Reported by: Ben Ray, iFormBuilder Solutions Engineer (and Black Belt FormBuilder)
This week’s Tip of the Week will save you valuable time when managing forms and users for data collection projects.
Assigning forms to users out in the field can be a tedious task, when faced with large field teams and hundreds of forms.
As an iFormBuilder Solutions Engineer, I work with large teams every day, who face the challenging task of ensuring all users are assigned to all the forms they need, in order to capture data and stay productive. With Form and User Groups, management of data collection teams is easier then ever. But first, let’s answer a few questions:
What is a Form Group?
A Form Group is a cluster of forms under a specific heading. This Form Group can then be assigned to User(s) or User Group(s), and all forms within that group will be assigned to the specific User(s). The same form could be a part of many different Form Groups.
What is a User Group?
A User Group is a cluster of users under a specific heading. This User Group can be selected when Assigning Form(s), and all users within that group will be assigned the specific Form(s). Like Form Groups, Users can be associated with multiple User Groups.
*Helpful Hint: When I create User Groups, I use a naming convention to help me differentiate between a User and a User Group when I am assigning forms. My naming convention adds _group to any of the titles. For example, I have named my User Groups hr_group, training_group, marketing_group, etc.
Take a peek below at 3 ways to better manage your field teams with Form and User Groups:
[dropcap4]1[/dropcap4] Deploy a new form to your team
Many enterprise teams have hundreds of forms. When a new form needs to be deployed to many users, it is a tedious task, unless you’re using Form groups. Simply add the newest form to the Form Group, and all users that have rights to that form group will see the new form.
[dropcap4]2[/dropcap4] Adding new users to your team
When new data collectors come on board they may need access to the current set of forms the rest of the team is using. This task can become time consuming, as they will have to assign rights to users for every single form. With User Groups you can add the user(s) directly into the User group, and they will have rights to all forms that the user group is assigned to.
[dropcap4]3[/dropcap4] Make it easy on yourself
Let’s say you get a call from your field team and they are wondering why they don’t have access to all of the different forms they should. Normally, you would have to select each form and check off each user box and they could get that form. But that may take hours, if you have many forms and a number of users. Why not split them up into easy-to manage-groups and add/remove at your convenience?
Make yourself and your data collection teams look great by using form groups and if you ever think you don’t need them think again. Save time and energy and create a cloud of success using Form and User Groups.
Thanks,
Ben
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