# Data Collection Forms ## Table of Contents * [Overview](#overview) * [Who Uses Data Collection Forms](#who-uses-data-collection-forms) * [Form Lifecycle and Statuses](#form-lifecycle-and-statuses) * [For Administrators: Managing Forms](#for-administrators-managing-forms) * [Viewing the Form Administration List](#viewing-the-form-administration-list) * [Form Settings and Date Windows](#form-settings-and-date-windows) * [Migrating a Form Configuration](#migrating-a-form-configuration) * [For Administrators: Building Questions](#for-administrators-building-questions) * [Question Types](#question-types) * [Question Settings](#question-settings) * [For Administrators: Publishing Forms to Agencies](#for-administrators-publishing-forms-to-agencies) * [How Form Publishing Works](#how-form-publishing-works) * [Monitoring Collection Status by Organization](#monitoring-collection-status-by-organization) * [Monitoring Collection Status by Form](#monitoring-collection-status-by-form) * [Finalizing All Forms at Once](#finalizing-all-forms-at-once) * [Resetting a Form to Not Started](#resetting-a-form-to-not-started) * [For Agency Users: Filling Out a Form](#for-agency-users-filling-out-a-form) * [Viewing Your Assigned Forms](#viewing-your-assigned-forms) * [Editing and Submitting a Form](#editing-and-submitting-a-form) * [Rich Text Forms](#rich-text-forms) * [Completing and Finalizing Your Submission](#completing-and-finalizing-your-submission) * [Viewing Form Responses](#viewing-form-responses) * [Viewing Responses for a Single Agency](#viewing-responses-for-a-single-agency) * [Exporting Responses to CSV](#exporting-responses-to-csv) * [Audit History](#audit-history) * [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting) *** ## Overview Data Collection Forms let state administrators gather structured information from schools, districts, and other agencies across the state. An administrator creates a form with questions, sets the collection window, and publishes it to all assigned organizations. Agency users then fill out their copy of the form and submit it. Administrators can track progress across the entire state at a glance — seeing at once which organizations have not started, which are in progress, and which have submitted completed responses. Forms support a full workflow: from initial publishing through in-progress editing, completion by the agency, and final approval (finalization) by an administrator. *** ## Who Uses Data Collection Forms | Role | What they do | | -------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | State Administrator / Site Admin | Creates and configures forms, publishes them to agencies, monitors statewide collection status, finalizes submissions | | District Administrator | Monitors collection progress across schools in their district | | Agency User (school-level) | Fills out and submits the form assigned to their organization | *** ## Form Lifecycle and Statuses Every data collection form instance assigned to an organization moves through these statuses: * **Not Started** — The form has been published to the organization but no responses have been entered yet. * **In Progress** — The agency user has opened the form and saved at least one answer. * **Completed** — The agency user has marked their submission as complete. * **Finalized** — A state administrator has reviewed and locked the form. Finalized forms are read-only and cannot be changed. Status changes are tracked in the audit log, so there is always a record of who changed what and when. *** ## For Administrators: Managing Forms ### Viewing the Form Administration List Navigate to **Form Administration** to see all forms configured in the system. The list shows each form's title, description, associated school year, start date, end date, and whether the form is currently accepting responses. You can sort the list by any column and export the full list to a spreadsheet using the export button in the table toolbar. ### Form Settings and Date Windows Each form has configurable settings that control how and when it accepts responses: * **Title and Description** — The name and summary shown to agency users. * **School Year** — The academic year this form belongs to (for example, 2024-2025). * **Start Date / End Date** — The dates between which agency users can edit their assigned form. Once the end date passes, the Edit action is no longer available for that form. Forms without an end date remain editable until finalized. * **Accepting Responses** — A toggle that controls whether the form is open for input. When turned off, users cannot submit new responses. * **Download ID** — An optional identifier that links the form to a downloadable reference document. ### Migrating a Form Configuration The **Migrate Form Config** action (the migration icon on each row) copies the form's structure — its questions, choices, and settings — to a target system configured by your organization. A confirmation prompt will tell you the name of the target system before proceeding. After migration, a success message reports how many forms, questions, and choices were transferred. *** ## For Administrators: Building Questions Questions are added to a form through the form builder. Each question has a type, a title, and optional settings. ### Question Types | Question Type | When to use it | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Short text | Single-line free-text answers (names, identifiers) | | Long text / paragraph | Multi-line free-text answers (descriptions, narrative responses) | | Multiple choice | Respondent picks one option from a list | | Checkboxes | Respondent picks one or more options from a list | | Numeric | Respondent enters a number; you can set minimum and maximum allowed values | | Rich text (editor) | Respondent enters formatted text using a full word-processor-style editor (see [Rich Text Forms](#rich-text-forms)) | For multiple choice and checkbox questions, you can add as many answer choices as needed. Each choice can optionally be marked as correct (for quiz-style forms) or as unique (mutually exclusive from other choices). ### Question Settings When creating or editing a question, you can configure: * **Title** — The question text shown to the respondent. * **Description** — Additional context shown below the question title. * **Display Text** — An alternate label used in certain views. * **Report Label** — A short label used in export headers and reports. * **Help Text** — Guidance shown near the input field to assist respondents. * **Required** — When checked, the respondent must answer this question before saving. * **Has Other Option** — For choice-based questions, adds a free-text "Other" field alongside the listed choices. The order of questions on the form is controlled by the **Index** value. Questions are displayed to respondents in ascending index order. *** ## For Administrators: Publishing Forms to Agencies ### How Form Publishing Works When a form is published, the system automatically creates one copy of the form — called a data collection form instance — for each organization assigned to that form. This happens through an automated event that runs in the background. Each organization's instance starts in **Not Started** status. Agency users only see the specific form instance assigned to their own organization. They cannot see other organizations' instances or responses. When an agency user saves their first answer, the system automatically moves their form instance to **In Progress**. No manual action is required from the administrator for that transition. ### Monitoring Collection Status by Organization Go to **Submit Collection Data** and select the **Organization** view. The page opens at the state level and shows a summary table with one row per organization: | Column | What it shows | | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | Organization Name | The district, school, or other agency | | Not Started | Number of forms not yet touched | | In Progress | Number of forms with responses started | | Completed | Number of forms the agency has marked complete | | Finalized | Number of forms locked by an administrator | | Total | Total forms assigned to this organization | Click the navigation arrow next to a state-level organization to drill into its districts, and then into individual schools. A breadcrumb trail at the top of the page shows where you are in the hierarchy and lets you navigate back up. For school-level rows, click the **View** icon (eye) to open that school's full collection details. You can also download a school profile report (PDF) directly from this view. ### Monitoring Collection Status by Form Go to **Submit Collection Data** and select the **Form** view. The page shows one row per form, with counts of how many organizations are in each status for that form. Click **View** on any form row to drill into the per-organization details for that specific form. When viewing collection details by form, you can filter by: * **Academic year / term** * **District** * **Status** (Not Started, In Progress, Completed, Finalized) A **Download** button is available for forms that have a linked reference document. ### Finalizing All Forms at Once When you are on the organization-level list view and viewing the current academic year, a **Finalize All Forms** button appears at the top (visible to state administrators and site admins only). Clicking it shows a confirmation table listing every form that is not yet finalized. Confirming the action moves all of them to **Finalized** in one step. If all forms are already finalized, the system displays an informational message and takes no action. ### Resetting a Form to Not Started State administrators and site admins can move a finalized form back to **Not Started** using the back-arrow action on the form row. This reopens the form for editing. A confirmation prompt asks you to confirm before the status change takes effect. This action is only available for forms in the current academic year. *** ## For Agency Users: Filling Out a Form ### Viewing Your Assigned Forms Navigate to **Submit Collection Data**. The page shows a table of forms assigned to your organization, filtered to the current academic year by default. You can change the term using the filter at the top right. The table shows: * **Domain** — The name of the data collection area (the form name). * **Status** — Your current submission status (Not Started, In Progress, Completed, or Finalized). * **Status Date** — When the status last changed. * **Updated By** — The email address of the person who last changed the status. If a form's end date has passed, or if the form has been finalized, the Edit action will not appear. ### Editing and Submitting a Form Click the **Edit** icon (pencil) on a form row to open the form for data entry. The form opens in an editing view under your organization's name. Work through each question and enter your answers. Questions marked with a red asterisk are required. You can save your progress at any time — the form status moves to **In Progress** automatically when you first save. To view a previously submitted form without making changes, click the **View** icon (eye). The form opens in read-only mode. ### Rich Text Forms Some forms use a full rich text editor instead of standard question fields. These forms open in a dedicated editor view where you can: * Type and format text (bold, italic, lists, headings, and more) * Paste formatted content from a word processor * Use the editor toolbar for additional formatting options Questions marked with a red asterisk are required. If you try to save without filling in a required rich text field, a red border appears around the editor and an error message is shown. Click **Save** to submit a new response or **Update** to revise an existing one. Click **Cancel** to return to your forms list without saving. ### Completing and Finalizing Your Submission When you have answered all required questions and are ready to submit, click the **Complete** icon (thumbs-up) on the form row in your forms list. A confirmation prompt asks you to confirm. Once confirmed, the form moves to **Completed** status. After your form is marked Completed, an administrator can finalize it. Once finalized, the form becomes read-only. You can still view it at any time using the **View** icon. *** ## Viewing Form Responses ### Viewing Responses for a Single Agency Administrators can view the responses for any organization by drilling down through the collection status views to the school level, then clicking **View School Collection Details**. This opens the per-form response detail for that organization, showing the answers submitted for each form. You can also view a specific form's responses across all organizations by drilling into the **Form** view and selecting an individual form. ### Exporting Responses to CSV From the form response detail view, use the **Export** option to download all responses for that form as a CSV file. The file includes: * A **Date** column showing when each response was last modified. * One column per question, using the question's report label (or title if no label is set) as the column header. * One row per response. The exported file is named after the form title. *** ## Audit History Every change to a data collection form instance is recorded in the audit log, including status changes and who made them. To view the history for a specific form, click the **Audit Log** icon on the form's row in your forms list. A modal window opens showing each recorded change with a timestamp and the user who made it. *** ## Troubleshooting **The Edit button is not visible for a form.** The form may be past its end date, already finalized, or you may be viewing a past academic year. Check the status column and the term filter. Only forms in the current academic year with a status other than Finalized show the Edit action. **I see an error when trying to finalize or complete a form: "Not allowed... unless the term for the form is..."** This means the form was published in a previous academic year. Status transitions (Complete, Finalize) are only permitted for forms matching the current academic year. If you need to make a change to a past-year form, contact your state administrator. **I submitted answers but the status did not change to In Progress.** The status change happens automatically when answers are first saved. If you do not see the update, try refreshing the page. If the issue persists, check whether the form is still accepting responses (contact your administrator to confirm the form settings). **The Finalize All Forms button is not visible.** This button is only visible to users with the State Administrator or Site Admin role, and only when viewing the current academic year. If you believe you should have this access, contact your system administrator. **A required question shows a red border but I have filled it in.** For rich text questions, the editor may show an error if the field is technically empty (for example, if only whitespace or formatting was entered without actual content). Add at least one word of text to clear the validation error. **The form opened in a read-only editor even though I expected to edit it.** Check that the form has not been finalized. Finalized forms always open in read-only mode. If the form should still be editable, your state administrator can reset it to Not Started. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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