Forms have a life cycle based on a business process and data collection requirements. The first phase of this form publishing life cycle begins with staged forms, proceeds through approval and publication and finally, when the form is no longer needed, expiration. As a form progresses through each phase, Formatta E-Forms Manager graphically displays its status in a progress bar.
After form versions are approved, they can be published by a Level 3 Form Administrator or higher. Press Publish to enable Formatta E-Forms Manager to publish the form according to the Publish Start date specified in Form Manage Properties (General tab). If the Publish Start date is current, or a date in the past, Formatta E-Forms Manager will immediately publish the form and make it available to end users via the Available Forms web page. If the Publish Start date is in the future, Formatta E-Forms Manager will display the form version in the Scheduled screen, and then automatically publish it on the date specified.
While a form may have multiple versions over time, only a single version of a form can be published at any given time. This means you must first set a Publish End date for a particular version of a form before publishing an updated version of that form. See "Setting a Publish End Date" for more information.
While Level 2 Form Administrators can schedule a Publish Start date, Formatta E-Forms Manager will not publish a form until a Level 3 or higher Form Administrator confirms publication by selecting the Publish button.
Select Published from the Catalog tab to view and edit forms which have been published.
The Published Forms screen lists versions of forms that are currently available to end users via the Available Forms web page, dynamically generated by Formatta E-Forms Manager.
Click the Formatta Filler icon to view the form in Formatta Filler. Other information includes:
Form Title - The name of the form assigned when the form was initially uploaded using the New Form screen.
Version - The version number assigned by the Form Administrator when the form was initially uploaded.
Category - The category assigned to the form when it was initially uploaded to Formatta E-Forms Manager.
Publish On - The date the form was published.
The Form Title, Version, and Category information can be changed using the Form Details screen.
To view form details on any Published form, click the highlighted row when moving your mouse over the Published Forms screen.
Forms are published when they meet two criteria: (1) they have a current (or past) date specified in the General tab of Form Management Properties, and (2) a Level 3 or above Form Administrator has selected the Publish button under Form Publishing Information. If a form has a publication date in the future, Formatta E-Forms Manager will only publish the form beginning on that future date. See the section entitled "Scheduled" for more information.
Formatta E-Forms Manager provides two methods for ending the publication of a particular version of a form: (1) the End Publishing Button, and (2) specifying a "Publish End" date. Of the two, specifying a Publish End date is the more preferable.
The End Publishing button automatically displays in the Form Publishing Information screen once a form has been published. This feature is designed to provide Level 3 or above Form Administrators with the capability to immediately stop form publication, signing, and processing - on an emergency basis. This action moves the form version to an "Approved" status and makes it completely unavailable. (Reports and data export, however, are still available for forms submitted by end users prior to selecting the End Publishing button.)
The preferred method to end publication of a particular version of a form is to set a Publish End date using the General tab in Form Management Properties. Once the Publish End date is reached, Formatta E-Forms Manager will automatically cease publication and move the form to the Expired forms screen. Additional reasons to use the Publish End date instead of the End Publishing button include:
End Users can be notified that a newer version of a form is available;
Formatta E-Forms Manager can automatically update an expired form to a newer version;
Expired forms are listed in the Expired form screen;
Expired forms can be set to continue processing and signing even though a newer version is available.
As a Form Administrator, you'll need to determine the best method for ending form publication. If in doubt, use the Publish End date method rather than the End Publishing button.
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You can sort by Form Title, Version, Category, and Publish On by selecting this icon on the column title. |
