A space is where Submissions collects entries for one purpose, such as award applications or one committee’s intake. Before you create a space, decide whether members will submit new entries through a Portal form, or whether the space should receive copies of records that already exist elsewhere in Rhythm.
Prerequisites
- You have permission to create spaces (
submissions:user:spaces:createor the Submissions Administrator policy). Without it, the Console refuses access when you try to open the create screen. - For a space that receives membership applications, certification applications, or accreditation reports, that application must already be in use in your Rhythm account. Otherwise, the program, type, package, and chapter filter lists will be empty.
Where to Find It
Go to Submissions › Spaces › Create New Space from Scratch. The screen is titled Create Space, and its menu label is Space Details.
Choosing a Kind
The Type field controls which other settings appear on the form, and you cannot change it after saving. From this screen, you can choose one of four kinds:
- Portal Form — members fill in a form on the Portal to send something to your association. This is the default kind.
- Membership Application, Certification Application, or Accreditation Report — the space receives copies of records from those applications so staff can review them. You choose which records come in during a later step. See Choose Which Records a Mirrored Space Receives.
For certification-application and membership-application spaces, the create form shows a short reminder beside the Type field about which records arrive. Certification applications sync only when their status is pending approval, and membership applications sync only when their status is under review. Records in any other status are never copied, no matter how you set the space’s filters. If you create a space for a program that already has qualifying applications, use Populate Submission Space in the new space's maintenance settings to sync those existing applications in. See Repopulate a Mirrored Space.
Abstract spaces (for one event) and award-application spaces (for one award) are not created here. Each event can have only one abstract space, and each award can have only one award-application space. Rhythm therefore ties the space’s identifier to the event or award instead of letting you type one. Create those spaces by turning on reviews from the event’s or award’s own setup area, not from the Spaces list. After Rhythm creates an abstract or award-application space, it still appears in this Console for editing, with its Type field locked and showing its true kind.
If you administer an event or award and want to turn on reviews, look for an Enable Reviews option in that event’s or award’s own setup, not in Submissions. A similar option inside the Submissions Console will not create the space, because Submissions cannot tell which event or award the space should be tied to.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: | Portal Form, Membership Application, Certification Application, Accreditation Report | Portal Form | Fixed after the first save. Controls which other cards appear |
| Name: | Any text | Empty | The space’s display name wherever it appears |
| ID: | Letters, digits, underscore, colon, vertical bar, hyphen | Generated from Name as you type, upper-cased | Permanent once saved. Disabled when you edit an existing space |
| Status: | Draft, Open, Closed | Open | Controls whether the space is live. See Edit, Close, and Delete a Space for what each status means day to day |
| Description (displays in portal) | Rich text | Empty | Shows on the space’s Portal page for every kind, though only a Portal-form space is otherwise visible there |
The Portal options for Portal-form spaces include dates, visibility, ownership, wording, eligibility, submission limits, and editing rights. They are covered in Portal Form Space Settings. The record filters for membership-application, certification-application, and accreditation-report spaces are covered in Choose Which Records a Mirrored Space Receives.
Warning
A new Portal-form space defaults to status Open and is visible in the Portal. If you save the form with those defaults, members can see the space and submit to it immediately. If you are not ready, set Status to Draft, or turn off Portal visibility, before you save.
Tip
Rhythm remembers the last kind you chose while creating a space and offers it again the next time you open the create screen. This choice is remembered per browser, so a colleague, or you on another computer, may see a different starting kind.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Your identifier’s prefix always matches the kind you choose. This screen adds the prefix for you and hides it, so you rarely need to think about it. If a save is refused because the identifier does not match, the message says the space "should start with" the expected prefix.
- An abstract space’s identifier is always
abstract:followed by the event’s identifier, and an award-application space’s identifier is alwaysaward_application:followed by the award’s identifier. Because of this, only one abstract space can exist for a given event, and only one award-application space can exist for a given award. - The green check that appears beside ID a moment after you stop typing confirms only that the identifier’s format is acceptable. It is not a reliable duplicate check, so choose a clear, distinct identifier instead of relying on that indicator to catch a repeat.
Permissions
Creating a space requires submissions:user:spaces:create, which is included in the Submissions day-to-day user and Submissions Administrator policies. A Submissions read-only user can see the Create New Space from Scratch button on the spaces list, but is refused when the create screen opens.
Validation and Errors
If you leave Name, Type, or Status empty, saving shows a Form Errors card and does not try to save the space. For a Portal-form space, the ownership choice and the singular and plural wording for a submission are also required before saving succeeds. If one is missing, the error appears against the whole Portal options group instead of naming the specific field. If the save is refused for any other reason, a toast reading Unable to save Space shows the server’s message.
There is no confirmation dialog before creating a space, even when it will be open and visible to members right away. Check your Status and Portal visibility choices before you save.
Tip
Cloning an existing space, instead of starting from scratch, carries over its processes, types, and review setup as well as its basic details. This is useful when you are setting up something similar to a space you already have.