By setting up data forms in your application, users can efficiently fill in standard and custom forms by populating fields with pre-existing information. An administrator must configure data forms for your application before users can auto-populate forms, which involves:

1. Creating a data form template, using the Form Builder to configure its fields.
2. Adding entries for the data form, which are the data that a user will populate into form fields.
3. Adding the data form as a section to a standard or custom form, where you can set the properties of the data form section’s fields. 

After completing all 3 configuration steps, data forms will be available for your users so they can auto-populate form sections! To learn how to use data forms on standard and custom forms, see Auto-Populate Form Sections.

Add a Data Form Template

As the first step in setting up form auto-population, add a data form to configure the types of information that will be recorded as data entries. To begin creating a data form, click the Add Form button on the Forms page. The New Form pop-up will be displayed, where you can fill in the following fields:

• Caption: enter a unique name for the form.
• Caption Plural: enter the plural version of the form’s name.
• Form Type: choose “Data” in the picklist. If you want to create a new child record type, see Use the Form Builder.  
• Show on Portal: toggle to allow users of your application’s external portal to (1) use this data form to populate fields on the Report Online form and (2) see this data form’s entries. 
  • Even if you restrict portal users from auto-populating this data form, you can choose to display the data form’s fields on the Report Online form by setting the data form section to “Show on Portal” (see the Add a Data Form Section to a Standard or Custom Form section of this article).
• Show on Hotline: toggle to allow hotline agents to (1) use this data form to populate fields on the Hotline Intake form and (2) see this data form’s entries.
  • Even if you restrict hotline agents from auto-populating this data form, you can choose to display the data form’s fields on the Hotline Intake form by setting the data form section to “Show on Hotline” (see the Add a Data Form Section to a Standard or Custom Form section of this article).

Click the Save button to proceed to the Form Builder. You can add and edit fields on a data form using the Form Builder, similar to custom and standard forms (see Use the Form Builder for detailed instructions). However, the following layout elements, field types, and field properties will not be available on the Form Builder when creating or editing a data form:

• Tabs.
• Sections.
• Information boxes. 
• Data form sections.
• Case Selection field types.
• Party Selection field types.
• Team Multiple field types.
• User field types.
• User Multiple field types.
• “Computed” or “aggregate” field properties.
• “Show on Portal”, “Show on Hotline, or “Show on Intake” field properties.
• Display rules.
• “Link with System User” field property for “Email” or “Email Multiple” field types.
• Default values for fields.

Add a Data Form Entry

Data form entries are the data that a user can look up and populate in a standard or custom form. After publishing a data form, Case IQ will prompt you to add entries for the data form. You can also navigate to the Data Form Entries page later by selecting the “Data Form Entries” option on the Data tab. Add an entry by clicking the Add Data Form Entry button on the “Add data form entry?” pop-up or Data Form Entries page.

Fill in the data form template with information for one entry that you want users to be able to auto-populate into a standard or custom form. After filling in the form, click the Save button or the “Save and Add New” or “Save and Copy” page menu options to quickly add another entry. See Data Form Entries for steps on editing and deleting entries.

Add a Data Form Section to a Standard or Custom Form

After creating a data form, you can add it as a section to a standard or custom form, so users can look up information and populate the data form’s fields. 

To add a data form section to a standard or custom form:

1. Open a standard or custom form in the Form Builder by clicking the standard or custom form in the Forms grid. 
2. Click the Form Builder's Edit button.
3. Find “Data Form Section” at the bottom of the Field Type sidebar and drag it to the Form Builder page. 
4. In the New Data Form Section pop-up, fill in the following fields:
   1. Caption: enter the name for the data form section that you want Case IQ to display on the standard or custom form. 
   2. Data form: choose the data form template you want to add to the standard or custom form.
   3. Show on intake: toggle to display or hide the data form section when adding a new record. 
      1. If you want to show any of the data form’s fields on intake, set the section to show on intake. Then, you can choose the specific fields you want to show on intake by editing properties of the fields in the data form section.
   4. Show on portal: toggle to display or hide the data form section’s fields on your application’s external portal. You can set this independently from the data form template. 
      1. If you choose to hide a data form template for the portal but show its data form section on a standard form for the portal, portal reporters will see the section’s fields on the Report Online form but will not be able to auto-populate the section. The data form section will be editable on the Report Online form, even if you set it as “Read Only” on the standard form. This means that a portal reporter can manually enter data into the data form section’s fields but will not see the data form’s entries.
      2. If you want to show any of the data form’s fields on the portal, set the section to show on the portal. Then, you can choose the specific fields you want to show on the portal by editing properties of the fields in the data form section.
   5. Show on hotline: toggle to display or hide the data form section’s fields on the Hotline Intake form. 
      1. Like the “Show on portal” option, if you choose to hide a data form template on the Hotline Intake form but show the data form section on the hotline, hotline agents will see the data form section on the Hotline Intake form but will not be able to auto-populate the fields or see the data form's entries.
      2. If you want to show any of the data form’s fields on the Hotline Intake form, set the section to show on hotline. Then, you can choose the specific fields you want to show on the Hotline Intake form by editing properties of the fields in the data form section.
   6. Help text: enter any guidance text for the data form. Help text will be displayed when the user hovers their cursor over a question mark icon beside the section.
5. Click Save to create the data form section. The fields of the data form template you selected will be added to the standard or custom form and they will be available for General Users when you publish the standard or custom form.

If you click a data form section field, you can edit its properties like any other form field (see Use the Form Builder: Add a Field for a list of field properties). There will be 2 additional field properties for data form fields:

• Read Only: by default, data form section fields will not be editable, meaning that the field can only be auto-populated and users cannot change the field’s value. If “Read Only” is disabled, users can change the data form section field’s value.
• Mapped field: choose the data form field to auto-populate in the section’s field. Your “Mapped Field” selection tells Case IQ what data it should put in the field when a user auto-populates the data form section.

A field’s name or caption on the data form section does not need to match the data form template field to which it is mapped. The “Mapped Field” dropdown will list all fields on the data form template with the same data type as the field you are editing. In the example below, the “First Name” field in the data form section is a textbox, so the options in the “Mapped Field” dropdown are the textbox fields on the data form template. You can map the same data form field to multiple fields in the data form section.

You can move a field within the data form section or out of it by clicking and holding a field, moving your cursor to another location, then letting go of your cursor to place the field. If you move a data form section field out of the section, its “Mapped Field” value will be removed. You can also move other fields into a data form section. Case IQ will add the “Mapped Field” property for the field, but it will be blank by default.

Set Data Form Permissions

When a data form is first activated, the system will automatically create user role permission options for the new data form under the Auto-Populate ACL sub-category (see Access Control List for the full list). If you grant a user role auto-populate permissions for the data form, the user role can see the data form's entries and auto-populate any sections on a standard or custom form mapped to the data form. Make sure to grant auto-populate permissions to any user role you want to be able to auto-populate forms.

However, users with view permissions in your internal application for the standard or custom form to which the data form section has been added will be able to see the data form section's fields. For example, if the “Manager” data form has been added as a section on the case form, all users with permissions to view cases in the internal application will be able to see the “Manager” data form section's fields. The data form section will be editable, even if you set it as “Read Only” on the standard or custom form, so the user can manually enter data into the data form section’s fields but will not see the data form’s entries.

Configure the Data Form Section's Grid

By default, the search pop-up for the data form section will not show any entries until you select its grid columns. To set the grid's default columns:

1. Navigate to the data form section on the standard or custom form on which it was added.
2. Click the View All or magnifying glass () button.
3. Click the grid's Options button () .
4. In the Options menu, select the "Configure Defaults" option.
5. Add the columns you want to be displayed by default in the search pop-up.
6. Click the Save as default button.