Overview
Product Learning Session 8 (PLS-8) teaches you how to manage housing applications and assignments—the core operational workflows that turn approved applicants into assigned residents. This session covers reviewing applications, making manual assignments, running auto-assignment with rulesets, and managing residency changes throughout the housing cycle.
Who this is for: Housing directors, assignment managers, residence life staff, and anyone responsible for processing applications and managing room assignments.
What you'll accomplish: Learn how to review and approve applications, assign students to beds manually using multiple methods, run automated assignment workflows, and manage ongoing residency changes including cancellations, transfers, and swaps.
Duration: 90 minutes (5 modules of approximately 15-20 minutes each)
From Building to Operating: In PLS-6, you built YOUR housing cycle. In PLS-7, you tested it from the student perspective. In PLS-8, you'll learn how to operate your cycle day-to-day—processing the applications students submit and managing their housing assignments throughout the term.
Session Modules
PLS-8 is broken into five focused modules. Complete them in order to build comprehensive understanding of application and assignment management.
PLS-8A: Understanding the Assignment Lifecycle
Understand how students move from applicant to resident, learn all application and residency statuses, and see how the assignment workflow connects to everything you built in previous sessions.
Key concepts: Application lifecycle, residency lifecycle, 8 application statuses, 9 residency statuses, how forms and tags drive the process
Time: 15 minutes
PLS-8B: Reviewing & Approving Applications
Learn how to navigate the Applications section, filter and search for submissions, review form responses and tags, approve or deny applications, manage waitlists, and perform bulk operations.
Key concepts: Applications table navigation, viewing form responses, approval workflows, denial reasons, waitlist management, bulk approval, exporting data
Time: 15 minutes
PLS-8C: Manual Assignment Methods
Master the three methods for manually assigning students to beds, understand when to use each approach, and learn the critical distinction between assigning individuals versus assigning roommate groups.
Key concepts: Assignment from resident detail page, assignment from occupancy graph, assignment from inventory, individual vs. group assignment workflows, bed selection and confirmation
Time: 20 minutes
PLS-8D: Auto-Assignment Workflow
Learn how to use Housing.Cloud's powerful auto-assignment feature to automatically match approved applicants with compatible room assignments using YOUR rulesets. Understand algorithms, building priorities, match confidence scores, and the complete review and finalization process.
Key concepts: Auto-assignment setup, algorithm selection (Standard vs. Experimental), building priority configuration, roommate group preferences, processing workflow, assignment confidence scores, reviewing and accepting proposals, handling failed assignments, finalization
Time: 25 minutes
PLS-8E: Managing Residency Changes
Learn how to handle mid-cycle changes including canceling residencies, transferring students between rooms, swapping residents, and understanding when to use each operation. Master the workflows that keep your occupancy accurate throughout the term.
Key concepts: Cancel vs. Check-Out vs. Transfer vs. Swap, canceling residencies with refunds and proration, changing beds, swapping residents between occupied rooms, managing financial impacts, when to use each operation
Time: 20 minutes
Learning Path
We recommend completing the modules in order:
PLS-8A: Understanding the Assignment Lifecycle - Foundation of how applications become assignments
PLS-8B: Reviewing & Approving Applications - Processing application submissions
PLS-8C: Manual Assignment Methods - Hands-on assignment techniques
PLS-8D: Auto-Assignment Workflow - Automated matching and assignment
PLS-8E: Managing Residency Changes - Ongoing residency management
Each module takes approximately 15-25 minutes to complete. You can complete them all in one 90-minute session or spread them across multiple sessions based on your team's needs.
Prerequisites
Before starting PLS-8, you should complete:
PLS-0: What is Housing.Cloud - System overview
PLS-1: System Navigation & Core Concepts - Admin portal navigation
PLS-2: Understanding Your Housing Data - Profiles, applications, residents, and inventory
PLS-3: Introduction to Housing Cycles - Understanding cycles
PLS-4: Tags & Rulesets - Creating tags and matching logic
PLS-5: Building Forms - Application and bio forms
PLS-6: Creating YOUR Housing Cycle - Assembling your production cycle
PLS-7: The Complete Housing Selection Journey - Testing from student perspective
Why Prerequisites Matter: PLS-8 assumes you've built and tested YOUR cycle. You'll be reviewing applications submitted through YOUR forms, using YOUR tags to filter and organize, and running auto-assignment with YOUR rulesets. Everything you learned in PLS 3-7 comes together here.
Key Takeaways
After completing PLS-8, you'll understand:
The complete journey from application submission to residency assignment
All 8 application statuses and when to use each
All 9 residency statuses and what triggers each
How to review applications and see form responses and tags
How to approve, deny, or waitlist applications individually and in bulk
Three methods for manually assigning students to beds
The critical difference between individual and group assignments
How to run auto-assignment using YOUR rulesets
What assignment confidence scores mean and how to interpret them
How to review, accept, or reject auto-assignment proposals
When to cancel vs. check-out vs. transfer vs. swap a residency
How to cancel residencies with proper refunds and proration
How to change beds and swap residents between occupied rooms
How residency operations impact billing and occupancy
Operating YOUR Cycle: After PLS-8, you'll have the operational skills to manage applications and assignments throughout your housing cycle. You'll know how to process hundreds of applications efficiently, make both manual and automated assignments, and handle the inevitable mid-cycle changes that come with managing student housing.
What's Next: Finance Operations
After completing PLS-8, you'll move into financial operations and transaction management:
PLS-9: Finance Operations & Transactions
Learn how to manage charge codes, view and track financial transactions, generate billing reports, and monitor SIS integration sync for accurate billing.
The Journey So Far: You built forms (PLS-5), assembled your cycle (PLS-6), tested the student experience (PLS-7), and now you know how to manage applications and assignments (PLS-8). Next, you'll learn how to manage the financial side of housing operations.
Common Questions
What's the difference between approving an application and assigning a bed?
Approving an application changes the status to "Approved" and makes the student eligible for assignment. Assigning a bed creates an actual residency record with a specific room and bed. Think of approval as "yes, you can have housing" and assignment as "here's your specific room."
Should I use manual assignment or auto-assignment?
Use manual assignment when you have specific placement needs, special circumstances, or small numbers (under 20 students). Use auto-assignment for large batches where your rulesets can efficiently match students based on compatibility, preferences, and inventory rules. Many schools use both—auto-assign the bulk, then manually handle special cases.
What happens if I cancel a residency by mistake?
Canceling a residency is permanent and cannot be undone. If you cancel by mistake, you'll need to create a new assignment for the student. Always double-check before confirming a cancellation. If you just need to move a student to a different room, use "Change Bed" or "Swap Residency" instead.
When should I use Cancel vs. Check-Out?
Use Cancel when a student is leaving housing entirely before their contract ends (withdraws, moves off-campus). Cancel updates the end date and frees the bed. Use Check-Out when a student departs at the natural end of their contract term. Check-Out logs the departure but keeps the original contract dates.
Can I assign students to a cycle that hasn't started yet?
Yes! You can assign students to future cycles. The residency status will be "Assigned" until the cycle start date arrives. This is normal and expected—you'll typically assign students weeks or months before move-in.
Getting Help
If you have questions while learning about application and assignment management:
Review specific modules: Revisit the module article that covers the concept you're working with
Ask your trainer: Bring questions to your live PLS-8 training session
Contact your implementation team: Schedule office hours for assignment workflow support
Submit a support ticket: Include specific questions about application statuses or assignment procedures
Additional Resources
Product Learning Homework: Try It Yourself Exercises (PLS-0 through PLS-8.5) - Complete PLS-8 homework
Product Learning Session Framework: Complete Onboarding Structure - Full PLS roadmap
Application Status Definitions - Complete reference for all application statuses
Residency Status Definitions - Complete reference for all residency statuses
When to Cancel, Move Out, Change, or Transfer a Residency - Decision guide for residency operations