Create custom submission 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, allowing for custom reporting.
NOTE: The Advanced Submission Views feature is only available for those with a 'Plus Advanced' or 'Premium Advanced' subscription. If you would like to upgrade your account, email us at info@dosomegood.ca.
Check out this 2-min video that walks you through how easy it is to create a custom submission view:
Quick Links:
Getting Started
Note: This article is about using the Custom Submission Views feature. If you are looking for general information about managing your submissions as they come in, we recommend you visit the Managing Submissions article to learn more.
To get started with custom submission views, head to the "Forms" page in your left-hand navigation and click on the "Submissions" tab.
The view you see will likely be the "Default (No Saved View)" as indicated in the "Saved Views" drop-down list. This default view includes the standard columns of data shown in the image above.
Alternatively, the view you see may be a custom submission view another admin has created and has set as your default view, such as in the photo below.
Either way, you can go ahead and create a custom submission view at any time and make it your new default view and/or share it with others. You can create as many custom views as you like.
Ok, let's start by customizing your header - the search functionality and toolbar settings.
Customizing the Search Functionality
You can customize how the search bar works for your submission view. To change the search settings, click the gear icon next to the search bar.
You will see two options and can select the one that works best for you by just clicking on it (a checkmark will indicate your choice).
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Search in Summaries: With this setting, it will search the Applicant Name, Associated Organization, and Form Name.
- Search in Summaries and Submitted Form Details: With this setting, it will search the same data as in 'Search in Summaries' PLUS>> everything the applicant filled out in the form.
Customizing the Toolbar
The toolbar above your view will always have a search bar and your saved view selector. You also have the option to add one more quick filter (or shortcut) to your toolbar.
To add a quick filter, click the gear icon next to the search bar and choose 'Toolbar Settings'.
A window will pop up with a 'Quick Access Toolbar Filter' drop down list. Select the filter you want and will instantly appear in your toolbar. What a great little shortcut to save you time!
Sorting Columns
To sort any column, simply click on the column name. Click again to sort in the reverse order. Once you save your view, your preferred sort criteria will be saved as well.
Customizing Your View
Once your header is set up how you like, you can dig into more advanced customizations by clicking on the "Customize this View" link on the left, which expands to show you a ton of customization options.
Filtering Options
There are many ways you can filter your view. All of the filters work together, meaning that the submission will have to pass through all filters in order to appear in the view. Let's walk through the different filter options:
Submission State(s): Select any combinations of states in this filter. Only submissions that match the selected states in the filter will be displayed. Note: You can also choose to add a state selector to your toolbar for quick access.
Form: You can choose to filter by all forms OR 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 filter by the owner or owner group of the submissions. Note: This is especially helpful to select if you're creating a view specifically for your review team so that they only see submissions they are responsible for.
Associated Organization: If you use an 'Organization Name' element in your form, whatever value the submitter enters in that field becomes the 'Associated Organization'. Therefore, if you enter text in this filter, it will limit the submissions to ones that match your text search criteria.
Date Range: You can filter for submissions by date range. This is a great way to look at data 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).
You can also filter for submissions that have been assigned to a specific budget.
Story Content: Filter submissions by story content - whether stories were auto-created for you via Story Generator or not.
Communication Capabilities: You can always send an in-platform notification or message to people who have submitted. However, Do Some Good is ONLY allowed to send EMAIL notifications to users who have verified their email address. Using this filter will help you identify who will receive emails about things like state changes you make and who will not, and allow you to perhaps email those individuals separately via your email provider to ensure they receive the information.
Admin Notes: Filter by the presence or absence of administrator notes associated with the submission.
Sort Options
You can also customize your view with a 'Sort by' by value. When you save your custom view, it saves the sort value that was last selected. When you click a column, the 'Sort By' field in the customize view area will auto-update to indicate the column used to sort.
Preferred Action Button for Submissions
By default, the action button for a view is 'Details' which you can see on the far right of each submission. When you click it, you are taken to the Submission Details page.
However, you can customize this button to be something other than 'Details'. Here are the different options:
- 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.
- Send Follow Up Form - Select a form to send as a "follow up" to a previous form to collect more information or to continue your workflow.
- Assign Budget(s) - Assign the submission to a particular budget or several different budgets.
Customizing Columns
Customizing columns is the most versatile and powerful feature of the Custom Submission Views feature. You can choose exactly which columns of data show up in your submission view. This eliminates the need to export submission data and clean up the spreadsheet yourself. A HUGE time saver! This is also great for when your board or senior leaders ask for specific data - you can simply create a view with those columns, export your view, and you have a ready-made custom report.
Ok, let's dig in...
Below all of the filters in the "Customize this View" area, you will see a "Customize Columns Shown" button. Clicking that button will expand to the column customization area.
In the column customization area, you will see two sections: 'Columns in Use' and 'Available Universal Columns' and potentially a third section: 'Available Form Columns'. Let's take a look at each section and how you can edit your columns within each.
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Columns in Use - This section is exactly at it implies - it is a list of all of the columns that you currently have in your view. At any time, you can delete a column or use the up and down arrows to change the order of your columns.
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Available Universal Columns - This section includes all of the system default columns that you can add to your custom view. 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. If you hover over any the information icon for any of the items, a short description will pop up.
When you click "Add" on any of the universal columns, that item auto-appears in your 'Columns in Use' section.
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Available Form Columns - If and ONLY IF you selected a specific form in the 'Customize this View' area, you will also see an 'Available Form Columns' section. This will be an exhaustive list of every field in your form. Just like the universal columns, simply click "Add" on any of your form columns to include them in your custom view.
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Making Columns Editable - 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.
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Sums and Averages - If you have added one of the universal monetary columns (total, total cash, total in-kind) to your view, note that you will then see a sum or average in the footer of your view. 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.
A sum or average will ONLY show up when a monetary column is chosen from 'Available Universal Columns'. A monetary value chosen from 'Available Form Columns' will NOT result in a sum or average in the footer of your view.
Note: The sum and average is for EVERY submission in your view, not just the current page you are looking at.
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.
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 share your view, it will become available in the 'Saved Views' dropdown list.
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 'Saved View' dropdown list.
NOTE: You can only edit views you created yourself, not views that have been shared with you. However, 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
To set your own default submissions view, go to the 'Saved Views' dropdown list and click on 'Manage Views and Defaults'.
A new page will open up. Select 'Set as My Submissions Tab Default'. Now, when you click on the ‘Submissions’ tab in the management area, this is the view you will see.
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 default submission views for your entire team or for a particular owner group, you need to be an administrator with Full Access to the Forms and Submissions area. To set a default view for other administrators, it is the same process as setting a default view for yourself.
Go to the 'Saved Views' dropdown list and click on 'Manage Views and Defaults'. A new window will open. Make sure your view is shared with all administrators - if not, click that button in this window. Then select 'Set As Submissions Tab Default'. Now, any administrator on your team who visits their Submissions tab will start with that view selected.
If, when you set up your submission view, you made it for a specific form, you will also see an option to 'Set as Default for this Form'. This would mean that anytime you click on 'View Submissions' for that form from the form list or Form Details page, this view would be the default for all team members.
To set the default for a specific owner group, first make sure your view is shared with all administrators, and then click 'Add Owner Group'.
Wide Screen Option
When you start adding as many columns as you need to your submission view, your horizontal scroll to see all information can get quite long. If this is the case, use the wide screen option to make it easier to view more information at once.
To enable wide screen mode, click the monitor icon above the top right of the tab.
Exporting Your Custom View
Once you have set up your custom submissions view, you can easily download it, which is essentially a custom reporting tool!
Simply click the download button at the top right of your view and select your download format -Comma Separated Value (CSV) or Excel. The export will download all pages of the view in the filtered and sort order you have chosen.
Best Practices
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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