One of the most powerful features of GoFormz is the ability to automate processes around data collection — things like dispatching pre-filled forms to field workers, emailing the customer upon form completion, storing completed forms in a cloud storage app, etc. Automating these tasks makes instead of having people do them manually expedites and streamlines your business processes, removes error-prone manual work, and improves the overall efficiency of your business.
GoFormz has two main ways of automating data collection processes: Template Events and Workflows. In this article, we give a brief overview of each of these two models, and give an extended use case of the two of them working together.
Template Events vs Workflows
GoFormz has two main ways of automating data collection processes: Template Events and Workflows.
Template Events let you set up simple automations that are tied to a specific form template. These events are managed from the Template Editor, and are able to automate three tasks: emailing forms, transferring forms to another user, and tagging forms with keywords to make them easier to find. These automations can be triggered by form completion, form transfer, or Public Form submission. Learn more about Template Events here.
Workflows are a more powerful and robust automation platform, allowing a much wider variety of uses than Template Events including storing forms to various cloud apps, running tasks on a regular schedule, dispatching pre-filled forms from a third-party app, and much more. A single workflow can execute multiple actions, in contrast to Template Events which are limited to a single trigger and action per event.
Workflows are managed from the Workflow Tab. You can track the execution individual workflow jobs and view job details, which makes your automations much easier to troubleshoot (you cannot do this with Template Events). Learn more about Workflows here.
Extended Use Case
Suppose your service organization has a Work Order Form governed by the following rules. The tasks where automation may be useful are marked with numbers in parentheses.
REQUEST: There are two ways that forms are created: a) A dispatcher gets a request from a customer regarding a new work order, and creates a new form accordingly. b) Your organization has a public work order template on their website, allowing customers to enter their information and problem description directly into a new Work Order form. When a customer submits such a form, it should go directly into the support queue by sending an email to the support email alias (1). Dispatchers monitor this queue, and process all emails that come in. Dispatchers select a technician based on their schedule and location, and assign the form directly to that technician for fulfillment.
FULFILLMENT: Technicians should receive an email on their mobile device (2) when they get a new form assigned to them. Technicians then fill out the form in the field.
APPROVAL: The regional supervisor must approve all forms completed by a technician in their region. So when a technician completes a form, it should be transferred to the appropriate supervisor based on the region (3a,3b,3c). There are three regions — East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest. The supervisors are Bill, Tara, and Karen, respectively.
CUSTOMER NOTIFICATION: When a supervisor signs off on a form, the form is deemed complete, and an email with the form attachment should be sent to the customer (4).
STORAGE & CATEGORIZATION: Your organization uses Box for enterprise storage. The form should be saved to Box (5) once the supervisor signs off on it. In addition, all forms should be tagged (6) as work order forms, and with the customer’s name.
Many organizations have business processes along these lines. So how do we set this up in GoFormz? First, we need to set up some user groups. For this scenario, we suggest the following user groups: East Field Techs, West Field Techs, Midwest Field Techs, Supervisors. Once we have these groups, we can set up the following Template Events and Workflows. They are numbered to correspond with the numbers in the description above.
1. When anyone submits a public form: Email support@mycompany.com to add a new work order to the queue.
2. When anyone in the groups East Techs, West Techs or Midwest Techs receives a transferred form: Tag form as "Tech Received", and also tag with the technician's name.
3a. When anyone in the East Techs group completes a form: Transfer form to Bill.
3b. When anyone in the West Techs group completes a form: Transfer form to Tara.
3c. When anyone in the Midwest Techs group completes a form: Transfer form to Karen.
4. When anyone in the Supervisors group completes a form for the first time: Email form PDF to the customer using their email address from the form.
5. When anyone in the Supervisors group completes a form: Save Form to Box.
6. When anyone completes a form: Tag Form as "Work Order" and with the customer's name, as provided in the form.
Use the links above to learn how to configure the various Template Events and Workflows at play here.