Understanding PeopleSoft Forms and Approval Builder

The Forms and Approval Builder enables you to design online forms, specify the approval process they require, and deploy them to users within your organization. Use this feature to convert manual procedures within your organization to paperless processes that include workflow-based approvals and an audit trail for tracking progress. No coding is required on your part, and future upgrades to your PeopleSoft system will not require you to update these forms, since the forms you create are not customizations.

Once a form is published, users navigate to the form using the main menu, complete the fields and submit it for approval. Each published form includes three tabs: Form, Instructions, and Attachments. An audit trail of the approval history and comments is automatically generated as the form goes through the approval process. You can review the audit trail to see the history for each step of the approval chain.

Form Design

To create forms, you use the Design Form Wizard component (FORM_DESIGN_WIZARD), which guides you through the following steps of the form creation process:

Defining the basic information for a form, including the form ID and form owner.
Providing instructions that describe how to use the form.
Specifying the fields that appear on the form.
Attaching files to the form (optional).
Defining the menu item that is used to access the form.
Specifying the approval workflow that is required for the form.
Previewing, testing, and activating the form.

Forms can contain fields arranged into one or two columns. You can specify which fields are required, and define the edits that a field must pass in order for the completed form to be saved. As you design the form, you can use the following field types:

Numeric
Text
Date
Time
Yes/No
Prompt
Enables form users to select values from existing PeopleSoft records to complete the field.
Code
Enables you to build a list of values that appear in a drop-down list. Form users can select a value from the list to complete the field.
Section
Enables you to organize the form into multiple sections.

Form Status

It is important to understand the distinction between a form and a form instance. For the purposes of this documentation, when we use the term form, we are referring to the “master” form, or template, that form designers create using the Form Design Wizard component. A form instance is a deployed form that has been completed by a form user. Each form instance is automatically assigned a unique sequence number, so all completed forms can be tracked and managed independently.

The possible status values for a form are:

Field or Control	Description
In Design	Indicates a form that is being designed, and is not active.
Activated	Indicates a form that is active and available for form users to complete. Depending on your user role, you can activate a form using the following pages: Design Form: Complete page of the Form Design Wizard component. Manage Forms page. Note: Only the owner of a form or a form administrator can activate/inactivate a form or reassign a form to a new owner.
Inactive	Indicates a form that has been inactivated by either the form's owner or a form administrator. Form administrators or form owners can inactivate forms by using the Manage Forms page. When a form is inactive, form users are not permitted to complete the form.

Field or Control

Description

In Design

Indicates a form that is being designed, and is not active.

Activated

Indicates a form that is active and available for form users to complete.

Depending on your user role, you can activate a form using the following pages:

Design Form: Complete page of the Form Design Wizard component.
Manage Forms page.

Note: Only the owner of a form or a form administrator can activate/inactivate a form or reassign a form to a new owner.

Inactive

Indicates a form that has been inactivated by either the form's owner or a form administrator. Form administrators or form owners can inactivate forms by using the Manage Forms page. When a form is inactive, form users are not permitted to complete the form.

The possible status values for a form instance are:

Field or Control	Description
Initial	When a form user accesses an activated form and begins to complete it, the status of the form instance is set to Initial.
Pending	When the form user finalizes the form instance and submits it for approval, the status changes to Pending.
On Hold	When an approver or reviewer requests more information about a submitted form, the status changes to On Hold.
Approved, Denied, or Cancelled	As the form instance flows through the required approval chain, the status subsequently updates to approved, denied, or cancelled.

Security and Delivered Roles

User roles determine who has permission to access, design, and administer forms. The following table lists the delivered roles and associated permission lists for Form and Approval Builder.

Role Name	Description	Permission Lists	Access Rights
FORM_USER	Form user: Can complete and submit forms.	EOFM1000	The form user has add/update/display access to forms that have been created with the Form Design Wizard (form instances).
FORM_DESIGNER	Form designer: Can complete and submit forms, design forms, and manage forms that they are assigned to as the owner.	EOFM1000 EOFM2000	The form designer has add/update/display access to forms that have been created with the Form Design Wizard, and has add/update/display access to the Form Design Wizard component. Form designers have update/display access to only their forms when using the Manage Forms (FORM_RPT) component.
FORM_ADMIN	Form administrator: Can complete and submit forms, design forms, and manage all forms.	EOFM1000 EOFM2000 EOFM3000 EOSD2000	The form administrator has the same access as the form designer, and additionally, has update/display access to all forms when using the Manage Forms (FORM_RPT) component.
FORM_CI_DEVELOPERS	Form to component interface (CI) developer: Can complete and submit forms, design forms, manage all forms, and map forms to component interfaces (integrate forms).	EOFM1000 EOFM2000 EOFM3000 EOFM4000 EOSD2000	The form to CI developer has the same access as the form administrator, and in addition can set up form integration by mapping forms to component interfaces using the Forms to CI Mapping page.

Row level security is enforced on the completed forms; only the form's owner or approver/reviewer can access the form instance.

Note: A security administrator will need to update existing User IDs and/or create new User IDs to include the appropriate roles before those users begin working with Form and Approval Builder.

See PeopleTools: Security Administration, “Administering User Profiles”.

Requirements

Form and Approval Builder is available only on the Employee portal.