Managing applications in the adviser portal

We’ll be enhancing the adviser portal to improve your experience – we’ll let your UCAS correspondent know when improvements are available through our monthly newsletters.

‘Application management’ is where you:

• view applications
• view, add, and edit references and predicted grades
• delete and undelete applications
• approve references and applications
• send applications to UCAS

The permissions you've been set may restrict your access and ability to carry out individual actions.

Once your students have registered, you can view individual applications at any stage or start the reference. You do not have to wait until completion.

You can view your students by:

Student details

You can view a student’s details including:

• student’s first name
• student’s last name
• the date (in time order) the application was submitted to your centre
• the group the applicant is assigned to
• the earliest relevant UCAS deadline for the course choices
• the application status
• the reference status
• the applicant’s Personal ID
• payment option

The application statuses are:

• In progress
• Awaiting approval
• Returned to applicant
• Approved
• Sent
• Reference only

The reference statuses are:

• Not started
• In progress
• Awaiting approval
• Approved

You can filter and sort by any of the column headers to help you identify the information you need more easily.

Status

You can track the actions your centre has completed for an application. As a registered centre you must ensure these are completed before sending an application to UCAS.

Status view shows:

• application completed
• application approved
• predicted grades completed
• reference completed
• reference approved
• application sent to UCAS

You can filter by name or group in this section to help you find specific students more easily.

Section progress

This view enables you to monitor which sections of the application your students have completed. This can help you identify who needs more support, or a reminder.

You can filter by name or group to help you find specific students more easily.

You can view an individual application at any time by clicking anywhere in the row for that student.

Filter

‘Quick filters’ at the top of the screen help you manage applications. These show the number of applications waiting, in various statuses, that require an action to be taken.

These are:

• ready for review
• reference needs approval
• reference only application
• ready for reference
• ready to send
• waiting to link to centre
• reference in progress
• deleted applications

The ‘Waiting to link to centre’ quick filter automatically directs you to the ‘Centre management’ area. If you have the permission, from here you can accept or decline the request.

If you click through the different view options (student, status, and section progress) the filter(s) remain in place, while you have search criteria entered in a search box. To remove the filters, clear the search boxes.

Downloading application data

You can download the information on your ‘Application list’, in any view, to create an Excel spreadsheet containing real-time data. Use the filters to select the relevant information that you wish to download.

If you want to download data on all your applicants, make sure all filters are removed and any quick filters are unchecked before downloading.

Viewing individual applications

Click on a student’s name in the applications list to view their application details.

You can review the whole application or just choose to view individual sections such as education, personal statement or reference.

Use the adviser notes to set yourself reminders. If you are leaving notes for other staff members, it could be useful to put a date or initials next to it. These notes aren’t shared with the applicant, unless requested under the Data Protection Act 2018. They are not visible to universities or colleges.

For more information see our online training focused on Managing your applications pre-submission. 

Actions that can be carried out on an individual application differ depending on the application status.

The ‘Actions’ menu reflects those actions available on an application at any stage. For example, send to UCAS will not be actionable unless the references and application have been approved.

The following actions can be carried out:

Approve

An application should only be approved once it has been thoroughly checked, and you’re sure all the information is correct. Both the application and reference need to be approved before it’s ready to be sent to UCAS.

Unapprove

An application can be unapproved, allowing you to return it to the applicant for amendments.

Return to applicant

A pop-up will appear, for you to enter a message of up to 250 characters for the student. You can filter applications by the status ‘Returned to applicant’ in your application management list. When you return an application, the ‘Date submitted’ will become blank. When an applicant resubmits, it will be updated with the new date. If you return an application to be amended, the applicant will receive an email from UCAS to let them know they need to sign in to their application and check it.

Delete

The application will be deleted and will disappear from the application list. The student will no longer be able to sign in to their application.

Undelete

Deleted applications are stored and can be undeleted by staff with relevant permissions.

Send to UCAS

The application will be submitted to UCAS for processing. The application history will be updated to reflect who did this, and when. You can’t send an application to UCAS until the application and reference is approved.

Save PDF

This enables you to save a copy of the application as a PDF, either with a reference, without a reference or as a reference only.

Reset password

Although students can reset their own passwords, if you have appropriate permissions, you can also change it for them.