Topic Doc: RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us
Table of Contents
Document Summary
A new Form Management feature - RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us - has been added to RecTrac, which allows multiple Contact Us workflows for WebTrac. This feature supports Form creation, enabling you and your staff to ask patrons for additional contextual information when making a Contact Us request via WebTrac. In addition, providing you with the ability to create Contact Us workflows for different Contact Us request types enables you to define a specified communication destination, thereby directing your technical requests to a technical staff member or your program-related requests to an appropriate staff member.
Streamlining Patron Communication through Form Management
WebTrac's current Contact Us functionality offers every customer an Email Only option, which provides customers with a fixed Form that, upon completion, automatically is sent to the email address specified in your WebTrac Parameters profile. The new RecTrac Form Management feature leverages a new group within the WebTrac Parameters Contact Us settings that offers Contact Us options. These options both diversify and expedite your patron communications via Forms.
By integrating the capability for more detailed, nuanced messaging directed toward specific organizational recipients into Contact Us for WebTrac, Form Management streamlines your communication with patrons. Form Management enables you to set your Form with specific statuses and workflows over which you have full control. In short, leveraging RecTrac's Form Management enables you to create, manage, and monitor a customized communication path for each Form request.
Are RecTrac Forms Right for My Organization?
Reviewing the following questions will help you determine if this new Forms Management feature would benefit your organization:
- Do you struggle with all contact us inquiries being emailed to a single user/mailbox where they then require redirection to the appropriate staff member based on the request content?
- Are patrons frequently omitting key details in their Contact Us inquiries that would help your staff answer their questions?
- Do you frequently struggle with Contact Us inquiries going unanswered or need more insight into the frequency and topics of your patrons' Contact Us inquiries?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, then RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us is right for you.
Setup Steps
This document provides the basic steps required to configure your RecTrac database for RecTrac Contact Us for WebTrac. It also provides basic operating guidelines for standard Forms submission processes.
This document will explain how to configure your RecTrac instance to utilize RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us communications with your patrons. Utilizing RecTrac Forms enables you to:
- Ask patrons for specific details based on the type of Contact Us inquiry you have received.
- Direct these inquiries to a specific staff member based on the type of inquiry.
- Track responses to a Contact Us inquiry, ensuring all patron inquiries are answered efficiently and appropriately.
Note: RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us is available to all customers. As such, you do not need a license to use this feature.
If you have additional questions about RecTrac Forms setup and operation after reading this document, please contact Vermont Systems Customer Service by phone at 887-883-8757 or generate a Support Case through the Customer portal of the Vermont Systems web site using your Customer ID and password.
Before You Begin
This document is written with the following assumptions. If any of the items listed below is NOT true, contact Vermont Systems Support prior to continuing, as the steps in this document may prove difficult to complete and unexpected results may occur.
- Your organization is running RecTrac 3.1.10.11 and above.
- You have updated your reCAPTCHA settings in your WebTrac Parameters profile, reCAPTCHA settings.
- You are familiar with RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us.
- You understand RecTrac DataGrids and how to maneuver through them.
- You understand RecTrac Profile Assignments, Profile Management, and hierarchy.
Setting Up a WebTrac Contact Us Form
Configuring WebTrac Contact Us Forms: Key Questions
Before you begin the setup of your WebTrac Contact Us forms, review the following questions to assist in configuring your forms for WebTrac Contact Us.
1. In how much detail do I want to track the status of Contact Us inquiries?
Examples:
- I want to simply track that a form was submitted and that it received a response.
OR
- I want to track that a form was submitted, a staff member was assigned to respond to the submission, and finally when the inquiry was resolved.
2. Do my patrons frequently present inquiries within different categories that need to be answered by a specific staff member or department?
- What are those categories?
- Within each category, which staff member is responsible for responding to inquiries?
- What specific information should a patron provide for each inquiry category to enable your staff to efficiently answer the inquiry?
3. At what stages of the Contact Us inquiry process do I want to provide staff, administrators, and patrons with notifications regarding their inquiry?
Answering each of these questions will help you to appropriately set up your forms for WebTrac Contact Us.
Creating a WebTrac Contact Us Form Type
RecTrac Forms offers far more than just the basic WebTrac Contact Us functionality. The first step to implementing this functionality for WebTrac Contact Us is to define a Form Type to which each of your WebTrac Contact Us forms will be linked.
To create a WebTrac Contact Us Form Type:
- In RecTrac, go to System Code Management from the application menu.
- Click Add to create a new System Code.
- In the System Code field, enter your desired system code. Example: ContactUs.
- In the Type field, select Form Type from the Type options.
- Enter a Description for the System Code. Example: WebTrac Contact Us Form.
- Click Save.
Note: All Forms created in RecTrac as a patron-facing Contact Us form will be linked to this new System Code.
Creating Form Statuses
Creating Form Statuses enables you to move RecTrac Form submissions through a series of configurable statuses. When a form is submitted, it is assigned an initial status. From this initial status assignment, you can define what additional statuses/steps through which the form must transition, based on your organizational needs and the specific Form being submitted.
To create a Form Status:
- In RecTrac, go to System Code Management from the application menu.
- Click Add to create a new System Code.
- In the System Code field enter your desired system code. Example: NEW.
- In the Type field, select Form Status from the options.
- Enter a Description for the System Code. Example: New Form Submission.
- Click Save.
Repeat steps 2 - 5 for each desired Form Status.
Form Status Examples:
A) I want to simply track a form submission and response.
This option will require two Form Statuses:
- NEW: Represents a new form submission.
- COMPLETE: Represents that the form submission has been responded to and is complete.
B) I want to track that a form was submitted, a staff member was assigned to respond to the submission, and finally when the inquiry was resolved.
This option will require three Form Statuses:
- NEW: Represents a new form submission.
- ASSIGNED: Represents a staff member assignment for response to this inquiry.
- COMPLETE: Represents that the form submission has been responded to and is complete.
Creating Form Workflows
RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us enables you to assign each RecTrac Form to a unique or shared Form Workflow. The Form Workflow will define the statuses through which the Form Submission must transition. In addition to defining the status transitions, the Form Workflow is where you can configure automated staff assignments and staff/patron notification emails.
The first step in Form Workflow creation is to identify how many Form Workflows you will need. For example, if you are planning to take advantage of RecTrac's automated Form Assignment functionality, then you will need a unique Form Workflow for each Form that is going to be automatically assigned to a specific RecTrac user. If you want some Forms to require additional Form Statues transitions, then you will need a unique Form Workflow for defining the transition steps.
In our organization's example below, we will need three Form Workflows:
- Rec Program Inquiry: This workflow will use a simple NEW > COMPLETE status workflow and form submissions will automatically be assigned to our Director of Programming (Jane Smith).
- Rec Household Account Inquiry: This workflow will use a NEW > ASSIGNED > COMPLETE status workflow. Form submissions will NOT automatically be assigned. The Recreation and Parks Office Manager will assign NEW form submissions to staff who will then be responsible for following up with the customer and completing the inquiry.
- Website Inquiry: This workflow will use a simple NEW > COMPLETE status workflow but form submissions will automatically be assigned to the IT staff (Ian Smith) for follow up.
In the instructions below we will walk through adding the Rec Program Inquiry workflow.
To create a Form Workflow:
- In RecTrac, go to Form Workflow Management from the application menu.
- Click Add Workflow to create a new Form Workflow.
- In the Workflow Code field, enter your desired workflow code. Example: RPI.
- In the Short Description field, enter a description for this workflow. Example: Rec Programming Inquiry.
- From the Initial Form Status options, select the Form Status system code to be used as the initial status of a patron form submission. Example: NEW.
- Select the toggle Display transition steps on WebTrac status page? to enable patrons to to see the Form Status steps when reviewing the form submission's current status.
- Click Save
The new Form Workflow code now will display in the Workflow DataGrid.
To add Transitions to a Form Workflow:
- From the application menu, go to Form Workflow Management.
- Highlight the Form Workflow code for which you would like to add a transition. Selecting the workflow code will update the Form Transitions DataGrid to display the transitions for the selected workflow.
- Click Add Transition.
- Select the Trigger Actions for this workflow transition and supply any required information (See below for more information on Trigger Actions).
- In the above example, select the Assignment and Patron Notification trigger actions.
- In the Assign To User field, select Jane.Smith from the options.
- Enter your Assignment Notification text that Jane Smith will receive in the email body.
- Click Save.
- Repeat steps 2 - 5, using the Add Transition button to add all applicable transitions to this Form Workflow.
- In our example, leave the From Status blank.
- From the To Status options, select the COMPLETE status.
- For this transition step, do not select any trigger actions.
- Staff Notification: Apply this trigger action for staff members who should be aware of a form transitioning to this status but are not necessarily assigned to respond to the form submission. When selected, you must select one or more staff members from the picklist to receive the notification. Notifications will be sent to the email address on file in RecTrac for the selected staff members. You must also enter the notification text to be sent to these staff members. The text entered in this field will be added to the body of the email notification sent to the staff.
- Patron Notification: Apply this trigger action for the system to automatically send the patron who submitted the form a status update when transitioning a form to this status. When selected, you must enter the notification text to be sent to the patron. The text entered in this field will be added to the body of the email notification sent to the patron.
- Alternate Notification: Similar to the Staff Notification trigger action, leverage this option for staff and/or administrators who need awareness of a form transitioning to this status, but are not RecTrac users. When selected, you must supply one or more email addresses to receive the notifcation. You must also enter the notification text to be sent to these addresses. The text entered in this field will be added to the body of the email notification.
- Assignment: Use this trigger action to automatically assign a form submission to a RecTrac user who will be responsible for responding to it. When selected, you must select one RecTrac user from the picklist provided. An assignment notification will be sent to the email address on file in RecTrac for the selected staff member. You must also enter the notification text to be sent in the assignment notification email. The text entered in this field will be added to the body of the email notification that is sent to the staff.
Creating a RecTrac Form
Now that you have created the Form building blocks, you are ready to create your first form. Forms consist of Headers, Instructional Text, and Questions that a patron will be asked when submitting their inquiry.
In our example below, we will create two possible forms that a patron could select when submitting a Contact Us inquiry:
- Recreation Programming Inquiry: A form requesting more contextual information related to the RecTrac Programming area and patron question specifics.
- Having Trouble with the Website: A form requesting more contextual information related to the date, time, and nature of the patron's challenge with the website.
To create a RecTrac Form:
- From RecTrac's application menu, go to Form Management.
- Click Add to create a new form.
- In the Record Code field, enter your desired form record code. Example: RPI
- From the Form Type options, select the WebTrac Contact Us "Form Type" system code that you created in the first step of this document. Example: WebTrac Contact Us Form
- In the Short Description field, enter the text you would like the patron to see when selecting their WebTrac Contact Us inquiry option. This text is also used as the WebTrac Screen Title when completing the form. Example: Recreation Programming Inquiry
- In the Workflow Code field, select the applicable Form Workflow from the options.
- OPTIONAL: If you would like to create a custom success message to display for patrons on submission of this Form, choose from the Success Message Code options to add a new custom success message. Custom success messages enable you to provide the patron with immediate feedback on the next steps, a response timeframe, and any other relevant information.
- In the Permissions field, select the applicable Permissions code for the RecTrac users who will have access to manage this form and view form submissions associated with it.
- The Show in WebTrac Form Search?, Begin Date, and End Date fields are not applicable for WebTrac Contact Us forms. Accept the default settings for these fields.
- Click Save.
To add fields to a RecTrac Form:
- In RecTrac, go to Form Management from the application menu.
- Select the applicable Form code and click Change.
- Click Add Field and select from the field options: Header, Text, Question.
- Enter the applicable text for your Header/Text OR select/add the applicable question to be added to your form.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all fields you wish to add on the form.
- Once completed, click Preview on WebTrac to launch this form in WebTrac in a new browser tab. Though you will be unable to submit this form, this screen will display what the form will look like to your patron's when accessed from WebTrac Contact Us.
Review your form and adjust as needed in RecTrac Form Management.
Understanding RecTrac Form Field Options
- Header: Headers are auto formatted using the default WebTrac header styling. Selecting <>Header provides a plain text fill-in field to enter the text for your header.
- Text: Text elements allow for formatted text to be added to the form. Selecting Text provides a Rich Text Editor to style the instructional text.
- Question: Questions leverage standard RecTrac Question Management capabilities for adding fill-in, checkbox, combo-box, etc. questions. Select an existing Question from the Question DataGrid OR select Add to create a new question to be linked on this form.
See below for an example of the Form Fields created for the Recreation Programming Inquiry form described in this document as well as an example of the Form Preview on WebTrac.
Moving Fields on a RecTrac Form
Adjusting the order of fields on your RecTrac form helps you to customize where you present specific information on the form. To change the order of fields on your form, you need to adjust the order of the form's Header, Text, or Questions.
To adjust the order of your Form's Header, Text, or Questions:
- In RecTrac, go to Form Management from the application menu.
- Select the applicable Form code and click Change.
- Select the Form field you would like to move in the Form Fields DataGrid. Click Move Up or Move Down in the DataGrid slider to adjust the field order accordingly.
Enabling RecTrac Forms for WebTrac Contact Us
To begin using your new Contact Us forms you must change the Contact Us option in your WebTrac Parameters profile.
This step should not be performed until each of your applicable Contact Us forms have been created and assigned to their applicable workflows. Once enabled, all new Contact Us inquiries from your WebTrac site immediately will apply this logic.
To update your WebTrac Parameters Profile:
- In RecTrac, go to Profile Management from the application menu.
- In the Profile Type DataGrid column filter, enter "WebTrac Parameters."
- Select your applicable WebTrac Parameters profile and click Change.
- On the Profile Update screen, expand the Contact Us Settings group and select RecTrac Forms from the Contact Us
- From the Contact Us Form Type options, select your WebTrac Contact Us Form Type system code.
- Click Save.
- Confirm your settings by opening your WebTrac page and clicking the Contact Us menu item.
With the new Contact Us settings in place, patrons selecting the Contact Us option first will see a selection field prompting for "What can we help you with?" This list will be populated with the RecTrac Forms containing a Form Type that matches the Contact Us Form Type specified in your WebTrac Parameters profile. Patrons will select an option and click Continue to move to the corresponding form for completion.
A patron must provide an email address when submitting a Contact Us form via WebTrac. For households logged in to their account at the time of their request creation, this information will be populated automatically from the household account. Patrons browsing the site as a guest must provide an email address to submit the form.
Forms Processing: Interacting with Form Submissions
Once a Contact Us Form has been submitted online, your staff will need to interact with this form to obtain contact information and provide the appropriate response to the patron. RecTrac's Form Dashboard program enables staff to interact with forms. The Form Dashboard will enable you to:
- View a form submission
- Print a form submission
- Assign a form submission to another staff member for follow-up
- Transition a form submission through the Form Workflow
- View the form history of a form submission
To utilize the Form Dashboard:
- In RecTrac, go to the Form Dashboard from the application menu.
- The Form Dashboard will display each form submission received for which the logged in user has a matching permissions code.
To view a Form Dashboard:
- Highlight the record and select View Form from the DataGrid slider.
- The View Form page provides a simple text version of the form and the patron responses. From the View Form page, you can:
- Print the Form
- View the Form History
- Assign the form to another staff member for follow-up
- Transition the form submission through the Form Workflow
To print a Form Submission:
- Highlight the record and select Print Form from the DataGrid slider.
- On the prompt, select the appropriate toggles for Print, Preview, and Email and supply the additional information (printer / email address).
- Click Continue.
The application will generate .pdf file, which will be previewed, printed, or emailed according to your selected settings.
Printed forms will contain generic information about the form submission along with the patron responses.
To assign a Form Submission to staff for follow up:
- Highlight the record and select Assign from the DataGrid slider.
- Select the user to which you wish to assign the form submission from the Assign To User options.
- Enter any applicable assignment notification text in the field provided. An automated email will be sent to the specified user containing the text entered, notifying the user of the new form assignment.
- Click Confirm Assignment.
The Assigned To user on the form submission will be updated.
To transition a Form Submission through the Form Workflow:
- Highlight the record and select Transition from the DataGrid slider.
- Select the status to which you wish to transition the form submission in the Transition Status prompt and click Process.
Any applicable Form Workflow Trigger Actions will be processed automatically, and the corresponding notification emails will be sent. The Workflow Status on the form submission will be updated.
To view a Form Submission's Form History, including assignments and workflow transitions:
- Highlight the record and select Form History from the DataGrid slider. A Form HistoryDataGrid will display, with each record indicating:
- Date & Time of the change
- The RecTrac user responsible for the change
- The History Type of Transition or Assignment
- The original From Status (workflow status prior to the change)
- The resulting To Status (workflow status after the change)
- The Assigned To user (after the change)
RecTrac Form Reporting
RecTrac Forms offers two core reporting options:
- Form Reports: Listings of the various forms available for patrons to complete via your WebTrac Contact Us feature.
- Form Submission Reports: List out all of the completed individual form submissions for the WebTrac Contact Us forms offered in your RecTrac application.
-
RecTrac Forms leverage the existing built-in question/answer functionality found throughout RecTrac. Comprehensive question and answer statistics for your RecTrac form related questions can be run from RecTrac's existing Question, Answer, and Reports features.
To run a Form Submission Listing Report
- In RecTrac, go to Form Submission Listing from the application menu.
- Select either a range of forms to report on or individual forms from the DataGrid.
- To limit report results to a form submitted in a specific workflow status, select the applicable statuses in from the Form Status options.
- To limit report results to forms submitted within a specific date range, select the box for Submission Date Range and enter the date range according to your specifications.
- To limit report results to form submissions assigned to a specific RecTrac User, select the applicable User Name from the options.
- To limit report results to form submissions made by a specific Household, select the Household number from the options.
- Select the VSI - Form Submission Listing or a custom form submission report output of your choosing from the Ouput Template options and click Process.
- On the Report Options prompt, accept the default settings or modify as needed and click Continue.