Edge Cases & Exceptions

Duplicate Prospect Emails

What happens: A prospect already exists in the system and a new lead is created with the same email.

The Google Sheets sync detects duplicates by email and updates the existing record instead of creating a new one.
When creating a lead manually, the system does not enforce unique emails - two leads can share an email address.
If you need to merge duplicates, contact an admin to manually update the leads and delete the duplicate.

OpenAI API Fails Mid-Generation

What happens: The AI module recommendation step fails during study plan generation.

The generation process stops and the error is shown in the UI with a Try Again button.
No PDF is generated, so no partial or corrupt file is uploaded.
The prospect record remains unchanged - no partial study plan is saved.
Check your OPENAI_API_KEY and credits if this happens repeatedly.

PDF Upload to Vercel Blob Fails

What happens: The PDF was generated successfully but the upload to Vercel Blob failed.

The study plan record is saved to the database without a PDF URL.
The tracking link works but shows no PDF to download.
The advisor can regenerate the study plan to retry the upload.
Check the Vercel Blob store quota if this happens frequently.

Prospect Views Tracking Link Multiple Times

What happens: A prospect opens the tracking link more than once.

Each view increments the view counter on the study plan.
The Last Viewed timestamp updates to the most recent view.
The prospect can always access the same PDF via the same link - it never expires.

All Career Goals Set to "Not Sure Yet"

What happens: A prospect selects "Not sure yet" for every career goal field.

The entire career goal section is omitted from the cover letter.
The letter skips directly from the qualification section to the closing paragraph.
This keeps the letter clean and avoids generic or empty career goal text.

Advisor Profile Missing SMTP Settings

What happens: An advisor tries to send a study plan via email but hasn't configured SMTP.

The email send fails with an error indicating SMTP is not configured.
The PDF is still generated and saved - only the email delivery fails.
The advisor can share the tracking link via WhatsApp or copy-paste instead.
The advisor should go to Settings and configure their SMTP details.

Programme Has No Modules Configured

What happens: An admin creates a new programme but hasn't added modules yet.

The study plan form will show empty module selections.
The AI may generate generic module recommendations that don't match the programme.
The generated PDF may have blank or placeholder content in the modules section.
An admin should populate the programme with core and majoring modules before advisors use it.

Google Sheets Column Headers Don't Match

What happens: The sync encounters rows with unexpected column names.

Rows with mismatched headers are skipped during import.
The sync results page shows which rows were skipped and why.
Check the expected column format in Google Sheets Sync docs.
Update the sheet headers to match exactly (case-sensitive).

Concurrent Study Plan Generation

What happens: Two advisors generate study plans for the same prospect simultaneously.

Both generations complete independently - no conflicts occur.
The prospect's detail page will show both study plans in their history.
Only the most recent plan's tracking link is shown by default.
Older plans remain accessible in the prospect history section.

Admin Deletes a User Who Has Active Leads

What happens: An admin deletes an advisor account that still has assigned leads.

The user account is deleted, but the leads remain in the system.
The leads become unassigned and appear in the general lead pool.
An admin should reassign the leads to another advisor before deleting the account.

APEL.A Portfolio PDF Generation Fails

What happens: The applicant clicks Export PDF but the download fails or no file appears.

Check that all required fields are filled in (especially Personal Details and Declaration).
Try again - it may be a temporary connection issue.
If the problem persists, contact support with the error message shown.

APEL.A Portfolio Data Lost After Clearing Browser

What happens: An advisor cleared their browser data and the APEL.A portfolio draft is gone.

Automatic saves are stored in the browser. Clearing browser data removes them.
If the portfolio was saved to the server (using the Save button), it can be recovered from the admin panel.
Always click Save to store a copy on the server, not just rely on browser auto-save.

Quick Create Uses Wrong Details

What happens: The Quick Create feature auto-fills details from a previous submission that doesn't match the new prospect.

Quick Create uses the most recent submission as a template. If the new prospect has different details, you'll need to edit them.
Always review the auto-filled details before generating the study plan.
If you need to change many details, use the regular study plan creation wizard instead.

Support Ticket Not Getting Response

What happens: You submitted a support ticket but haven't received a response.

Check the ticket status in My Tickets - it may be "In Progress".
Add a comment to the ticket if you have more information to share.
For urgent issues, contact support through the WhatsApp button in the documentation.
Make sure you provided enough detail in the original ticket description.