Smart Forms Guide

Learn about the core feature which allows you to extract insights about the performance of your Contracts & Vendors in Gatekeeper

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Sections in this Article

Introduction

Reporting & Data Insights

Creating a Smart Form

Using Smart Forms

What-ifs & FAQs

 

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Introduction

 

Smart Forms allow you to add a new Dimension to the metadata you store in Gatekeeper.

By organising your Custom Fields into Smart Forms, you can assign Scores & Weights so that the data provided by internal or external users can instantly provide you with summary grades.

This will allow you to  benchmark performance & compliance of your Vendors/Contracts over time and also against other Vendors/Contracts in your Gatekeeper repository.

 

Once configured, data in Smart Forms can be populated directly in the Repository, via API, or by users within Workflows.

The below article walks through how to configure & use these Smart Forms to get the most reliable insights from your data & processes...

....Our suggestion (covered below) is to embed them in Workflow Forms so you can automate their initial completion as well schedule re-assessments in structured & collaborative processes.

 

 

 

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Reporting & Insights Available in Smart Forms

Contract & Vendor Smart Form Tabs

When Scores have been populated in a Smart Form's scored fields, these scores will visible within the Vendor record.

You can view these by opening the record & navigating to the Smart Form using the Tab menu at the top of the record:

Pictured below: A Smart Form with the Scores at the top with the metadata groups & fields below

 

Smart Form vs Group-by-Group Score

Within a Smart form, the Score Summary and historical Timeline scores will provide values of the whole form.

However, you will be able to see the component parts of the summary at the top of each Group.

Pictured below: the Top-level Summary Score for the Smart Form which is comprised of the Sum of all the weighted Group scores below

i.e. 82.25 = 22.5 + 25 + 16 + 18.75

 

Repository Level Scores

Once you create a Smart Form, you will instantly be able to include the Score Summary as a field in your Repository view.

This will allow you to compare Scores from multiple records' Smart Forms in a single view:

 

We recommend storing these in a Saved View so you can easily revisit them later:

 

Workflow Score

Within a Workflow Card, if any of the records linked to the card (either Vendor or Contract) have a Smart Form, Gatekeeper will display the Current Score* in a Sidebar tab with a link to the Smart Form within the Record itself:

 

 

 

 

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Configuration

The below sections will walk through how to create a Smart Form as well as how to configure the specific Scores & Weights required to begin assessing & benchmarking your data

 

Part 1 - Creating the Smart Form

 

Option A - Creating a new Smart Form from Scratch

Step 1) Go to Settings > Configuration > Custom Data

Step 2) Hit Add > Smart Form

Step 3) Enter a Title for your Smart Form & select which records it is allocated to (e.g. Contracts or Vendors)

Step 4) Decide whether you want your Smart Form to utilise a Sidebar for simplifying navigation. Useful when you are grouping a lot of custom data groups together under 1 Smart Form.

Step 5) Set the RAG Thresholds

Step 6) Hit ✅ Save to create the new form

 

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Sidebar Layout

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Once you have created a new Smart Form, you then need to add Custom Groups to organise the data, followed by the Custom Fields to be scored. This is identical to creating custom fields outside of a Smart Form.

For guidance on how do do this, see the below dedicated guides

📖 Configuring Custom Data: Creating Custom Groups

📖 Configuring Custom Data: Creating Custom Fields

NB. When creating custom fields, the only input types which can be "Scored" in a Smart Form are:

• • Yes/No
  • Percentage
  • Dropdown List ("Single Pick" Only)

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Option B - Converting an Existing "Custom Tab" to a Smart Form

If you have a Custom Tab where you have already been collecting data, you can upgrade this to a Smart Form so your pre-existing data can be scored

Step 1) Go to Settings > Configuration > Custom Data

Step 2) Go to the Custom Tabs tab

Step 3) Alongside a Custom Tab, click the Options menu then select Convert to Smart Form

Step 4) Set the RAG Thresholds

Step 5) Hit ✅ Save to confirm the threshold limits & complete the conversion!

 

 

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RAG Thresholds

RAG stands for Red-Amber-Green and the values you enter dictate that appearance of Smart Form data in Contract/Vendor tabs:

Scores below the "Amber from" threshold will be classed as Red

Between the "Amber from" and "Green from" thresholds will be classed as Amber

Above the "Green from" score results will be classed as Green

 

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Part 2 - Selecting Which Groups & Fields are Scored

Not all groups or fields within a Smart Form need to contribute to the total "Score", some sections may simply be there to provide context & supporting information. Therefore, you must decide which parts of your new Smart Form are "Scored".

Step 1) To begin configuring the Scores, while within the Smart Form, hit Configure Weights

Step 2) For Groups which should contribute to the Score for the Smart Form, check ☑️ Scored

Step 3) Click the ➕ symbol to expand your scored Groups, then check ☑️ Scored for all the Fields which should contribute towards the score for that Group

 

Part 3 - Assigning Weightings

This is where you can assign how important each Group & Field are to the overall Score which Gatekeeper calculates for the Smart Form.

Step 1) To enter the weight for a field/group, simply type in a value (between 1-100) alongside the ☑️ Scored setting

Step 2) When you have entered all weightings (and they add up to 100 for each Group & the whole Smart Form), hit ✅ Save

 

Part 4 - Assigning Scores to the available Values

For fields of type Yes/No or Dropdown, you can assign what "score" will be given based on user input

Step 1) Alongside a Scored field, use the ➕ symbol to expand the field, displaying the available options

Step 2) For each of the values which should be a score-able answer, check ☑️ Scored

Step 3) Enter a score out of 100 for each value

Step 4) When finished with all fields, hit ✅ Save

 

 

 

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The Best Ways to Use Smart Forms

This section will cover how to leverage Smart Forms in the most structured & reliable way.

That is, as mentioned briefly in the introduction, Smart Forms can be populated in a variety of ways:

• Entering data directly in the Contract or Vendor metadata record
• Entering data directly for many Contract or Vendor records (via Bulk Import)
• Entering data via API/Integrations

However, the best way to populate them with additional benefits like tailorable & structured processes with automations is by embedding them in Workflow Forms.

 

Embedding Smart Forms in a Workflow

Step 1) Click to edit the Start Phase of the Workflow & go to the Form tab

Step 2) Scroll to the bottom of the page & hit Add Section

Step 3) Select Predefined, followed by the record type for your Smart Form

Step 4) Alongside Custom Tab dropdown, select the name of your Smart Form to add every Group from your Smart Form

OR

To only embed specific Groups from your Smart Form, select the name within the Custom Data Group dropdown

 

After the Smart Form is added to the Workflow, you need to then consider where the fields should be Visible & Editable to users on the Workflow as well as where the values will be saved to your Repository (via Create/Update Actions)

 

 

 

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FAQs & Technical Aspects 👨‍💻

 

Q: What if I add new options to a dropdown list after assigning the scores?

A: These would be added to the Smart Form by default as un-scored options.

After adding the new option you would need to return to the Configure Weights view to mark it as ☑️ Scored & assign the value:

 

Q: What if a user selects a dropdown field value which is not scored?

A: If a not-scored value (like "New Option Added Later" in the above screenshot) is selected, Gatekeeper will disregard the field from the scoring calculation & automatically redistribute the weighting assigned to the current field to the remaining fields from the Custom Group

 

Q: What if a scored dependent field is hidden while a Smart Form is being completed?

A: If a scored field is hidden based on the value entered in another field, Gatekeeper will disregard the hidden field & automatically redistribute the weighting assigned to the hidden field to the remaining fields from the Custom Group

 

 

Q: What if scores are amended/populated more than once during a single assessment

A: This is fine. However, Gatekeeper will only capture separate "snapshots" of scores if they occur on different days.

i.e. The Score History Timeline does not show more than one score from the same date

 

Q: What happens if I embed only one Custom Group from a Smart Form in a Workflow

A: This is also fine, when the specific Group is updated via that workflow, the Smart Form will recalculate the overall score regardless of how much data is changed

 

Q: Who can complete a Smart Form ?

➡️ Who can Configure groups/fields/weights/scores: Only Configuration level Admins

➡️ Who can populate values in a Smart Form: Technically, anyone

Data entered via the Repository, the API or Workflow Forms will be scored. Therefore, any user who is granted access to populate values via any of these methods will be able to influence a Smart Form's score

 

 

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Additional Reading 📚

 

📖 Configuring Custom Data

Read about all the steps for adding Custom Fields to your Gatekeeper data model

 

📖 Custom Tabs

Learn about the precursor feature to Smart Forms which allows you to segment & organise your Custom Fields (without Scores)

 

📖 Setting up Workflow Forms

Learn about creating Workflow Forms, including how to add Custom fields so that your users can view & interact with the data which you store in your Contract & Vendor repositories