Revised 11/20/2025
GOapply for Third-Party Responses Administrative Guide
- Member of the GOmanager Security Group to create and edit GOmanager Forms
- GOapply Administrator Security Role to update Phases
- akoyaGO Administrator (no accounting) OR akoyaGO with Accounting Administrator Security Role to edit out-of-the-box Email Templates
GOapply for Third Party Responses is a series of features that capture external responses, namely, letters of recommendation and transcripts.
third party overview - form editor and pre-defined panels
There are two key functions of GOapply for Third Party Responses.
These are:
1) Transcript and Recommendation Form Editors: utilized to create the forms that will be filled out by the third-party user (most typically teachers and counselors). These form editors can be accessed from the Form Editor tab of a Phase record. There are buttons to launch the Transcript Form Editor and Recommendation Form Editor.
2) Pre-defined Dynamic Panels: inserted into phases for the applicants (most typically in the Application phase). This is where the applicant (i.e., student) will list the third-party individual's information. The pre-defined panels live in the main Application Form Editor, in the toolbox, and are named Recommendation and Transcript.
We will look more closely at these elements later in this document.
create the third party (transcript and/or recommendation) forms
The first step when setting up Third Party Responses is to create the Transcript and Recommendation forms. To do this, navigate to the Phase, choose the Form Editor tab, then open the Transcript or Recommendation Form Editor.
GOmanager will launch a blank Transcript or Recommendation form. Drop in the fields and create the form as you would for a third-party individual to complete. Then Save the form.
As of November 2025, the Transcript Form Editor and Recommendation Form Editor within a Phase will still launch in Advanced Form Builder. For more information on utilizing the Advanced Form Builder, please reference the GOapply Advanced Form Builder KA
You may note that the heading of the Transcript and Recommendation form editors says Phase: Transcript/Recommendation. This is to denote the form that you are working on; it does not signify that a new phase of the application has been created.
Transcript and Recommendation Form Definitions
From the Phase form, there are two fields: Transcript Form Definition and Recommendation Form Definition. Once each third-party form is created and saved, these form definitions will populate.
insert dynamic panels within application phase
Pre-Defined Dynamic Panels Overview
In the Application Form Editor, you will utilize the Transcript and Recommendation panels. This is where the applicant will list the third-party individual(s) who will complete the form(s) set up in Step 1. Give each panel a name and, optionally, a description.
Pre-Defined Dynamic Panels - Simple Form Builder
We recommend that you utilize Simple Form Builder for building your application phase. If you are building a new phase, it will open in Simple Form Builder by default.
You must complete this step after building the Transcript and Recommendation Forms. If you attempt to insert the Transcript or Recommendation panels before setting up the Transcript and/or Recommendation Forms, you will receive an error.
To insert the Transcript or Recommendation panel within Simple Form Builder, begin from the Designer tab. Scroll down or search for Transcript or Recommendation from the "Request" section of the side navigation bar to find the panel. The third-party pre-defined panels will be indicated with a speech bubble icon:
To insert the pre-defined dynamic panel, click to insert at the end of the last page, or drag and drop to the page where you would like to insert the panel. Here is an example of the Transcript panel inserted within the Application phase using Simple Form Builder:
After inserting the panel, set the General Properties for this question (such as the Question name, Question title, and Question description. For further instruction on setting question properties within Simple Form Builder, please reference the GOapply Simple Form Builder KA.
Pre-Defined Dynamic Panels - Advanced Form Builder
If your phase was built before the release of Simple Form Builder, or if you have chosen to utilize the Advanced Form Builder instead of Simple Form Builder, you will insert the pre-defined dynamic panels in the Advanced Form Builder.
Select the Recommendation or Transcript panel from the Toolbox and set the properties of this question (such as the Question name, Question title, and Question description. For further instruction on setting question properties within Advanced Form Builder, please reference the GOapply Advanced Form Builder KA.
Important: these panels are pre-mapped. The information collected from them will be mapped to an entity called GOapply Third Party Responses that will be available in the Related tab of the main Status Tracking Record. Responder information will also be stored in a table called Third Party Responses.
test third-party functionality before publishing goapply opportunity
Before launching this Opportunity, you must test third-party functionality to ensure you have set up all components correctly. Complete an application (acting as the student) and list a valid email address for yourself (or another staff member) within the Transcript and/or Recommendation panels to ensure:
1. You receive the third-party email (acting as the teacher and/or counselor). These emails are being sent through our code and can be altered to your liking via the email templates GOapply Recommendation Request and GOapply Transcript Request. For more information on accessing and editing Email Templates, please reference the How to Edit Email Templates in akoyaGO KA.
Below is an example of what the third parties might see in their inbox.
2. You can complete the third party portion by acting as the counselor or teacher to upload the transcript, letter of recommendation, and/or answer any other additional questions.
Submission - applicant completes application
After all setup and testing is complete, you will publish the GOapply Opportunity, and applicants will fill out the dynamic panels and submit the phase.
Upon clicking Submit, an email will go out to the specified third-party individuals inviting them to upload their transcripts or letters. As mentioned above, this email is sent via programming and is driven by Email Templates. The third-party user does not need to be a registered GOapply user, as the email they receive includes a unique link taking them to the form they need to complete.
In the time between the applicant’s phase submission and the external responder’s submission, the Status Tracking Record will be in Status = Waiting for External Reply, and the Request’s Special Request Status will be set to “awaiting third party reply”. Once all external replies are submitted, the status will update to Submitted.
A new record will be created for each third-party response. Note that while the external party has their form open, the Current Status field will read as In Progress. Once they submit their form, that field will flip to Completed. This record can be accessed from the main status tracking record, from a tab called Third Party Responses, or in the Third Party Responses table.
Third Party user(s) - submission of recommendation and/or transcript
After the GOapply user submits their application, the third-party user will receive an email with links to complete the appropriate form. Again, the Third Party User does not need to be a registered GOapply user. The link in the email is unique to the submission they were listed within.
The external responders will click this link to submit their forms and upload any requested materials. Please note that these uploads will move to a new folder in the SharePoint location of the Request. This folder will be created upon submission of the form by the third party.
Third Party responses Table
In the GOapply area, there is a table called Third Party Responses where you can see each third-party response that has been submitted or is still pending.
In a Third-Party Response record, you’ll find:
- the third-party name and email
- the current status
- Sent: email request sent
- In Progress: form opened but not submitted
- Complete: documents uploaded and submitted, the PDF of their responses
- External Form Response: the PDF of their responses to the form
- Submitted File: the file that the third party uploaded (if applicable)
- Relationship: for recommendation requests
- School: for transcript requests
- Response Type: Transcript or Recommendation
- Request: a lookup to the corresponding request record
- GOapply Status Tracking: a lookup to the corresponding status tracking record
- GOapply User: the scholarship applicant
Third-party responses in the request
Another area where you can find the third-party response records is in the GOapply Tab of the corresponding Request. At the bottom of the page, there is a subgrid called GOapply Third Party Responses that will display the response records.
attachments
When external parties submit materials, those documents will move to the Documents tab on Request. They will also live in the Status Tracking Attachments of the Status Tracking record. Please note that the form submission PDFs and the attachments they submitted will live here.
Name = Name of the field in the Form Editor. Value = name of external party’s attachment or submission PDF.
Each attachment and submission has a corresponding record.
THIRD-PARTY RESPONSES FOR SPECIFIC SCHOLARSHIPS
If your organization is using transcript or recommendation panels to collect third-party responses on an individual scholarship basis, any attachments from those will be stored in a Requested Scholarship-related table called Requested Scholarship Attachments. For more information on scholarship-specific forms, please see the Scholarship Automatch Knowledge Article.
NOTIFICATIONS OF SUBMISSION
While waiting for third-party responders to submit their forms, the GOapply Status Tracking Record will read "Waiting for third party reply" and the submission will appear in their Submissions dashboard with the status Pending.
The applicant will receive an email each time a responder submits their form and another to confirm their application submission once all third-party responders have completed their forms. For example, if the application requires a transcript and three letters of recommendation, then the applicant will receive five emails – one for the transcripts, three for the letters, and one submission confirmation. The status tracking record will also change to Submitted.
Resend Third party requests
Applicants have the option to resend requests to their transcript or letter of recommendation providers. If, for example, the request got lost in their inbox, or if the applicant accidentally entered their email address wrong, they can change it and resend it.
In the applicant’s submitted dashboard, under their main submission, they will see a grid listing the third parties that requests were sent to for that application. They can choose to Resend Email or Edit.
Resend Email will send the request to the email address in the grid.
Edit will open the form and the applicant will be able to change any information except for the request type.
Important: Once they click Update Request, the request will be resent to the third party.
flows
A flow exists on the GOapply Status Tracking record to send the applicant a reminder that the application deadline is approaching. From the Status Tracking record, click Flows and choose GOapply Send Individual Applicant Reminder Email. This will generate an email to the applicant with the application name and due date.
Third-Party Response activities are stored in the GOapply logs. From the Activities Entity, choose GOapply Logs in the activity type.