Request documents from a family

A document request is a checklist of files you need from a family. Birth certificate, immunization record, a signed physical, proof of address. The parent gets a notification, adds a file for each item, and submits. You review the files and approve them, or send the request back with a note.

It is the third kind of paperwork alongside fillable forms (parents type into fields on screen) and acknowledgements (parents read a PDF and confirm). Use a document request when the thing you need already exists on paper or as a file, or when an outside office such as a doctor has to fill it out first.

Create the request

1. Go to Paperwork → Document Requests and click New template → Document request.
2. Give it a title parents will recognize, such as "Enrollment documents" or "Annual physical".
3. Add a note to parents if there is anything to know, for example "Please include every page".
4. Under Documents to request, pick from the suggestions or type your own. Each item can be Required or Optional. Submitting is blocked until every required item has a file.
5. Optionally attach the blank form as a PDF. See below for when this helps.
6. Click Save request.

You can also create a request from the NestliCare app on your phone under Documents. Attaching the blank form is done on the web.

Send it

On the template card, click Send (or the card's menu → Send to family). Pick the family and the child, set an optional due date, and click Assign. The parent gets an email and a notification in the app.

What the parent sees

The request appears in their Documents list under Action needed, with one card per item. Each card offers two ways to add a file:

• Scan paper, in the NestliCare app. The camera finds the edges of each page, the parent captures every page in turn, and the app combines them into one PDF. This is the easy path for anything printed.
• Upload a file, on the web or in the app. A photo from the camera roll or a PDF from an email.

Parents can add several files per item, for example vaccine records from two countries. Once every required item is covered they tap Submit documents.

Attach the blank form for paper round trips

When a form has to be filled out by hand or by someone else, attach it to the request. Common cases: a state health or immunization form the pediatrician completes, a medication authorization the doctor signs, an agreement you want on paper.

The parent then sees a Need the form itself? row on the request. They open it, print it (or save it and bring it to the appointment), fill it out, and tap Scan paper on the matching item to send it back. Download, print, fill out, scan, submit, all inside the request.

To add or replace the blank form on an existing template, open the card's menu and choose Attach blank form or Replace blank form.

Review what came back

Submitted requests move to Awaiting your review on the Document Requests page.

1. Open the request. The review panel lists every file the parent sent, grouped by item.
2. Click a file to open it.
3. Click Approve to accept everything, or Return for changes, add a note explaining what is missing or unreadable, and click Return to family. A returned request goes back to the parent's Action needed list so they can add or replace files.

Approved requests move to Completed and the files stay attached to the submission.

Tips

• One request per purpose. "Enrollment documents" with four items is easier to track than four separate requests, but keep an annual physical separate from a one-time birth certificate so renewals do not drag old items along.
• Mark only what you truly need as Required. Parents cannot submit until required items are covered, so an optional item marked required stalls the whole request.
• Ask for every page. If a record runs to several pages, say so in the note. The scanner handles multi-page documents in one go.

Troubleshooting

A parent says they cannot find Scan. Scanning lives in the NestliCare app, not the web. Ask them to update the app and open the request there. On a device without a camera the app shows only Upload a file.

A file is blurry or cut off. Return the request with a note asking for a rescan. The app crops to the page, so a little background around the sheet is fine, but poor light or a moving camera still produces a blurry page.

A parent uploaded the wrong file. Return the request. They can remove the file and add the right one, then submit again.