DynamicForms - Advanced Form Features

Advanced Form Features

This section of the guide is for using more advanced features of Dynamic Forms, such as rules and conditions, signatures, workflows and more. If you are ready to take the plunge, let's roll!

Logging On

Log in to Dynamic Forms

Rules and Conditions

Rules and Conditions allows your form to be more interactive with the form user as it can show or hide certain elements of the form dependent on information received by the form user. To configure rules/conditions on your form, simply follow the instructions present in the video above, or the written procedures below.

1. Create all form items on your form before attempting to create a rule
2. Once all form items have been created, click on the form item you would like to set as the field that controls the condition.
3. Click on the "Rules" button within the form item editor.
   • If you do not have any rules with this form item, a window will appear stating "You don't have any rules for this page item"
   • If you already have rules created with this page item, you will see the rules in the window.
4. Click "Add a New Rule
   • To edit an existing rule, click on the edit icon for the rule.
5. Set your condition.
   • The "IF" section is the condition.
   • Item: This is the field that will contain the form item you selected that controls the condition. Should you need to change it to a different form item, you can do so by selecting the new form item in the dropdown.
   • Treat Value As: This field will let you decide how you want to treat the value of the form item. You can select as Text, Number or Date/Time.
   • Comparison: This field will allow you to set how you want to set the condition. Depending on how you treat the value as, there will be different options for you to choose within this field. If the condition were to state for example, If Amount is Less Than 500, then you would select "Less Than" within this field.
   • Value: The value field is where you set the value that also controls the condition. With the previous example, the value would be 500. If the value that was submitted by the user does not meet the comparison of the value, the condition would not be true, thus the action would not take place.
6. Set your action.
   • The "THEN" section is the action.
   • You can select whether you want to show or hide certain elements/form items of your form dependent on if the condition is true. 
   • First select whether you want to show or hide a certain element.
   • Then, select the element that you want to show or hide in the next drop down field.
   • Show/Hide on PDF?: This checkbox will allow you to set whether or not the field within the action will be shown or hidden on a PDF. If this box is not checked, the field within the action will still show on the PDF even if it was hidden on the web browser. If you want your PDF to match what the user sees within the web browser, it's recommended to check this box for each rule you create.
7. Click the save icon at the top right of the rule

NOTE: To add additional conditions or actions to your rule, click on the "Add Condition" or "Add Action" buttons. For additional conditions, you will need to determine the operand "AND" or "OR." We do not support a rule that uses both "AND" and "OR" operators.

Building A Workflow

One of the first things that would help you prepare the workflow in Dynamic Forms is to have a great handle on how the workflow happens today in your manual or automated process.   If you have taken the time to portray that workflow on paper - even better!  Having a solid understanding of your intended workflow makes building it out in Dynamic Forms much easier.

Add a Form

Just as Form Designers would add a “No signature” or a “Single Signature form”, users start the new workflow forms process off by clicking on the “Add New Form Template” button on the Home Page. If the intended Form Designer cannot see the “Add New Form Template” button, they do not have permissions to create/ edit forms and should request that permission from their Dynamic Forms administrator. 

Forms Editor

Whenever Form Designers click the “Add New Form Template” button, the next screen that they will see is the Form Editor with the first Tab showing – the Form Name / Type tab.  To create a workflow form, you must first select “Multiple Signature” from the “E-Signature Requirements” question. Once a Form Designer does this and clicks "Save," the Participants tab will appear in the left nav.

Participants Tab

When Form Designers are adding a new form and click the Participants tab,  they will be able to begin Adding or Editing Participants of the form. To learn more about how to Add a Form Owner or Add Additional Form Participants, please refer to our training video and procedures within the "Adding Participants" section.

Multiple Signature Features

Unique Properties of Multiple Signature Forms:

For multiple signature forms, there are a few different properties you can set for your form items. You can set fields to be confidential & you will also need to assign each form item to a participant.

Confidential Form Items:

For forms that contain sensitive information that should not be shared with other form participants, you now have the ability to set form items as confidential. By default, all form items are set to be seen by all participants, but should you need to set fields as confidential, you can do the following:

1. Select the form item you want to set as confidential between one or more participants.
2. Click on the "Advanced" button.
3. Click on the "Confidential?" field. 
   • A list of the different participants will appear, allowing you to select who should be allowed to see this field. 
   • Only participants included within this field will see this field when filling out their portion of the form.
   • If a participant is not within the field, they will not see the field when filling out the form. 
   • NOTE: If there are no participants in this field, ALL participants will see the field.
4. Select the participants that should be allowed to see this field.
5. Click Save.

Supported Workflows

Currently, Dynamic Forms supports four types of multiple signature document workflows, each is detailed below:

• Broadcast 
• Sequential 
• Let Participant Decide
• Conditional

Workflow 1:  Broadcast    

This process enables users to build a form where after the initial user (or form owner) completes their part of the form, all subsequent co-signers are e-mailed a request to cosign the form simultaneously.

Workflow 2:  Sequential

Sequential routing moves the form through pre-determined process one step at a time.   All form participants are determined by the designer or identified by the form owner at the start of the form.

Workflow 3:  Let Participant Decide (Post-Form Routing)

The Post-Form routing functionality provides for more flexibility in determining the co-signer flow.  Under this process, the next step in the form routing is determined after the form is completed rather than upfront at the form owner stage.

First Participant

When creating a new form that is set as a Multiple Signature Form, there will be a Participants tab on the left nav. By clicking on the Participants tab, it will display the Participant section where you can add, edit and remove form participants. 

To start, click on the "Add New Participant" button. By default, the first participant you add will be set as the Form Owner which is the participant that starts/initiates the form process.

After clicking the "Add New Participant" button, a window will appear that will allow you to alter the different properties of this participant.

• First, give the Participant a name within the Name field. 
• If you select Yes for the Internal Signature Required question, it will provide an SSO URL in emails that are sent to this participant. 
• The Customize Confirmation Email section will allow you to send a confirmation email to the participant letting them know that they've successfully submitted the form. By selecting Yes to this field, it will allow you to customize the message that is sent within that email.
• For forms that are utilizing the Broadcast, Sequential workflow, the first participant can receive custom instructional text. This will instruct the participant to provide the correct contact information for any additional form participants.
• The last section in adding the first participant is the Confirmation Text section. This works similarly with the confirmation emails, however this text will be presented to the user on the web browser upon submission of their portion of the form. Typically, this contains your school's logo along with a thank you message and any additional information that the form participant should see.

NOTE: Should the form owner need to sign the form again within the workflow process, you can select Yes to "Owner may cosign?" question within the main Participant page.

Additional Participants

The process of adding additional participants works the same way as adding your first participant.

Simply go into the Participants tab within the form editor and click on the "Add New Participant" button.

After clicking the "Add New Participant" button, a window will appear where you can begin setting the different properties of each additional participant.

• Here you can determine if this participant should be set as a Payer, a School, or neither.
  • A Payer is a participant that will be making a payment on the form. (Vol State does not currently support this).
  • A School participant is treated differently as they will not be required to sign the form and will move forms straight from the Multi queue to the Processed queue upon completion of their review of the form.
•  You also have the ability to allow this participant to Reject the form back to the previous participant by selecting Yes for the Allow Reject question.

How the Participant is Designated

• There are currently 5 options to choose from in determining how this participant will be assigned.
  • The first option is The '(form owner or previous)' user will specify this user. This option will allow the form owner or the previous person in the workflow to determine who this participant is. They will be prompted on the screen to provide the First Name, Last Name and Email Address of this participant.
  • The second option is used if you, the form designer, know who this participant should be. By selecting this option, you will be prompted to provide the First Name, Last Name and Email Address of this participant within this window. 
  • The third option can be used to allow the previous user to select who this participant will be via a dropdown list. If there are several users that can sign as this participant, you can provide a list of those users that will display as a dropdown to the previous participant allowing them to select one user from that list. 
  • The fourth option is utilized when this participant will be prefilled via an API call.
  • The last and fifth option will allow you to allow multiple users to receive an email request to complete the form as this participant. You can assign multiple users from either using the Users field (NOTE: only users that are assigned to your org can be assigned as a user in this field) or the Groups field. The first person to fill out the form will be able to sign as this participant. Any users that attempt to fill out the form after that first user will receive a message letting them know that the form has already been signed for.

Participant Emails

• For each additional participant, there will be several custom emails that can be sent to the participant and the form owner. For more information on how to customize emails using our Custom Email Editor, please reference our Custom Email Editor video and procedures.
• The Customize Cosigner Email property allows you to customize the email request that this participant will receive once it's their turn in the form process to fill out the form. 
• Customize Confirmation Email will allow you to customize the email that is sent to this participant once they've successfully signed their portion of the form.
• The last email option you can customize is the Owner Notification Email. This will send an email to the form owner once this participant has signed their portion of the form. Typically, this is used to send the form owner updates on where the form is in the form process.

Ending a Form

• Giving a participant the ability to end the form means that the participant can end the entire workflow at their step in the process. For example, if a form no longer needs to be signed by any other participants for any reason, giving a participant the ability "end" the form allows them to stop the form process from continuing and will move the form from the Multi queue directly to the Pending queue, even if none of the other remaining participants signed the form. 

The last section of adding an additional participant is the Confirmation Text that this participant would see upon completion of their portion of the form. This is customizable for each participant used in the form process.

Workflow Builder

Users will notice when “Conditional” is selected from the Workflow type, a new “Workflow” button appears on the left nav bar.   Enter all of your participants and then click the Workflow button.

You will notice that a single action (Student) is already been created.  This action represents the owner or start of the form.  Designers will build further actions off of this initial one.

To start building the workflow, click on the Student action.  This will bring up options to add additional actions off of the action you are on.  In this case, we would want to insert an action below the Student action.   In other scenarios you can add actions above or below the current action.

When adding an action, in this case we are adding Parent as the next action, choose that participant from the drop down box.   Click Add to create the new Parent action.   This will produce the Parent action shown below the Student action.

Designers can also add conditions to the action.  In this example, the Student would fill out the form, then the Parent, but only if the Student’s age (found on the form) is less than 18 years old.   If the Student’s age is 18 or higher, the Parent action would be skipped.

Prior to form submissions (or elimination of current testing submissions) the workflow can be modified.   Designers can click on the action add to, edit and delete the action along with adding, editing and deleting any conditionals on the actions.

To finish out this simple workflow, the Advisor action has been added as the last step in the workflow.   Now finished, the workflow is – Student completes the form, if the student is over 18, the form is sent to the Advisor for completion.    Otherwise, if the student is less than 18, the form goes to the parent for signature, then moves to the Advisor.

Working In Queues

Administrators will be able to see Multiple Signature forms at the Home Page under the Multi heading. The number in this column reflects the number of multiple signature forms that have been started by users. These are forms that require multiple signatures, however, currently not all required signatures have been collected.

When all required signatures are collected, the Multiple Signature form will move into a Pending status automatically.

Note:
The only exception to this flow is a form with a School Use Only Section. With this flow, after the school administrator signs the form, the form will move to a “Processed” status.

Multiple Signature Queue

When the Admin User clicks into the Multiple Signature queue, a listing of form submissions will appear. The only difference in this list versus the Pending, Processed and Archived queues is the presentation of the Co-Signers (Participants) column (see red arrow below). This icon, when clicked, will show the Admin User the participants who have signed and the person who is next to sign the form.

In this example, Sam Veller is the next person to sign the form. I can also see information about the e-mail address where the e-mail request to sign the form was sent, and when that e-mail was last sent. In addition, the Admin User has the ability to send a reminder e-mail and to edit the email address of the co-signer and resend the e-mail to the new e-mail address.

Pre-filling Information

Because Dynamic Forms uses Vol State's single-signon, we can prefill form items with certain information. This allows certain fields (short answer) to already have information collected from the user. Watch the video above to see how to choose prefill or follow these steps:

1. Click on the field you wish to prefill
2. Choose the "Advanced" button
3. In the field type drop down, choose "Prefill"
4. Make your selection of the information you wish to capture from the user
5. Click save

If you check the "allow users to edit this field" box, then the form user can make changes to the field. Otherwise, the user will not be able to change the field.

Note: this information can only be collected on a form that is internal (behind single sign-on).

Information we can prefill:

• First Name: Get the user's first name prefilled
• Last Name: Get the user's last name prefilled
• Email Address: Get the user's Vol State email address prefilled
• Full Name: Capture the first and last name of the user
• Student ID: Get the user's V Number prefilled (regardless of whether they are a student, faculty member, or staff member).

Item Templates

Dynamic Forms includes item templates to make designing a form more efficient and easy. In the form designer, the item templates are found in the "Add Item Template" tab.

Item templates include:

Name: This adds a table with text boxes to collect first and last name

Address: This adds a table that collects the full address of the form user 

Phone Number: This adds a text box preformatted to collect a phone number

Email Address: This adds a text box preformatted to collect an email address

Form Header: This adds a table that includes a header to place the college name

Table with header: This adds a table preformatted with headers. This item is useful if you are going to collect several rows of information, such as an invoice might have.

Line: This adds a solid line to the form. This item is useful to separate sections of a form.

Advanced Features Contact

Workflows and routing can be very tricky, especially if the logic behind your form routing does not make sense. If you need help with more advanced form design and figuring out complicated workflows, contact Collin Peterson at collin.peterson@volstate.edu or at 4758.