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Search & Reports Cookbook: The 10 Most-Requested Lists

Jessica Lara
  • Updated

The Search & Reports tab in Finalsite Enrollment is one of the most powerful tools for pulling lists, tracking progress, and exporting data to other systems. This cookbook provides a ready-made "recipe" for each of the most-requested lists, plus a dedicated section on copying your saved searches into a new school year so you don't have to rebuild them every summer.

Each recipe below is self-contained: the criteria you need, the columns to display, and the optional tweaks to make the report your own. All searches in this cookbook can be saved for repeated use and exported to Excel. Learn more in the article "Saving & Exporting Searches."

💡Quick Answers

  • Why is my search pulling last year's students? You likely forgot to set the Term. Always check the Term dropdown at the top of the search page first. This dictates which school year's data the system is pulling.
  • How do I add parent emails or phone numbers to a student list? Click Change Display/Columns, then use the Entity dropdown. Switch the entity from "Contact" (the student) to "Parent 1", "Parent 2", or "Household 1" to access and add their specific data columns.
  • Do I have to export a list to Excel to email these parents? No. Once your search results load, you can click the Communicate menu directly on the page to send a bulk email or text message to the parents on that list.
  • How do I get a high-level numbers grid instead of a long list of names? Click Change Display/Columns and select the Summary Report option. This allows you to set a Row Heading and a Column Heading (e.g., "Enrollment Status" by "Grade") to create a quick, matrix-style numbers report.
  • Do I have to rebuild all my saved searches for the new school year? Not completely. If a search uses a term-specific criterion (like a checklist item tied to a specific year), you can simply open it, update the criterion to the new year, and click Save > Save as new to clone it.

In this Article

New to Searching in Finalsite Enrollment? 

Start with the article "Search Overview" for an introduction to the search builder, then return to this cookbook once you're comfortable with the basic controls.

Before You Begin: Three Quick Reminders

  • Always set the Term first. The Term dropdown at the top of the search page determines which school year your search is running against. If you forget, you'll get last year's list.
  • Use the Entity dropdown. When adding columns in Change Display/Columns, the Entity dropdown lets you pull fields from the Contact, Household 1, Parent 1, Parent 2, and so on. This is how you add parent phone numbers, emergency-contact details, and household addresses to a student search.
  • Save every search with a clear name. Use a naming convention like [Team] [Purpose] [Year]. For example, Admissions - Applied but not Enrolled - 2026-27. It will save you hours during the busy season.

How-To: Run a Search Recipe

To get started with any recipe below, click the Search & Reports tab > Search at the top of your Finalsite Enrollment site. Set the Term using the dropdown, then follow the recipe's criteria and column steps.

Recipe #1 — Enrollment Snapshot by Grade (New & Returning)

When to use this: At any point in the enrollment cycle to see a live count of new and returning students by grade.

  1. Set the Term (school year) from the dropdown.
  2. Add to your search criteria: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - 'Enrolled'. 
  3. Click the Search button.
  4. Click the Change Display/Columns button in the upper right and select the Summary Report option.
  5. Set Enrollment Type as the Row Heading and Grade as the Column Heading. 
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 1 — Enrollment Snapshot by Grade (New & Returning).png

Variation: Add a search criterion of Enrollment in Progress alongside Enrolled to see a combined pipeline snapshot.

Recipe #2 — Emergency Contacts Report

When to use this: Right before the school year starts. Nurses, front-office staff, and divisional administrators all ask for this list at the same time.

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add to your search criteria: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - 'Enrolled'. 
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click Change Display/Columns.
  5. With Entity set to Contact, pull in: Grade and Birth Date. 
    • If your school has an Emergency Contact grouping under Contact, open this grouping and select any relevant fields you’d like to display.
  6. Change Entity to Household 1 and open the Address grouping. Pull in Address.
  7. Change Entity to Parent 1, search for Name, Primary Phone, and Email (under Contact Information grouping), and pull each one in as a column.
  8. Repeat step 7 for Parent 2, Parent 3, and/or Parent 4.
  9. Click Apply.
  10. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 2 — Emergency Contacts Report.png

Tip: Save this search as Nurse - Emergency Contacts - {Year} and share access with the health office.

Recipe #3 — Application Outcomes by Status

When to use this: At the end of the admissions cycle to report to leadership on how many applicants were admitted, waitlisted, declined, or withdrew.

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add to your search criteria: 'Admissions Status' - 'is currently' - select all applicant statuses (e.g., Applicant, Application Complete, Waitlisted, Declined, etc.). 
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click Change Display/Columns and select Summary Report.
  5. Set Status as the Row Heading and Grade as the Column Heading. 
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 3 — Application Outcomes by Status.png

Recipe #4 — Aftercare / Program Roster

When to use this: Pulling a list of students enrolled in a specific program, extracurricular, or aftercare option (typically captured as a checklist item response or a custom field).

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - 'Enrolled'. 
  3. Add a second criterion for your program field. This will be found under the All Other Fields criteria. For most schools this will be either:
    • Option A: Select your aftercare/program question - 'is' - select the values that indicate enrollment in the program.
    • Option B: 'Aftercare Program' (or similar) - 'is' - 'Yes' (or whichever value indicates participation).
  4. Click Search.
  5. Click Change Display/Columns, pull in Grade and any program-specific fields (days of week, pickup time, etc.).
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 4 — Aftercare _ Program Roster.png

Recipe #5 — Email List by Grade or Year (Parents of Enrolled Students)

When to use this: Any time you need to bulk-email parents (division newsletters, grade-specific announcements, enrollment reminders).

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - 'Enrolled'. 
  3. Add ‘All Other Fields’ - 'Grade' - 'is' - select the grade(s) you want. 
  4. Click Search.
  5. Click Change Display/Columns. With Entity set to Parent 1, pull in Name and  Email.
  6. Change Entity to Parent 2 and repeat. 
  7. Click Apply.
  8. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 5 — Email List by Grade or Year (Parents of Enrolled Students).png

Tip: If you plan to send the email from Finalsite Enrollment directly, you don't need to export. Use the Communicate menu from the search results page to launch a message to the parents on the list.

Recipe #6 — Alumni List

When to use this: Annual giving campaigns, milestone mailings, or reunion planning. The key is filtering on the Alumni role rather than an enrollment status.

  1. Leave the Term set to Current Terms (or your earliest term). Alumni are not tied to a specific term.
  2. Add: ‘All Other Fields’ - 'Role' - 'is' - 'Alumni'.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click Change Display/Columns. Pull in Class Of, and last-known contact info (email, phone, address from Contact or Household 1).
  5. Click Apply.
  6. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 6 — Alumni List.png

Recipe #7 — Re-enrollment Decision Tracker (Returning vs. Not Returning)

When to use this: Mid-to-late enrollment season, once families have started indicating whether they are returning. Gives leadership a grade-by-grade count of who's enrolled, who has declined, and who is still in progress without exporting a single row.

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - select Enrolled, Not Enrolling (or your school's equivalent non-returning status), and any other re-enrollment decision statuses you track.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click Change Display/Columns and select Summary Report.
  5. Set Status as the Row Heading and Grade as the Column Heading.
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 7 — Re-enrollment Decision Tracker (Returning vs. Not Returning).png

Recipe #8 — Checklist Completion Status (Who's Missing What)

When to use this: Weekly during enrollment in-progress to identify families who haven't completed a specific step.

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - 'Enrollment in Progress'.
  3. Add: 'Checklist item (by complete/incomplete)' - select the checklist item (e.g., Contract, Deposit, Health Form) - 'is not complete'.
  4. Click Search.
  5. Click Change Display/Columns, pull in Grade under the Contact entity. Add parent information if needed, such as Parent 1 - Email.
    • If you are pulling incomplete/complete Contracts, you can add the field Contract State to see if the student’s contract is in progress, pending payment, etc. 
  6. Click Apply, then use Communicate to send a reminder or Export to hand off to the business office.
Recipe 8 — Checklist Completion Status (Who's Missing What).png

Recipe #9 — Financial Aid & Scholarship Amounts

When to use this: Building a financial-aid report for the CFO, head of school, or board.

  1. Set the Term from the dropdown.
  2. Add: 'Enrollment Status' - 'New & Returning' - 'is currently' - 'Enrollment in Progress' AND 'Enrolled'.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click Change Display/Columns.
  5. Open the Tuition Assistance grouping and pull in fields like Financial Aid Awarded. Open the Scholarship grouping and pull in Scholarship Amount.
  6. Click Apply. 
  7. Optionally, re-open Change Display/Columns and choose List with Grouping to group by grade level or scholarship name.
  8. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 9 — Financial Aid & Scholarship Amounts.png

Recipe #10 — Tour / Event Attendee List with Contact Info

When to use this: Generating the day-of check-in list for tours and info sessions.

  1. If running a search for all students attending the event, select Current Term as the term. Otherwise, select a specific term.
  2. Add: 'Calendar Event' - select the calendar - ‘is scheduled’ - select a date range.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click Change Display/Columns and pull in the student and Parent 1 fields you need (name, email, phone, grade, term, sibling info).
  5. Click Apply.
  6. Save and/or Export.
Recipe 10 — Tour _ Event Attendee List with Contact Info.png

Bonus: Copying Saved Searches to Next Year's Term

During the summer months, schools ask: "How do I bring my saved searches into the new term?" Here is the one-stop answer.

Option A: Saved searches that don't filter on Term

If your saved search uses criteria that aren't tied to a specific term (e.g., Role = Former Student), the search will continue to work. No changes are needed unless you need to filter by a specific team; in that case, just update the Term dropdown at the top of the page when you run it. The saved search criteria don't need to be touched.

Option B: Saved searches that filter on Term

If your saved search includes a Term-specific criterion (e.g., Term = 2025-26), you have two choices:

  • Edit and re-save the existing search. Open the saved search, change the Term criterion to the new year, and click Save > Update this Search to overwrite. Name it clearly with the new year (Admissions - Applied but not Enrolled - 2026-27).
  • Clone the saved search. Open the saved search, click Save > Save as new, and give it a new name. Then update the Term criterion on the copy. This is the safer option if other team members still reference the old year's version.

Option C: Checklist-item searches

Checklist items are themselves term-scoped. If your saved search references a specific checklist item (e.g., Contract 2025-26), you'll need to update the criterion to point to the new term's checklist item. Use Save > Save as new to preserve the old version for historical reporting.

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