Custom Form Data Struggles

[Jeremy_Berquest]

Hi, all. There are several threads discussing the shortcomings of the native Risks functionality in WorkFront, namely the inability to add custom fields to the interface. In one of those threads, someone suggested using the Issues area to record risks, and that is the path I'm currently exploring. I'm running into some struggles while trying to capture custom form data. I want to use a specific custom form pertaining to risks, used only when the issue is of type, "Risk" (among other things, assessing the likelihood and severity of the risk and giving it a score). I have other use-cases for issues with their own custom forms (such as a "Change Request"), and haven't yet found a workable solution to getting the right data/form based on context.  A few things I've tried so far:

• I tried adding my "Change Request" and "Risks" custom forms from the Queue Details project settings.
  • What I really need here is to attach a specific form based on the Issue Type. Inevitably, there will be custom fields that aren't applicable to the issue type selected. Additionally, If the user is trying to enter a "plain" issue, the two custom forms will be shown, but won't be relevant.
• I created an "Issue" report, and added columns for the fields in the custom form specific to risks. I added this report via dashboard to my projects. However:
  • I can't find a setting that allows a user to add an issue inline from this view (the native Issues area allows inline editing, but I can't find a way to do so from a report).
  • I can't attach a custom form from the issue report.
  • The end result of this solution is the user has to click "New Issue" from the report, fill in the minimal default fields, then go back and complete the custom fields from the inline view once the issue (risk) is added.
• The last option that comes to mind that I have not tried yet is to abandon the built-in issue types. Instead, I'd use a dropdown with the different categories I'd like (i.e., Issue, Risk, Change Order) and conditionally show the relevant fields (and make "Issue" the default selection, hiding the custom fields). I would then use the built-in Issues area to show the risks with a grouping. I don't know of a way to force a default grouping, so this would probably lead to a mess for most end-users with a mix of issues and risks and no obvious differentiation unless they select the right view.

This seems like a straightforward problem to solve, but so far nothing has gotten me exactly where I want to be. Does anyone have any ideas on the above, or have other solutions they've used for a risk register? Thanks in advance.

[Madalyn_Destafney]

Hi Jeremy,

Some thoughts:
- "What I really need here is to attach a specific form based on the Issue Type. Inevitably, there will be custom fields that aren't applicable to the issue type selected." - if you have Fusion, this is possible I believe. If not, how about you attach all custom forms that could be needed in your queue details (you can attach more than 1 form) and clearly label them via the custom form name to show when to fill it in - 'Custom Form A for xyz only,' 'Custom form B for abc only', etc. Kicker with this one is that you wouldn't be able to have required fields in any requiring users to submit something in any of the forms not relevant to their request.
- "I can't find a setting that allows a user to add an issue inline from this view (the native Issues area allows inline editing, but I can't find a way to do so from a report)." - correct, you cannot create issues/add new within an issue report, the report is pulling existing issues based on specified filters.
- "I can't attach a custom form from the issue report." - when you have columns in your report using the custom form fields, as soon as data is filled in to any of those columns in-line in the report, this automatically adds the custom form the field lives in to the issue. Since you have a few forms, I think you could have a report for each in a dashboard and each has every field in the respective form as a column to ensure it's all filled in (not sure how many questions you're working with), you can change the column names to address any fields that are only to be filled in based on logic so ppl know which fields to fill in in-line based on answers to other columns/fields.

[Jeremy_Berquest]

Thank you, Madalyn. Where I'm struggling with the custom field columns is getting entering the issue in the first place. Without the ability to inline add, the user has to create an issue with minimal data, then go back and fill out the custom field data associated with the new entry. I'd like all data to be entered at one time, either via a custom form within the report, or entirely inline, but it looks like these are limitations of reporting that I cannot get around. We are rolling out Fusion this year, I will keep this idea on the back burner to see if there's any way to get creative.

[KellieGardner · Accepted solution]

Hi Jeremy -

For your first bullet this is something that I've done previously. 

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• I tried adding my "Change Request" and "Risks" custom forms from the Queue Details project settings.
  • What I really need here is to attach a specific form based on the Issue Type. Inevitably, there will be custom fields that aren't applicable to the issue type selected. Additionally, If the user is trying to enter a "plain" issue, the two custom forms will be shown, but won't be relevant.

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To get there we created queue topics within our project templates. This way every issue added to the project had to come from a drop-down selection which allowed us to prescribe which custom forms would be attached to each issue "type" through the queue drop down. We also eliminated the option for users to inline add issues to projects so that they would be forced to use the drop-down selection. 

[Jeremy_Berquest]

Kellie, I totally forgot about queue topics- that was exactly the missing piece I needed to steer to the correct custom form. Thank you so much!