Common Form Access Scenarios

Most changes to which forms a school can use come down to a handful of situations. Find the one that matches what you want to do, then follow its steps.

Each scenario uses the three settings described in How Form Access Works: the organization’s grant, the form’s place in a form set, and the form itself. Every step here is reversible, and none of them changes an observation that has already been recorded.

Prerequisites

• system_administrator role
• weCLIMB enabled for the account

Quick Reference

I want to…	Do this	Where
Start the new school year on a revised form	Duplicate the form, swap it into the form set, then retire the old form	Forms, Form Sets, Form Grants
Swap one form for another in a form set	Attach the new form, then archive the old one in that form set	Form set > Forms
Stop one school from using a form	Archive that school’s grant	Organization > Form Grants
Retire a form for every school	Archive the form	System Administration > Forms
Retire a form set	Turn Active? off on the form set	Form set > Edit
Try a form at a few schools first	Grant it to those schools only	Organization > Form Grants
Give a new school the district’s forms	Grant to Members from the district	District > Form Grants
Undo a grant made to the wrong school	Delete that school’s grant, or archive it if work was recorded	Organization > Form Grants
See when a school’s access to a form ends	Check the Availability column	Organization > Form Grants
Change a start or end date on access	Edit Dates in the grant’s row menu (top-level system administrators)	Organization > Form Grants

Start the New School Year on a Revised Form

Use this when your district updates its walkthrough or evaluation instrument each year and wants last year’s observations to keep their original form.

1. Make the new version

1. Navigate to System Administration > Forms
2. Click Duplicate Form
3. Choose last year’s form from Select a form to duplicate
4. Check Also duplicate questions if you plan to change any question wording. Without it, the copy shares its questions with the original, so editing a question changes last year’s form too.
5. Click Duplicate Form

The copy is named (Copy) followed by the original name. Rename it and make your changes (see Building Forms and Sections).

A copy starts with no form set and no grants. It also keeps the original’s status, so duplicate an active form: a copy of an archived form is archived too.

2. Put it in a form set

Choose one of these:

• Keep the same form set when you want to report on one form set across years. Open the form set’s Forms tab, click Attach, and choose the new form. Then archive last year’s form on the same tab.
• Create a new form set when you want each year to be its own form set, for example “Secondary Observation 2026-2027”. Create it (see Creating and Managing Form Sets), attach the new form, and turn Active? off on last year’s form set once the new one is ready.

3. Grant it to your schools

1. Open the district’s Form Grants tab (System Administration > Organizations/Groups > the district > Form Grants)
2. Click Grant and choose the new form
3. Choose the schools in the Member organizations list
4. Click Grant Access

4. Retire last year’s form

When no one needs to start new work on last year’s form, archive it under System Administration > Forms. This retires it for every school in one step, so you do not have to archive each school’s grant.

Last year’s observations still open, display, and score on the form they were recorded with.

Timing

Archiving a form stops anyone from starting a new observation on it, at every school at once. Observations already started on last year’s form keep it and can still be finished, so you do not need to wait for them.

Swap a Form in a Form Set Partway Through the Year

Use this when a form set should offer a different form from now on, for example when a school replaces its walkthrough form in January.

1. Open the form set: System Administration > Form Sets > the form set
2. On the Forms tab, click Attach and choose the replacement form
3. Make sure each school that uses the form set has a grant for the replacement form (see Managing Form Access for Organizations)
4. Find the old form on the same tab, click the ⋯ menu, click Archive, then Yes, Archive

New observations from the form set show only the replacement form. Finished observations still show the old form.

Observations already in progress

An observation that was started but not submitted before the swap picks up the replacement form, as long as its organization has a grant for it. If the replacement form has required questions, the observer must answer them before submitting. The old form stays on that observation only if the observer already recorded answers, feedback, or attachments on it.

To avoid surprises, ask observers to submit their open observations before you make the swap.

Stop One School From Using a Form

Use this when one school or department moves off a form while others keep using it.

1. Open the school’s Form Grants tab (System Administration > Organizations/Groups > the school > Form Grants)
2. Find the form, click the ⋯ menu, and click Archive
3. Read the summary, then click Yes, Archive

Staff at that school can no longer start a new observation on the form. They can still open and report on their past observations, and every other school keeps its access.

To reverse it, clear the Active checkbox, find the form, and click Activate in its row menu.

Retire a Form for Every School

Use this when an instrument is no longer used anywhere in the district.

1. Navigate to System Administration > Forms
2. Click the ⋯ menu on the form’s row and click Archive
3. Read the summary, then click Yes, Archive

You do not need to archive each school’s grant or each form set membership. Archiving the form stops new work everywhere at once, and its grants and memberships stay in place with a Form archived label. Activating the form later restores everything as it was.

Retire a Form Set

Use this when a form set is no longer needed, for example a school-specific form set replaced by a district-wide one.

1. Open the form set’s detail page
2. Click Edit
3. Turn Active? off
4. Click Save

The form set no longer appears when starting an observation. Observations already started on it can still be finished, and observations recorded with it are unaffected. Its forms stay available to any other form set that uses them.

Try a Form at a Few Schools First

Use this for a pilot before a district-wide rollout.

1. Add the form to a form set (see Adding Forms to Form Sets)
2. Grant the form to the pilot schools only. Use each school’s Form Grants tab, or grant it on the district’s tab with only the pilot schools chosen in the Member organizations list (this also grants the form to the district itself)

Schools without a grant cannot use the form. If it is the only form in the form set, they do not see the form set at all. When the pilot ends, grant the form to the remaining schools the same way.

Move From School-Built Forms to One District Form

Use this when each school has been using its own form and the district is standardizing on one.

1. Build the district form and add it to a form set
2. Grant it to every school from the district’s Form Grants tab. Click Grant, choose the form, then click Select all above the Member organizations list
3. Archive each school’s old form under System Administration > Forms
4. Turn Active? off on each school’s old form set

Every school’s past observations stay on the form they were recorded with, so school-level history remains readable after the switch.

Give a New School the District’s Forms

A new organization starts with no forms. Grants are not inherited, so a school added under a district does not receive the district’s forms on its own.

1. Open the district’s Form Grants tab
2. Filter the list to the forms the new school should have
3. Click Grant to Members
4. Check the count and the form names, choose the new school from Member organizations, and click Grant Access

Leave the Active checkbox checked so the list holds only the district’s active grants. A form whose grant the district has archived is passed on as archived.

Undo a Grant Made to the Wrong School

If the school has recorded nothing on the form, delete the grant.

1. Open that school’s Form Grants tab
2. Click the ⋯ menu on the form’s row, click Delete, then Yes, Delete

The form returns to the school’s Grant list, so it can be granted again later.

If the school recorded any observations on the form before you noticed, the grant cannot be deleted. Click Archive, then Yes, Archive instead. Those observations stay readable.

Change a Start or End Date on Access

A grant can carry a start date, an end date, or both. The Availability column on the organization’s Form Grants tab shows them, for example Available until 06/30/2027. To find grants that have ended or have not started yet, use the Any Availability dropdown and choose Expired or Available in the Future.

A system administrator who belongs to the account’s top-level organization can change the dates. Other administrators can see them but not change them; ask a top-level administrator or contact Master Teacher.

1. Open the organization’s Form Grants tab
2. Click the ⋯ menu on the form’s row, then Edit Dates
3. Set Available on, Expires on, or both, and click Save Dates

To renew a form for another school year across a district, edit the dates on the district’s grant. Its schools whose dates matched start selected under Member organizations and get the new dates too.

A grant whose end date has passed stays Active and shows Expired on with the date. Archiving and activating it does not reopen it. Only a new end date does.