Troubleshooting Forms Issues

🔐 Account type(s) with default permissions to manage this: Admin

💻 Tier(s) this is available for: Foundation, Essential, Pro

When a Form Cycle isn't behaving as expected, a targeted fix is usually just a few steps away. This guide walks you through the most common contributor and student issues so you can resolve them quickly and keep your EL program moving forward.

💡 Quick Tip

What's a contributor? A contributor is anyone assigned to review or complete a form — including specialists, classroom teachers, educators, and family members.

Contributor Issues

• Incorrect contributor matched
• Not all forms have a matched contributor
• Multiple teachers on one monitoring form
• Cycle is set to Live, but teachers were not notified
• Teachers can't see their forms
• Forms can't be submitted without a meeting date

Student Issues

• Students who need a form are missing from the "Not Started" bucket
• Inactive students have forms generated
• Data on the forms is not up to date or accurate

Contributor Issues in Detail

Incorrect Contributor Matched

This is typically caused by incorrect Course Tagging.

1. Open the student's profile and go to their Schedules tab.
2. Identify which course the incorrect teacher is connected to, and note the teacher who should have been matched.
3. Manually change the contributor for that form.
4. To prevent this issue going forward, go to Course Tagging and adjust the tagging for both courses.
5. If Course Tagging is already correct for both courses, contact the Ellevation Help Desk for further support.

Not All Forms Have a Matched Contributor

This is typically caused by incorrect or missing Course Tagging. It may also be expected if a student is not enrolled in the subject area assigned to the form — this is especially common for high school monitoring forms.

1. Open the student's profile and go to their Schedules tab.
2. Confirm whether the student is enrolled in a course for that content area. If they are not, no action is needed.
3. If they are enrolled, go to Course Tagging.
4. Adjust Course Tagging for the course that did not produce a match, and confirm all relevant courses are tagged.
5. Return to the cycle and click Match.

Multiple Teachers on One Monitoring Form

This is typically caused by an incorrect cycle setup. Monitoring forms are designed to be completed individually — they are not intended to be filled out collaboratively like a shared document. When matching, the recommended setting is Create a separate form for each contributor.

📝 Recommended matching setting: create a separate form for each contributor.

📝 Example of a general cycle setup for monitoring.

If the cycle was set up incorrectly, make a copy of the cycle, correct the settings, and then delete the original:

1. Go to your Form Cycle.
2. Click the checkbox in the header next to Students.
3. Select all students across all pages.
4. Click Actions > Delete > Delete.
5. Go back to the Cycle Management page.
6. Click the three-dot menu in the row of the cycle you want to delete.
7. Click Delete > Delete.
8. Recreate the cycle with the correct settings.

Cycle Is Set to Live, but Teachers Were Not Notified

This is typically caused by not clicking Notify/Remind after setting the cycle to Live. Setting a cycle to Live makes it visible to assigned contributors, but does not automatically send a notification. To notify teachers, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Form Cycle.
2. Click the checkbox in the header next to Students.
3. Select all students across all pages.
4. Click Actions.
5. Click Notify/Remind.
6. Add a custom message if needed, and send yourself a test email to preview it.
7. Click Send Email.

If a teacher has multiple forms to complete, they will receive a single email with a direct link to the cycle.

Teachers Can't See Their Forms

Permissions may need adjustment, or the student may no longer be at the same school site as the teacher. Confirm that each educator has the correct form permissions assigned in Ellevation.

Forms Can't Be Submitted Without a Meeting Date

This happens when the Require Meeting Date option was checked during cycle setup. Edit the cycle from the main Cycle Management page, uncheck Require Meeting Date, and click through the remaining cycle configurations to save your changes.

Student Issues in Detail

Students Are Missing From the "Not Started" Bucket

When a cycle is created, it generates forms for students who match your Student List filter criteria at that moment. The cycle is not dynamic — it will not automatically include students who meet the criteria after creation.

If new students need to be added to the cycle:

1. Go to your Form Cycle.
2. Click the three-dot menu at the top right.
3. Click Get new students.
4. Click Yes, get new students.

If the issue is caused by incorrect Student List filters, adjust the filters on the Student List View connected to the cycle:

1. Open the Student List View connected to the Form Cycle.
2. Adjust filters as needed.
3. Click Save Changes.

If your filter changes were additive only (adding students):

1. Go to your Form Cycle.
2. Click the three-dot menu at the top right.
3. Click Get new students.
4. Click Yes, get new students.

If your filter changes were both additive and subtractive (adding and removing students), delete all Not Started forms and regenerate:

1. Go to your Form Cycle.
2. Click the checkbox in the header next to Students.
3. Select all students across all pages.
4. Click Actions > Delete > Delete.
5. Click the three-dot menu at the top right.
6. Click Get new students.
7. Click Yes, get new students.

If you are unable to delete forms, contact your Ellevation administrator to review your form permissions.

Inactive Students Have Forms Generated

This is typically caused by students withdrawing or transferring after the cycle was created. Cycles are not dynamic — they will not automatically remove students who no longer meet filter criteria after creation. You have two options:

• Manually delete the forms for those students, or
• Delete all Not Started forms and regenerate (steps below).

To delete all Not Started forms and regenerate:

1. Go to your Form Cycle.
2. Click the checkbox in the header next to Students.
3. Select all students across all pages.
4. Click Actions > Delete > Delete.
5. Click the three-dot menu at the top right.
6. Click Get new students.
7. Click Yes, get new students.

Data on Forms Is Not Up to Date or Accurate

This is typically caused by the template not being updated before the cycle was created. If a form section displays an incorrect date or missing information, update your template directly:

1. Go to your Form Templates.
2. Select the template that needs updating.
3. Use the pencil icon to adjust dates or details, the add (+) button to add sections, or the X to remove sections.

For detailed template editing steps, see Configure Form Templates.

If you've worked through these steps and are still experiencing issues, contact the Ellevation Help Desk for additional support.