Your Parent Portal is often the first interaction your family has with your school. A professional, easy-to-navigate portal is critical for maintaining your school's image and ensuring a successful admissions cycle.
This article outlines:
- What specific areas of the system to test.
- Which outcomes to look for.
- How to execute your tests efficiently.
In this Article
Why is testing important?
The goal of testing is to ensure the system works exactly as intended from the family’s perspective.
Proactive testing helps you:
- Identify friction: Catch confusing steps or "dead ends" before a family encounters them.
- Verify configurations: Ensure all logic and forms are working correctly for the current term.
- Maintain professionalism: Avoid the frustration of mid-application errors.
Regular testing is essential, particularly after making any system changes or launching a new admissions or enrollment term.
Getting started with testing
To begin, you must first set up your testing environment. If you haven't already, please refer to our companion guide, "Create a test student," as that is the necessary first step before you can run through this detailed checklist.
Core system areas & items to test
Checklist setup
Checklists are more than just tasks; they are the roadmap for your families. Frequent updates and testing are vital to ensure that every family receives accurate information and a smooth introduction to your school.
📍 Where to go: Settings > Checklists > Inquiry/Admissions/Enrollment
✅ What to check:
- Parent Explanation text: Clear, concise instructions prevent unnecessary calls/emails to your admissions office. Does the explanation text for each item clearly state what the parent needs to do, how to do it, and when it's due?
- Required vs. Optional vs. Internal status: Confirm that the correct visibility and requirement settings are applied.
- Checklist item grouping & order: Does the flow of the checklist items make logical sense to a parent? Are items grouped intuitively (e.g., all forms together, all uploads together)?
🔍 How to test:
- To check your items from the parent perspective, use a test student who is authenticated to your account or impersonate a real parent to view checklist on the Parent Portal.
Online forms & fees
Routine testing and annual updates of online forms and custom form fees are the best ways to verify that conditional logic is firing correctly and that your school is providing a clear path for families to submit information and payments.
Online forms
📍 Where to go: Settings > Forms
✅ What to check:
- Form functionality & dependencies: Test all fields for correct data entry (e.g., required fields, date formats, etc) and test all field dependencies. If a parent answers Yes to a question, do the dependent fields correctly appear/disappear?
- Merge fields and pre-population: Do all merge fields correctly pull the existing student/parent data (e.g., student's name, grade, term) into the form?
- File Uploads: Does the upload button work correctly on the form? Is there a file-upload checklist item set up to save the file once it is uploaded to the form?
🔍 How to test:
- Use a test student who is authenticated to your account or impersonate a real parent to open a form and complete it on the Parent Portal.
Custom Form Fees
📍 Where to go: Settings > Financial > Custom Form Fees
✅ What to check:
- Fee amounts: Are the fee amounts up to date?
- Fee rules: Do any fee rules need to be changed or added to ensure the fees are triggered accurately? If so, submit a request to the Support Team so they can update the rules for you.
🔍 How to test:
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From the parent view:
- Navigate to the Parent Portal by using a test student who is authenticated to your account or by impersonating a real parent.
- Here you can fill out the form and view the fees. If you are being charged a fee, you should reach a Payments screen where you can view the amount.
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From the admin view:
- Navigate to a test student contact record.
- Find the form on the student’s checklist under their Summary tab.
- Fill out the form and view the fees. If you are being charged a fee, you should reach a Payments screen where you can view the amount.
Note on testing form fees
A custom form fee payment can only be submitted once per form, so if you have already submitted a payment for a test student, you will need to use a different student to resubmit.
Calendars & events
To maximize attendance and ensure a smooth experience, it is essential to maintain active calendar time slots and update confirmation templates regularly. This consistent upkeep allows families to book appointments quickly while receiving the most accurate and up-to-date event details.
📍 Where to go: Scheduling > Calendars > select a calendar
✅ What to check:
- Availability & booking: Are there open time slots available for registration? If it's an event checklist item, does clicking it take the parent to the correct calendar/registration form? If you have Appointment Window Auto Close enabled, is the booking window set to close at least two days before the event?
- Calendar access settings: Can parents/students correctly book an available slot? Can they successfully cancel or reschedule an existing appointment if the settings allow it? If you are using Schedules, have you made them visible to families?
- Appointment emails: Does the system provide a clear confirmation of the booking to the parent? Do you have reminder and cancellation emails enabled? Have you checked the email templates to make sure they are up to date?
🔍 How to test:
- Use the method families will use to schedule an appointment (public link, checklist, or form).
- Schedule an appointment.
- Check your inbox, or go to the Sent Emails page on your site, for your confirmation email (if enabled).
Parent Portal settings
The Parent Portal is where your families complete their requirements and view important announcements, messages, and contact information for your school. Timely updates ensure that families feel supported, informed, and confident as they work through their student's requirements.
Contact information
📍 Where to go: Settings > General > Contact Information
✅ What to check: Is the school's general Contact Information (in the Parent Portal sidebars) correct and current?
Messaging & announcements
📍 Where to go: Settings > Portal > Parent Portal Content
Recommended templates to review:
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Contact Communication Area
- ✅ What to check: Is this area being used effectively to display important, timely information (e.g., key deadlines, links to an external school calendar)?
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Login Page Description
- ✅ What to check: Is this area populated with clear instructions and contact details in case parents have login trouble?
Branding & aesthetics
📍 Where to go: Settings > Portal > Parent Portal Design
✅ What to check: Does the Parent Portal correctly display your school's logo, colors, and branding elements?
Contract, Contract Fees, & Payment Plans
Updating and testing your contract, fees, and payment plans annually is a critical safeguard for both your school’s revenue and the family experience. Rigorous testing ensures that tuition data is accurate, fee triggers function correctly, and payment schedules are clear, reducing the need for manual corrections later.
Contract form
📍 Where to go: Settings > Form > Contract Forms
✅ What to check:
- Form functionality & dependencies: Test all fields for correct data entry (e.g., required fields, date formats, etc) and test all field dependencies. If a parent answers Yes to a question, do the dependent fields correctly appear/disappear?
- Merge fields and pre-population: Do all merge fields correctly pull the existing student/parent data (e.g., student's name, grade, term) into the form?
- Tuition & fee visibility: Are you pulling in the system fields that will display the tuition, fees, and payment plans to families?
🔍 How to test:
- Navigate to a student's or a test student’s record
- Click Manage Contract > Preview Contract
- Go through each page of the contract form to ensure the information is clear and accurate. This is just a preview, so field selections will not be saved.
Contract Fees
📍 Where to go: Settings > Financial > Contract Fees
✅ What to check:
- Fee amounts: Are the fee and discount amounts up to date?
- Fee rules: Do any fee rules need to be changed or added to ensure the fees and discounts are triggered accurately? If so, submit a request to the Support Team so they can update the rules for you.
- Billing categories: Are the billing categories correct?
🔍 How to test:
- Navigate to a student's or a test student’s record
- Click Manage Contract > Preview Contract or Manage Contract > Preview Tuition & Fees
- View the list of fees and discounts to ensure they are applied correctly and make adjustments as needed. Using a test student is a great way to test fees and awards because you can easily update field values and add financial aid amounts without affecting real student data.
Payment Plans
📍 Where to go: Settings > Financial > Payment Plans
✅ What to check:
- Plan settings: Are the payment plans up to date, including the payment schedule, explanation, and confirmation text?
- Plan fees: Are there fees or discounts associated with the plans?
- Business rules: Do any business rules need to be added or changed to ensure the plans are applied to the correct contracts?
🔍 How to test:
- Navigate to a student's or a test student’s record
- Click Manage Contract > Preview Contract or Manage Contract > Preview Tuition & Fees
- View the payment plans available to the student to ensure they are applied correctly and make adjustments as needed.
FACTS integration
For schools utilizing the FACTS integration, it is essential that you run tests to ensure the data, tuition, fees, and discounts are pushed to FACTS properly before opening the contract up to your families.
📍 Where to go: Settings > Fields & Data > FACTS Integration
✅ What to check:
- Have your Account and Adjustment codes been created in FACTS and added to Finalsite Enrollment on your Billing Categories page (Settings > Financial > Billing Categories)? Do they match in both systems?
- Are the correct Billing Categories linked to the right fees and discounts on your Contract Fees page?
- Are you passing Payment Plans to FACTS? If so, do the canonical names match in both systems?
🔍 How to test:
- Follow the steps in the “FACTS: Creating a Test Account” article to set up a test student.
- Submit a contract for the test student in Finalsite Enrollment.
- Click the Go to FACTS button next to the FACTS checklist item on the Parent Portal to create a test FACTS account. This will allow you to view the fees, discounts, and payment plans being pushed to FACTS from the test student’s contract.
- Need help? Submit a request to the Finalsite Enrollment support team or reach out to FACTS for assistance.
Testing best practices & next steps
Name your test student
- Use the word Test as the first or last name of a test student to make them easy to locate in the system.
- For detailed instructions, see the article “Create a test student.”
Retiring/deactivating test students
- Decide if a test student should remain in your current workflow or be moved to prevent skewing your reporting data.
- "In Workflow" students: If they stay in the workflow, track their status carefully so you can manually subtract them from report counts.
- "Out of Workflow" students: Move students by changing their term (using Change Current Term > Move) to keep data clean; move them back as needed.
- Pro Tip: Change a test student's status to toggle between active/inactive or admission/enrollment views in the Parent Portal.
Impersonate families
- Troubleshoot real families: While test students check your setup, use Impersonate to solve issues for specific, existing users. This feature allows you to see the Parent Portal exactly as a parent does, providing better context for troubleshooting within Finalsite Enrollment.
Perform ongoing testing
- Treat testing as an ongoing process: Do not treat it as a one-time event, particularly before major deadlines or system changes.
- Build in a buffer: Allow yourself plenty of time to run tests so you can make necessary site corrections before they impact families.
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