Create views to suit your teams and review workflow. Choose any data columns, date ranges and forms among many other sorting and filtering options. You can even export your views giving you a custom reporting tool.
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Managing Submissions
This article is about the powerful features available in the Advanced Submission Views area. If you are looking for general information about how to acquire submissions, changing states and using submission owner groups to your best advantage, visit the Managing Submissions article to learn more.
Accessing Advanced Submissions Views
Advanced Submission Views are only available in the Plus Advanced and Premium feature packages for businesses. It is not available on the Essentials or Plus packages. If you do not currently have access to this feature but would like to, please contact hello@dosomegood.ca.
Depending on the default settings your business has chosen, you may already see an advanced view, but you may also see the standard view that you are used to, we are now calling this ‘Classic View’. If your business package allows it (Plus-Advanced or higher), you will have access to our Advanced Submissions Views feature. To enter into this mode you click on the ‘Try Out Advanced Submissions’ in the top right. The page will reload with the more powerful view.
If your business wants to enable Advanced Submission Views for all administrators, visit the Management area and the Profile & Addresses page. The Settings tab will have an option to make Advanced Views the default view for everyone.
NOTE: Default submission views for your team members will only function properly if each team member enables the Advanced Views your you turn it on for all team members in the settings.
Your View
You will notice that the system default view will look similar, and even more simple than the classic view but trust us, it is much more powerful! The toolbar is customizable, the search has the option of finding results within submission and every column is sortable. The real power and filtering ability is found when you click ‘Customize this View’. You can read more about that here. <NEED LINK>
When you arrive on your submission page you may not see the system default view, you may see a view your team has set up for you. Administrators are able to set up shared views that become default for the whole team, for submissions to a particular form or when a member of a particular group visits the submission tab. Your senior administrators may have already set up the view with all of the information you need to do your work. You can find more information about customizing default views here.
Highlights of Your Advanced Views
Sortable Columns
You can click on any column header in Advanced views and it will sort the view according to that column. Clicking on the column header again will sort the view in the opposite order. If you save your view, your preferred sort criteria will be saved with your view.
Editing Columns
You have the ability to choose which data columns are included in your view. The system default columns are very similar to the Classic View, but there are additional system columns you can choose from. This includes all of the generic details that are common to all submissions, regardless of the custom questions you ask in an individual form. This includes but is not limited to information about the application date, applicant, last updated date, submission owner or group, monetary values, indicator flags etc. At any time you can click the information indicator and see the description of what data that column will hold.
If you decide you want to make a view for an individual form, you will be able to add any universal column, but you can also add any or all of the unique form you have chosen. More information on how to customize your view columns can be found in this section.
Indicator Flags
The same as in the Classic View, the Advanced View can have an indicator flag column to indicate administrator notes, attached files, story content etc. If you hover over any of the icons a description of what that icon means will be displayed to you.
Sums and Averages
If you have included one of the universal monetary fields (total, total cash, total in kind) in your view, it will show a sum or an average in the footer of the view. This will only work for the universal columns and NOT an individual monetary or numeric column for a specific form.
You will have the option to display either a sum or an average by clicking on a link on the far right of the view footer.
The sum and average is for EVERY submission in your view, not just the current page you are looking at.
Wide Screen View
Now that you can add as many columns as you need to your view it can get quite wide. You can click on the view (not on a value) and drag in order to scroll the view left to right even if you don't have a horizontal scroll function built into your mouse. In addition to the horizontal scrolling you can also expand the width of the view so that there are no side margins (which normally have a fixed width) and view from edge to edge of the browser. This is especially helpful when you have a wide screen monitor.
To enable wide screen mode click the monitor icon above the top right of the tab.
Export Your Custom View
You are able to add any columns, sort and filter your view in any way you see fit. Once you have organized your view, you can download it in comma separated value (CSV) or Excel format. The export will be download all pages of the view in the filtered and sort order you have chosen.
In order to download, click the download button at the top right of your view and select your download format.
Customizing Your View
Customizing the header bar
The toolbar above your view will always have a search bar and your saved view selector. You will also have the option to add one more quick filter to your toolbar. To change the search settings or to add a quick filter do one of the following:
- Click the gear icon next to the search and choose 'Toolbar Settings'.
- Click Customize this view and then the Customize Toolbar And Search button.
In the Toolbar Settings dialog, you can edit two different properties of the toolbar:
- Search Coverage: You can have the search behave as it always have in the Classic View where it searches the submitter name, the Associated Organization and the form name. Alternatively you can have your search examine all of the basic data as well as the contents of the form submission.
- Quick Access Toolbar Filter: You can choose to have no extra filter (default) or one of a number of other filters that may be of use within your custom view.
Toolbar settings for the search and filter are included as part of your custom view when you save it.
NOTE: Although you can only have one quick filter in the toolbar at any one time, the ‘Customize This View’ area allows you to set criteria in filters you have not added to the toolbar.
Sorting
As mentioned above, you can click on any column to sort your view by that data value. When you click a column, the 'Sort By' field in the customize view area will also update to indicate the column used to sort.
You can also select a sort by value in the customize view area. When you save your custom view, it saves the sort value that was last selected.
Preferred Action Button for Submissions
By default, the action button for a view is 'Details'. When you click it you are taken to the Submission Details page. There are several other options to choose from depending on the purpose of your view:
- Create a Story: Start the story create workflow for a submission that has suitable for story content.
- Edit Key Values: Change values that require verification.
- Change Owner: Change the owner of a submission to a new administrator or owner group.
- Change State: Open the change state dialog.
- Approve: Open: the change state dialog with 'Approved' as the pre-filled state.
Filtering Options
There are many ways you can filter your view once you open the 'Customize This View' panel. All of the filters work together so if you apply several different filters, the submission will have to pass through all filters in order to appear in the view:
- Submission State: Select any combinations of states in this filter. Only submissions that match the selected states in the filter will be displayed. There is also an option in the 'Customize Toolbar and Search' tool to add a state selector to the view even when you hide the customizations.
- Form: You can show submissions from all forms that match the other criteria, or, you can choose to limit the view to only show submissions from ONE form. If you want to show columns in your view that correspond to data fields in one of your forms, you MUST filter by that form.
- Owner or Owner Group: You can make a view that filters by the owner or owner group of the submissions. This is especially helpful for a situation like a reviewer workflow where the review team can have a view that only shows the things they are responsible for.
- Associated Organization: If you use an 'Organization Name' element, whatever value the submitter enters in that field becomes the 'Associated Organization'. This is the same value you see in the Associated Organization column in the Classic View. If you enter text in this filter it will limit the submissions to ones that match your text search criteria.
- Date Range: Submission before, submissions after or submissions between two dates. A great way to look at results from a particular fiscal year or program operational period.
- Monetary Criteria: You can filter for submissions that have any monetary values, have no monetary values or have specific types of monetary values (cash or in-kind).
- Story Content: Find submissions that have or have no content that is 'Suitable for Story' and eligible to auto generate a story for you.
- Communication Capabilities: You can always send an in platform notification or message to people who have submitted. Do Some Good is only allowed to send email notifications to our users if that user has verified their email address. Using this filter will help you identify who will get emails about things like new messages and state changes and who will not. We find that many businesses ask for an email address in their form and this can be used as a fallback communication method when necessary. This filter will let you find people that will or will not get emails and notifications.
- Admin Notes: Filter your submission view by the presence or absence of administrator notes associated with the submission.
Customizing Columns
Customizing columns is the most versatile and powerful feature of the new Advanced Submission Views. You can choose from a number of 'Universal Columns' that have generic data that is common to all types of submissions. It includes things like the submission ID, Date, Submitter Name, Form Name etc.
If you choose to limit your view to only show submissions from one form, you will be able to add any elements that you included in your form, not just the universal columns.
When you have columns that are specific to a single form you can choose to make those values editable. If you make these fields editable, they can be edited right within the view itself by clicking on the pencil icon next to the data value. When editing a column value in your view you will be able to see the original value that was set by the submitter so you can make an informed choice.
Note: Universal Columns are never editable, only fields from individual forms.
In addition to being able to customize which columns will be visible and editable, you can also choose the order of your columns. For any columns in use, you can can click the up and down arrow next to the left of the column name to change the order they are displayed in. Whichever order the 'Columns in Use' list is displayed, will be the same order the columns will be displayed in in your custom view.
By customizing your columns and column ordering, not only do you get a useful view into your submissions, but you also get a custom reporting tool. Download your view as a CSV or Excel file with all of your custom columns, filtering and sorting to generate your custom report.
Saving Your View and Setting Default Views
Saving and Sharing Views
In the ‘Customize This View’ area, in the bottom right corner you will have the option to create a new saved view at any time. If If you are currently editing an existing custom view, you can save your latest changes. When you first save and name a new view, you will have the option to share that view with administrators who have access to forms and submissions. If you choose to do so your new view, will be available in their views dropdown. If you have a saved view that is not shared, you can share it retroactively from the 'Manage Views and Defaults' area which can be found in the view selector dropdown.
NOTE: You can only edit views you created yourself, not views that have been shared with you. You can save a copy of a view that has been shared with you and make changes to your copy.
Setting Your Own Default View
If you want to change the default view that you currently see whenever you visit the submissions tab, you can click in your custom view selector in the toolbar. At the bottom of the list is an item called ‘Manage Views and Defaults’, you can choose either of these options:
- Set as My Submissions Tab Default: When you click on the ‘Submissions’ tab in the management area, this is the view you will see.
- Set as My Default View for this Form: When you click on the ‘View Submissions’ button in a form details page or a form list. You can only choose this option if your view is already limited to one form.
NOTE: If you set a default for yourself, it will override any owner group defaults, but only for yourself.
Setting The Default View for Other Administrators
In order to set defaults for the entire team or for a particular owner group, you need to be an administrator with full access to the forms and submissions area. The custom view will also have to be shared with other administrators. You manage these settings by opening the view select dropdown list and select 'Manage Views and Defaults'.
Once in the view management area there will be a section for each custom view. As stated in the previous section you can set this view as a default view for yourself or a form, but you can also set the view as the default for the entire team or a specific owner group.
To set the default for the entire team, make sure your view is shared with all administrators. Once it is shared you can select 'Set As Submission Tab Default'. If this button is checked, any administrator on your team who visits the submissions tab will start with that view selected. If your view is limited to one form, you can also choose to make the view the default for that form. When it is the default for the form, any time you click on 'View Submissions' for that form from the form list or the form details page, this view will be the default for all team members.
To set the default for a specific owner group, make sure your view is shared with all administrators. Once it is shared, you can choose to 'Add Owner Group'. You can add multiple owner groups to the same view if you wish. Once an owner group is added to your view you will have the same options as you do with setting team defaults. To make the view the default for the submission tab, or, if the view is limited to one view, set it as the default for that form.
Note: The personal default will override all other defaults and the Owner Group default will override the team default.
Best Practices for Advanced Views
Since your custom view can be designed, filtered and sorted in any way you like, it can be used for many different purposes within your submission lifecycle. Here are several ideas on how you can use custom forms to help your day to day workflows to save time and simplify the experience for everyone.
Create a View for Your Reviewers
Create a view for the form that is being reviewed. Include all of the columns needed for the reviewer to make a decision or score the submission. You can include editable administrator (hidden) fields from your form where your reviewer can add notes, a score or whatever else you need for your reviewer workflow. You would add a filter to the view so that the view only includes submissions that are 'In Review' and owned by the administrator viewing the view.
You would then create an owner group for all of your reviewers. This could be a single owner group, or, if you have multiple regions or other separations in your review process you could create multiple reviewer groups. We recommend you use owner groups in review workflow even if you only have one reviewer, that way, if the reviewer changes you can just update the owner group. You wont have to reassign all of the individual submissions to the new owner.
Give Your Reviewers a Focussed Experience
If you want to simplify the process for your reviewers you could make them limited administrators with access only to the Forms and Submissions system. That way your reviewers will have a very simplified management experience seeing only the submissions they are responsible for.
Create a View for Payments
If you create an owner group (and optionally a limited administrator role) for your accounts payable team, they can have their very own view that only shows submissions ready for payout or recording.
Create a view that is only items in the Approved state but have not been paid out yet. Include all of the relevant contact and banking information for the recipient. Include all dollar and/or in kind payout amounts. If your workflow needs it, you could add an administrator for your form for a multiple choice GL Code picker.
When submissions are moved into the Approved state, they should also be assigned to the accounts payable owner group. Each member of your accounts payable team will receive a notification about the submission(s) that need their attention. The team should be trained to update the view with GL Codes or any other information required by your workflow and move the submissions to the Paid state. You can set up a default message for the end user when this state change happens to limit the amount of work your accounts payable team needs to do.
Create Overview of all Programs and Budgets
Create a custom view that includes all different active forms filtered for a given date range. You would want to keep the total, in kind and cash amount universal columns in your view so that you could see sums and averages of these values. You would also want to have a state selector on your toolbar. By toggling between states you would be able to see the amount of money requested, committed and paid for your business. If you use the form filter in your custom view you can see the cash amounts for each individual program.
Create Views for Custom Reporting
You might have different stakeholders that want different information at different times. Your internal management and review team will be able to use custom views directly in Do Some Good to streamline and improve their daily workflow. There could however be stakeholders on your team who do not use Do Some Good. In those cases you could create a custom view, download it to share with stakeholders. Some examples of views for reporting are:
- Use the budgeting and summary view above to report high level statistics to the board. Add in things like causes, demographics, locations and organizations supported (depending on the questions in your form) to flesh out the report.
- Create a view filtered to only show submissions with story generating content. Include columns for the story content and pass it on to the Marketing team for review and approval. Alternatively you could give the marketing team limited access to the submissions through a limited administrator role.
- Limit a view to only show submissions for a particular organization, download the record of your entire giving history for that organization.
- Download a reviewer view and use it for notes during an in person committee review.
- Download an accounts payable view to send to the accounting team periodically.
A Workflow Example
Use Roles, Owner Groups and Advanced Views to make an end to end submission review workflow, sharing responsibility between several different teams. All notifications and communications are handled automatically as each team member does their job.
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