Here are some steps to follow when planning out an online form.
- Start with the basics of what information you are going to collect and from who. Each set of information from a given party should be a separate section of the form.
- For each section decide whether the user or group editing the section will always be the same or whether the assigned user or group will fluctuate based on user input. If a section is always the same, assign that group to the section when Managing Form Section Permissions.
- For each section where assignment varies, locate where on the form earlier in the lifecycle that assignment will take place.
- If assignment doesn't currently take place earlier in the lifecycle, consider adding an intermediate routing step where that assignment can take place. E.g., a form might submit to an advising office based on the school selected but a dispatcher at that office might assign an adviser to sign the form. This routing section can be hidden from the original submitting user when Managing Section Visibility.
- Finally, identify steps in the lifecycle where the processing should stop until some external business process takes place. E.g., in the above example after the adviser signs a form something may need to be updated in the student record. In this case you can create an intermediate step that only gets approved once the business process takes place. Again, this can be hidden from the original submitting user.