Editing Form Submissions

Contents

Available on the Advanced and Enterprise tiers:

Essentials
Advanced
Enterprise

About

TrueContext allows your team to edit form submissions. There are two ways to initiate an edit: from the Web Portal or in the Mobile App. All editing of form submissions is done in the Mobile App. This feature makes it easy to:

  • Correct errors that would impact downstream workflows.

  • Allow mobile users to adjust forms if a customer changes their mind.

  • Progress through a multi-stage workflow.

The ability to edit form submissions is configured at the form level, giving you control over which forms you want to allow your users to edit.

Note:This feature is not compatible with using Data Record Passthrough.

This article will discuss configuring a form to make use of this feature, how to send form submissions for editing, and important considerations for this feature's use.

This feature also works with the Mobile SearchClosed Mobile Search is a feature that enables mobile users to display a list of forms submitted by themselves or other users and, if configured, incomplete TrueContext Teamwork-enabled forms. A user must be connected to a network to perform a mobile search. Box.

Configuring a Form to Allow Editing of its Submissions

Before initiating any edits to submitted forms, you must ensure the Sent and Inbox tabs are enabled for your mobile users and for the desired form, then configure the form to allow edits to form submissions. Once you have enabled this setting, you will be able to edit forms submitted against the new version of the form. It is not possible to edit form submissions made before these settings are enabled. It is also not possible to edit form submissions on forms using Data Record Passthrough.

The ability to edit form submissions is configured at the form level, giving you control over which forms you want to allow your users to edit. You must be a TrueContext Admin user or a user with “Can Create” permissions for the appropriate FormSpaceClosed FormSpaces are where forms are stored and organized in the TrueContext Web Portal. A TrueContext Team may have multiple FormSpaces, depending on their needs. Admins can set FormSpace permissions to control which users have access to the forms in that FormSpace. to adjust this setting. To do so:

  1. Navigate to the appropriate form in the web portal and select Edit Form.

  2. Select the Settings tab, and select Workflow Settings.

  3. Select Allow form submissions to be edited beneath the Editing menu.

From the Web Portal: TrueContext Admin users and users with "Can View" access to the form can send form submissions to mobile devices to be edited.

From the Device: If enabled on the form, mobile users can initiate edits to form submissions in the app.

How to Send a Form Submission for Editing

There are two places that a form submission can be sent for editing: the Web Portal and the Mobile App.

Initiate an Edit in the Web Portal

TrueContext Admin users and users with “Can View” permissions can send the previously submitted form for editing using the Web Portal.

To send an edit request for a form submission from the Web Portal:

  1. Navigate to the Data tab in the Web Portal.

  2. Select the appropriate form submission.

  3. From the dropdown menu next to the form submission ID, select Send for Edit.

    A form submission for a form titled "Construction Equipment Inspection." The menu is expanded to show the Send for Edit option.

  4. In the popup box, add any required notes to the request. These can be notes on what needs to be edited, instructions, an approval, or even the next step to take in the task.

    Select Send. This will send the form submission to the selected user's Inbox and notify them via push message.

    2019-01-10-EditFS-PortalView.png

    Note:Notes are limited to 256 characters. Notes will be applied to the latest version of the form submission, not the existing one. They are not cumulative. Each form submission version has its own notes (if supplied).

Initiate an Edit from the Mobile App

If correct permissions are enabled, mobile users can choose to edit submissions through the Mobile App, either their own from the Sent screen, or, if enabled, by using the Search box. To send an edit request for a form submission from the mobile device:

  1. Navigate to your Sent screen in the Mobile App.

  2. Tap and hold the form submission you want to edit. This will send it back to your Inbox.

    2019-03-28-EditFS-InitiateFromDevice01.png

  3. Navigate to the Inbox and select the form you requested to edit.

    2019-03-28-EditFS-InitiateFromDevice02.png

  4. Complete your edits, then hit Send as normal.

Sample Workflow

This sample workflow uses the Web Portal to send the form submission for editing. Through the entire workflow, the Data Record ID will remain the same.

  1. A mobile user fills out a form (in this case, a vehicle inspection form) as normal, with one or two missing answers and submits it. It shows up in the Mobile App's Sent folder as normal.

    2019-03-28-EditFS-AndroidInboxWithNotes01.png

  2. A TrueContext Admin user reviews the submission and finds it needs to be corrected. They select Send for Edit and highlight the problems in the form submission by adding notes to the request. The request's time is recorded in the form submission's status information and the status changes to Complete (Sent for Editing).

    A record with the Complete (Sent for Editing) status

  3. The mobile user receives a push notification and checks their Inbox. The submitted form is there, tagged with the notes and marked Edit Requested. They perform the edit and re-submit the form.

    2019-03-28-EditFS-AndroidInboxWithNotes.png

  4. The TrueContext Admin user refreshes the form submission page.

  • Edited fields are highlighted by Edited next to the new data:

    Note:This compares the two most recent versions of the form submission and marks any changes as Edited. It is not a cumulative review of all edits.

  • The form submission is marked Complete (Edited):

    A record in the Complete (Edited) status. This means a mobile user has completed the edits requested by the admin user.

Important Considerations

It is important to keep the following in mind when enabling this feature for forms:

Inability to Decline

Forms sent for editing are unable to be declined, unlike standard dispatches.

Geolocation and Time Controls

  • The Geo Stamps and Timestamps from the original form submission will be retained.

  • If the questions are Geo Controls or Date/Time Selector and the user interacts with them, the original values will be overwritten.

Changing Data

When enabling this option, consider the potential effects, e.g., if a mobile user changes a price on an invoice after a customer has signed the form, it can change the validity of the data. We do not recommend allowing editing in forms that require customer sign-off unless the customer is present to sign the updated copy, for example.

Sending Edit Requests to Other Users

Edit requests can be sent from the Web Portal to users other than the original submitter. Any submissions edited by this other user will be marked as from them in the Form Submission Version page.

Unsupported Data and Control Types

Some data and control types will not work when editing a form submission. Avoid using this feature with forms using these types of questions. They are:

  • Barcode

DispatchClosed The term "dispatch" refers to the act of sending a form to a mobile user or customer. Typically, a dispatched form includes some information pre-filled to give the recipient context for the work to be done. Dispatch can be manual or automated (using a Dispatch Data Destination or the TrueContext REST API). Destinations

We do not advise using this feature with the Dispatch Data DestinationClosed A Data Destination specifies where to send data from a submitted form. You can use Data Destinations to automate data sharing and storage, routing data to a specific service (such as email or cloud storage) in several different formats., as the dispatch destination re-executes with each edit to the form, creating a new dispatch each time the form submission moves into a "Complete" state. Instead of overwriting the original data and maintaining the same Data Record ID, it creates dispatches containing each iteration of the data.

Data Record Passthrough

Editing form submissions is incompatible with the use of Data Record Passthrough. If TrueContext does not retain the information from your form submission, it cannot be edited.