When Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 (PCCSD) migrated its website to a new hosting provider in 2023, all of the district’s online forms vanished. Suddenly, urgent administrative tasks were impossible to complete. The timing made matters worse: It was the middle of the school year, during a holiday weekend, with students set to return in just a few days.
Justin Van, the district’s newly promoted web director, found himself at the center of the crisis. “My boss basically said, ‘We need a solution now. We don’t have time to code stuff. Go find a solution.’ ”
The scramble led Van to Jotform Enterprise. Using its no-code, drag-and-drop tools, he got vital workflows up and running quickly.
Now, Jotform Enterprise is an essential part of operations at the fifth-largest school district in Illinois. Nearly every online form Van creates with Jotform Enterprise has its own approval flow. Administrators have complete visibility into incoming data, and overall things are easier and more productive for staff.
“All our issues were basically solved,” says Van.
Plainfield Community Consolidated School District case study results at a glance
3 hours to automate a state-mandated process
PCCSD staff built a new concussion protocol form and an associated complex approval flow using Jotform Workflows.
14 new forms and workflows created in 1 week
Using Jotform Enterprise, PCCSD’s web director was able to replace all of the district’s old forms and workflows in less than one week.
Complete 5 tasks with the click of 1 button
Almost all of PCCSD’s forms have an accompanying approval workflow that saves countless hours of administrative time each year.
Mid-year breakdown
When PCCSD’s online forms vanished, 25,000-plus students and staff were left without access to vital forms and workflows. Van had just accepted his new role as web director, and disaster met him at the door.
“We had an in-house coded website and were switching to a website management company,” Van explains. “Once we flipped the switch, there was some stuff that just broke, database wise, including form solutions.”
The most immediate concern was a concussion protocol form. It’s a document that’s required by the state, so having it on hand was essential.
“It was an approval form,” Van says. “It shut off and everybody’s like, ‘We need this on, like now.’ ”
After crowdsourcing solutions and researching available tools, Van enlisted Jotform Enterprise. In just three hours, he built a new concussion protocol form and a complex approval flow with Jotform Workflows.
All our issues were basically solved.
Justin Van, Web Director, Plainfield Community Consolidated School District
His first problem was solved in short order, and he continued automating various processes district wide, doing his best to complete as many workflows as possible before school was back in session. Van started creating new forms and workflows on Monday, before students returned on Tuesday. Before the week was over, he’d replaced all of the forms and linked them to the district’s new website.
A flurry of workflows
Van started building workflows, solving registration issues and easily gathering data whenever the need arose.
“I started using Jotform for 15 different issues I needed to solve, like registration and data management,” he says. “The majority of our forms have some kind of workflow to them.”
Van says the most intricate workflow he’s created is for Pre-K and summer school registration. The approval involves 30 different stakeholders and automatically pushes the process forward while keeping staff members in the loop.
Another approval flow — for out-of-district students who want to attend PCCSD dances — has been a big hit, prompting other districts to ask Van, “What do you use to do this?”
Once the dance request form is submitted, the submission is routed based on which dance the student wants to attend. Upon gaining approval from the appropriate district dean, the approved submission is sent to the student, their parents, and the student’s school district via automatic email.
Jotform Enterprise solves issues. It makes people’s jobs easier. If I press a button, it does five things. Why wouldn’t I want that?
Justin Van, Web Director, Plainfield Community Consolidated School District
PCCSD uses Jotform’s Google Sheets and Google Drive integrations to send approved form submissions into a sheet and store it in the organization’s Google Drive. Since the dance approval form requires a student ID, school officials can use submission data on the night of the big dance to confirm registration.
“School staff at the dance are in their Google Drive making sure the IDs match up and sending the kids in,” Van says. PCCSD uses the Google Sheets integration on nearly every form. “It’s a place for all of our teachers or staff members to go and see quick results. So they like it.”
Van can create workflows quickly thanks to Jotform’s ease of use.
“It’s just drag and drop. Even if there’s something I can’t figure out with the workflow, I usually Google it and somebody has asked a similar question. I’m always on your YouTube channel too, clicking through the instructional videos.”
PCCSD also takes advantage of dedicated support from Jotform Enterprise. “Your support is the best. And I’ve never had any issues server-wise.”
Happy administrators
When PCCSD encountered form issues, Van says, “We didn’t have time for a huge consulting firm bringing in outside companies. We just needed a quick solution that we could use in-house.”
Now that Jotform Enterprise is a vital tool for Van and his district, quick solutions are the norm at PCCSD.
“Jotform Enterprise makes life easier for administration. If they need data from me, I can spin up a quick form, send it out, and then they get their data within minutes in a spreadsheet. That makes them happy.
“Suppose you need a principal to approve something, just create a Jotform really quick. It’s super easy to make, you get your data quickly, and it does what you want.”
Some district staff still use other form services, but Van says he’s encouraging the entire district to use Jotform.
“I like to call it Google Forms on steroids. If you just need to collect email addresses and phone numbers, nothing crazy, use a Google form. If you want a step above that, like approvals, I’m pushing people toward Jotform.”
Van has built a workflow for the technology department’s vacation requests. He predicts it will save his assistant 25 minutes of busywork each time someone submits a request. Instead of scanning a paper form and emailing it to the appropriate people, posting the days off on a calendar, and uploading the information to the site, Van says, “Now she’ll just click a button to upload it to the site and she’s done.”
It makes people’s jobs easier
Van has led PCCSD from a holiday crisis to eliminating paper workflows. Solutions are quick, administrators are happy, and data is secure and easy to view. It’s no wonder Van is excited about his vacation request workflow.
“We request the dates off. It goes to my boss. He hits Approve. It goes back to me. It shoots a screenshot that gets sent to so and so. And it adds to the Google Calendar, all by hitting Approve. And I’m like, ‘We just did all of this by pressing one button.’
“That’s why I like it. Jotform Enterprise solves issues. It makes people’s jobs easier. If I press a button, it does five things. Why wouldn’t I want that?”
Want to explore similar benefits for your organization? Learn more about Jotform Enterprise’s education solutions, and discover how you can transform your school, department, or district.
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