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  • Created by Former user, last modified by Former user on Nov 12, 2018
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Many work flows often involve a number of people filling out different sections of a single form. So when you're designing this type of flow, you're most likely dragging the same form into the flow designer repeatedly to create the different steps in the flow.

Another way to create this type of flow is to use the Linked Steps feature of the flow designer. In this method, you create a linked version of a form for each step you want in your flow. One great advantage of this method is that if you need to make changes to the form step(s) after you've created your flow, you only have to edit the "parent" form — the editing changes are automatically propagated to its linked forms in the flow. Conversely, if you drag multiple copies of the same form into a flow to create steps, you'd have to make any changes to each copy of the form in each step.

If you want to show or hide different parts of a form depending on which user is filling it out, you can easily do this in a flow designed with linked steps using the Security tab or Business Rules.

One circumstance in which you might not want to use linked forms is a flow in which each user is filling out a different form.

  1. To create linked forms in a flow, add a step to the flow by dragging a form into the flow designer.
  2. Click on the step and then click   LINK icon to create a linked form.
  3. Continue clicking  Link icon to create as many of the linked forms as you want.

On This Page:

The example below shows the parent Lodging-Meal Selections form and its two linked forms. Notice that the parent form and its linked forms initially all have the same name, but the linked forms are represented by a double box. Remember, a linked step is a copy of the parent form.  Note also that the parent step shows five icons while the linked steps display only the remove icon.

  • Click the Link Icon to create a linked step.
  • Click the pencil icon to open a step in the Form Designer to edit it.
  • Click the delete icon to remove a linked step.
  • Click the download icon on the parent step as a standalone form.
  • Click the Edit Step Properties to access the Property tabs for the flow step.

Linked Steps Workflow Examples

Approval workflows lend themselves to a Flow Design pattern that uses Linked Steps. You can route your steps via the Security tab or Business Rules. Either way, if flow steps require modification, changes made to the parent form propagate to the linked steps.

Example 1 - Linked Steps using Business Rules

Consider an Expense Report

Example 2 - Linked Steps using the Security Tab

The parent step in this example is a form that contains a Tab control consisting of three tabs: Room Information, Guest Information and Payment Method.

Because the parent forms and its linked forms represent steps, you'll want to give them unique names. The parent form in this example has three tabs used for hotel check in, dinner selection, and hotel check out.

To rename the parent step and its linked steps:

  • Click on a workflow step
  • Open the Settings tab in one of 3 ways:
    • Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click the Settings tab.
    • Click the icon in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the screen. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
    • Click anywhere in the General Settings section of the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
    • Type the name of the flow step in the Name field on the Settings tab.

As with other forms you use to create steps, you can assign a linked-form step to a Role,so that the step is performed by someone with that role, or even by a specific user. In this example, we rename all three steps and assign each to a different role.

  • CheckIn is assigned to the Reservations role.
  • DiningRoom is assigned to the MaitreDHotel role.
  • CheckOut is assigned to the Billing role.

Th Reservations, MaitreDHotel and billing roles must exist in your tenant. Create 3 users and assign one role to each of them.

Click on a workflow step

Open the Assignment tab in one of 3 ways:

  • Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click the Assignment tab.
  • Click the icon in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the screen. This takes you directly to the Assignment tab.
  • Click anywhere in the Task Assignment section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Assignment tab.
  • Add the role name to the Assign to Role field. You can begin typing the role name in the field to filter the dropdown choices. Click Submit. For this example, add the Reservation role to the CheckIn step, the MaitreDHotel role to the DiningRoom step and the Billing role to the Checkout step.

You may also want only certain sections of the form to be visible in an specific step so that only users in a certain role see those sections. For example, in this flow, perhaps only the dining room staff needs to see the form's Guest Information tab.

To do this, you can edit the the form via the Flow Designer and use the Security Tab in the Forms Designer to assign a role to sections of the form. Click the form, and then click  Edit icon to open the form in the Form Designer.

In this example, we assign the Guest Information tab to the MaitreDHotel role.

When the flow runs, the first step, CheckIn, is performed by a user with the Reservations role, so that user does not see the form's Guest Information tab, which is only visible to a user with the MaitreDHotel role.

The next step in the flow, DiningRoom, is assigned to the MaitreDHotel role, so that user sees the Guest Information tab. The third step is assigned to the Billing role so the user sees the Payment Method tab.

You can also use rules to show or hide parts of a form in a step. For example you could write a Business Rule using the Visual Rule Builder to show the Guest Information tab only when a MaitreDHotel role is using the form.

Linked Forms and the Submissions PDF

If you check the Save PDF property on the flow properties panel, a PDF image of the flow is saved in the Live Forms' submission repository. It is no longer necessary to uncheck the printable property for all but one of the steps to prevent the form from being printed more than once in the default pdf. This was required in previous versions of Live Forms. Refer to the Printable property for more information.

 

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