Forms and Workflow Overview

Each entity in the Anywhere Platform is described using a web form; these entities represent the various business processes in your organisation.

Forms have various types of input fields such as text fields, dropdown list, date fields, attachments etc. These input fields can be made common across all the phases of the entity's lifecycle.

All data inputted or changed on a form is audited and tracked so that a full history is available and traceable. 

Forms are fully configurable, and any data inputted into a form is available to the reporting engine.

Forms can be created from the create new form page.

• Open your fly down menu and click Submit New Form.

• On the new form page, choose the form type from the dropdown list.

• Form fields will appear for the type of form you choose. Fill them in where appropriate.

• Click on the orange create button to finish creating your form.

The types of forms available in the dropdown list is controlled by security groups.

Your form will only exist in the system after you have clicked the orange create button - you cannot partially fill in a form on the create new page and come back to it later.

Once the form is submitted it will be processed according to the workflow configured for that type of form. The workflow will dictate what the steps are, for example approval steps, who can act on those steps and the status of the form. The workflow will also determine what fields can be updated at each stage in the process.

• The tool provides basic and advanced search forms to help find previously created forms. Refer to the Searching end-user guide for further assistance.

• If the form is one of a type that you create regularly and you don’t already have a dashboard to track their progress, you may wish to consider creating a dashboard to track them. Refer to the Dashboards end-user guide for further assistance.

After you have created a form, you can continue to interact with and manage it from the form page.

The form page layout is as follows:

• Form ID, Description, and Form type will be displayed towards the top of the page.

• Workflow action buttons displayed in the top right.

• Form extra options dropdown menu located to the right of any workflow action buttons.

• Status ribbon displaying the high-level status of the process.

• Form fields on the left-hand panel where fields can be updated and inputted if configured as editable.

• Comments on the right-hand panel towards the top.

• Attachments on the right-hand panel, where mandatory and optional attachment fields will be separated.

• References on the right-hand panel towards the bottom, displaying hyperlinks to any other entities related to this form.

You can open a form on the form page via various navigation methods. Typically this is via a link to the form from a dashboard or it may the result of Searching for a form.

After you have created a form, you can continue to interact with and manage it from the form page.

The form page layout is as follows:

• Form ID, Description, and Form type will be displayed towards the top of the page.

• Workflow action buttons displayed in the top right.

• Form extra options dropdown menu located to the right of any workflow action buttons.

• Status ribbon displaying the high-level status of the process.

• Form fields on the left-hand panel where fields can be updated and inputted if configured as editable.

• Comments on the right-hand panel towards the top.

• Attachments on the right-hand panel, where mandatory and optional attachment fields will be separated.

• References on the right-hand panel towards the bottom, displaying hyperlinks to any other entities related to this form.

You can open a form on the form page via various navigation methods. Typically this is via a link to the form from a dashboard or it may the result of Searching for a form.

Forms can be deleted by those with the authority to do so. Deleting a form cannot be undone and all the audit trail associated with the form will also be deleted.

• Open the form.

• Click on the form drop-down menu (to the right of the Save button)

• Select ‘Delete Form’. You will be presented with a warning. Click on ‘Delete’ again to confirm deletion or close the warning box to cancel deletion.

Input can be entered through various data capture types. 

• Text Field: Single line of input.

• Text Area: Larger blocked of text.

• Date Field: Select a date from a calendar picker.

• Dropdown List: Select from a pre-defined list.

• Autocomplete List: Select from a larger pre-defined list that may require filtering.

• Multi Select List: An autocomplete that allows multiplate values to be selected.

• Table: Capture data in a tabular format where you can add rows.

• Attachments: File attachments.

• Comments: commentary that will be saved in the form’s collaboration audit.

Named attachment fields can be made required or optional and will be presented in the relevant attachment section.

General attachments that don't fit into a named attachment field can be attached to the ‘Other’ documents field instead.

• Open the form you wish to attach a document to.

• Drag and drop one or many files from your computer into the attachment field.

• Alternatively click on the attachment field to open a file browser, where you can navigate through your computer to find a file to attach. 

• Files may take a bit of time to upload, indicated by a loading bar beneath the document icon that appears.

• After the file has finished uploading you can save your form.

• You can remove attachments from a form by clicking the X button next to the document icon and then saving the form.

Comments can be added to any form to keep track of collaboration or relevant notes by team members. Saved comments will be audited and displayed in the Notes and History alongside other updates that are tracked.

• Open the form you wish to add a comment to.

• Type your text into the comments field.

• Save the form.

• Your comment will be visible in the notes & history pop-up for the form.

• Comments are part of the form audit and cannot be amended or removed after being added.

All forms follow a workflow representing the business process for the lifecycle of the form. The workflow is specific to the type of form. The workflow includes steps requiring action from specific end-users, for example an 'Approval' step might have two actions: 'Approve' and 'Reject'.

• Open the form you wish to perform a workflow action on.

• Click on the orange action button to initiate the workflow transition.

• The workflow will immediately move through the workflow provided the form meets all input requirements. There will not be a confirmation.

• All workflow actions taken are audited and visible in the notes and history.

Workflow action buttons will only be visible to users with the appropriate security groups.

A workflow action will not be successful if the form doesn't meet input criteria, for example because a mandatory field is empty.

Extra options for each form can be accessed by clicking the dropdown menu next to the workflow action buttons. Certain options may only be configured to be available based on the form type. 

• Open the form you wish to view extra options for.

• The extra options are located to the right of any workflow action buttons.

• Click on the arrow to open the dropdown list of the extra options.

• Standard Options for most types of forms will be 'Help for this Form', 'Notes and History', and 'Graphical View' 

Any updates or changes made to a form are audited with a name, date and timestamp. This enforces accountability and traceability for all actions taken within the system.

• Open the form you wish to view notes and history for.

• Open the extra options.

• Click on Notes and History.

• In the pop-up, changes and actions performed on the form will be displayed to the right while any comments will be displayed on the left.

• It is not possible to change or delete anything from the audit trail.

If configured, general help text may be available for the type of form you are working on.

• Open the form you wish to view help text for.

• Open the extra options.

• Click on Help for this form.

• Any configured help text will be displayed in the pop-up that is displayed.

Help text for a form can be managed by users with configuration access.

Help can be configured for individual fields on the form. If there is help available for a field, there will be a grey circle containing an ‘I’ to the right of the field prompt. Position the mouse over the field and click on it to show the help text.

Certain forms may have particular workflow steps configured to be displayed on a form approvals page - usually in an approval status.

On this page the actions will be restricted:

• Open the form you wish to manage or perform an action on.

• If configured, it will automatically display on the form approvals page instead of the standard forms page.

• Form fields will be not be editable on this page.

• You may input comments and perform workflow actions.

• You can click on the drilldown button to view the form on the standard form page instead.

Some types of form support viewing the inputs and details of the form for previous statuses. This might be useful to view certain input fields that are no longer shown at a later stage of the business process workflow.

• Open the form you wish to view in a previous status.

• Click on a segment of the ribbon.

• The form will display information and fields for that particular status.

Input fields are always locked and view-only when viewing the form in a previous status.

Q: I am unable to update a field I am expecting to be able to update.

A: This will be due to one of 2 reasons:

1. The field is configured to be editable only by certain people with the correct authority. If you believe you should be able to do this, contact your Administrator for assistance.

2. The field is configured to be editable only at certain states in the workflow. For example, the form may be awaiting approval and whilst this is the case, the field may not be updateable. In this situation the person with authority to approve the form may need to send it back to an earlier state (by selecting ‘Reject’ or ‘Rework’) so that the form can be updated prior to being resubmitted for approval. Each form will have a different business process – check the graphical view (using the form drop-down menu) or contact your Administrator.

Q: I am expecting to see an action button, but this is not appearing.

A: There are a number of situations where this may occur:

1. The step can be actioned by multiple people and someone else has already acted on the step. Check the Notes and History for the form to check if this is the case.

2. You have not been granted the correct authority to act on the form in the current step. If you believe you should have this authority, contact your Administrator for assistance.

Q: I have accidentally closed a form; can it be reopened?

A: If the form has been configured with a reopen step, then this will be possible. Using the form drop-down menu select the ‘Graphical View’ option and check whether there is a ‘Reopen’ option from the last step in the workflow. The task of reopening the form may require assistance from an Administrator.