Best Practices: Connect your forms using Linked Items

Overview

The 'Linked Items' feature is a form header that enables you to link submitted forms together within eCompliance. Multiple sub-forms can be linked to a parent form and you can easily switch between different forms, enhancing their discoverability, and management. 

Navigation

In the below steps, we'll show you how to link sub-forms to a parent form.

1. Click into either the Inspections, Incidents, or Meetings Module
   
   
2. You can choose an existing form as the 'parent' form or create a new form by clicking either:
   or or
   
   
3. Click on Link Existing Form in the form header's General Information and choose the form type you wish to link
   
   
   
4. A new window will appear that will display a list of submitted forms. Click on a form to link it to the current form you've just created. You can also search for a specific set of forms in the search bar by entering a form's ID, Title, Employee submitted (Prepared by), or Site Name.
   
   
5. Once you've selected the forms you would like to link, click Done.

Removing Linked Items & Form Deletion

Forms can be unlinked simply by clicking on the button next to the form name after it has been added.

Removing a linked item will not delete the item and will only remove the link from the parent form. You will still be able to access the form in the form type module (Inspections, Incidents or Meetings) based on the linked form's form type.

Before deleting forms, please be sure to remove its linked items.

Deleting a parent form:

A deletion will fail and nothing will happen when the delete button is clicked on a parent form with items still attached to it.

This warning message will be always be displayed when deleting a form:

How to delete a parent form:

1. Navigate to the editing page of the parent form
   
   
2. Remove the linked items from a parent form by clicking on the next to a form name under the Linked Items section in the form header - General Information
   
   

Deleting a sub-form:

When attempting to delete a sub-form, the following warning message will appear to notify you that it is linked to another form:

How to delete a sub-form:

1. First, check which form it is connected to by viewing the sub-form's editing page.
   
   
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the form editing page to view a section called 'Parent Linked Items'. This area will display the parent form's ID and Form Title.
   
   
3. Use the ID or the Form Title to search for the parent form in the form module
   
   
   
   
4. Once you have found the parent form, click the parent form's ID to access the form's editing page
   
   
5. Remove the linked items by clicking on the button next to the linked form names.
   
   

Tips & Key Elements

Cross-Form Hyperlinks: When a form is linked, it creates a hyperlink that will point to the related form. The form's ID and title will be displayed in the Linked Items header to help you identify the form.

When a linked item is clicked, you will be directed to the form's contents. 

Form Hierarchy: Linked Items allow you to establish hierarchical connections between forms. By linking a form, a parent-child level is created with the two forms. The form with the linked items serves as the parent and provides a link to the sub-form. You can link several forms to the parent form. 

Site Level Consideration: Forms can only be linked if it is situated in the parent form's site level or below. This will ensure that employees assigned to their sites can only access forms within their permission levels.

With this in consideration, child forms will not display hyperlinks to their parent forms. For instance, you will be able to access the linked forms from the parent form but the child forms will not display any linked items.

Form type connection: All form types can be linked to one another and forms of different types can be linked all at once. By clicking on the 'Link Existing Form' button, a menu will appear to allow you to choose which type of form you want the parent form to establish the relationship with. 

Multi-selection: You can choose to add several forms with only a few clicks. After selecting a form type, you will be shown a list of forms created at the form's site level or below. By clicking on the right of the form, you can select or deselect the form. Click the 'Done' button at the bottom to save your changes.

Form search: Specific keywords can be entered in the search bar located at the top of the forms list. You can search forms by their ID, title, 'Prepared by' field (employee name), and site name.