Form Fill-in

Forms can be edited by users who have permission until the form is closed. Forms also remain visible in a user's My Open Forms list until they are closed. Once a Form ID is closed, it can be reopened.

To close a form, add the Close column into the Form Dashboard and then select the Close Link.

Forms can be edited in one of two ways:

Dashboard

To edit a form through a dashboard complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Form Data Dashboard for the form to be edited.

2. Search for the form record.

3. If the user has editor rights, select the Edit link in the Edit column. If the user has viewer rights, this column will not be visible.

My Open Forms

To edit a form from My Open Forms complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to the My Open Forms menu.

2. Select the plus ( + ) sign next to the Form to be edited.

3. Locate the Form ID in the Form Name column and select the Edit link.

• Form - The primary tab of the form instance. Displays the form template design and allows users to enter any necessary information.

• Change Log - Displays any changes made to the form instance fields and revisions.

• Workflow - Displays information about workflow tasks, and allows completion of tasks if the active task is assigned to the current user.

• Documents - Shows all Document relationships to the form, and allows relationships to be modified by qualified users.

• Projects - Shows all Project relationships to the form, and allows relationships to be modified by qualified users.

• Forms - Shows all other Form relationships to the current form, and allows relationships to be modified by qualified users.

• Revisions - Displays information about the form revision history.

• History - Displays information about the form history, such as actions and modification dates.

Form Locking refers to the mechanisms inside of VisualVault that prevents editing of a form while it is being edited by another user. A form enters the locked state when a user selects the Edit link on a form dashboard, selects a form in the task list on the My Vault page, or when a user selects options from the context menu. While the form is locked, if other users try to edit the same form they will be shown a read only version of the form. A status message will appear in red indicating who has the form locked at that time.

Form Locked View

Forms are unlocked when the editing user selects the close link or the window close button. If a form is not unlocked through this mechanism, users can access the forms in one of two ways. First, users with owner rights can unlock a Form ID by adding the Lock column into a form data dashboard and selecting the Un-Lock link. Forms will also become available for access after a time out period. The default time out period is 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes, when a different user accesses a previously locked form, the lock will be transferred from the previous user to the new user accessing the form.

Un-Lock Link View on the Form Dashboard

Administrators should use extreme caution when unlocking forms. They should communicate with users to ensure they have saved their data prior to manually unlocking the form. If an administrator unlocks a form while another user is editing a form, the original editing user may lose data they have entered or they will be notified that they cannot save their form. This is a safe guard to ensure that editing users are aware when someone manually decided to override the locking mechanism.

In order to delete form data the owner must select the Enable Delete option to delete the data when setting up the dashboard. Upon checking the box, marked in red in the image below, the Delete button and selection boxes (also marked in red) will appear. The owner of the data is the only user that can delete the data unless the user belongs to the VaultAccess group. If the user is an owner they will be presented with the bottom portion of the following screen when viewing a dashboard that is configured appropriately:

Form Library View


After completing the form data entry select Save in the top left of the screen or select a save button designed into the form. The tabs along the top will not become available until after the user Saves the form. If users return to the Form Library without saving their data entry, the form will not be saved and the user will be prompted if they want to save the form.

• Save - Saves data entry and allows additional data entry changes by the user that filled in the form or other authorized users. The form viewer will check for required fields during the save process; if data is missing, a red exclamation point is displayed next to the applicable fields.

• Change Log - Shows what fields have changed at each revision of a Form record.

• Workflow - Displays the Form record workflow routing path and allows users to mark a task as complete and enter comments. Tasks can also be completed and comments entered from the user portal. Custom workflow sequences can also be inserted from this tab.

• Documents - Will provide a list of any available documents and allows the user to upload documents to associate with the Form record.

• Projects - Allows the record of this Form record to be associated with an open project.

• Forms - Associate exiting Form records with this Form record.

• Revisions - Shows information for a given revision (Visible to Owners and Editors).

• History - Shows history for the Form record.

1. Navigate to Forms - Form Library.

2. Select the Email icon (  ) next to the form to be sent.

Forms can be printed by individuals who have access to view the form. Users select the Print Preview link to preview or print a form and its data. If the fields are not aligned as expected, or data overlaps, there are several actions that can be done to align the output:

1. When designing the form, give it a width that is appropriate for a portrait or landscape print out.

2. Adjust the margins for the printer.

3. When printing to PDF, work with the output settings to adjust the layout. Usually this means reducing some of the dpi, or modifying the margins.
   

Printer Friendly view places the fields in the order they appear on the form. Multiple pages will be printed in the order they appear from the Printer Friendly view. If fields on the form contain text that scrolls beyond the field visibility, then that information will all be printed on the printer friendly view of the form. In some circumstances, this will cause a single page form designed for one page to print on two pages. If a field does not contain data, the label will print out on the form, but the field may not take up as much space as designed on the form.

Business Logic refers to code that can be written to enforce business rules when users fill in a form. As an example, let's say that only a certain combination of data can appear in certain fields. If this happens then code updates an additional field on the form with a value pulled from a database. If the data values do not meet the combination then the code can either notify the user or do nothing. To support his example you can write script in VisualVault or a web service that can check for information that VisualVault does not check for out of the box. You can then integrate this web service through the Web Service Administration tool. Then configure the form, buttons, or workflow to utilize the Web Service or Outside Process.

The change log provides users with visibility into how a form has progressed over time. Every time a form record is modified, saved and exited, a new revision will be created and an entry will be made into the change log. A previous and current version will be recorded for every field that was changed during data entry. The User who made the change will also be documented in the change log.

Change Log View

The Form History tab provides an audit trail of what has happened on the specific form. Information about the action, user and date of the action are recorded.

Form History View

 

This form tab shows a list of all the forms that are related with the current form record. Users will only see the forms they have permission to view, and all other forms will be hidden. Multiple form tabs can be configured on a given form by changing the custom layout of the forms on the form template.

In order to relate other forms, refer to the topic Relating Forms to Forms below.

Forms Tab View

The Revisions tab of the Form ID Card or any filled in form will show how the form appeared each time it was revised or opened in edit mode. Editors or higher have access to this tab. Selecting the View link will show you the form as it existed at that revision.

Form Revisions View

Adding a document to a Form means either uploading a new document and associating it with a form, or associating an existing document in the Document Library with a form. There are three ways to add documents to a form:

When Creating a Form:

While filling in a new formrecord from the Form Library, select the Documents tab after saving the form. Select New Documents from the third level menu and follow the wizard steps to add a document or select Modify Relationships to associate an existing document with the form data.

When Editing Existing Form:

1. Navigate to Form Data and select the Dashboard for the form to associate with a document.

2. Edit or view the particular Form record where a document is to be uploaded.

3. Select the Documents tab after the Form record loads.

4. Select New Documents from the third level menu and follow the wizard steps to upload a document or select Modify Relationships to associate an existing file with the Form record.

From a Document ID Card:

1. Find a Document ID to associate with a form.

2. Select the Forms tab.

3. Select the Modify Related button.

4. Select  the form template.

5. Search for the form to associate.

6. Associate the selected form and return to the Document ID Card.
   
   

Refer to How to Add a New Document for help on uploading new documents.

Refer to Modify Document to Forms Relationships below for more help on relating existing documents to forms.

Add Document to Form View

Modifying document relationships to a Form ID gives the capability of relating or removing pertinent documents. An example might be associating a quote with a purchase request. See the following sections for more information on relating a document to a Form ID, or removing a document relationship.

Relating a Document to a Form record:

1. Navigate to the desired Form record through Form Data and the appropriate dashboard, or when entering data to an existing form template.

2. Select the Documents Tab, then select Modify Relationship. A new window will appear.

3. Utilizing the search conditions at the top of the window, select the appropriate search criteria and the appropriate string to search (Can be partial strings or can use wildcard characters when doing a full text search). Select the Search button to begin.
   

4. Once the search is complete, find the document to associate and select it in the left hand pane (Select multiple items in the left hand pane using the Shift or Ctrl keys).

5. Use the    button to assign the document.

6. Select the Finish button when complete.

You may click on Clear Search and key in a new string to assign multiple document from multiple folders to the Form ID.

Removing a Related Document:

1. Navigate to the desired Form record through Form Data and the appropriate dashboard, or when entering data to an existing form template.

2. Select the Documents Tab, then select Modify Relationship. A new window will appear.

3. Find the document(s) to be removed in the right hand pane and select the item(s).
   

4. Use the    button to remove the document.

5. Select the Finish button when complete.

Modify Document Relationship to Form View

When working with a form record, users have the capability of relating a form to another form. In order to relate a form, access is needed to the form that the user wants to relate. In order to create the relationship between the forms complete the following steps:

1. From a Form ID Card or Form, navigate to the Forms tab.

2. Select the Modify Related Forms button. A new window will appear.

3. From the Available Forms drop down list, select the form template to use.

4. Search for the form based on the search fields at the top of the form if needed.

5. Once the Form shows up in the Available forms list, select the form, then select the  button.

6. Select the Finish button when complete.