| Some of the functionality described in this article is available as part of our Graciano release and will not be available if your Practifi instance is not upgraded to this release. |
Overview
Active Forms are a powerful way to gather information and update records in your Practifi organization. Because Active Forms support a high level of complexity, it's important to set them up correctly so they work as expected. This article provides guidance on configuring Active Forms to save time and help you avoid errors.
- Active Form Field Names
- Visibility Rules vs. Display Criteria
- Setup Bundles
- The Active Form Configuration Lifecycle
- Active Form Field Limits
- Active Forms in the Mobile App
- Additional Information
Active Form Field Names
Unique names are automatically generated when you create Active Form elements such as Active Form Fields. These names follow a system naming rule, which uses the element name/label plus a unique identifier (a four- or five-digit number). This naming convention helps ensure elements are universally unique within an Active Form.
Please note: The entry in the Name field on an Active Form Field (not to be confused with the Label field) should not end with the characters $ or @, as this will cause an error. Active Form Field Names must begin with an alphabetical character. Active Form Field names that start with a number (e.g., "529 Plan") can also cause errors.
Field Name Changes
When Active Form Fields are referenced in a Rule Builder or formula, the Name field is used. Rules refer to Active Form Fields using their unique names, not Record Ids, for portability considerations. When the name of an Active Form Field is changed, the references in rules do not automatically update, which can cause the rules to break. We recommend following system naming conventions and not manually modifying the Name fields on Active Form elements.
One exception: When multiple Active Form Fields have similar labels, it can be difficult to find the Active Form Field you want within a list of names.
In this case, you might want to rename the Active Form Fields. We recommend following these steps:
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Change the Name field on the Active Form Field records to something more easily identifiable.
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Run a Validation Check on the process task. The Validation Check's results will list all the rules referencing field names that cannot be found now.
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Click on each error to resolve it.
- Perform testing to make sure everything works as intended after the name changes.
Visibility Rules vs. Display Criteria
While visibility rules and display criteria can control the behavior of Active Form Fields and Sections, visibility rules are more compact, flexible and powerful than display criteria.
Display Criteria
Visibility Rules
Additionally, the following Active Form elements are compatible only with visibility rules, not display criteria:
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Active Form Screens
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Active Form Tables
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Active Form Table Fields
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Active Form Prompts
As such, we recommend using visibility rules over display criteria when utilizing these components of Active Forms.
Setup Bundles
Setting up a complicated Active Form can be time-consuming, especially if you need to replicate it across multiple process tasks. Using Setup Bundles can save you time and effort in the creation process. When creating a Setup Bundle, include only what you need to avoid replicating unnecessary configurations.
Here are some things to think about when creating a Setup Bundle:
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Clear Naming: Choosing a relevant name makes finding and reusing Setup Bundles easy.
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Meaningful Description: State clearly what's included in the Setup Bundle and when it should be used.
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Proper Testing: Run a test import of the Setup Bundle to ensure it delivers value to your Active Form configuration.
The Active Form Configuration Lifecycle
The more complicated an Active Form configuration is, the more important it is to be mindful of the Active Form lifecycle. We recommend following these stages:
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Design: This is the first step when building a new workflow. Think about designing each workflow step (process task) and its Active Form configuration before implementing it.
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Configure: Implement the workflow design and keep best practices in mind. Remember t to run a Validation Check to see if there are any configuration mistakes.
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Test: Try the new workflow by kicking off the process and working on tasks as an end user. Test various scenarios, especially if the workflow has complex dynamic configurations.
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Maintain: This step is for when you want to update an existing workflow already in use. Practifi does not currently support versioning for workflows, so any update to an existing workflow can impact processes and tasks that users are already running. To properly update a workflow:
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Stop creating processes using the workflow.
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Wait until existing processes with this workflow are completed or canceled.
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Update the workflow.
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Test your changes.
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Release the updated workflow to users.
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Updating an existing workflow can be challenging, especially if used heavily. It's important to follow the lifecycle to properly design, configure and test workflows before releasing them.
Active Form Field Limits
While there is no hard limit for the maximum number of Active Form Fields on a given form, we recommend using no more than 80 fields. While adding more than 80 fields is possible, this may lead to performance issues, like prolonged loading time.
The Impact of Excessive Fields
We consider an Active Form 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 these fields may also contribute to performance issues.
If you have an Active Form with a large number of fields and are having issues with performance, please consider the following:
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Reduce the number of fields: You can either split Active Form Fields into different tasks with more meaningful groups or use alternative components like the Specifics component to enable in-place read/edit.
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Simplify field logic: If you do have to use a large number of Active Form Fields, try to reduce the amount of complex field logic.
Active Forms in the Mobile App
With the Graciano release, we enhanced Practifi to support the Mark as Complete action on the Salesforce iOS app. Within the Mark as Complete action, we've also made the Checklist, Deliverables and Active Form elements compatible with the Salesforce mobile app.
Feature Availability
Here are a few key points to consider when using Active Forms on a mobile device:
- Configuration of Active Forms should still be done on a desktop, as the Settings app is not accessible via 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 that does not have 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 work the same as on desktop; elements start to render when the underlying criteria are met.
- Active Form validation rules and prompts work the same in the mobile app. Error/prompt messages are displayed as soon as the criteria are met. If an error message from a validation rule is displayed, users must correct the error before the task can be marked as completed.
- 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.
- As soon as a user starts entering data, the Active Form is saved, ensuring that the form will stay in sync if accessed from a different device, making it easier to switch from a mobile device to a desktop device if needed.
- Prefill functionality works the same as on desktop. If the Active Form data refers to field data already existing in records, it is displayed without any issue.
Configuration Considerations
When building an Active Form that will be used on mobile devices, there are several usability implications to consider:
- Within Active Forms, we recommend using a full-width display of elements such as fields and prompts. We do not recommend using two-column displays, especially for compound fields like addresses.
- Task record page tabs such as Basics, Active Form, Feed and Notes and Files are accessible on mobile. Once the task is completed, the page does not refresh as it would on a laptop. The user needs to manually go to the task page to view the record alert for any success/failure notification. This is displayed below the Feed tab on the task page.
- 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. However, keep in mind that due to the smaller screen size, the forms do not always display as neatly as the Active Forms tab. Active Forms that contain up to 30 fields are ideal for mobile app usage. There is no limit enforced on the number of fields, but having more fields leads to the display getting cramped in the Mark as Complete workflow.
- We recommend minimizing the use of Active Form Tables in Active Forms intended for mobile usage. The functionality works as expected, but when the tables have more than three columns, the display becomes more cramped. This leads to other usability issues, such as fields and columns overlapping. Users may experience difficulties with inputting data, selecting picklist values and rendering more columns with visibility criteria.
- For picklists, we recommend the dueling picklist and drop-down styles over the button style. Button group picklists can present a usability issue when there are more than three options to display. The text on the buttons will start to truncate to accommodate more options, and users might find them difficult to read.
- We recommend minimizing the use of the Active Form Screen element, as this might become more of a readability issue with the limited screen space available in the Mark As Complete workflow.
The above is not an exhaustive list. Many variables can impact the user experience of an Active Form when viewed 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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