Form Template Versioning
Form Template reporting release brings the importance of form template versioning, Form template reports are based on the form template, changing a template may cause the report to be skewed. Please read the below article for further information.
Form Template Versioning
Sometimes you will want to make changes to an existing Form Template that your Users have filled out copies of at some point in the past. There are many reasons behind wanting to modify a Form Template: maybe you want to take advantage of a new feature, maybe you’ve decided on an alternative way to have Users fill out the form, or maybe legal requirements have shifted and your Form Template needs to be updated. Whatever the reason, if you are making changes to an existing Form Template, it is best practice to follow the below steps:
- Duplicate the Form Template you wish to modify - Working on a duplicate allows you to modify the Form Template without affecting anyone actively using that template.
- Modify only the duplicated Form Template.
- Once you are finished modifying the duplicated Form Template
- This could include versioning or dating the title of the template, or putting revision notes in the description of the Form Template.
- When you are ready, unpublish the old template and publish the new one.
- If the old template was part of any Schedule(s), make sure to replace the template in the affected Schedule(s).
Following this best practice has many benefits for your company, including:
- Easily showing and analyzing version history of your Form Templates,
- Less hassle reverting to a previous version of a Form Template if required,
- Determining what version of a Form Template has been filled out by a User,
- Making your Users aware of when a Form Template has been changed, and
- Having exports using the Form Template Exporter feature be as accurate as possible.