Forms on Tasks

Forms on tasks

A task can need forms from the Forms module - filled in for that task, linked to it automatically, and checked before the task can be completed. On a repeating task, every occurrence needs its own copy, unanswered.

Asked for in #190. Part of the task Work view, where forms are filled in place.

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What it is for

Take a daily task "Backup verification". Each day the analyst reviews the backup reports and records, for each job, OK, Warning or Failure - with an explanation and the action taken whenever it is not OK.

That is a form: choices, a conditional explanation field, required answers. Before this, the analyst had to leave the task, fill the form in the Forms module, find the submission, copy its number into the task, and complete the task separately. Now:

1. The repeating task needs the Backup check form.
2. Each day's task has its own copy, unanswered.
3. Fill opens the form for that day. Submitting links the answers to that day's task - no numbers to copy.
4. The task cannot be completed until the form is submitted (if you choose).
5. The evidence report shows every day's answers, and exports them as a CSV.

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Switching it on

Tasks → Settings → Checklists → Forms on tasks. Off by default. Switching it off hides the Forms section and stops checking required forms; it deletes nothing.

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Adding a form to a task

In the task window, under Forms, choose a form and Add. Only active forms are offered, each on its newest version. Then choose how much it matters:

	Completing the task while it is not submitted
Required (the default)	Refused, with the form named
Required (warn)	Asks first, then allowed - and recorded in the task's history
Optional	Allowed, nothing recorded

The company's block all setting for checklists (Tickets → Settings → Checklists) applies here too, exactly as for checklist steps.

Repeating tasks: every new occurrence needs the same forms, unanswered. Earlier answers never carry over - a previous day's "OK" is not evidence for today. If the form was changed in the meantime, the new occurrence uses its newest version; earlier submissions keep pointing at the version they were made on.

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Filling it in

Fill opens the form in place, in the task's Work view (Open in a new tab gives it a page of its own, with a banner naming the task and the day it is for). Everything the Forms page does works: sections, conditional questions, tables, lookups and the same checks on submit - it is the same page.

Drafts belong to the task

Save draft keeps what you have typed - for that task, not for you. A colleague who opens the same task sees your draft and can carry on; the task shows who saved it last, and when. Saturday's and Sunday's drafts never mix.

Two people at once

If someone else saves the same task's form while you have it open, nothing is overwritten. You are told who saved it and when, your answers stay on screen, and you choose:

• Theirs - load what they saved.
• Mine - save yours on top of theirs, knowingly.

The same applies to Submit: two people cannot both submit the same task's form, and a correction cannot replace a submission its author never saw.

Submitting

Submitting links the answers to the task. The task window updates by itself, showing who submitted and when, and Answers shows them.

If the connection drops as you press Submit, pressing it again is safe: it returns the submission that was already made instead of making a second.

Correcting it

Correct opens the form with the submitted answers filled in. Submitting replaces them on the task; the earlier submission is kept, marked as replaced, and both are in the task's history. If Tasks → Settings → Evidence → Changing a completed task's checklist is set to refused until reopened, a completed task's forms are locked too.

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Who can do what

	Needs
Add, remove or change a task's forms	Write access to Tasks
Fill a form in a task	Access to Forms (not Read only) - the same as filling it on the Forms page
Read a task's form answers	Access to Forms, or the role permission Read the form answers on tasks you can see

Seeing the task is never enough on its own to read its answers. Without access, the task window, the evidence report and its CSV all show that a form was submitted, by whom and when, and say "You do not have access to these answers".

For an auditor: give them Read only access to Tasks, and a role with Run the evidence report and Read the form answers on tasks you can see. They can read every task their companies allow, its history, its form answers and the evidence report - and nothing else in Forms. See Repeating task evidence - Read only and the Auditor role.

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Completing the task

Required forms are checked however the task is completed - the status box, dragging the card to a closed column, ticking its last subtask, right-click Mark complete, or the REST API.

Completing means the check was done and recorded - not that everything was fine. A Warning or Failure answer stays exactly that in the evidence report.

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In the evidence report

For each occurrence, the evidence report lists its forms: required or not, who submitted and when, how many earlier submissions were replaced, and the answers (where you may read them). Exports:

• Form answers CSV - one row per answer: series, task, scheduled date, outcome, form, the form version, who submitted, when, question and answer.
• Attachments and comments CSV - now also lists each form submission.

The task's History tab records forms added, removed, submitted and corrected. If an occurrence is deleted, its record keeps its submissions and their answers.

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In the Forms module

A submission made for a task:

• cannot be deleted - it is that task's record. Nor can a form that has such submissions, or that a task still needs; make it inactive instead.
• belongs to the task's company. In a multi-company install, the Forms module's submissions list, collections and the REST API show it only to people who can see that task.

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Related

• Task work view - design (#190) · Forms on tasks - Developer Guide
• Tasks · Forms · Repeating task evidence · Checklists and SOPs