Overview
Active Forms is Practifi's built-in tool for gathering information and updating records within structured workflows. When attached to process tasks, they give advisors a guided, consistent experience for capturing client data, completing compliance steps, and recording outcomes. Because Active Forms can support a high level of complexity, configuring them thoughtfully from the start saves time and prevents errors down the line.
This article provides guidance for Practifi Administrators on configuring Active Forms effectively.
- Active Form Field Names
- Visibility Rules vs. Display Criteria
- Setup Bundles
- Using Prefill Logic for Active Form Fields
- The Active Form Configuration Lifecycle
- Active Form Field Limits
- Active Forms in the Mobile App
- Additional Information
Active Form Field Names
When you create Active Form elements, such as Active Form Fields, Practifi automatically generates a unique name for each. These names follow a system naming convention that combines the element's label with a unique identifier, typically a four- or five-digit number. This naming convention ensures that each element is universally unique within an Active Form, which is important when referencing fields in rules and formulas.
Please note: The entry in the Name field on an Active Form Field should not end with the characters $ or @, as this will cause an error. Active Form Field names must begin with an alphabetical character. Names that start with a number (e.g., 529 Plan) can also cause errors.
Field Name Changes
When an Active Form Field is referenced in a Rule Builder or formula, Practifi uses the Name field rather than the record ID. This approach supports portability across environments. However, it also means that if you manually change the name of an Active Form Field, any rules that reference that field by name will break and must be updated manually.
For this reason, we recommend following Practifi's system naming conventions and avoiding manual modifications to the Name fields on Active Form elements.
There is one exception: when multiple Active Form Fields have similar labels, it can be difficult to identify the right field from a list of names.
In this case, renaming the fields may be warranted. We recommend following these steps:
- Change the Name field on the Active Form Field records to a more easily identifiable value.
- Run a Validation Check on the process task. The Validation Check results will list all rules that reference field names that can no longer be found.
- Click on each error to resolve it.
- Test the process to confirm everything works as intended after the name changes.
Visibility Rules vs. Display Criteria
Both visibility rules and display criteria can control whether Active Form Fields and Sections are shown to users, but they are not equivalent. Visibility rules are more compact, flexible, and powerful than display criteria, and they support a broader range of Active Form elements.
Display Criteria
Visibility Rules
The following Active Form elements are compatible only with visibility rules, not display criteria:
- Active Form Screens
- Active Form Tables
- Active Form Table Fields
- Active Form Prompts
Because visibility rules support all element types and offer more sophisticated logic, we recommend using them over display criteria. Forms built with visibility rules are easier to scale and maintain as your firm's workflows evolve.
Setup Bundles
Configuring a complex Active Form takes time, especially when you need to replicate it across multiple process tasks. Setup Bundles let you package an existing Active Form configuration and apply it elsewhere, so you can build once and reuse rather than starting from scratch each time.
When a firm's onboarding, review, or compliance workflows require the same data-capture structure in multiple places, Setup Bundles ensure that structure stays consistent. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating a Setup Bundle:
- Clear Naming: Choosing a relevant name makes it easy to find and reuse Setup Bundles in the future.
- Meaningful Description: Clearly state what is included in the Setup Bundle and when to use it.
- Proper Testing: Run a test import of the Setup Bundle to confirm it applies the expected configuration to an Active Form.
When creating a Setup Bundle, include only the configuration elements you need. Importing unnecessary configurations can add complexity that is difficult to untangle later.
Using Prefill Logic for Active Form Fields
Active Forms offer various methods for prepopulating field values before a user accesses the form. When used effectively, this prefill logic minimizes manual data entry, enhances data consistency across your organization, and streamlines the experience for advisors completing tasks, making the process faster and clearer.
Prefill Methods
Active Form fields can be prefilled using three methods:
- With a value from a related record: Pulls data from fields on related objects through the Prefill Lookup Location. This is the simplest approach and works well when the value you need already exists on a related record.
- With a formula: Uses Salesforce formulas to calculate default values dynamically. This method handles more complex scenarios, including values that depend on other field inputs or require conditional logic.
- Manual entry: Users enter values as they complete the form. This is the default when no prefill method is configured.
Please note: Formula-based prefilling is available as of the Blaufränkisch release and will not be available if your Practifi instance is not upgraded to this release.
When to Use Formula-Based Prefilling
Formula-based prefilling is the right choice when:
- You need calculated default values, such as automatically setting a start time to the next hour or calculating an end time based on a start time.
- The logic involves multiple field values or conditional calculations that a simple field path cannot handle.
- The prefilled value should recalculate dynamically when dependent fields change.
- You need to prefill a multi-select picklist with more than one value, which requires the formula method.
Best Practices for Prefilling
- Use field paths for simple data retrieval and formulas for calculated values.
- Test formulas thoroughly, especially those with complex logic or multiple dependencies.
- Provide meaningful default values that reduce user effort without compromising data accuracy.
- Consider the user experience. Prefilled values should help advisors work faster, not create confusion or restrict their ability to enter the right information.
- Document your prefill logic, particularly for complex formulas that reference multiple fields. This makes future maintenance significantly easier.
The Active Form Configuration Lifecycle
A well-designed Active Form workflow goes through four stages: design, configuration, testing, and maintenance. Following this lifecycle is especially important for complex forms, where errors can be difficult to diagnose and costly to fix after a workflow is already in use.
- Design: Before building anything, think through each step of the workflow and what information needs to be captured at each stage. Planning the structure of your Active Form configuration before you start configuring it reduces rework later.
- Configure: Implement the workflow design, applying best practices as you go. Run a Validation Check to identify any configuration errors before testing.
- Test: Kick off the process and work through the tasks as an end user would. Test a range of scenarios, particularly if the workflow includes complex dynamic configurations or conditional logic.
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Maintain: When an existing workflow needs updating, proceed carefully. Practifi does not currently support versioning for workflows, which means changes to an active workflow affect any processes and tasks already in progress.
To update a workflow safely:
- Stop creating new processes using the workflow.
- Wait until existing in-progress processes using that workflow are completed or canceled.
- Update the workflow.
- Test your changes.
- Release the updated workflow to users.
Updating a heavily used workflow requires careful coordination. Taking the time to follow the full lifecycle helps ensure that what users experience in production is exactly what you designed and tested.
Active Form Field Limits
There is no hard limit on the number of Active Form Fields a form can contain, but we recommend using no more than 80 fields. Adding more is possible, but forms that exceed this threshold are more likely to experience performance issues, such as extended loading times.
The Impact of Excessive Fields
An Active Form is considered too large if it contains more than 80 fields, including fields used within Active Form Sections and Active Form Tables. Applying prefill logic and visibility rules to a large number of fields can further compound performance issues.
If you have a large Active Form and are experiencing performance problems, consider the following:
- Reduce the number of fields: Split the form across multiple tasks with more focused groupings, or use alternative components such as the Specifics component to support in-place read and edit.
- Simplify field logic: If a large number of fields is unavoidable, minimize the complexity of field-level logic, such as visibility rules and prefill formulas.
Keeping Active Forms focused not only improves performance but also makes them easier for advisors to complete, which supports better data quality across the firm.
Limitations of Required Active Form Fields
Some firms create compliance-related tasks that launch with a default status of Completed and require no user action. When tasks are configured this way and include Active Form fields marked as required, the system cannot validate those fields during auto-completion.
We recommend avoiding required Active Form fields on tasks configured to launch with a status of Completed. If fields are required for compliance or data integrity, configure appropriate prefilled default values so the fields are not left empty upon completion.
Active Forms in the Mobile App
As of the Graciano release, Practifi supports the Mark as Complete action on the Salesforce iOS app. Within that action, the Checklist, Deliverables, and Active Form elements are all compatible with the mobile app. This means advisors can capture information and complete tasks in the field, whether they are in a client meeting, traveling, or working away from a desktop.
Feature Availability
A few key points to keep in mind when using Active Forms on a mobile device:
- Active Form configuration must still be done on a desktop, as the Settings app is not accessible on mobile devices.
- For processes that are in progress, all process actions are supported in the mobile app.
- The Salesforce mobile app does not support launching a process from an entity without a stage. We recommend that users launch tasks within the entity on a desktop device and utilize the mobile app while on the go to fill out Active Forms and complete tasks.
- Dynamic picklists and filters on the Lookup field with available values rules work the same on mobile as on a desktop.
- Active Form visibility criteria behave the same as on desktop. Elements begin to render as soon as the underlying criteria are met.
- Active Form validation rules and prompts work the same in the mobile app. Error and prompt messages are displayed as soon as the criteria are met. If a validation rule displays an error message, the user must resolve the error before marking the task as complete.
- Speech-to-text is supported on Text type and Text Area type fields. For Text Area fields, users can speak multiple lines of text with pauses in between, while Text fields will accept input once in a single stretch of speech.
- Active Forms save automatically as soon as a user begins entering data. This keeps the form in sync across devices, so an advisor who starts a form on mobile can pick it up on a desktop without losing any work.
- Prefill functionality works the same as on desktop. If the Active Form data refers to field data that already exists in records, it is displayed without issue.
Configuration Considerations
When building an Active Form that will be used on mobile devices, there are several usability implications to consider:
- Use full-width display for elements such as fields and prompts. Two-column layouts are not recommended on mobile, particularly for compound fields such as address fields.
- Task record page tabs, such as Basics, Active Form, Feed, Notes, and Files, are accessible on mobile. Once the task is completed, the page does not refresh as it would on a desktop. Users need to manually navigate to the task page to view any success or failure notifications, which appear below the Feed tab.
- The Mark as Complete workflow has the same layout as on desktop, with sections detailing time tracking, outcomes, task action previews, Active Forms, Deliverables, and Checklist items. Because of the smaller screen, Active Forms with up to 30 fields are ideal for mobile use. There is no enforced limit, but adding more fields results in a cramped display within the Mark as Complete workflow.
- Minimize the use of Active Form Tables in forms intended for mobile use. The functionality works as expected, but tables with more than three columns become difficult to read and interact with. Users may experience issues inputting data, selecting picklist values, and rendering additional columns when visibility criteria are applied.
- For picklists, use the dueling picklist or drop-down style rather than the button style. Button group picklists become difficult to read when there are more than three options, as the button labels begin to truncate.
- Minimize the use of the Active Form Screen element in mobile-optimized forms. The limited screen space in the Mark as Complete workflow can make multi-screen configurations harder to navigate and read.
The considerations above are not exhaustive. Many variables can affect the user experience of an Active Form on a mobile device. After building an Active Form on a desktop, we recommend testing it on a mobile device before announcing its availability to your users.
Additional Information
This article contains recommendations for Practifi Administrators. To learn more about Active Forms from an end-user perspective, see Understanding and Using Active Forms.
For more information on setting up Active Forms, see the following articles:
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