Here are definitions of the terms you'll see most often on the ClearForms platform:
Workflows - A workflow is the blueprint for a permit, license, service request, or internal process on ClearForms. A workflow gets created by an administrator for each permit, license, or other business activity that a government brings online. You will create a distinct workflow for each type of permit or license you want to bring online. A business license, dog license, and electrical permit would each be a separate workflow.
Process - A process is a single instance of a workflow. Each time someone starts a permit or license workflow on ClearForms, the submission is assigned a process number and gets its own line on your Dashboard. For example you might host a building permit workflow on ClearForms, and each permit application is a process (and gets a "Process Number" assigned by the ClearForms system.)
Dashboard - The ClearForms dashboard is where you see all the processes that are related to you. All processes from any workflow that you're part of or that you've applied to will appear there. The ClearForms dashboard is "smart" - it looks different for each staff person who accesses the software, because each person has a different role and different tasks at any given time. The processes that require your immediate attention are highlighted at the top of your Dashboard. Confused? Keep reading!
Reviews - Government workflows often include Reviews: when one or more staff members must evaluate a process, and determine whether to Approve (move it forward in the workflow), Request changes, or Reject / Halt the workflow. Admins can easily see all the processes they need to review by clicking on the Reviews tab at the top of their Dashboard. It's strongly recommended that you use a Role to add one or more of your team members to each Review step/ section of your workflows.
Roles: Use a Role to provide access to one or more of your colleagues to Review processes, gain access to financial data, and manage Team branding and settings. Roles are set up at the Team level.
Teams - Teams are for administrative/ management grouping of workflows on ClearForms. Each workflow is associated with a Team, and a Team can have many workflows associated with it. Some smaller governments have all their workflows on one team, while some larger governments have different Teams for each department. The Team name and logo appears at the upper left of every Workflow's "Start" page associated with that Team. It's at the Team level that you set up your subscription to ClearForms, connect your bank account, and manage Roles and financial information.
Process ID - Each process instance has a unique ID number assigned to it. These numbers are assigned sequentially. There's also the option to use the Process ID as part of a Custom-formatted ID unique to each process.
Template - Templates are workflows that are designed to be copied and customized. They're examples of workflows that governments have made on ClearForms that are available for you to duplicate, edit, and then use. Here's a link to our public template showcase.
Team Public Portal - Each team on ClearForms has a public web page which shows all of the workflows associated with that team that have the Show in Public Portal setting activated. During testing and initial setup we recommend having Show in Public Portal set to Off.
Directory - A listing of all the individuals and entities that have submitted processes for all workflows associated with your Team.
Entity - Entities allow applicants to establish and then automatically fill in a set of information (for example a business' name, address, phone number) across multiple workflows on the same Team. If you use the Entity field type in any of your workflows, you'll see entries in the Entities section of your Directory. You can set the fields associated with each Entity in your Team settings.
Exports - If you need to take data from one or more processes out of ClearForms for reporting or analysis purposes, you can use the Actions/ Export all matching processes command from your Dashboard to create an Export. You can answer some questions through our search/ sort functions, but to perform more complex analysis you may need to export data. Once you've requested an Export you can find and download that information from the Exports section.
Identifier - Information from one field in a workflow that's useful to see on your Dashboard to quickly find/ differentiate processes. Because you can use ClearForms for many different types of workflows, we added the Identifier field to make it easy to find things "at a glance" on your Dashboard. For example, the same staffer might have many Oversize Load Permit workflows on their Dashboard, with the identifier field set to the name of the applying for the permit, they are able to quickly find a specific process on their Dashboard.
Field - A field is a single type of information you collect as part of your workflows. ClearForms allows you to set field types to make sure the information you're collecting is properly formatted. For example, you can set up fields that require that the information is formatted like a phone number, an email, or a number (with or without decimals).
File - One of the ClearForms field types is File. Setting a field to the File option means that applicants are asked to upload a file (a photograph or document) as part of the workflow.
Payout Account - The payout account is the bank account that you designate to receive payments collected through ClearForms workflows. For example, when you have a Dog License on ClearForms and collect license fees, you set your payout account as the place where those fees are transferred to your government's bank account.
Launch- To start or begin a process (one instance of a Workflow).
Step - ClearForms workflows are made up of Steps. There are six Step types to choose from when you set up a new workflow: Basic, Collect Information, Payment, Survey, Assign Someone, and Review.
Open Data - If a field is set to Open Data the information in it for each process is publicly available to view and explore through each workflow's Data and Stats page. Admins have the option to determine whether each field in a workflow is included in open data or kept private.
Public Data Search: If you enable Public Data Search for your workflows, the public can search and find information that's marked "Open Data" at the field level. This is useful for when the public wants to find data on permits in process on their street, for example.
Required - Any field can be set so that a applicant must finish that field before moving forward with their process.
Banner Image - The banner image appears on the "Get Started" page of your workflow. We recommend using a image size of at least 1500 x 360px.
Owner - The creator of a workflow is the "owner" of that process. The "owner" can add and remove other other admins.
Admin - A ClearForms user who has the ability to set up, use and edit Workflows. Admins create, launch and manage workflows and the permissions associated with those workflows.
Start Page - The Start page is where a workflow is publicly available to use. Each workflow has a unique URL for the Start page. To make a workflow accessible to your residents and businesses, you post the URL of the Start page on your government's website. Find this URL from the "View" tab within the admin view of a workflow, then click "Use workflow" and copy the URL and paste into a new tab.