Use this when... you need to customise the information TuitionFlow collects through forms, dropdown lists, lead capture, onboarding, student records, tutor records, family records, or internal workflows.

Before you start... decide what data you need, why you need it, who will maintain it, and whether it is sensitive. Custom fields are powerful, but too many fields make the system harder to use and reports harder to trust.

Use Settings to manage shared data structures such as forms, lists, and custom fields.

Forms collect information. Lists standardise answer options. Custom fields store organisation-specific data on records. Together they shape the quality of leads, people records, compliance workflows, and reporting.

The best setup asks for enough information to run the business, but not so much that parents, tutors, or admins avoid completing it.

Start with the workflow: enquiry, booking, student onboarding, tutor onboarding, compliance, billing, or reporting. Identify the decisions the data will support. Do not create a field unless someone will use it.

Use controlled lists for repeated options such as subject, branch, year group, lead source, lesson format, or tutor status. Use free text only when variation is genuinely useful. Make a field required only when the workflow cannot proceed without it.

Lead fields should help admins respond quickly without making forms too long.

If the field collects health, learning needs, safeguarding, consent, payment, or identity information, review visibility and retention. Sensitive information should not be collected casually through broad-access forms.

Submit a test form, create a demo lead, or update a demo record. Check whether the field appears in the right place, has clear labels, supports reporting, and does not make the workflow awkward.

Reports are messy: replace inconsistent free-text entries with controlled lists.

Parents abandon forms: shorten the form and move detailed questions to later onboarding.

Admins ignore a field: check whether the field is useful, visible at the right time, and named clearly.

Review forms and fields each term or after major process changes. Archive unused fields carefully, merge duplicate list values, and document changes that affect reports.

Be careful when renaming or removing fields that already contain data. Reports, exports, automations, forms, and staff habits may depend on them. If a field is no longer useful, consider archiving or hiding it before deleting anything.

Review dropdown lists for duplicates and near-duplicates. For example, Maths, Mathematics, and GCSE Maths may represent different things or may be messy versions of the same option. Clean lists make reports and filters much more reliable.

Long forms can reduce completion rates. Split early enquiry forms from deeper onboarding forms where possible. Ask only what is needed at each stage, then collect more detail once the family or tutor is ready to proceed.

After changing custom fields, check key reports and filters. Make sure old records and new records can still be compared, or document when the field definition changed.

If you replace a field or list value, note what happened to old records. Reports that span the change may need explanation, especially if the old and new fields measure the same idea differently.

Give each important form or field an owner. The owner should know why the data is collected, when it is reviewed, and whether it still supports a real workflow.

For important custom fields, keep a simple data dictionary. Record the field name, purpose, owner, allowed values, where it appears, and whether it is used in reports. This helps new admins use fields consistently and prevents future changes from breaking reporting assumptions.

After changing forms, lists, or custom fields, test the workflow, check reporting impact, and tell the admin team what changed and how to use the new data consistently.