What is it
A form is a collection of input fields (form fields) which helps automatically generate a document with minimum effort and risks of missing information. It removes the need for people to manually edit text and can even auto-populate information.
Who is it for
Creating forms is should generally be done by content experts as it requires knowledge of the different possible document outputs.
Use forms when you want to give others the possibility to easily generate documents and always want to make sure that the correct text and input is used.
Advantages of using forms
Forms can be used in the Document and the Prospect module. Using them has significant advantages:
- Only fill in what is absolutely needed: to create a document you only need to fill out the specified form fields. No more need for reading and checking.
- Accessibility and no mistakes: creating a final document/product doesn’t require content expertise.
- Centralized data: content experts can edit information in a single place and ensure that when a document is generated, the information is always up to the latest standard.
- Re-use data: a form can be used for multiple documents/products. An example would be all different forms of a similar type of document (think: NDAs, employment contracts and customer contracts). You only need a single form to let the user create all different variations.
- Share with people not using the platform: In the Document module forms can be send to people outside the platform (link). This means people without an account can fill in forms and generate a document.
Example: using the same form for two different products: Financial products can have different legal structures. If we take investment funds as an example, an FCP (Fonds Commun de Placement) is a type of mutual fund that is commonly used in France. The FCP does not have legal personally and must be managed by a management company. While a SICAV (Société d’Investissement à Capital Variable) is a type of investment fund that issues shares and does have legal personality.
Both products require a set of the same data, which means only one form needs to be created for this information and can be used for both. Think of a fund ID, fund name, country of registration and legal basis. These will be the form fields. Because the two products to be made have a different (legal) structure, the text will be different. For both products the same form will be used with different text blocks attached to it. Click here to learn more about attaching text blocks to forms.
Note: You can use multiple forms to create a product.
Set up form types
The first step is to set up form types. These types can be used to filter forms and to structure them. Type-folders function as a container where you can add forms that have similarities. A few form types could be: bylaws, administrative regulations and asset class and sub fund regulations.
- Go to the Prospect Module and click on ‘Forms‘.
- Click on ‘+ Add form type‘.
- Enter a name for the type.
- Click on ‘Save‘.
Delete a form type by clicking on the red bin-icon.
Edit the name of a form type by clicking on the pencil-icon.
Create a form
- Go to ‘Prospects‘ and click on ‘Create form‘. On the left side you will see an empty area. This is the area where you will structure your form. On the right side you will see the sidebar.
- Enter a suitable form name.
- Click on ‘Form type‘ and select the type that fits this form. The form types that you created will appear.
- Give the form a description. This could help you and other users to quickly know what form this is about.
- Click on ‘+Add section‘ on the left side. Sections are here for structure and data hygiene. You can switch the order of the sections by dragging them to the place you want to have them.
Example: you create a form for a sub fund. The sections in this form can be:
‘General’, ‘Investment objectives’, ‘Investment policy’ and ‘Benchmark’. - The next step is to add fields to the sections. Click on ‘Form Fields‘ in the right sidebar.
Note: We recommend to create the form fields before creating a form to achieve a smooth as possible workflow. - Drag and drop form fields to their sections.
If you would like to create a field from here, click on ‘Basic Fields‘ and choose a field from the section and drag and drop it to the right place. Then click on the pencil icon on the field to edit it. Fill in the field information. If you need a guide for how to do this, click this link and scroll down to the field type you’re creating. - Then click on ‘Conditions‘ in the sidebar if you would like to make this field conditional.
- Click on ‘Save Draft‘ if this form is not finished or you don’t want the form to be used yet.
- Or click on ‘Publish Now‘ if the form is finished an ready to be used.
- Or lick on the arrow and choose to set a date for the form going live. The form won’t be usable until that date.
Note: Only live forms can be used to create Products. If a form is still in a draft version, it won’t be seen in the product blueprint and the product.