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PLS-5 Homework: Try It Yourself Exercises

Overview

This guide provides structured homework exercises for PLS-5: Building Forms for Applications & Roommate Matching. Complete these hands-on activities in your sandbox environment to reinforce the concepts covered in training and prepare for PLS-6 where you'll attach these forms to your production housing cycle.

Who this is for: Super admins, application managers, and anyone responsible for creating forms during Housing.Cloud implementation.

How to use this guide: Complete all exercises after your PLS-5 training session and before attending PLS-6. Use your sandbox environment for safe practice. Bring completed forms and questions to your next training session.

Estimated time: 120-180 minutes

Why Homework Matters: Building forms is a hands-on skill. Reading about the form builder isn't enough—you need to practice creating sections, adding questions, configuring tags, and testing conditional logic. These exercises ensure you're ready to build production forms for your go-live cycle.

Before You Begin

Ensure you have:

  • Sandbox access: Your institution's sandbox environment

  • Admin credentials: Login with form builder permissions

  • PLS-4 tags created: You should have tag categories and tags from PLS-4 homework (Sleep Schedule, Study Habits, Class Year, etc.)

  • Application questions list: Your institution's housing application questions drafted

  • Notebook: For documenting questions and observations

Permissions Required: manageForms permission to create and publish forms. If you can't access Setup → Forms, contact your super admin.

Exercise 1: Build a Complete Housing Application Form

Goal: Create a production-ready housing application with at least 15 questions across 5 sections

Estimated time: 60 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Navigate to Setup → Forms → Applications tab

  2. Click + New Form → Create New Form

  3. Name your form: "Test Housing Application - Fall 2025"

Section 1: Personal Information

Add section named "Personal Information" and create these questions:

  1. Element: TEXT

    • Question: "Preferred name (if different from legal name)"

    • Required: No

  2. Element: TEXT

    • Question: "Preferred email address"

    • Required: Yes

  3. Element: TEXT

    • Question: "Phone number"

    • Required: Yes

Section 2: Housing Preferences

Add section named "Housing Preferences" and create these questions:

  1. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "Preferred room type"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • Single → Tag: "Room Preference: Single"

      • Double → Tag: "Room Preference: Double"

      • Triple → Tag: "Room Preference: Triple"

      • Suite → Tag: "Room Preference: Suite"

  2. Element: INV_PREFERENCES

    • Question: "Building preferences"

    • Required: No

    • Configuration: Show buildings (Yes), Show room types (No)

  3. Element: CHECKS

    • Question: "Which amenities are important to you? (Select all that apply)"

    • Required: No

    • Choices:

      • Air conditioning → Tag: "Amenity Preference: AC"

      • Private bathroom → Tag: "Amenity Preference: Private Bath"

      • Study lounge → Tag: "Amenity Preference: Study Lounge"

      • Quiet hours → Tag: "Amenity Preference: Quiet"

Section 3: Roommate Matching

Add section named "Roommate Matching" and create these questions:

  1. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "What's your preferred sleep schedule?"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • Early Riser (5-7am wakeup) → Tag: "Sleep Schedule: Early Riser"

      • Night Owl (11pm-1am bedtime) → Tag: "Sleep Schedule: Night Owl"

      • Flexible → Tag: "Sleep Schedule: Flexible"

  2. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "Study environment preference"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • Quiet study environment → Tag: "Study Habits: Quiet"

      • Background noise is fine → Tag: "Study Habits: Background Noise OK"

      • Flexible → Tag: "Study Habits: Flexible"

  3. Element: RANGE

    • Question: "How important is cleanliness to you?"

    • Required: Yes

    • Options: Not important, Somewhat important, Very important

Section 4: Special Needs and Accommodations

Add section named "Special Needs and Accommodations" and create these questions:

  1. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "Do you have any accessibility needs?"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • Yes → Tag: "Accessibility Required"

      • No

  2. Element: TEXT (textarea)

    • Question: "Please describe your accessibility needs in detail"

    • Required: Yes

    • Condition: Include when "Accessibility Required" (this question only appears if student answered "Yes" above)

  3. Element: FILE

    • Question: "Upload supporting documentation (optional)"

    • Required: No

    • Condition: Include when "Accessibility Required"

Section 5: Additional Information

Add section named "Additional Information" and create these questions:

  1. Element: TEXT (textarea)

    • Question: "Is there anything else we should know about your housing preferences or needs?"

    • Required: No

  2. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "How did you hear about on-campus housing?"

    • Required: No

    • Choices: Website, Orientation, Friend, Email, Social Media, Other

Finalize and Publish

  1. Review all sections and questions for typos and clarity

  2. Click Preview to test the student experience

  3. Test conditional logic: Verify accessibility questions appear only when "Yes" is selected

  4. Open Form Settings sidebar and verify form type is set to Application

  5. Click Publish

  6. Confirm publication

Completion Checkpoint: You've successfully completed Exercise 1 when you have a published housing application form with 15+ questions across 5 sections, conditional logic on accessibility questions, and tags configured for room and roommate preferences.

Exercise 2: Build a Roommate Bio/Questionnaire Form

Goal: Create a roommate questionnaire that collects compatibility information for matching

Estimated time: 45 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Navigate to Setup → Forms → Student Questionnaire tab

  2. Click + New Form → Create New Form

  3. Name your form: "Roommate Finder Questionnaire 2025"

Section 1: About You (All questions in one section)

  1. Element: TEXT (textarea)

    • Question: "Tell us about yourself - interests, hobbies, what makes you unique"

    • Required: Yes

    • Description: "This will appear in your public profile for other students to read"

  2. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "Sleep schedule"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • Early Riser → Tag: "Sleep Schedule: Early Riser"

      • Night Owl → Tag: "Sleep Schedule: Night Owl"

      • Flexible → Tag: "Sleep Schedule: Flexible"

  3. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "Study habits"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • I need quiet to study → Tag: "Study Habits: Quiet"

      • Background noise is fine → Tag: "Study Habits: Background Noise OK"

      • Flexible → Tag: "Study Habits: Flexible"

  4. Element: RADIO

    • Question: "Cleanliness level"

    • Required: Yes

    • Choices:

      • Very neat and organized → Tag: "Cleanliness: Very Neat"

      • Moderately tidy → Tag: "Cleanliness: Moderate"

      • Flexible / Not a priority → Tag: "Cleanliness: Flexible"

  5. Element: CHECKS

    • Question: "Interests and hobbies (select all that apply)"

    • Required: No

    • Choices:

      • Sports and fitness → Tag: "Interest: Sports"

      • Music and performing arts → Tag: "Interest: Music"

      • Gaming → Tag: "Interest: Gaming"

      • Reading and writing → Tag: "Interest: Reading"

      • Socializing and events → Tag: "Interest: Social"

      • Outdoor activities → Tag: "Interest: Outdoors"

  6. Element: RANGE

    • Question: "How often do you have friends visit?"

    • Required: Yes

    • Options: Rarely, Occasionally, Frequently

  7. Element: SOCIAL_LINK

    • Question: "Instagram handle (optional - helps roommates connect)"

    • Required: No

Finalize and Publish

  1. Preview the form to verify all questions display correctly

  2. Verify all tags are assigned to choices

  3. Check that form type is set to Student Questionnaire in Form Settings

  4. Click Publish

Mark Tags as Public: For bio form tags to appear in the Roommate Finder, they must be marked "public" in tag configuration (covered in PLS-4). Verify your Sleep Schedule, Study Habits, Cleanliness, and Interest tags are all public so students can browse compatible roommates.

Exercise 3: Add Conditional Logic to Your Application

Goal: Practice creating conditional questions that appear based on previous answers

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Open your "Test Housing Application - Fall 2025" form created in Exercise 1

  2. If already published, click In Progress to unpublish it (only possible if not attached to a cycle yet)

  3. Navigate to Section 2: Housing Preferences

  4. Add a new conditional question after "Preferred room type"

New Conditional Question

Element: TEXT (textarea)

  • Question: "You selected a single room. Please explain why you prefer to live alone."

  • Required: No

  • Condition: Include when "Room Preference: Single"

What this does: This question only appears if the student selected "Single" as their preferred room type in the earlier question.

Add a Second Conditional

In Section 3: Roommate Matching, add:

Element: TEXT (textarea)

  • Question: "You're an early riser! What time do you typically wake up, and do you need a quiet morning routine?"

  • Required: No

  • Condition: Include when "Sleep Schedule: Early Riser"

Test Your Conditionals

  1. Click Preview

  2. Fill out the form as a test student

  3. Select "Single" for room type → verify the single room question appears

  4. Go back and change to "Double" → verify the single room question disappears

  5. Select "Early Riser" for sleep schedule → verify the early riser question appears

  6. Change to "Night Owl" → verify the question disappears

  7. Exit preview

  8. Republish the form if you unpublished it

Exercise 4: Build an Additional Form

Goal: Create a standalone Additional form for a special request or survey

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Choose a Use Case

Pick one of these scenarios (or create your own):

  • Summer Storage Request Form

  • Late Check-In Request Form

  • Mid-Year Housing Satisfaction Survey

  • Room Change Request Form

Build the Form (Example: Summer Storage Request)

  1. Navigate to Setup → Forms → Additional Forms tab

  2. Click + New Form → Create New Form

  3. Name: "Summer 2025 Storage Request"

  4. Add section: "Storage Information"

  5. Create questions:

    1. DROPDOWN: "How many boxes do you need to store?" (1-2, 3-5, 6-10, More than 10)

    2. TEXT (textarea): "List the contents of your storage items"

    3. RADIO: "Preferred storage location" (Campus warehouse, Off-site facility, No preference)

    4. TEXT: "Emergency contact phone number"

    5. DATE: "When will you drop off your items?"

  6. Set form type to Additional in Form Settings

  7. Publish the form

Create a Shareable Link

  1. On the Additional Forms list page, find your published form

  2. Click the share icon

  3. Mark as Optional

  4. Set due date: May 1, 2025

  5. Click Create Link

  6. Link is copied to clipboard

  7. Save the link in a document for reference

Exercise 5: Duplicate and Modify a Form

Goal: Practice using form duplication to save time

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Navigate to Setup → Forms → Applications

  2. Click + New Form dropdown

  3. Select Copy existing form

  4. Modal appears: select your "Test Housing Application - Fall 2025" form

  5. Click Copy

  6. Cloned form opens in form builder with status "In Progress"

  7. Rename the form to "Test Housing Application - Spring 2026"

  8. Make a modification:

    • Change one question text

    • Add one new question to any section

    • Remove one optional question

  9. Preview the modified form

  10. Publish (or save as draft for now)

Duplication Saves Time: When creating application forms for new cycles (Fall → Spring → Fall), duplicate the previous cycle's form and make minor adjustments rather than rebuilding from scratch. This ensures consistency across cycles while allowing for yearly updates.

Exercise 6: Test Form Preview with Tags

Goal: Master form preview and tag testing

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Open your "Test Housing Application - Fall 2025" form

  2. Click Preview

  3. In the preview panel on the left, click + Add Profile Tag

  4. Add tag "Class Year: First-Year"

  5. Verify any questions with conditions based on this tag appear

  6. Start filling out the form as a student

  7. Watch the Assigned Tags section populate as you answer questions

  8. Verify conditional questions appear/disappear as you select different answers

  9. Test multiple scenarios:

    • Select "Single" room → verify conditional question appears

    • Change to "Double" → verify question disappears

    • Select "Yes" for accessibility needs → verify follow-up questions appear

    • Change to "No" → verify follow-up questions disappear

  10. Complete the form and click through to the end

  11. Click Confirm when prompted (responses during preview are not saved)

  12. Exit preview

Exercise 7: View and Export Form Responses

Goal: Practice analyzing form response data

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Prerequisite: You need at least 3-5 test responses to practice viewing. If your sandbox doesn't have sample application responses yet, submit 3-5 test applications as different students using your published form before starting this exercise.

Summary View

  1. Navigate to Setup → Forms → Applications

  2. Click the response count for your "Test Housing Application - Fall 2025" form

  3. Default view is Summary

  4. Review aggregate statistics for each question:

    • How many students selected each room type?

    • What percentage prefer early vs late sleep schedules?

    • How many students indicated accessibility needs?

  5. Toggle to Tags Assigned view to see which tags were applied how many times

Individual View

  1. Click the Individual tab

  2. See list of all students who submitted applications

  3. Click on a student name

  4. Review their complete response with all questions and answers

  5. Click through 2-3 different students to compare responses

  6. Use filters to find students with specific characteristics:

    • Filter by "Accessibility Required" tag

    • Filter by submission date range

Spreadsheet View and Export

  1. Click the Spreadsheet tab

  2. Review the table format with students as rows and questions as columns

  3. Click Filters button

  4. Add a filter: "Preferred room type" = "Double"

  5. Verify table now shows only students who selected doubles

  6. Click Export button

  7. Select CSV format

  8. Click Export

  9. Wait for email notification with download link

  10. Download and open the CSV in Excel or Google Sheets

  11. Verify all filtered data exported correctly

Exercise 8: Build a Task Form

Goal: Create a task form for maintenance requests

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Navigate to Setup → Forms → Tasks tab

  2. Click + New Form → Create New Form

  3. Name: "Maintenance Request Form"

  4. Add ONE section only (remember: task forms don't support pagination)

  5. Section name: "Maintenance Details"

  6. Add questions:

    1. RADIO: "What type of issue are you reporting?" (Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Furniture, Other)

    2. DROPDOWN: "How urgent is this issue?" (Emergency - safety risk, Urgent - impacting daily life, Normal priority, Low priority)

    3. TEXT (textarea): "Please describe the issue in detail"

    4. FILE: "Upload a photo of the issue (optional)"

  7. Set form type to Tasks in Form Settings

  8. Publish

Remember: One Section Only: Do not add multiple sections to task forms. Task forms don't support pagination, so only the first section will display to users. Keep task forms simple and single-page.

Bring to PLS-6

After completing all exercises, you should have:

  • ✓ Published housing application form with 15+ questions across 5 sections

  • ✓ Conditional logic configured and tested on accessibility questions

  • ✓ Tags assigned to room preference, sleep schedule, and study habit questions

  • ✓ Published roommate bio form with 7+ compatibility questions

  • ✓ All bio form tags marked as public for Roommate Finder visibility

  • ✓ One Additional form created with shareable link generated

  • ✓ Duplicated form for next cycle (Spring 2026) with modifications

  • ✓ Form preview tested with multiple tag scenarios

  • ✓ Form responses viewed in all three views (Summary, Individual, Spreadsheet)

  • ✓ Response data exported to CSV

  • ✓ Task form created with one section

  • ✓ List of questions for future forms documented

  • ✓ Notes on any challenges or questions encountered

Forms Complete: You've successfully built the application form and bio form your housing cycle needs! In PLS-6, you'll attach these forms to your production cycle along with the tags and rulesets you created in PLS-4.

Troubleshooting Common Homework Issues

Cannot Publish Form

Possible causes:

  • Section name is blank (validation error appears)

  • Question text is blank

  • Form type is not selected

Solution: Review all sections and questions for blank fields. Fill in all required fields and try publishing again.

Conditional Question Not Appearing in Preview

Possible causes:

  • Required tags haven't been triggered yet (answer the earlier question first)

  • Wrong tag selected in condition (check tag names match exactly)

  • Using exclusion logic when you meant inclusion (or vice versa)

Solution: In preview, manually add the required tag using "+ Add Profile Tag" to test if the question appears. If it appears with manual tag but not from form answers, check that the earlier question is correctly configured to add that tag.

Too Many Tags Applied

Symptom: Student has multiple tags from the same exclusive category

Cause: Tag category is not configured as "exclusive" in tag settings

Solution: Navigate to Setup → Tags, edit the tag category, and mark it as "Exclusive" so only one tag from that category can be active at a time.

Cannot Unpublish Form

Symptom: "In Progress" button is disabled or missing

Cause: Form is actively in use (attached to a housing cycle with applications, or sent to students with pending responses)

Solution: You cannot unpublish forms that are in use. Archive the form and create a new version if you need to make changes.

What's Next: PLS-6

You've completed PLS-5 homework! You now have:

  • Tags and rulesets (from PLS-4)

  • Application and bio forms (from PLS-5)

In PLS-6, you'll take these building blocks and assemble them into YOUR production housing cycle, ready for student applications and room selection.

Continue to: PLS-6: Creating Your Housing Cycle

Need Help?

If you encounter issues while completing homework exercises:

  • Review module articles: Revisit PLS-5A through PLS-5E for step-by-step guidance

  • Check existing help articles: Create a Form, Preview a Form

  • Ask your implementation team: Bring questions to your next PLS session

  • Submit a support ticket: Include which exercise you're attempting and specific error messages

When contacting support, include:

  • Which PLS-5 exercise you're attempting (e.g., "Exercise 3: Conditional Logic")

  • Specific step where you encountered an issue

  • Screenshots showing what you see vs what you expect

  • Error messages (if any)

  • Your role and permissions in the system

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