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      1. Advice and answers from the Wildnote Team
      2. Best Practices: Project Managers
      3. Forms

      Best Practices for Form Library Management

      Without some pre-planning, your form library can become cluttered and confusing. Follow these best practices to keep things tidy.

      We suggest that you first read this article on the basics of Form Library Management. You will find the specific details on how to perform the actions listed in this article.

      Set-Up Steps for Proper Form Library Management

      Proper Form Management Workflow When Starting a New Project

      Cleaning up your Form Library

      Set-Up Steps for Proper Form Library Management

      Step 1. Create a "Template" category for any company templates that would be "Copied" rather than "Added"(aka Shared) to a project.

      1. To create a Template category, first pick a form that you would like to use as a Template.
      2. Copy the form.
      3. In the Form Layout tab, clear out any existing Default Answers.
      4. In the Form Details tab, rename the form [TEMPLATE] + Form Name
      5. Add a description in the description box that says "For copying ONLY. Do NOT collect data with this Template."
      6. Under Category, pick Create New Category and name the category TEMPLATES
      7. Click SAVE at the bottom of the page.
      8. Do the same thing for other forms that you'd like to be Company Templates. This time, TEMPLATE will be in the Category drop down list of choices.

      IMPORTANT NOTE: No data should ever be collected against the templates, and templates should not be connected to any projects, they should only be in the Company Library, available to be copied.

      Step 2. Create a "Shared" category for forms that can be shared without copying such as administrative forms.

      Follow the same instructions as above, but this time find all of the forms that your company wants to share rather than copy. Again, these would be administrative forms that would not have any project specific changes. 

      Step 3. Create a Form Building Project for testing newly built forms.

      If you are building a form from scratch, or modifying an existing form, or updating a form to a new version, it is a best practice to create a stand along project just for this purpose. Once your form is ready for prime time, name and categorize it as a Template, remove it from the Form Building Project, and copy it into the project you wish to use it in.

      Step 4. Get together with others who are using Wildnote in your organization and establish  category standards for your forms.

      It is important that everyone using Wildnote be on the same page with how your company wants to name projects, forms and categories. Consider putting together a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for these conventions.

      NOTE: Any forms copied from the Wildnote Library will automatically have the category that Wildnote assigned, but these categories can be changed.

      Proper Form Management Workflow When Starting a New Project

      1. Create your project.
      2. Copy form from either the Wildnote Library or Company Library Templates category. Or Add from the Shared category. You can also create a brand new form.
      3. Go to Form Details Tab: 
        • If this is a copy, rename the new form with project name plus some portion of the form name. 
        • If this is a copy, assign a category for the form from the Category list, or create a new category.
        • If this is a Shared form, the above steps are not needed.
      4. If this is a copy, go to Form Layout tab and add your default answers.

      Cleaning up the Form Library

      1. Deactivate old versions of forms in your Company Library.
      2. Remove (not delete) forms from projects that have been archived and deactivate them in your Company Library. 
      3. Delete extra, erroneous copies of forms. NOTE: Deleting a form is a destructive act that not only deletes the form from the database, but all associated data. We recommend checking with others using the platform to make sure.
      4. You can always see all Forms by using the toggle to ALL in the top right of the Project Forms or Company Forms window.
      5. If you accidentally archive a form, you can reactivate it:
        1. Toggle to ALL
        2. Click on the form name
        3.  Choose the Form Details Tab
        4. Change the status from Archived to Active
      6. If you accidentally delete a form, contact support@wildnoteapp.com