Manage program eligibility and visibility

Note: Unless otherwise noted, assume that directions apply to both eligibility and visibility logic.

Eligibility

There are programs that may have strict criteria for eligibility. For example, if an Applicant’s date of birth is earlier than the qualifying year, they are ineligible for the program.

Using eligibility conditions, CiviForm Admins can screen applicants who don't meet the minimum requirements for a program early in the application process, as well as show applicants cases when there is a program they may qualify for, based on their previous answers.

Visibility

CiviForm Admins may wish to hide or show certain screens in certain cases to better control program flow. For example, if an Applicant stated they have no dependents in their most recent taxes, they can skip the screen in which applicants provide information on dependents.

Using visibility conditions, CiviForm Admins can show or hide certain program screens for applicants, based on their answers to questions on previous screens.

Adding new conditions

When viewing a screen in the program edit view, access to eligibility and visibility conditions are available at the "Add eligibility conditions" / "Add visibility conditions" buttons:

Program blocks view with Add visibility conditions and Add eligibility condition buttons highlighted

Clicking one of those will bring you to the edit view. You can add a new condition using the "Add Condition" button.

Edit eligibility condition view with "Add Condition" button highlighted.

A note on available questions

There may be no available questions to use within conditions. Invalid question types include:

• File questions

• Enumerator questions.

If there are no available questions to use, you may see an alert like the following:

Alert that states "There are no available questions on this screen with which to set an eligibility condition."

Visibility conditions take their questions from all previous program screens, so the alert will show as the following:

Alert that states "There are no available questions on preceding screens with which to set a visibility condition for this screen."

Editing conditions

On adding a condition, you will be greeted with an empty condition block:

An eligibility condition with nothing selected and blank/disabled dropdowns.

On selecting a question, you will be able to enter values and control the logical conditions.

Admins can configure:

• Question: The question controlling the logic for this subcondition.

• Field: For question types with multiple pieces of data (e.g. "First Name", "Last Name"), which field is used for this subcondition.

• State: The logical operator for this subcondition (e.g. "Greater than", "Less than", "Equal to")

• Value: The value compared to the applicant's answer to this question, for eligibility and visibility decisions.

Example: The following applicant will be eligible if they are between the ages of 18 and 35.

An eligibility condition with date question selected and values of "age" between 18 and 35.

Adding subconditions

You can add multiple subconditions within a condition using the "Add subcondition" button:

An eligibility condition with the "Add subcondition" button highlighted

Example: The following applicant will be eligible if they are between the ages of 18 and 35 AND they think a scoop of ice cream should cost $1.

An eligibility condition with multiple subconditions. Subcondition 1 is true if the applicant is between the ages of 18 and 35. Subcondition 2 is true if the applicant thinks a scoop of ice cream should cost 1 dollar.

Multiple conditions

Multiple conditions can be composed together for more complex logic.

Example: The following applicant will be eligible if (They are between the ages of 18 and 35 AND they think a scoop of ice cream should cost $1) OR They own a toaster.

An eligibility condition with multiple subconditions. Subcondition 1 is true if the applicant is between the ages of 18 and 35. Subcondition 2 is true if the applicant thinks a scoop of ice cream should cost 1 dollar.

Saving conditions

Clicking the "Save and Exit" button at the bottom of the edit page brings you back to the program view.

An eligibility condition with the "Save and Exit" button highlighted.

The program view will now display the conditions that you set:

The program view, showing "Applicant is eligible if any conditions are true: (1) Sample Currency Question" currency is not equal to $1.00 AND "Sample Date Question" date age is between 18 and 35 (2) Sample checkbox question contains any of toaster"

Clicking the "Edit eligibility conditions" button will return you to the edit view.

The program view, showing "Applicant is eligible if sample date question date age is older than 18" with the "Edit eligibility condition" button highlighted.

If a screen has visibility conditions, the program view will show an icon next to the screen title:

The program view, showing a screen title with an icon, denoting that the screen has visibility conditions.

Troubleshooting

Unable to add new conditions

Problem: In the rare case of a CiviForm internal error, you may see the following alert:

Alert saying "We are experiencing a system error that is preventing further conditions from being added."

Possible causes and solutions:

• Endpoint failures: This could be due to a transient issue. Save, wait for a few (3-5) minutes and retry. If issues persist, check your endpoint logs for any errors during CiviForm's attempts to add new conditions.