School offices send records requests to other districts and receive enrollment forms from families, and both arrive and leave by fax. With Claude or ChatGPT connected to Fax.Plus through MCP, that becomes a routine: one word sends a request to the contact group for a district after you review the list, another reads the replies, and a third checks returned enrollment forms against your required list. Below is the process, how to set it up once, and example results with simulated documents. The examples contain no student data, and neither should your prompts.
Everything here is an example. Change the prompts, the order and the times to fit how you work; nothing is set in stone.
Before you start
- Use an active Fax.Plus Basic plan or higher and an existing authorized Fax.Plus MCP connection.
- MCP is unavailable for accounts with Advanced Security Controls, including HIPAA and PHIPA configurations.
- Set up a contact group per district (see the contact groups guide) and keep your required forms list ready.
- Use request codes or file codes, not student names or identity numbers, in prompts and comments.
Not connected yet? Start at the Fax.Plus MCP setup hub.
The process
Faxing is one step in a longer process. The steps marked Fax.Plus MCP are what the Fax.Plus connector does. The steps marked Optional are examples of other connectors you may already use: any connector you have set up in Claude or ChatGPT can be a step in your process, and the Fax.Plus connector is simply one part of it. The connectors do not talk to each other and Fax.Plus does not pass data to them: the assistant carries the information from one step to the next inside the same chat, because you told it to, and it asks for your OK before it changes anything. Whether an optional step works depends on your AI client and that connector.
- Fax.Plus MCP: you attach a records request and the assistant reads the district's contact group; it shows the full recipient list, the sending line and the page count, and nothing goes out until you approve.
- Fax.Plus MCP: the request is sent and the status of each send is checked.
- Fax.Plus MCP: the replies arrive and are read: what is enclosed, what is refused and every date, exactly as written.
- Fax.Plus MCP: returned enrollment forms are checked against your required list, by file code, with what each page shows.
- Fax.Plus MCP: each fax gets its request or file code as a comment, after your OK.
- Optional, for example Google Sheets: the checklist is kept in a sheet for the intake period, after your OK.
Set it up once
Instead of pasting the rules into every chat, keep them where every chat can use them, so that one word starts a routine. The prompts are the same in Claude and ChatGPT; the setup steps differ a little.
- Connect Fax.Plus. In Claude, add it under Settings → Connectors. In ChatGPT, add it as a custom MCP app: turn on Developer mode, then go to Plugins → Browse plugins, select +, then Create app → Create MCP App, and sign in with your Fax.Plus account. Step by step: Claude and ChatGPT. Connect any other connectors you use the same way.
- Keep the instructions in a Project. Create a Project in Claude or ChatGPT, name it after the desk, for example "School office desk", and paste the instructions below into the project's instructions, filling in the parts in [brackets]. If a connector does not show up inside a project chat in your client, open a regular chat instead and paste the instructions as your first message.
- Start a chat, make sure Fax.Plus is selected for it (in ChatGPT, choose FaxPlus from the apps or type @), and type a routine name. The assistant runs the steps and stops at every change for your OK.
- Edit the instructions whenever the routine should change.
Interface labels and plan availability differ between clients, so check the current screens in yours.
School office desk instructions
You are my school office desk for my Fax.Plus account. My required enrollment forms: [list the forms]. Rules: 1) Refer to requests and files only by the codes I give you, never by student or family name, and never repeat identity numbers, addresses or student details from a page. 2) Before you change anything, such as a comment, show me exactly what will change and wait for my OK. 3) Say what each page shows. Never decide whether a record request is complete or a form is acceptable; I decide that. 4) Leave out fax numbers in summaries unless I ask. 5) Send a fax only when I ask for it in that message, and before any send show me the full recipient list, the sending line and the page count and wait for my OK. 6) If something fails, tell me what failed and check the outbox and sent faxes before trying again. Routines, run one when I type its name. REQUEST [district group]: read the contact group, show me the full recipient list, the sending line and the page count for the request I attach, and send only after my OK; then check the status of each send. REPLIES: read my received faxes from the last 14 days that answer a records request; for each, list the request code, what is enclosed, what is refused and every date exactly as written. ENROLL: check my received faxes from the last 14 days against my required forms list, per file code: arrived, with its date, or not arrived. TAG [code]: add the code as a comment to the received fax I point to, after showing me the change and getting my OK.
REQUEST: send the request to a district
Type REQUEST with the district group and attach the request. The assistant reads the group, shows the whole recipient list, the sending line and the page count, and waits for your OK. Review the list: a request sent to the wrong office cannot be taken back. Guides: Fax contact groups and Fax a signed document.
Send the request to a district
Send the document I attach to everyone in my contact group [district group name]. Show me the full list of recipients, the sending line and the page count, and wait for my OK before sending to any of them. Afterwards check the status of each send.
REPLIES: read what the districts sent back
Type REPLIES. Example result for a simulated reply: request R-31 to a neighboring district, the reply says the records are enclosed in 4 pages and gives a date by which any further request must be made, listed as written on the page. The assistant reports what the page says and does not judge whether the request is complete. Reading is read-only. Guide: Find and read a received fax.
Read the replies
Read my received faxes from the last 14 days that answer a records request. For each one list the request code, what is enclosed, what is refused and every date exactly as written. Say so if something is not on the page. Do not change anything.
ENROLL: check enrollment forms off the list
Type ENROLL. Example result for simulated forms: file F-208, enrollment form arrived, proof of address arrived, guardian consent not received. The assistant describes what each page shows and leaves acceptance to you.
Check enrollment forms
Read my received faxes from the last 14 days and check each against these required forms: [list of forms]. Per file code, say whether each form has arrived, with its date. Say what each page shows; do not decide whether a form is acceptable. Do not change anything.
TAG: file the fax under its code
The assistant shows which fax it would change and writes the code into the comment after your OK, then reads it back. Guide: Keep your fax inbox tidy.
Tag with the code
Add the comment [request or file code] to my newest received fax. Show me which fax you will change and wait for my OK, then read it back to confirm.
Keep it safe
- Review the full recipient list before any send. The assistant must show it to you and wait for your OK.
- Student information is sensitive. Documents you open are read by your AI assistant under that client's terms, so check your school's or district's policy and the student-records rules that apply to you before using it, and keep names, identity numbers and addresses out of prompts.
- The assistant reports what a page says. Whether a record request is complete or a form is acceptable is your decision.
- Prompts that change your records or send a fax ask the assistant to show you the change and wait for your OK. Whether your client also asks for approval depends on its permission settings, so keep the Fax.Plus tools that send or change data on the setting that asks first.
- If a reply looks wrong, do not assume nothing happened. Check the outbox and sent faxes before you try again.
Related guides
Fax contact groups, fax a signed document, find and read a received fax and keeping your inbox tidy cover the steps above. More prompts are in Fax Prompts with AI, recurring checks in Fax Automation with AI.
