What it does

Administrators can assign any published form directly to chosen people, either one at a time or through a batch wizard that pairs responders with recipients. A batch creates one assignment for every responder–recipient combination you select, not a one-to-one match. The assignments page is the operations center: filter and search all assignments, and run bulk actions such as reminders, deadline extensions, releasing results, flagging, or cancelling.

Who it's for

Program administrators and coordinators distributing forms outside automatic rules — an ad-hoc survey, a make-up evaluation, a one-off committee review — and tracking completion day to day on the assignments list.

How it works

Batch wizard. The wizard walks Template, Responders, Recipients, Schedule, and Review. On Responders and Recipients you pick people or roles as two lists; the batch is every combination of those two lists. On Schedule, only the assignment date, due date, and optional custom message are applied to the new assignments — Expiration Date and Send Assignment Notification on that same step do not currently write onto them. On Review, check Total Assignments (responders times recipients) before confirming. The wizard checks for duplicates — the same responder-recipient pair is never assigned twice — and reports how many assignments were created versus skipped.

Bulk actions. On the assignments page, select multiple assignments and act on them together:

Send reminders to people with incomplete forms. A side panel keeps the assignment list visible while you optionally override the subject and body. Each person appears once, even with more than one selected assignment. You get a delivery report of queued, failed, and skipped messages.
Release or withdraw results — publish completed responses so recipients can see them, or unpublish them again.
Extend deadlines for a set of assignments at once.
Flag assignments for follow-up, cancel them, or delete them. Cancelling processes at most 500 pending rows per action; if more were selected, the rest stay on the list so you can cancel again.

Reassign. To move an incomplete assignment to a different responder, expand that row and choose Reassign. This is a per-row action, not a bulk-toolbar action, and it does not show on completed, cancelled, or requested rows.

Audit and export. Administrative actions on assignments are recorded, with an audit view of assignment activity available from the assignments area. Assignment lists can be exported for offline review, capped at 5,000 rows per export.

Future and Rotation Audit. Two more tabs on the same page are diagnostic only and never create assignments:

Future (/forms/assignments/future) previews upcoming automatic assignments for the current program in the window you choose, capped at 50 rows — a preview, not a complete plan.
Rotation Audit (/forms/assignments/audit) compares rotation schedules in a date window against existing assignments and lists likely gaps, capped at 100 matching schedules — an aid, not a full census.

Filtering and search. The assignments list filters by academic period, workflow status, source, form, rotation, course, site, session, event, responder, recipient, responder role, recipient role, assigned/due date range, and review/flag/grade/comment status. Search matches the form name, responder or recipient name, employee ID, rotation, course, and site. Show inactive forms is unchecked by default, hiding responses tied to retired templates; check it to bring them back. Active filter chips appear under the toolbar for anything picked in More Filters so you can remove one without reopening the sheet — past five chips, a "+N filters" button opens the rest in a searchable popover. More Filters shows an initial page of options for each picker (including responder role and recipient role) before you type anything. Responder Role and Recipient Role match people who currently hold that live program role — the Role column can still show a different display role for the same person.

Before you start

You need assignment-management permission for the program or institution the form belongs to.
Have your list of responders and recipients ready — individual people or whole roles both work.
The template must already be published. Manual and batch assignment only work with published forms.

Do this

Open the Assignments page (/forms/assignments) → you should see the assignments list with status stats above it.
Select Batch Assign → the wizard screen opens at /forms/assignments/batch on its Template stage.
Pick the published form template in the wizard screen → the Next button becomes active.
Select Next to reach the Responders stage of the wizard screen, choose individuals or a role, and select who completes the form → select Next again.
On the Recipients stage of the same wizard screen, choose who the form is about → select Next.
On the Schedule screen, set the assignment date, due date, and optional custom message → select Next. Only these fields (plus due date) are applied to the new assignments; Expiration Date and Send Assignment Notification on this same screen do not currently write onto them.
On the Review stage, confirm Total Assignments (responders times recipients) in the wizard screen, then select Create Assignments → you return to the Assignments page, and a result banner shows how many assignments were created versus skipped as duplicates.

You're done when

The new assignments appear on the assignments list for the responders and recipients you picked.
The wizard's result count matches what you expected, with any skipped duplicates accounted for.
Responders who were notified see the form on their My Forms page.

Boundaries and limits

A batch creates every responder–recipient combination and is capped at 500 assignments per run. Ten responders and twenty recipients is 200 assignments. Larger audiences need multiple batches or an assignment rule.
Cancelling selected assignments processes at most 500 pending rows per action; leftover rows stay on the list for another pass.
On the Schedule step, only assignment date, due date, and the optional custom message are applied to the new assignments. Expiration Date and Send Assignment Notification on that step do not currently write onto them.
The optional custom message is capped at 1,000 characters.
Duplicate protection skips a responder–recipient pair that already has an assignment for the same form, instead of creating a second copy.
The reminder recipient list is unique by email address. Two incomplete assignments for the same person still show one recipient.
Releasing results only works on completed assignments. Other statuses are reported as not eligible.
Reassign only shows on an expanded incomplete row on Form Assignments — it is not on the bulk bar, and it is hidden on completed, cancelled, and requested rows.
Assignment exports are capped at 5,000 rows per export.
Future shows up to 50 matches in the selected window — a preview, not a complete plan; recurring rules may be left out.
Rotation Audit inspects up to 100 matching schedules in the date window you set. A truncation warning means more gaps may exist outside that slice — it is not a full census.
You can only assign published templates in your scope. You cannot assign a draft form.

Common questions

Q: What's the difference between a batch assignment and an assignment rule? A: A batch is a one-time action against people you pick right now. A rule runs continuously and creates assignments automatically when triggering events happen.

Q: Can responders see results as soon as a form is completed? A: Not necessarily. Completed responses can be explicitly released to recipients (and withdrawn again) through the bulk publish and unpublish actions.

Q: What happens if I try to batch-assign someone who already has this form? A: The wizard detects the duplicate and skips it, and the result summary tells you how many were skipped.

Q: Can I move an assignment to another person? A: Yes. Expand an incomplete assignment on Form Assignments, choose Reassign, and pick a different responder. Completed, cancelled, and requested assignments do not have this action.

Q: Does Future list every upcoming automatic assignment? A: No. Future is a preview of matches in the window you choose, capped at 50 rows. Use assignment-rule simulation when you need to inspect recurring occurrence dates.

Q: If Rotation Audit finds no gaps, is coverage complete? A: Only for the form and date window you ran. If the run warns that the window is truncated, narrow the dates or people and run again.

Assigning Forms Manually and in Batches