Difference between revisions of "Data Entry Form Templates"

Revision as of 19:29, 22 April 2013

Template:ReaderHelp-SystemAdministrators Field report templates are the data entry forms that are available from the Field Report Templates window and are what you use to add a field report to IMSMA. IMSMA includes default form templates for Accident and Victim, Land, Activity, Location, Education, and QM. If the default form templates do not include the information you need on the field report or are in a format that is different from what you need, you can create and publish a new field report template.

There are several steps to creating a field report template.

1. Determine the layout of the field report template. This includes the field report template’s paper size, paper orientation, and margin sizes.
2. Add report data fields to the field report template. Report data fields include Date of Report, Report ID, and Reported By.
3. Add item attributes for which you would like to capture data to the field report template. You can also add images, lines, text areas, and scribe panels to the field report template.
4. Arrange the elements on the field report template. You can change the data element labels, move the data elements, and align the elements.
5. Save the field report template so that you can access it later to make additional changes.
6. Publish the field report template so that users can access the template.

You can repeat these steps as necessary if you find that the field report template needs to be updated.

Adding elements to the field report template

All objects on the field report template are considered elements. Elements include, but are not limited to, labels, text fields, tables, option values, lines, text areas, and date selection tools. The following sections describe the procedures for adding elements to the field report template.

How to add report elements

There are several data elements that can be used across all field report templates. These data elements can be found in the UNCATEGORIZED folder immediately below the Available IMSMA Data Elements folder:

• Date of Report – Used to determine whether data in the field report should overwrite the existing data for the item. Data in the field report will overwrite data in field reports that have an older Date of Report.
• Report ID – If your site has a method for identifying field reports, you can use this field to enter the report identifier.
• Reported By – This field can be used to capture information about the person entering the field report.
• Reported By Position – This field can be used to indicate the position of the person entering the field report.

How to add item attributes

After you have specified the page setup for the field report template, you can begin adding item attributes. To add individual item attributes to the field report:

1. Expand the item folder that contains the attribute by double-clicking the folder name in the elements pane.
2. Expand the data category that contains the item attribute.
3. Click the name of the attribute you would like to add to the field report.
4. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the attribute to the form design pane.
5. When the item attribute’s elements are in the desired position, release the mouse button.

If you drag an item attribute to the design pane which has previously been added, the following message displays: At least one of the components you dragged onto the form already exists. Do you want to create a new entity? Click the Yes button if you would like your field report template to capture data for another item record and add the item attribute to the field report template. Otherwise, click the No button; the item attribute will not be added to the field report template.

The element and its label are placed in the form design pane.

You can also add all item attributes to the field report by dragging the folder of the item to the design pane.

6. Repeat the above steps to add additional item attributes to the field report.

When item attributes are dragged to the design pane, they typically include both a text label and the data entry field. The data entry field and label should be kept together to ensure the integrity of the data. Although you can change the label text, be sure to provide a meaningful label so that it is clear to users what data they should enter in the field.

In addition to the text label and data entry field, certain item attributes such as date fields, country structure, and geospatial data will also include an icon. You should keep these elements together to ensure the integrity of the data. If any one of the elements is removed, you should remove all related elements.

As you add and remove item attributes to the form design pane, the Logical Tree pane is updated.