ClearForms - Customize a Review Step

Public submissions frequently require review or approval – from within a department or from representatives of multiple departments. The Review Step can be used to aid in the form submission in several ways. Select the link below to navigate directly to that section:

• Configure and customize a Review step
• Add Reviewers
• Have specific roles/users review particular sections of the form
• Set conditionals in a Review Step

Configure and Customize a Review Step

Configure the Review Step by doing the following:

1. Give the review step a name by selecting the edit pencil. 
2. Select the Configuration button in the upper right corner of the step.
3.  Select the Autoadvance toggle to automatically complete this step if there are no required reviewers.
4. Add assignees to the step by individual, or select the button to Add Assignees from previous step. This will display the ability to set logic outcome and conditions.
   • Note: select the Save logic configuration button when you're done.
5. Add a timeframe to set how long a user has to complete this step. 
6. Add an email notification(s) to notify the applicant and/or reviewer(s) of the step's progress. Learn more about using logic in Email Notifications in this article: Online Forms - Data Fields and Formulas
   • Note: select the Save email notification button when you're done.

Add Reviewers

Now you are ready to add a Reviewer. Select the Add reviewer button.

Then, fill out any needed information for a reviewer(s) to be able to complete the review of the applicant’s submission. 

1. Set the Reviewer title name. This is the name for the group of reviewers (e.g. Planning Department).
2. If needed, use the Logic feature to control when this review is utilized. Logic can be added by selecting the ellipses icon in the upper right corner of the reviewer information panel, and then selecting Logic. Learn about using Logic in your Online Forms in this article. 
3. Select a Review Type: Specific reviewers or a third party reviewer, whether this review is Required, and if you need to Ask For Signature.
4. If needed, add an affidavit, approval message, or rejection message. A reviewer can always add to or overwrite a pre-set message. 
5. Select whether Any or All of the reviewers must approve in order to complete this step.
6. Assign a Role (recommended) or individual to be the reviewer. Each review step must have at least one review group and at least one Role or person listed as a reviewer, otherwise, you won't be able to save the step or publish and use the Workflow.

Pro-Tip: Add as many review groups as necessary by selecting the Add reviewer button and repeating the process outlined above.

Use Roles in a Review Step

Using Roles over adding an individual person allows you to:

• Add a new person to the Role after your form is already in use. That person will have access to all the submissions the Role does, even if they were started before that person was added to the system.
• You to easily swap people in and out of Review functions to respond to staffing changes. When a new staff person takes over for someone on leave or who has changed roles, the new person will need access to all pending submissions awaiting Review, including those that were started before any personnel changes were made. 
• If someone leaves your organization or changes jobs and should no longer have the same access, you just remove them from the Role. Any pending Reviews will disappear from their dashboard and they'll stop getting email notifications.

In each Review step section, there is the option to add a Role:

• If you haven't set up any Roles yet, you'll have the opportunity to create a new Role. Learn how to create roles here.
• If you have already added one or more people to a Role who will be the review team for this section/ Step, just add the Role as a Reviewer. 

Note: If there is more than one person in the Role, once one person reviews that review is deemed complete. If you must have multiple people complete the exact same review, add them to different Roles. That will automatically add in all the people who are in the Role as potential reviewers. Once a Role has been added, you can switch people out of the Role easily.

Utilize Conditionals to Assign Review Steps

Conditional reviews may be necessary when submissions are directed to specific individuals based on the provided data. For instance, the Police Department might require a review of a Special Event permit application only for large gatherings or when alcohol is involved. Similarly, the Planning Department may designate particular staff members to evaluate a Business License Application depending on whether the business meets specific criteria.

A couple of things to know about utilizing conditionals in review steps:

• In a form, you can allow one or more levels of conditional logic to Review steps.
• You can determine whether or not a Review should take place or conditionally assign the Review to a review group based on a multiple-choice answer in an earlier Information Collection step.
  • For example, a question on a Business License Application might ask about the type of business, and another question might ask about whether specific code requirements have been met.

Select the ellipses icon (...) in the upper right corner of the reviewer information panel, and then select the Add Logic button.

Then, follow these steps to set up conditional review:

1. Set an Outcome (Require this review or Don't require this review).
2. Select Add Condition to select from available form fields, and use the AND or OR operators to determine when review is required. You can add as many conditions as needed.
   • In this Business License Application Planning Department review step, we've added three conditions that necessitate review: when code requirements are not met or a violation was identified, and when the type of business is a restaurant.
3. Select the Save logic configuration button when done.

Once the logic is added, it's always clear what triggers the Review.