How many minutes will it take to input a purchase orders or sample requests? It depends on the required pieces of information, right? Have you thought of how many hours one of your team members is dedicating to such task?
If you’re a monday.com user then the days that you’re manually adding those requests should now be over. The platform allows users to take advantage of “forms.”
If you don’t have a monday account yet, then this article should give you a glimpse of the awesome things that you can do for your company when you shift to using the platform for project management and others.
What are Forms and Why Use Them?
With monday, forms are configured based on the columns of a board. Each field on the form has a corresponding column. When a person fills out a form, all the information will automatically go to the specific board. Thus, no need for manual input.
Using forms will simplify your processes and save you time. It will also give you high visibility of what’s going on that will result to even more effective tracking of inventory, purchase orders, and sample requests.
Which Form to Use?
When the requirement is to only add the details of the form at an item level only then you can utilize the standard form by monday.com.
However, if it requires for subitems to be added, then as a monday.com consultant, I have an alternative way on how to go about it with the use of JotForm and Make, that I have implemented for many companies.
What is JotForm?
This is an online form builder that is highly customizable depending on your needs.
Forms created using JotForm may be for customers usage:
- Service booking
- Product ordering
- Providing feedback
Internal stakeholders like department heads, team supervisors, and/or team members can take advantage of the forms for the following:
- Submitting purchase orders
- Requesting samples/swags
- Collecting data for project fulfillment
The above mentioned usages are only examples, forms by JotForm can be used for other scenarios aside from those due to its versatility and flexibility.
Bonus: It’s favorable for business owners and customers alike to do service booking or product ordering using a form by JotForm since it can integrate several secure payment gateways.
To check on JotForm further and create an account, you may click here.
JotForm has set limits on the number of forms and submissions depending on the plan:
Number of forms limit:
- Free – 5 Forms
- Bronze – 25 Forms
- Silver – 100 Forms
- Gold – Unlimited
Monthly submissions limit:
- Free – 100 monthly submissions
- Bronze – 1,000 monthly submissions
- Silver – 10,000 monthly submissions
- Gold – 100,000 monthly submissions
Using forms with subitems: How to setup?
There are three basic things that you would need to do to capture details at an item and subitem level:
Configure the monday board
As previously mentioned, the board configuration will be the basis of the form. For each field on the form, there has to be an equivalent column that will receive the information whether at an item or subitem level.
Important: Changes on the information required must be updated first on the board, may it be that a column will be deleted or added. Any field that is added directly on the form will not necessarily create a column on the board.
For those who don’t have a monday account yet, you may click here to check the platform further.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO IMPLEMENT A SIMILAR WORKFLOW?
I can help you to implement a dedicated workflow adapted to your needs.
Yes, Let's talk!Build a form with JotForm
Once the monday account and the JotForm account are already connected using Make, you can already start with your first form based on the columns of the board you would want to receive the information.
The column types that are supported are the following: Numbers, Date, Status, Text, File, Phone, Email, Long Text, Dropdown, Checkbox.
To work with subitems, there are two ways to configure the form on JotForm:
- Use a pre-defined table – To input a subitem information, one has to type it. Columns on the table may be changed depending on. This approach is best if the requests contain many items that vary regularly.
Once the monday account and the JotForm account are already connected using Make, you can already start with your first form based on the columns of the board you would want to receive the information.
The column types that are supported are the following: Numbers, Date, Status, Text, File, Phone, Email, Long Text, Dropdown, Checkbox.
To work with subitems, there are two ways to configure the form on JotForm:
- Use a pre-defined table – To input a subitem information, one has to type it. Columns on the table may be changed depending on. This approach is best if the requests contain many items that vary regularly.
- Use a dropdown to add subitem details – Subitems are already added as dropdown selection and one will just have to choose which one to use based on the requirement. If the inventory doesn’t change often then this approach is best to be incorporated on the form. This way, it saves more time in choosing an item.
You can explore it and take advantage of its available features to create a robust form.
Setup the integration using Make
Instead of using built-in monday.com integrations in connecting your monday account and JotForm, Make will be utilized so you can define more integration recipes as opposed to using the pre-defined recipes.
Make allows simple to complex automations that can be setup easily without the need for coding. Depending on your need, you may start with Make free plan – click here to sign up for an account.
JotForm to Work with Subitems Use Cases
Use Case 1: Purchase order process with the form
As a monday.com support, it is my goal to find alternatives for businesses to maximize the platform for an enhanced operation management.
Below is the workflow on how to take advantage of JotForm to work with subitems for purchase order management.
So as the JotForm account is already configured to be connected to monday.com via Make, the link of the form has to be shared to all stakeholders who will use it.
To send the information to the monday board, the form must be filled with the required details first.
For this use case, the pre-defined table is used to capture the items that will be added as subitems on the monday.com board where purchase order requests are managed.
The last page of the form is where the contact details are added. After the submission of the form, a new item will be created on the board with the subitems.
Separate boards are created for Project Directory, Suppliers Directory, Contacts – these boards are all connected to the Purchase Order Management board. The connection and interaction among these boards are setup using various monday.com automation recipes.
Use Case 2: Swag/Sample order process with the form
For businesses that would need to send swags or samples to clients, managing the request efficiently is a must as it would highly impact whether the deal will be closed or not.
Below is the workflow in managing swag request using JotForm and sending the information to a monday.com board:
The input of the requests is done using JotForm then Make send the information to the monday.com board. Other applications such as Google Mail for sending emails or Docupilot for documentation can be integrated to the whole setup.
In this use case, a dropdown widget is used on the form to add the items that will be shown on the monday board as subitems.
Once all the details on the form are provided, once submitted, it will show on the board as the image below:
Several boards are connected to the Swags/Sample Request Management board like the Departments board, Contacts board, Suppliers Directory board, Inventory board, and the Purchase Order Management board.
Automations across the boards mentioned are set up to automatically show relevant information. For instance, to show how many items are on the Inventory for a specific item, the Inventory column “In Stock” is mirrored as a subitem column named as “Left” on the Swags/Sample Request Management board.
All these processes, starting from capturing the items using JotForm to be added as subitems aim to save time without compromising the efficacy of handling all the requests.
Start using a form now!
Do away with manual input now! Automate your processes and see the difference on your productivity. Setup your form using JotForm and connect it to your monday account using Make.
If you have further questions with monday.com board functions and configurations, you may schedule a commitment-free consultation with me.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO IMPLEMENT A SIMILAR WORKFLOW?
I can help you to implement a dedicated workflow adapted to your needs.
Yes, Let's talk!Related Posts
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