eCompliance Form Workflows

Table of Contents

1. Why Workflows?
2. Key Features and Benefits
3. Enabling Workflows in Your Account
4. How to Create Forms with Workflows
   • Creating a form template with workflows
   • Require Sign-Off - Overall Form versus Stages
   • Adding Custom and Standard Sections
   • Defining Workflow Stages
   • Configuring Job Profiles to Notify, Sign-Off and Assign Next Stages
   • Scored Forms
5. Applicable Permissions to Interact with Workflow Forms
   • Starting and Editing Forms, Navigating and Signing Off Stages
6. Starting and Submitting Forms with Workflows
7. Exporting Form PDFs
8. Final Sign-Off and Locking Forms

Why Workflows?

Does your organization have EHS processes like incident investigations, that flow through several layers of review and approval? Are your processes too complex to be captured in a single-page form?

With Form Workflows, you now have the tools to manage processes that require forms with sequential stages of sections and questions, and multi-level sign off requirements.

This new way of building and using forms will allow you to align your organization's real world processes with forms in eCompliance.

Key Features and Benefits

• Create a form template with multiple stages using all question types per stage.
• Use job profiles to bring together employees from across your organization while still respecting site tree access for notifications and completing forms.
• Notify stakeholders at each stage submission.
• Assign next stages to members of a job profile.
• Establish multi-level sign-offs and request approvals in sequence.
• Enrich your notifications by choosing questions to show in related email communications.
• Continue to implement scoring, form logic and question types you currently use today.
• Access to form features is controlled through permission groups, job profiles and site membership.

Enabling Workflows in Your Account

Form Workflows come included in your eCompliance subscription at no additional cost. Contact your CSM or our Support team enable the feature in your account so your managers and admins can start building today.

How to Create Forms with Workflows

Below you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to create a form template using workflows. A few things to keep in mind before proceeding:

• This functionality is only available on the web. Employees cannot create and submit workflow forms from their mobile device at this time.
• To save a template at minimum you need to add a title and at least 1 section + 1 question.
• Sites will be added by default depending on where you are in the site tree when creating the form.
• Also by default, 1 stage will be included in the form template and be named New Stage.
• Workflows can have a maximum of 5 stages.
• Notifications, sign-offs and assignments at each stage are optional.
• Custom headers continue to be configured as usual, and will still show in workflow forms the way they do in non-workflow forms.

As such, it is recommended that you take action in this order so that you can save your work and continue to edit at a later date:

1. Define the title of the form.
2. Name your first stage.
3. Add at least 1 section and 1 question to your first stage.
4. Save the template.
5. Add an additional stage, name it, then save it.
6. Repeat step 3 and 4.
7. Continue with step 5 and go back to 3 and 4 as necessary until you reach the maximum number of stages allowed.

Creating a form template with workflows

1. Go to the form module where you want to build a template with workflows: Inspections, Incidents, or Meetings. In this example we will use Incidents
2. Go to Incident Templates
3. Click Create New Incident Template
4. Select the a Scoring option - Scored or Non-scored
5. Select Workflow Form
6. Click Create
7. Complete header fields as required and if applicable:
   1. Title and subtitle
   2. Sites
   3. Reference Documents
   4. Form Access

Require Sign-Off - Overall Form versus Stages

A recently released feature now allows you to have a form automatically lock when all stages have been completed and, if applicable, scoring requirements have been met.

This feature is set at the top of the template. Enabling this feature will eliminate the formality of locking a form manually when all requirements have been met. Review this article for more information - New Feature: Automatic Sign-Off on Forms – Support

 

 

Adding Custom and Standard Sections

Each stage still allows for the use of custom and standard sections you're used to seeing on non-workflow forms. Standard reporting sections for Incident Classification (like OSHA) are still available in each stage. Smart Form logic can still be implemented in sections, but not across stages.

Defining Workflow Stages

1. Click on Edit next to Workflow
2. Click on Add Workflow Stage
   1. You can add up to 5 stages in your workflow
   2. Stage names are required before clicking Save
3. Rearrange stages by clicking and holding down your mouse button over the 6 dots next to the stage you want to move

Configuring Job Profiles to Notify, Sign-Off and Assign Next Stages

Job profiles are used to define the group of individuals who need to:

1. Be notified when a stage is submitted.
2. Required to review and approve a stage (i.e. sign-off).
3. Be assigned to complete a given stage.

You can set up to 5 sign off levels - these will need to be completed in order, and users will not be notified of their sign-off requirement until the previous sign-off level is completed.

For example Sign Off 2 will not be notified until Sign Off 1 is completed, and Sign Off 3 won't be notified until Sign Off 2 is done, and so on and so forth.

 

A few items to keep in mind:

• When a job profile is cited in a sign-off level or assigned to a stage, only 1 person in that job profile needs to actually need to complete the action.
• A conflict may occur when 2 people at the same site are part of the same job profile that is cited to sign-off or assigned to complete a stage. These 2 or more people may attempt to complete the same required action at the same time.
• Positions in the site tree supersede job profile membership, meaning that if 2 people are part of the same job profile, only the person who has site access to where the form is submitted will be notified, able to sign-off, or able to complete the assigned stage.
• Employees who are part of 2 different job profiles used for notifications and sign-offs will receive multiple notifications when the form is submitted.

Evaluate your site tree when creating the job profiles to use with workflows. Consider the below hierarchy of sites, with a workflow form published at the top level site and all sites below.

Site A is the top level site at the organization. Sub-sites B, C, and D, each have their own child-sites 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 respectively.

 

 

Job profile with members at Site A

• Job profiles to notify = Receive notifications on the stage submitted on a form created at site A and all sub-sites B through 6
• Sign Off Job Profile = Be required to sign off on the stage submitted on a form created at site A and all sub-sites B through 6
• Assigned next stage = Be assigned the following stage after the current stage is submitted on any form created at site A and all sub-sites B through 6

Job profile with members at Sites B, C, or D

• Job profiles to notify = Only receive notifications on the stage submitted on a form created at the site they are a member of, and any child-sites below. Someone part of the Job profiles to notify who is only a member of site B will not receive notifications related to stages and forms created at sites C or D or any of the child sites 3 through 6. 
• Sign Off Job Profile = Only be required to sign off on the stage submitted on a form created at the site they are a member of, and any child-sites below. Someone part of the Sign Off Job Profile who is only a member of site B will not be asked to sign off on stages and forms created at sites C or D or any of the child sites 3 through 6. 
• Assigned next stage = Only be assigned the following stage after the current stage submitted on a form created at the site they are a member of, and any child-sites below. Someone part of the Assigned next stage Job Profile who is only a member of site B will not be asked to sign off on stages and forms created at sites C or D or any of the child sites 3 through 6.

Job profile with members at sites 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6

• Job profiles to notify = Only receive notifications on the stage submitted on a form created at the site they are a member of, and any child-sites below. Someone part of the Job profiles to notify who is only a member of site 1 will not receive notifications related to stages and forms created at sites 2 through 6. 
• Sign Off Job Profile = Only be required to sign off on the stage submitted on a form created at the site they are a member of, and any child-sites below. Someone part of the Sign Off Job Profile who is only a member of site 1 will not receive notifications related to stages and forms created at sites 2 through 6. 
• Assigned next stage = Only be assigned the following stage after the current stage submitted on a form created at the site they are a member of, and any child-sites below. Someone part of the Assigned next stage Job Profile who is only a member of site 1 will not receive notifications related to stages and forms created at sites 2 through 6.

Key Takeaways:

1. Be careful assigning members of a job profile who have top level site access to complete stages or requiring them to sign off on routine forms that are created frequently - they will have a lot of work to do!
2. Watch out for multiple notifications when employees who are part of 2 different job profiles selected for notifications, sign-offs and assignment.
3. Consider possible conflicts when employees of the same site are part of the same job profile selected for sign-off or assigned to the next stage. The first one to complete the action will mark that action as done.

Scored Forms

Forms with workflows can also have scoring applied to them, like regular forms. This is configured in the template at the top header for Overall Passing scores and in each stage's section Passing Score.

Overall and Section Scores

Overall passing scores can be set for the entire form, all stages included. This score will be calculated from the total scores of all sections in each stage.

Passing scores can also be set for each section in every stage. Like regular forms, if a single section with a passing score fails, the entire form (all stages) will also fail, regardless of the overall passing score.

Score Views

Users can see scores in 2 main areas - in the form in each stage and on the list view.

In the each stage at the bottom of a form, users will see the total score for that stage, unlike regular forms where they would see the total score for the entire form.

On the other hand, list views will show the total score for the entire form. It will be in red if failed and green if passed.

Scoring Summary

For a detailed view into all stage question scores and how they relate to the total score, you can view the Scoring Summary. It has been updated to reflect scores for each question for all stages so that you can get a detailed view of the overall distribution of scores across the entire form. This view is accessible in the same Options menu as regular forms. Below is an example of a form with a 50% overall passing score that has failed due to a failed question in a section with passing score of 100%.

On forms with many stages and questions, you can collapse or expand Stage views by clicking on the + or - buttons next to each stage.

 

Applicable Permissions to Interact with Workflow Forms

Access to interact with workflow forms are controlled through site memberships, job profiles and individual permission settings. In order to allow different users in an organization to view and edit a form created by someone else, they will need elevated permissions on forms.

Here “formtype” collectively refers to Inspections, Incidents and Meetings.

Permissions required for performing end to end work on forms with workflows:

• Conduct [formtype]
• View All [formtype]
• Delete any [formtype]
• Edit Any [formtype]
• SignOff [formtype]
• SignOff any [formtype]

Conduct:

• This is the minimum permission which is required for a user to start a new form.
• Users who has only conduct permission can see only forms created by them in the form listing table.
• Users who has only conduct permission can’t access forms created by other users.
• User who created the form with conduct permission can navigate to all the stages of the form when the previous stage is submitted given the stage(s) is/are not assigned to any specific job profile(s).
• If the next stage is assigned to a job profile which the creator of the form doesn’t possess, ‘Next Stage’ button won’t be displayed and they can’t go to next stage on their own.
• When user opens a form, current stage of the form will always be displayed.
• Creator of the form will be able to edit the current stage of the form despite the current stage is not assigned to them when some other user who moved the form to its current status.
• Creator of the form will be able to delete the form despite not having ‘Delete’ permission.

View All:

• This permission gives user the privilege to view all the forms( self created forms and forms created by others) in the form listing table.
• User who has only view permission without having other permissions, first stage of the form will always be displayed and it will be in read-only mode.
• For a form with multiple completed stages, user can navigate to other stages and all the stages will be in read-only mode. Form navigation actions performed by this user won’t get saved and as a result of that, first stage of the form will be displayed every time the user opens a form.

Delete any:

• This permission gives user the privilege to delete all the forms.
• User who created the form doesn’t require this permission in order to delete the forms created by them.

SignOff and SignOff any:

• User requires at least one of the following two permissions ‘Signoff’ , ‘Signoff any’ in order to signoff the overall form when all the stages of the form are completed. Job profiles assigned to different stages of the form aren’t considered while allowing the user to signoff the overall form.
• In order to perform ‘Signoff' and ‘Request revision’ actions at stage level of the form, user requires at least one of the two Signoff related permissions and in addition 'Edit Any’ permission is also required.

Edit Any:

• This permission gives user the privilege to edit all the stages in the form.
• User who has edit any permission can navigate to all the stages of the form when the previous stage is submitted given the stage(s) is/are not assigned to any specific job profile.
• If the next stage is assigned to a job profile which the user doesn’t possess, ‘Next Stage’ button won’t be displayed and they can’t go to next stage on their own.
• When user opens a form, current stage of the form will always be displayed.
• User who has edit any permission will be able to edit the current stage of the form despite the current stage is not assigned to them irrespective of the user who created the form.
• ‘Submit’ button to perform ‘Signoff' and ‘Request revision’ actions at stage level of the form will only be displayed when user has edit any permission along with one of the two signoff permissions (‘Signoff' and ‘Request revision’ can be done only by the users who has the job profile assigned to that particular stage of the form).

Starting and Editing Forms, Navigating and Signing Off Stages

• To start a form ‘Conduct’ permission is required.
• If the next stage of the form is assigned to the current user’s job profile, ‘Next Stage’ button will be displayed but it will be disabled state till the time the current stage of the form is submitted and signed off.
• If the current stage of the form is completed and the next stage of the form is assigned to the current user’s job profile, ‘Next Stage’ button will be displayed and in enabled state.
• If the current stage of the form is completed and the next stage of the form is assigned to a job profile which the current user doesn’t possess, ‘Next Stage’ button won’t be displayed.
• Except the first stage, ‘Previous stage’ button will always be displayed which helps the user to go back and view the previous stage of the form.
• Navigation to next stage of the form is restricted by assigning the next stage to specific job profile(s), configuring one or more (maximum 5) levels of signoff for the current stage of the form in the form template.
• To edit the current stage of the form, users require only ‘Edit any’ permission. For the user who created the form, even ‘Edit any’ permission is not required.
• Users with the Admin permission group can sign-off and request revision for any stage of the form. For other users, they need to possess the job profile assigned to the respective stage of the form along with other required permissions.
• In Locked forms, first stage will be opened by default. User can navigate to other stages of the form and they all will be in read-only mode.

Starting and Submitting Forms with Workflows

Any employee with Contributor type permissions allowing them to conduct forms will be able to see a workflow template published at site (or child sites) they belong to. They will simply start the form as usual, complete the sections of the form and submit.

Employees belonging to a Job Profile who need to sign off on a stage or assigned to complete a stage on a from submitted at a site they have access to will be able to see these forms in their My Stuff page. They will also receive email notifications letting them know if their sign off is required or if they have been assigned to complete a stage.

Assigned

Here we see a form that has a stage assigned to an employee's job profile. They can click the 'Start' button to go right to the form. 

By default they will see the first stage and then be able to move to the next stage to complete their section by selecting the 'Next Stage' button. They do not need to resubmit the form.

Once they have completed the second stage and submitted it, they will see if Sign-Off is required. They will not be able to navigate to the next stage.

Sign-Off Required

On a stage where Sign-Off is required, users will see these forms in their My Stuff too.

They can click the View button to go to the form. They can either check the box to Sign Off then Submit, or they can Request a revision. The request for revision will go to the user who completed the stage, and not the original creator of the form.

When a stage has outstanding Sign Off sections, navigation to the next stage will not be possible. Users able to view and edit the stage will see the Sign-Off sections greyed out. 

When the editor of the form has completed their section they can submit the form for Sign-Off.

Exporting Form PDFs

Other common features with regular forms exist on forms with workflows. Users are able to generate PDFs exports and email PDFs using a recent enhancement released in Q4 2024.

Export PDF options remain unchanged, so users can still chose to hide unanswered questions using the Filtered Report option.

Forms with incomplete stages and sections will still show the stage and sections on the PDF, and hide the actual unanswered questions if the Filtered Report option is selected.

Below is an example showing the incomplete 3rd stage of a form with unanswered questions filtered out from the report.

 

Users can also choose to send a PDF via email. This option is available in the same options menu as the export function. Here users can enter any email address, apply options like filtering or adding an image appendix before sending. Filtering works the same way here as it does with the export function.

Final Sign Off and Locking Forms

Once all form stages have been completed and any stage level sign-off have been provided, the form will be in a Pending Sign Off state. At this point anyone with Sign Off permissions and site access to the form can complete this step and lock the form.

 

 

If you've disabled the sign off requirement at the template level for the entire form then the completed form will automatically be locked and moved to Locked section in the forms module. The form will also show that it was locked by eCompliance Automation, instead of a manager or admin's name.