Form Builder

The Form Builder is used to create, edit, or delete custom forms. You select field definitions that define the prompts for the form. Each form is associated with a form type that tells the system how to process the information in the form.

Use the Form Builder

Some form types have a pre-defined form with a standard set of field definitions (see Field Definitions and Result Codes). Using Form Builder, you can use pre-defined forms or create a copy of the form to collect information specific to your business.

Note: Form Builder allows you to indicate which fields you want to be required, optional, read-only, or hidden. When you create new forms, take note of the fields specified as "Required" in the pre-defined forms as guidance for creating useful forms.

Select Application Setup > Activities Setup > Form Builder.
To create a form, click Create .
- To edit an existing form, select it and click Edit .
- To duplicate an existing form, select it and click Edit . On the edit page, select Save as new named entity, and enter a new alpha-numeric code in the Code field.
After clicking Create, you are given two options: Create Form and Create Offline Form.
1. Use Create Form to configure a form for use within the application, on a mobile device, or with an online clock. Using this option to create a form means that the form being created must have network connectivity in order to work.
2. Use Create Offline Form to create a form for use with a clock that does not have online connectivity. Offline forms are less intelligent and require the user to enter all of the required data at the device. Once a Device using an offline form is brought back online, the data collected through an offline form will be validated in the same way that a standard form would be.

Define the form:

Field	Description
Form Code	Enter a unique alpha-numeric code with a maximum of 10 characters.
Form Description	Enter up to 255 characters.
Form Type	Select a system-defined form type to direct the system how to process the information it receives. Activities provides the following form types: Activity Duration - For use by duration employees. Duration employees (either hourly timecard or project view timecard) use this form type to report working on an activity for a specific period of time in the time card. Activity Start Only - For use by start only employees. Start only employees use this form type to report starting work on an activity. When a start only employee moves onto another activity, they submit this form again to report starting the new activity, and the previous activity they were working closes automatically upon submission of the new activity start. Activity Stop Only - For use by stop only employees. Stop only employees use this form type to report stopping work on an activity once they are finished. When a stop only form is submitted, the time card automatically back fills to whenever the employee clocked in (if this is the first stop being reported for the day) or to when the last activity stop form for the day was submitted. Activity Start (Start-Stop) - For use by start-stop employees. Start-stop employees use this form type to report when they start working on an activity. Activity Stop (Start-Stop) - For use by start-stop employees. Start-stop employees use this form type to report when they stop working on an activity. Report Results - For use by employees who are working on a single activity and report different results for that single activity throughout their work day. Employees use the Report Results form to enter results for an activity while it is in progress or after it has been stopped. Results cannot be reported against an activity that is completed, canceled, or on hold. Report Results forms must be attached to an activities segment. If an employee is not clocked in when they submit the Report Results form, the system will return a validation error. Quantity results are cumulative and added to the existing total. If configured in the Report Results Form Builder, negative entries and partial units (for example, 1.5) are allowed. When someone submits a Supervisor Report Results form with an effective date, the system looks back from the effective date to find the last relevant event and applies the results to that event. If the activity being reported on has not been stopped already, submitting a Report Results form for that activity won't cause the activity to stop. Delete Duration - For use by duration employees. Duration employees (either hourly timecard or project view timecard) use this form type to delete an activity for a specific period of time in the timecard. Move Quantity - After stopping an activity, the Move Quantity form allows employees or supervisors to manually move the quantity that completed in the stopped activity to a new activity. Join Activity Team - For use by Start-Only and Start-Stop Employees, the Join Activity Team form allows employees to join activity teams configured for their locations. Leave Activity Team - For use by Start-Only and Start-Stop Employees, the Leave Activity Team form allows employees to leave their current activity team. Start Team Activity (Start-Only) - For use by Start-Only employees with lead role permissions, the Start Team Activity (Start-Only) form allows for starting a team transaction. Start Team Activity (Start-Stop) - For use by Start-Stop employees with lead role permissions, the Start Team Activity (Start-Stop) form allows for starting a team transaction. Stop Team Activity (Start-Stop) - For use by Start-Stop employees with lead role permissions, the Stop Team Activity (Start-Stop) form allows for stopping a team transaction.
Time Out	Enter the number of seconds that the form can appear without user action before it closes.
Locale Policy	Enter the language to be used by the form.
Offline Clock Form	Use the drop down to select an offline form to associate with the form.
Default Query	Use the drop down to select a default query to associate with the form.
Offline	Indicates that the form is an offline form.

Configure each of the options under the Clock Activity Selection (clock only) header:

Field	Description
Direct Entry	User can type in activity name at each level or use the barcode scanner.
Query	User can run query(s) to search for activities or select a query from their query profile to search for activities.
Hierarchy	User navigates through the activity hierarchy to select an activty.

(Optional) Under the Steps header, click Add Step to insert a step.

Define the step:

Field	Description
Prompt	Enter the label text to appear on the form.
Field Definition	Select the field definition associated with this step.
Entry	How the field is displayed on the form. Required: The employee must enter a value. Optional: The employee can choose to leave the field empty. Read Only: The field cannot accept input, but it displays the value entered in Default Value. Hidden: The field does not appear on the form. The system uses the value entered in Default Value.
Preserve Value	Select to retain the value submitted for the field when using the Repeat Form control step functionality.

In the Form Step Details dialog box, enter the applicable information:

Field	Description
Default Value	The default value for the step.
Step Length	Maximum number of characters that can be entered. Select Match step length if the length of the data entered must exactly match the length specified in "Step Length."
Minimum Value Maximum Value	Smallest or largest valid value when the data type of the field definition is numeric.
Input Source	Any: Employees can use the keypad or a barcode reader to enter information in the field. Keypad: Employees can use only the keypad to enter information in this field. Reader: Employees can use only a bar code reader to enter information in this field.

Repeat steps 4 through 6 to define each step you need.

(Optional) Under the Steps header, click Add Control Steps to add a control step.

Define the control step:

Field	Description
Control Type	All Results: Tells the system to show an employee all open activities and prompt the user to select one activity from the list of open activities. After the employee selects an activity, prompts the user to enter results for the selected activity when running a stop activity (if applicable). Business Process: Allows a custom business process workflow to run with an Activity Form. For example, an employee submits an activity form, such as Start Activity, which then triggers the associated business process workflow and the timecard updates with the business process workflow results. Business Process is supported with Activity Duration, Activity Start (Start-Only), Activity Start (Start-Stop), and Activity Stop (Start-Stop). The Enable Activities Form Workflow feature switch must be enabled to use this option. Initial Results: Prompts the employee for initial results. Usually followed with a Final Results control step. Final Results: Prompts the employee for final results. Usually preceded by an Initial Results control step. Open Activities: Tells the system to search for open activities. Prompts the employee to enter results for the activity when running a stop activity (if applicable). Recent Activities: For use with a report results form. Displays recent activities so that employees can go back and enter results for an activity they may not have stopped or reported results for. Repeat Form: Tells the system to keep the form window open after a user clicks submit so that additional results can be entered. If selected, users must manually exit the form window once they have finished submitting results. Values submitted for each field will be cleared when the user clicks Submit unless a field within the form has been set to have its value preserved. The Preserve Value checkbox indicates if a field has been set to retain the submitted value upon repeating the form.
Entry	Maximum number of characters that can be entered. Select Match step length if the length of the data entered must exactly match the length specified in "Step Length."

Field

Description

Control Type

All Results: Tells the system to show an employee all open activities and prompt the user to select one activity from the list of open activities. After the employee selects an activity, prompts the user to enter results for the selected activity when running a stop activity (if applicable).
Business Process: Allows a custom business process workflow to run with an Activity Form. For example, an employee submits an activity form, such as Start Activity, which then triggers the associated business process workflow and the timecard updates with the business process workflow results. Business Process is supported with Activity Duration, Activity Start (Start-Only), Activity Start (Start-Stop), and Activity Stop (Start-Stop). The Enable Activities Form Workflow feature switch must be enabled to use this option.
Initial Results: Prompts the employee for initial results. Usually followed with a Final Results control step.
Final Results: Prompts the employee for final results. Usually preceded by an Initial Results control step.
Open Activities: Tells the system to search for open activities. Prompts the employee to enter results for the activity when running a stop activity (if applicable).
Recent Activities: For use with a report results form. Displays recent activities so that employees can go back and enter results for an activity they may not have stopped or reported results for.
Repeat Form: Tells the system to keep the form window open after a user clicks submit so that additional results can be entered. If selected, users must manually exit the form window once they have finished submitting results.
- Values submitted for each field will be cleared when the user clicks Submit unless a field within the form has been set to have its value preserved. The Preserve Value checkbox indicates if a field has been set to retain the submitted value upon repeating the form.

Entry

Maximum number of characters that can be entered.

Select Match step length if the length of the data entered must exactly match the length specified in "Step Length."

Click Save .

Configure access to forms

To allow employees to use forms to enter activity data:

Set the "Activity Form Entry" function access control point to Allowed for the employee. See Configure Information Access for more information.
Ensure that employees and managers have Activities andTimekeeper product licenses.

Note: If the application is offline or the database is unavailable, employees using activity form entry through the system's user interface cannot submit activity data. If the server is online, but the database is unavailable, the browser displays the Timekeeper logon page.

Configure devices to collect activity form data

If your environment uses fully qualified domain names instead of IP addresses, configure the device for DNS support.
Use Device Manager to configure the device to communicate with the database server.
In the Activities system, create and configure activity forms.
Return to Device Manager, assign the forms to device soft keys, and initialize the data collection device.

Note: Initialize the data collection device each time you add, update, or delete a form to ensure that online and offline forms are synchronized.