What are Custom Forms? – Knowledge Base

Overview & background

Fieldwire offers a "Forms" module for the Business and Premier tiers. Within this module, we offer pre-made, customizable Form templates for Daily Report, RFI's, Inspection Request, Safety Audit, Time & Material Tag, and Timesheets, as well as the option to create your own custom forms.

The Custom Form Template Builder allows Fieldwire users to customize Fieldwire’s existing forms, or create customized forms, tailored to their specific workflows. Once the form template is created, users are able to fill out, sign off, and submit their forms on both the Web and Mobile Versions of Fieldwire.

You can use the Custom Form Builder to edit Fieldwire’s daily reports, RFIs, timesheets, inspection requests, Safety Audits, and Time and Material Tags, or create brand new types of forms like job hazard analysis, change orders, QA/QC inspections, and many more!

Note: Any forms you export from Fieldwire will include the Logo and color header a Project Administrator has specified under the Project Settings tab.

1. Create a Custom Form

6. The List and Table Sections and Entry Types

7. Attachments

8. Weather

9. Signature

10. Video on the Custom Forms Builder

Create a Custom Form

On the Forms tab, select +New Form, then Select +New Template. If you want to edit an existing Form template, select the template and then ‘Duplicate’ under the ‘Actions’ button.

If you're an Admin on the project, from the '+New template' option, you can import Account Form Templates into your project, take a look at this article for more information about that!

Template Types

The Default type includes a description, assignee, and status. You would create a Default template if the form requires multiple, unique date entries, rather than one overall date. For example, Fieldwire’s RFI form has sent and due dates for the form, rather than 1 creation date. This can be useful if multiple people need to view and approve of the form.
The Dated type will include a description, assignee, status, and a date. You would create a default template if your form requires information generated on, or pertinent to, one specific date. For example, Fieldwire’s Daily Report form contains automatic weather based on the date selected on the Form.

Note: Only the ‘Dated’ template type will allow you to add a ‘Weather’ section.

Statuses

After you select the type of Form, you can adjust the different Statuses the form can be in. Choose to 'Manage' Permissions & Statuses to adjust this:

This is especially useful if different parts of the form need approval (E.G. an RFI). You are able to add more status’ as you see fit by selecting the +New status option.

Can enter status and Can exit status is a way to designate which permission levels are able to change the status of the form at that given moment. By default, only Admin level users can set the Form as Submitted.

Note: You can customize at which stage of a form it is editable or not in the Form is editable column. All required fields must be filled before the form is moved into a 'non-editable' state.

Note: When the status of a form is changed, the form creator, assignee, and last editor will all get notified on the web and will receive a push notification on any mobile device associated with a Fieldwire account.

Permissions

Only the assignee can edit the Form attributes - these include the Form Description, Status, Assignee, Date, and Due date. This setting cannot be adjusted:

Sections, or the fillable entries within the Lists and Tables in a form, can be adjusted - Admins can choose whether only the form Assignee or if All users can edit fillable entries within a form.

Refer to the Custom Forms Article for more information about the Entries within the List and Table sections, as well as the Attachment and Signature sections.

Add New Sections

After you designate the Statuses of your Form, you can now start to build out the form. Select ‘+New section’ to add a new section. There are five different sections you can add to a Form

The List and Table Sections and Entry Types

The List is organized as a list of Fields designed to request specific information from users. You can have as many entry types as you'd like within a list.

The Table section is organized in a more compact manner and allows users to combine different entry types. You can have up to nine entry types within a table.

Note: Both the 'Long text' and 'Date & Time' entry types occupy more space; so you won't be able to have more than four of these entry types in one table-- (as these count as '2' entries).

There are several different entry types for both Sections.

Short Text	Free-form text Field (A few words)	Useful for Short Descriptions and quick thoughts.	Available on both List and Table
Long Text	Free-form text Field (A paragraph)	Useful for long descriptions and more detailed notes	Available on both List and Table- this counts as two entries in a table.
Integer	A whole number	Designate the amount of material or hours.	Available on both List and Table
Decimal	A decimal number	Designate a price or more precise hours.	Available on both List and Table
Date	A date	Indicate the date of when work was completed	Available on both List and Table
Date & Time	The Date & Time	More precise documentation of when work was completed.	Available on both List and Table- this counts as two entries in a table.
Checkbox	A box, with 'yes', 'no' and 'n/a' options. This mirrors the checkbox in a checklist	Useful for inspections and documentation.	Available on both List and Table
Checkbox & Notes	A checkbox with 'yes', 'no' and 'n/a' options, and a section for notes	Allows for more precise documentation.	Available on List Section

Attachments	Allows users to attach files and photos.	Easily reference files.	Available on List Section
Users	A list of users on the project.	Useful to document all necessary parties.	Available on List Section
Plans	Attach existing plans from the project to the form.	Helpful in designating specific locations.	Available on List Section
+ New entry type	Create different fields in a drop-down list.	Useful for custom entry fields not listed above.	(custom lists)

You’re able to make any of the fields in this table required or not required (aside from the 'Checkbox', and 'Checkbox & Notes') when creating your form. That way, you can ensure that users are recording the necessary fields on your job site.

You’re also able to add hints or default values to any text or integer field to save time or communicate to team members what the field should contain

Note: You can have up to 150 rows in a table section of the form.

Attachments

The attachment section allows users to upload various types of files, including PDFs, Photos, (360 Photos on Business) etc. You are able to designate the minimum and maximum amount of attachments to include. You can also add a description to indicate any pertinent information about the attachment.

Note: You can upload files and photos up to 50mb.

The "Existing photo" option allows you to attach any photos stored under the “Photos” tab to your Form. The difference between attaching an Existing photo and a “Photo/File” is that the photos you choose from exist in the "Photos" tab (as opposed to uploading new photos from your computer, cloud storage, etc.)

Note: If you choose to attach an "Existing photo", that photo will be shown again in the "Photos" tab since it is now associated with the Form."

Photos attached to Plans, Forms, and RFIs can be marked up now.

Forms:

Weather

The Weather section of the Form automatically pulls weather information to the form. This is based on what is entered in the ‘Address’ section of the ‘Settings’ tab of the Project. Fieldwire leverages the Dark Sky API to determine the weather data on a form.

A form’s weather data is set based off the timestamp of the “Date” of the form (when the user first makes the form this is set to the created date, but it can be changed). If they are creating it in the morning, the weather data shown on that form is a prediction, and we update the form with the actual weather after about 24 hours.

Signature

The signature section prompts users to provide an electronic signature on the Web or a free-hand signature on mobile. Fieldwire will automatically include the timestamp of when the form was signed to help ensure accountability.

On the Web , you, or someone who does not have a Fieldwire Account, can add sign your form:

The name of the user that is logged in will populate as the first signature option.

Choose 'Sign as someone else' to have a user who does not have a Fieldwire account sign the form.

Any signature will be accompanied by a date, time, and device-stamp to show when exactly the form was signed and which individual signed it. The user who is logged into Fieldwire on the device where the Form was accessed will be listed as the device owner:

'Sign as Andrew White'

'Sign as someone else'

On the iOS and Android Versions of Fieldwire, you can also have another user sign the form:

The name of the user that is logged in will populate as the first signature option.

Choose 'Someone else' to have a user who does not have a Fieldwire account sign the form.

After you determined who will sign the form, you'll be prompted to add a freehand signature to the Form if you are signing. If someone else is signing the Form, they'll be prompted to type their name before they add their freehand signature.

Any signature will be accompanied by a date, time, and device-stamp to show when exactly the form was signed and which individual signed it. The user who is logged into Fieldwire on the device where the Form was accessed will be listed as the device owner:

Sign form as 'Andrew White'

Sign form as 'Someone Else'

After all required fields on the form are completed, you can choose to 'Update [the] status and close'. This is similar to submitting a form. The statuses one creates on the form determine the state the form can be moved to:

Default Statuses on the 'Daily Report' form:
Default Statuses on the 'Inspection Request' form:

On Mobile, if multiple users will be creating or editing a particular form, they should make sure to close the form when they are finished editing it, prior to closing the app or putting the device to sleep.

Video on the Custom Forms Builder

More Information