still pending and needs a decision.
Emails and delivery
Each status change queues one email to the contact address. Pending and waitlisted emails include a private link, valid for 30 days, where the family can review or select Withdraw request. Opening the link does not withdraw anything. Once enrolled, families must contact the school to cancel.
The Registrations page shows delivery status for each email: Accepted by email service, Queued for delivery or Needs attention. Accepted means the email service accepted it, not that it reached the inbox. Failed attempts retry automatically; select Retry due emails to retry now, and contact the family directly if an email still needs attention.
Troubleshooting
"This class has an approved waitlist. Fill available places in queue order or approve this request for the waitlist." Use Fill available places, or Approve waitlist to add this request to the end of the queue.
"Class is full. Approve the waitlist to enroll automatically when a place opens." Approve the waitlist, or raise the class capacity if you have room.
Plan-limit message. Approval and promotion stop at the plan's active-student limit (25 on Starter, 200 on Pro). Change students who have left to inactive or upgrade on Billing.
A family says they registered but nothing appears. Check that the class is active and still accepts requests. A repeat submission with the same class, contact email and student name is ignored, so the first request is the one to review.
The class is not on the public page. Paused classes and classes without Accept online registration requests are not listed.