Slate Form Management

Purpose

To ensure consistency, efficiency and accuracy across all Slate forms used for marketing and recruitment, the Division of Marketing & Communications (MarComm), Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC), Graduate School and Center for International Education (CIE) have established a formal structure for form ownership, setup and maintenance. 

Slate Form Management 

Responsibility for Slate form management includes the following activities, which ensure forms remain accurate, functional and aligned with institutional needs. 

  • Initial setup and configuration of forms 
  • Ongoing maintenance and end-of-life archiving 
  • Review of form fields at least annually, with more frequent reviews as needed
  • Updates to fields with overrides of system prompts 
  • Creation and maintenance of confirmation emails 
  • Creation and maintenance of redirects 

The following table outlines form management responsibilities. 

Slate Forms Folder Responsible Unit Comments 
Marketing landing pages  MarComm
School/College Request for Information Forms MarComm
Academic Short RFI Forms  MarComm
MarComm Sponsored Events MarComm
Dual Enrollment  Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC) 
Orientation  Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC) 
OSEC Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC) 
Slate Captions Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC) 
Undergraduate Admissions Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC) 
Undergraduate Recruitment Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC) 
Graduate School Events Graduate School 
Graduate School Graduate School 
International Education Center for International Education 
Reader review No manager required. Subfolders managed by OSEC, Graduate School and CIE.  Reader forms are used to process applications.  
School/college event and unit-specific special needs forms No manager required. Schools/colleges will manage their own forms/items.  OSEC will review items in this folder periodically and do outreach if it seems like one needs to be retired. 
Templates No manager required. Subfolders managed by OSEC, Graduate School and CIE. 
Virtual Tour MarComm
Widgets No manager required. Subfolders managed by OSEC, Graduate School and CIE. 
Reply forms No manager required. Subfolders managed by OSEC, Graduate School and CIE. 

Form Creation 

Use System Prompts 

When creating or editing Slate forms, form owners must use system prompts for all standard fields. 

  • What they do: System prompts contain default categories and values (e.g., program names, entry terms). 
  • Why they matter: Using system prompts ensures uniformity among forms and allows global updates—when a value changes, all connected forms are updated automatically. 
  • Benefits: 
    • Reduces manual work when terms or programs change 
    • Improves data consistency across inquiries 
    • Ensures accuracy in reporting and list management 

Use Prompt Conditions to Customize 

Form managers should use prompt conditions to customize the values that show up in fields. For example, they may do this to have only certain majors or programs appear on a form.  

Form managers should use prompt conditions sparingly and only when there is a clear marketing need. When used, the form manager is responsible for reviewing the prompt conditions each semester and making sure they still serve their purpose. 

Prompt Overrides 

Prompt overrides are not permitted. Use prompt conditions instead to customize form fields. 

Screening for International Inquiries 

The Center for International Education has requested that all new RFI/Web forms include this question: Do you need a student visa to study at UWM? Inclusion will allow UWM to identify students who should go into a comm flow for international students. 

Existing forms do not need to be retrofitted with this question, but if a form is being updated, please use the opportunity to add the question.

Form Fields 

Undergrad Required Fields 

These fields must be used on all undergraduate forms: 

  • First Name 
  • Last Name 
  • DOB 
  • Student Type 
  • Term 
  • Program 
  • Email 
  • Campus (hidden) 

Undergrad Preferred Fields 

When possible, add these fields to undergraduate forms: 

  • Phone (with phone comes the opt-in/out question about text and AI outreach) 
  • Address 

Graduate Required Fields 

These fields must be used on all undergraduate forms: 

  • First Name 
  • Last Name 
  • Email 
  • Student Type 
  • Term 
  • Graduate Program of Interest 

Graduate Preferred Fields 

When possible, add these fields to graduate forms: 

  • Preferred Name 

Fields That Should Not Be Used on Graduate Forms

  • DOB 

Confirmation Emails

All prospective students should receive some type of confirmation when they submit a form. Ideally, they would be redirected to a web page that confirms their submission and they would receive a confirmation email. 

Some programs use a Day 0 email instead of a confirmation email. This approach creates a risk: if a form is submitted during a specific window, no email is sent. Unless there is a clear need for a Day 0 email, programs should use a confirmation email. 

Confirmation emails should be separated for graduate and undergraduate audiences. Content should be broad enough to apply to students interested in any of the programs listed on the page. 

As a best practice, have graduate confirmation emails reviewed by the graduate recruitment lead in the Graduate School Office of Graduate Education (Elizabeth Farrow). Submit a ticket to have undergraduate confirmation emails reviewed by the Office of Student Enrollment Communications. 

Admin Notifications 

As a best practice, update the admin notify email field so form submissions trigger an alert for someone who can follow up personally. This may be a recruiter, program director or another staff member knowledgeable about the program and able to provide 1:1 outreach. 

If you need separate notifications for undergraduate and graduate submissions, use the Edit Conditions function in the confirmation emails to set up notifications. 

Ongoing Form Maintenance 

Annual Form Audit 

MarComm’s Web team will conduct an annual audit of uwm.edu to create/update an index of active Slate forms. It will document web page locations in the Slate notes field. 

Annual Form Review

Managing units should review forms within their purview at least annually, retiring those no longer in use and updating any form fields with prompt conditions as needed. 

Annual Confirmation Email Review

Form managers should review confirmation emails at least annually and update them as needed. Rich content (photos, video) in confirmation emails should be no more than three years old.  

For photos, use the date the photo was take to determine its age. As a best practice, note the date the photo was taken in the file description before uploading to Slate. 

For videos, use the date it was uploaded to YouTube to determine its age. 

Requests for Form Updates

Submit a ticket using the MarComm Intake Form for updates to Slate forms managed by MarComm. 

For forms managed by Office of Student Enrollment Communications (OSEC), submit a ticket using their intake form. 

For updates to forms managed by the Graduate School, email Elizabeth Farrow at farrow@uwm.edu. 

Communicating About Form Updates 

When forms are updated, the changes should be communicated to the following individuals: 

Undergrad-only Forms 

  • Assistant Director, Office of Student Enrollment Communications (Blake Pogrant) 
  • Marketing Specialist, Center for International Education (Stephanie Wilke) 
  • Appropriate school/college marketing lead(s) 

Grad-only Forms 

  • Graduate Recruitment Lead, Graduate School Office of Graduate Education (Elizabeth Farrow) 
  • Marketing Specialist, Center for International Education (Stephanie Wilke) 
  • Appropriate school/college marketing lead(s) 

Grad/Undergrad Forms 

  • Assistant Director, Office of Student Enrollment Communications (Blake Pogrant) 
  • Graduate Recruitment Lead, Graduate School Office of Graduate Education (Elizabeth Farrow) 
  • Marketing Specialist, Center for International Education (Stephanie Wilke) 
  • Appropriate school/college marketing lead(s) 

Retiring Forms 

Forms no longer in use will be set to tentative and archived.  

Summary 

These guidelines aim to balance efficiency with flexibility:

  • Using system prompts standardizes and simplifies form maintenance across all university marketing forms. 
  • Using prompt conditions to customize on a limited basis ensures that specialized marketing needs can still be met. 
  • Establishing clear form ownership and audit processes keeps forms accurate and up to date, improving the user experience and the quality of inquiry data.