Custom Project Request Forms

NOTE: Custom Project Request Forms and some other features described in this article are optional add-ons to Workzone. For details on adding these features if you don't have them already, please email help@workzone.com.

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To gain a fuller understanding of the needs for a particular project, you can establish customized forms with specific questions and information.

IN THIS ARTICLE

Create/Edit a Form
Form Settings
Form Questions
Mapping Request Form Questions to Project Fields
Editing Existing Questions
Sections
Conditional Logic (Show This Section)

Forms created under the settings (gear icon) when viewing All Workspaces will show up in all workspaces (replacing the default generic form that displays otherwise), or they can be designated for a particular workspace only.

Create/Edit a Form

Custom request forms can be established by an Administrator in the Custom forms section of the REQUESTS area in settings (accessed by clicking the gear icon in the top right). Click the Add Custom Form button to create a new custom project request form. If your organization has Public Request Forms enabled, choose the appropriate Access Type. If Workzone is set to do so, check the box for any users you want to be recipients (receiving a notification when a request is submitted with that form). Click the Create button. The Form Settings described in the next section can then be established.

On the Custom Forms list, click the name of an existing form to show its details. When you edit an active form, it will automatically be made inactive (hidden from users), and you will need to enable it to make it visible to users.

WARNING: Any users currently filling out an existing form when you begin editing it will lose their work.

When you first create a form or make any edits to an existing form, it is inactive and not available to users when they request a new project. When you are finished and ready for the form to be active for requesters, you can click the FORM INACTIVE switch in the top right, or click enable in the STATUS column for that form on the Custom Forms settings page. Also, a form can be hidden from requesters by clicking the disable link on the Custom Forms list or the aforementioned switch (which would show as FORM ACTIVE).

Deleting an existing form occurs on the Custom Forms list by clicking the delete link on that form's row. A form is not able to be deleted if any submitted requests remain that use that form.

Editing or creating a form will show the FORM BUILDER view, as seen here:

Form Settings

Click the pencil icon at the top when editing a form to show the Form Settings on the left, if necessary. Here, you can change the Form Name and add Instructions (additional details) in the box with an editor toolbar (providing text formatting, linking, etc.)

Instructions formatting options can be advanced, and for additional assistance, please contact us at help@workzone.com. Below the instructions, you can change the access type, if your organization has Public Request Forms.

In the box labeled Minimum lead time, working days (optional) enter a number, which, when specified, will ensure the requested deadline (typically phrased as "When do you need this?") cannot fall within the set number of working days.

Form Questions

Click the + Add Question button in at the bottom of a particular section to add a new custom question to that section of the form.

On the left, choose the Input Type, selecting from the following:

Text - Provides a single line of any general text.
Textarea - Provides multiple lines of any general text.
Date - For this, a date picker displays where a requester can select a given date, displaying one month at a time. Entry is required in mm/dd/yyyy format (and can also be typed in).
Checkbox - With this option, one or more labeled boxes can be specified for the requester to select (check).
Radio Button - From the several options that can be specified, the requester can only select one option. Presenting each option on the form together with a circular selection button next to each.
Dropdown - A listing of several options can be specified, with the requester being presented with the list (when clicked) and selecting only one option in that list.
User List - A full list of users and resources already created within Workzone. This list will mirror exactly the list of users in the Responsible menu for projects and tasks.
Category List - A full list of categories already created within Workzone. This list will mirror exactly the list of categories in the project-level Category menu.
Number - A text field that only supports the entry of numeric characters.
Custom Field Dropdown - A dropdown menu that is automatically populated with the values created via the Projects Custom Fields settings. Selecting this question type will require one of the existing project custom fields to be selected.

Once the input type is chosen, the Question Settings appear on the left, and you can enter the Title of the question as it will appear to the user, along with an Instructions box for additional details with an editor toolbar (that provides text formatting, linking, etc.).

Input type can be altered (from the options listed above). For Checkbox, Radio Button, and Dropdown, you can only change one for another. Text can also be switched to Textarea, and vice versa.

Required can be checked if the requester should have to enter a value for this field before the request is submitted.

Options are entered for the Checkbox, Radio Button, and Dropdown input types. You can reorder the items by clicking and dragging the double arrows, add an option by clicking the plus icon (+) next to each row, and delete an option by clicking the trash can icon on that item's line.

To preview the form, click the Preview request form link in the top right.

Mapping Request Form Questions to Project Fields

With this feature enabled, the request form Question Settings editor will include an option to "Map to Project Field". Mapping these fields together will allow the data submitted in request forms to automatically be populated on the Add Project page when a project is created from a request.

The dropdown menu of selectable fields will include any project-level standard or custom field that matches the format of the request form field. For example, a date-formatted request form question will provide project-level date fields, like the Target End Date, to be selected for mapping. These are the request question formats that map to corresponding project fields:

Text and Textarea - Both question types will map to text project fields. While text questions will map to both text or textarea fields, textarea questions will only map to textarea fields in the project.
Date - Date questions will map to any date project field, including the Target End Date field.
User List - A user list question can be mapped to any user list project field, including Project Responsible.
Category List - A category list question can be mapped to any category list project field, including the standard Category field.
Number - A number field can be mapped to any number field. Project number will not be included since project numbers allow both text and numeric characters.
Custom Field Dropdown - The custom field dropdown menu question will be mapped to any of the existing Projects Custom Fields when the question is originally created.

A request form's data will only map to the project field if the project field is enabled on the Add Project page, as per the Fields to Display settings. When clicking the "Create linked project" button on a request, the Add Project page will display all mapped data in the corresponding fields automatically. This data may be modified or deleted on the Add Project.

Editing Existing Questions

Questions can be dragged and dropped to reorder them on the form, even between sections.

Each question also has a pencil icon for editing the details described in the Form Questions area above, a double stacked square icon for copying the question to reuse it (and make alterations if necessary), and an (x) icon for deleting the question from the form altogether.

When reordering questions, the requester's information, Workspace, Project Type, Project Title, and When do you need this? fields are always at the top and cannot be moved (and have a ⊘ icon on the left).

WARNING: When you delete a question, you permanently delete any existing data from previous requests for that question. This cannot be undone so make sure you want to do this!

Sections

Workzone provides sections to help with grouping questions in an organized fashion. To create a new section, click the + Add Section button below all existing sections/questions at the bottom of the form (as described earlier).

When adding a section, you can enter the Title on the left, along with Instructions that can utilize an editor toolbar (providing text formatting, linking, etc.) The Show This Section option is detailed in the Conditional Logic section described below.

Existing sections can be edited at the top of the section, with a pencil icon to change the Title or Instructions, a double stacked square icon for copying the section to reuse it (and make alterations if necessary), a double arrow icon (⇅) for reordering multiple sections (using drag and drop in the Move Sections overlay that appears), and an (x) icon for deleting a section altogether, which includes all the questions in that section, and also impacts already submitted requests.

Conditional Logic (Show This Section)

For a selected section, the Show This Section option in the Section Settings on the left provides three choices, Always, When and Internally.

For a section set to Internally, it isn't shown on the request form page that the requester fills out. They appear only the Edit Request page, accessed by clicking the pencil icon at the top right of the details tray for an existing request. Internal sections are typically used for adding information to requests after they are submitted, such as tracking numbers or additional notations. Internal sections can be seen by all users who can access the Edit Request page, so they should not be used for sensitive information not appropriate for that full audience.

For When, a section (and the questions it contains) can be chosen to be displayed only if the user has responded with a designated answer to a specific previous question on the form. For instance, a user needing a website might only see questions about a given website module if they selected that they need that module. The trigger question for if a section should display should be the last question of its section, and the optionally displaying section should immediately follow it in order (unless there are other sections also involved in the logic).

In the Visible When overlay that appears, you can choose the question that controls whether or not a section is displayed, and what answer must be selected.

NOTE: Questions selected for when a section should display must be an input type of Checkbox, Radio Button, or Dropdown.

If When is already selected for the Show This Section option, you can make changes to what question dictates if a section is displayed by using the pencil icon to the right of the "Answer is..." line.

REMINDER: As described above in the Create/Edit a Form section, when you are ready for the new form to be active for your requesters, you can click the FORM INACTIVE/ACTIVE switch in the top right, or click enable in the STATUS column for that form on the Custom Forms list.