Forms

A form is a questionnaire attached to a record: an intake checklist on a case, a review on a claim, an inspection on a property, an approval on an order. In QBO menus forms are called tasks, because each one is also a unit of work, with an owner, a due date, and a completion date.

Forms are how people (and systems) give QBO the facts that drive everything else:

• Data capture on any record. A form template applies to one kind of record, and every form saved from it stays attached to that record. Answers are stored with the form and can be searched and reported on like regular columns. A field can also update the parent record directly.
• Built-in validation. Required fields, data formats (dates, money, percentages, phone numbers), dependent fields, dropdowns driven by your data, and date limits. The same rules can be checked in bulk against forms that arrive by import or API.
• Workflow and worklists. A workflow step can create a form and wait for it, and completing the form completes the step. A form template can have its own worklist, so each new form is queued, assigned, and measured.
• Approval chains. A state diagram lists the statuses a form may move between and who may move it. Each move can route the form to the next reviewer’s worklist.
• No-code design. The GUI designer lays out rows and fields, picks field types and validation, and sets up the buttons. A spreadsheet dropped onto QBO can become a form template with one question per column.

Key concepts

Concept	In QBO	What it does
Form template	ImportFormTemplate	Defines a kind of form: what it applies to, its questions and layout, its statuses, and its worklist.
Form	ImportForm	One completed (or in-progress) form on a record, with an owner and estimated, projected, and actual dates.
Answers	XmlData	The form’s user-defined fields, stored with the form.
Question	ImportFormQuestion	One field: its name, label, element type, validation, behaviors, and default value.
State diagram	ObjectState	The allowed status moves, the roles or permissions they need, and the worklist each one routes to.

Form templates share the settings every template has, including applies to, repeatable, and custom statuses. See Templates.

Choose your view

Use the buttons under the page title. End user covers filling in, pausing, and completing forms. Power user covers form templates, questions, the GUI designer, and validation. Developer covers the API.