The Forms module is PortalHQ’s general-purpose form builder. Staff design custom forms with whatever fields they need — text, single or multi-choice, dates, file uploads, signatures, images — and target them at parents, students or both. Submissions come back into PortalHQ where they can be reviewed, exported and acted on.
Forms power a few different workflows depending on the form’s type.
The five form types
| Form type | What it’s used for |
|---|---|
| General | Standalone forms — feedback surveys, sign-ups, permission notes, expression of interest. |
| Activity Signups | Attached to a co-curricular activity group, runs as part of the signup workflow. Captures activity-specific data at signup time. |
| Event Booking | Attached to a booked event, runs as part of the parent’s booking. See Linking a custom form to a booking event. |
| Incident | Attached to a co-curricular activity group, used by coaches to report incidents. See Administering rolls and attendance. |
| Slips | Attached to a slip, captures the consent/data the slip needs. See the Slips category for the full slip workflow. |
The form type is set when you create the form and determines where the form appears.
Who uses forms
| Role | Activity |
|---|---|
| Form authors / portal admins | Design the form, pick the fields, set the publishing rules. |
| Department heads | Often own the forms relevant to their area (Heads of Sport, Heads of Music, etc.). |
| Parents and students | Fill in forms targeted at them. |
| Staff reviewers | Read submissions and act on them. |
The structure
- A form has a name, type, fields and publishing settings.
- A form category groups related forms together on the user-facing forms page. See Organising forms with categories.
- A submission is one filled-in instance of the form — one parent’s response, one student’s answer.
A typical workflow
- Design the form — see Creating a form.
- Assign it to a category — see Organising forms with categories.
- Publish and target it — see Publishing and targeting forms.
- Watch submissions come in — see Reviewing and exporting submissions.
Where to start
- New to the module: Creating a form.
- Already have forms but want to tidy: Organising forms with categories.
- Need to gather data from parents this week: Creating a form → Publishing and targeting forms → ready to share.
Forms vs. other modules
Some confusion is common about when to use Forms vs. another module:
| Need | Use |
|---|---|
| One-off survey or feedback collection | Forms (General) |
| Sign-up to a co-curricular activity | Co-Curricular Signups (with optional Forms attachment) |
| Reservation for a specific time slot | Booked Events (with optional Forms attachment) |
| Permission slip for a school event | Slips (which uses Forms internally) |
| Incident reporting at a sports session | Forms (Incident type) attached to the activity group |
When in doubt, start with Forms — most workflows that look like they need a form can be built off the Forms module.