Creating Activity Input Forms

Faculty Activity Reporting comes with a standard set of forms within the Activity Manager. However, it is common for an institution to need additional information from faculty members.  Activity Input Forms are custom forms created by an institution for this purpose. Activity Input Forms can be comprised of standard form elements as well as Activity Classifications. 

Creating Activity Input Forms

1. Create New: Forms can be built from scratch or built upon on an existing Activity Input Form (AIF). If Build Upon Existing Form is selected, the user will be prompted to select the existing form.  The existing form will be displayed so additional fields can be added or existing fields can be modified. Note: Existing fields cannot be removed from an existing AIF.
   • Activity Section: Select which activity section the AIF should appear within the Activity Manager
   • Include AcA Standard Elements: If checked, this will automatically populate the AIF with a set of standard elements including: Start Date, End Date, Title, Description, URL, and Sponsor. These standard fields can be edited or removed at a later time. If unchecked, the standard fields will be available during form creation. 
   • Include Collaborations: The Collaborator's modal will prompt the faculty member completing the Activity Input Form to add collaborator's involved in the activity as needed. If checked, this will automatically populate the Collaborator's modal at the bottom of the form. If unchecked, the Collaborator's modal will be available during form creation.
   • Include Add Documents: The Add Documents option prompts the faculty member completing the Activity Input Form to attach documents to the form. If checked, this will automatically populate the Add Documents option at the bottom of the form. If unchecked, the Add Documents option will be available during form creation. 
2. Assign Units and/or Faculty Types: Determine which Academic units or faculty types have ability to access the Activity Input Form.  If academic unit and faculty type are selected, both filters will be applied. 
3. Design the Activity Input Form: Click and drag elements from the left side panel into the form builder to the desired position on the form. By selecting an element, a properties panel will appear on the right side.  Additional configuration options are available per element. 
4. Preview the Activity Input Form: Select Preview to review the form from a faculty member's point of view.
5. Summary: Provides an overview of the form prior to saving or publishing.  Limited editing is available after a form is published.  Only published forms appear within the Activity Manager. 

Display Settings

After an Activity Input Form has been published, display settings can be managed.  Select the Display Settings button from the Activity Input Forms page. Then select the form that needs to be modified.

This view allows a user to select which fields should be displayed as a column within Manage Your Records by selected Column Display.  It also allows a user to reorder how the fields are displayed within the form by selecting the up and down arrows.  Any standard forms (Awards & Honors, Books, Book Chapters, etc.) will only list AcA Activity Classifications that can be reordered within the form. All AcA standard fields will appear above any Activity Classifications. An Activity Input Form that was built from scratch will display all fields within the form to be reordered as desired.

Please note that some Activity Classifications may only appear for some users depending on their credentials. Expand the Credentialing Details to determine which users have access to which fields within the form. 

Using Activity Input Forms

Activity Input Forms will appear within the selected Activity Section and appear for faculty members within the selected unit and faculty type. Fields that are required are designated with a *.  Once a form is filled out, clicking the 'Create Record' button will add the work to the scholar profile and to the 'Manage Your Records' table.  Clicking 'Clear Form' will reset the form.  For more information on 'Manage Your Records', please refer to the knowledgebase article of the same name.

Reporting on Activity Input Forms

An Activity Report will automatically be created for any published Activity Input Form. The report will appear within the Activity Reports section of Reporting. All records entered through the Activity Input Form will be available for reporting.