Mapping Out Your Form
The first thing you and/or your team need to do when prepping for a new form is to plan out your roadmap! Below are a series of questions that can help you/your team think through your form's creation submission.
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What is the goal or objective of the form?
- For example, allowing residents to register their dogs with the city, setting up a system for local businesses to submit their emission reduction plans, or helping our department leaders better manage documents that they need to review and sign off on.
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Is this an external or internal form?
- External Forms - for example, a resident, business, etc. fills out an application to be turned in to your organization such as a pet license, building permit, etc.
- Internal Forms - a staffer fills out an HR submission.
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Do you have a previously created form to use as a guide?
- A printed PDF, an electronic form on your website, or another form software.
- If you are working with a Client Success Manager, provide them with any documents that are associated with the form. This could be a PDF form or a web link. For example, a document is given at the end of the submission (E.g. a license), or an outline of the currently used submission.
- Make sure to assess your organization’s current rules to aid in form creation!
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How is your form currently managed?
- Does someone manually submit a printed PDF that they've filled out, submit an electronic form on our website, or use another form software, etc?
- If you are working with a Client Success Manager, provide them with any documents that are associated with this form. This could be a form, link, for example, a document given at the end of the submission (E.g. a license), or an outline of the currently used submission.
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What information does the user need to provide?
- Where do you envision the form starting? Does the submission start with the applicant filling out their name or do you provide information first?
- Think about how the form should be completed by the participant.
- See Setting up a Form to learn more.
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Will the applicant need to pay for anything?
- If the answer is yes, can payments be waived or made by check/cash at a later date?
- See Setting Up Payment Steps to learn more.
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Will the applicant need to renew the same form every year?
- Do you want certain fields to be filled in when the applicant renews automatically?
- Do you need reminder emails to go out prior to renewal?
- See Utilizing Renewal Options in Your Form to learn more.
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Does anyone need to review or approve the form?
- Internal Reviewers - a staff member who looks over certain steps through which the applicant has given information.
- External Reviewers - a third-party reviewer such as a landlord who must sign off on new signs displayed on a building.
- To learn about adding user permissions see Creating Roles in a Team.
- See Enabling and Managing Assignments to learn more about enabling reviewers.
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Where does the form end?
- Once the submission is made by the person starting the form?
- Once payment is made?
- Once something is approved and signed off is this the end of the form?
- Or is it all of the above? The applicant pays the fee and submits the application, then a reviewer signs off on the application.
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How will you use the information after it is entered into ClearForms?
- Do you want to see an individual PDF document for each submission or a spreadsheet export of responses?
- Do you want the information in ClearForms to feed into a custom PDF document? See Custom PDF Output to learn more.
- Remember every field you want in your output should be included in the form!
Pro Tips
- If you have a team helping draft a form, don’t forget to set up permissions! To learn about adding user permissions see Creating Roles in a Team.
- Once you have completed setting up the form don’t forget about customizing the start page of the form. See Customizing the Form Start Page to learn more.
Visit your ClearGov Academy to get a step-by-step walkthrough on building a form! See ClearGov Academy.
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