How to have same form filled out in the same process model multiple times without carrying data through?

asked on August 18, 2017

Hi,

I have a process model where I need a particular form filled out by multiple employees. My current process is to send an email for each employee to their manager. So let's say a manager receives 3 emails, each with a form that needs to be filled out by their 3 employees. Whenever employee 1 fills it out and submits everything works fine. But as soon as employee 2 fills it out, all the data entered by employee 1 is still in the form. I would like this to be a blank form for the second employee to fill out. I've tried creating copies of the form for up to the max number of employees that will fill it out. So employee 1 fills out form1. Employee 2 fills out form1 - copy, etc. But even when I assign the copy to employee 2, it still has pre-filled data in it from the first employee form. Any thoughts on how to accomplish what I'm needing here?

Thanks

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replied on August 18, 2017 • Show version history

David,

What seems to be happening is that Forms stores field values as variables, so when you send the same form to 3 people within the same instance, they are all working with the same variables so they apply to all three copies of the form.

For example, a Name field may be using the "name" variable, but all three forms point to this same variable. When User1 enters data, he/she is populating the "name" variable, not just the field as that is how Forms carries data along the process. As a result, the next form will show User1's data because the fields point to the same variable.

I see two ways to accomplish your goals:

Create distinct variables for each separate form (the field names can be the same, but the important part is that they use distinct variables)
- i.e., Name1, Name2, Name3
Use a separate form instance for each

I think it really depends on the nature of your process, but it sounds like it might be better to have a separate instance for each employee's form rather. If you absolutely need/want to have them in the same instance, then you'll need each of the 3 to use different variables.

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View 3 previous replies

replied on August 18, 2017

Jason,

Thanks for the information. I've started changing the variable names to see if that works - hoping it does.

For separate instances, does that mean they can't be in the same process model? I am wanting to send the next form once all of these forms have been sent out and submitted. So basically wait until all forms are submitted, then send a final form to the manager. Can I do that with separate instances?

Thanks for the help

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replied on August 18, 2017

If you're waiting for all three, then there is no easy way to do that with separate instances. It sounds like changing the variables is the way to go.

However, you can't just change the variable names. You will need to create new ones on 2 of the 3 forms. If you change the variable name on Form1, it will change on Form2 and Form3 as well because they are the same entity.

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replied on August 18, 2017

Ok so I cannot simply open up the 2nd form and click variables, then go through and a 2 before each variable? It sounds like I basically need to recreate the form completely to generate new variables. Does that sound correct?

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SELECTED ANSWER

replied on August 18, 2017 • Show version history

Yes, because the variables are essentially "global" items so their names and values carry across the entire business process.

The Field name/label, order of the fields, etc., are "local" settings so they are contained within a particular form.

What I would do is go to Form 2, then one field at a time, use Duplicate, set the variable name, and delete the original.

That way you don't have to recreate it entirely from scratch, and you can make sure you got them all. Then just repeat the same process for Form 3

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replied on August 18, 2017

That's exactly what I just did and it really wasn't too bad at all. Thanks for all the help!

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replied on April 8, 2019

I had a similar process but for a build checklist process. The Checklist would have to be filled out X amount of times based on the number of PCs that needed to be built.

I had a field as the iterator, a field as the total count, and I would loop based on the iterator < total count. Then I would store each build checklist in the repository. After it looped back to let the employee fill out the next build checklist, all of the checkboxes were already checked off.

So I had to "on load" run JS to clear all the check boxes, unless the user saved the document as draft. This was a bit tricky. My solution was to use another iterator field. This field was current iterator.

Basically, on load I would check if the current iterator was != to iterator. If true, then I would clear the form and then make both iterators the same. When the user submits the form, then I make the iterator field add 1. This made it so after the form is submitted and saved into the repository, if it looped back again to fill out another checklist, it would see that the current iterator is not equal to the iterator. This cleared the form so it was fresh again. When the user saves and closes the window, there would be no changes to both the iterators, making it so my IF statement would not be true and will not clear the form when they continue to fill out the check list.

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How to have same form filled out in the same process model multiple times without carrying data through?

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