Kuali Build allows faculty & staff to build Apps, which are made up of forms and workflows. Apps facilitate the collection of data, and allow you to perform intelligent actions based on that data.
This article will walk you through all the steps necessary to begin collecting data in Kuali Build.
Before you start: Request Permissions
Before you can start building apps in Kuali Build, you need a Space to build them in. Spaces are basically folders that hold apps, and they can be used for both organization and security. If you're not already a member of an existing space, you'll need to request a space to be added for your department, or request to be added to an existing space.
To request these permissions, fill out the following form: Request Kuali Build Permissions
Once you submit the form, IT will create a new space in Kuali Build, or give you access to an existing one.
Step 1: Create a new App
Once you're logged into Kuali Build, and you have access to a Space, you can click the + sign near the top of the page to create a new app.
Name the app (you can change your mind later), and choose an icon and color.
Unfortunately, we are not able to create custom icons, but there are lots of options there. Since we anticipate that many apps will be linked directly from MyCU, if you need a custom icon, you can specify one when you request the creation of the MyCU card.
Once you have an icon and a color (you can change these later, too), you can click Create.
Step 2: Plan your Form
Before your start building things on the form, you should plan out the kind of data that needs to be gathered for the task you're trying to accomplish. If you're converting a paper form to be digital, don't assume you need every single field you did on your paper form.
Think creatively and deeply about what the information will be used for, and try to make sure you're collecting exactly the right amount.
Kuali Build offers the following gadgets to get specific kinds of data:
- Pre-specified options
- Checkboxes for multi-selection
- Multiple choice for single-selection
- Dropdown for single-selection
- Country Selection (Kuali maintains the list of countries)
- Language Selection (Kuali maintains the list of languages)
- State/Province Selection (Kuali maintains the list of states/provinces)
- Email (like Short Text, but Kuali Build will make sure the email address is in a valid format)
- Numerical data:
- Number
- Time
- Date
- Currency
- Option Range (scale of 1-x)
- Text-based data
- Short text (a single line)
- Long text (multiple lines of text)
- Rich text (like Long Text, but users can style their submission with attributes like bold and italic)
- Email (like Short Text, but Kuali Build will make sure the email address is in a valid format)
- Link (like Short Text, but Kuali Build will make sure the link is in a valid format)
- Other Special Use-Cases:
- Image Upload (Kuali will make sure it's one of a few possible types of image)
- File Upload
- Signatures
- Tables
When you're planning your form, remember that certain kinds of data are available without having the submitter of the form enter them. For instance, Kuali Build keeps track of all of the following information about each user submitting a form automatically. This information is then available to you (and your workflows) once the form is submitted.
- Username
- Email
- Student ID
- First/Last Name
Additional data (i.e. data from Colleague) may be available via an Integration without having the student enter the information (Major/Minor/Advisor information, for example). For more information on that, please see Using your First Kuali Build Integration (coming soon)
Step 3: Build your form
Once you create the app, you'll be redirected to a page where you can start building your form.
In the future, when you open this app, you may be directed to the Documents tab on the top right corner. To go back to form-building, Click Form in this area.
In the form builder, you have three sections:
- On the left, you have a sidebar containing all the different types of gadgets you can use in your form.
- In the middle, the largest section of the page is devoted to the layout of your form. It will start out empty.
- On the right, you have a sidebar that will allow you to tweak the settings of any gadget you add.
To build out your form, drag the element that you want into the central form area. As you drag, an outlined blue box will appear indicating where that box will be located when you release your mouse button. Kuali allows you to make multiple columns and arrange your form fields in a whole litany of different layouts. For simplicity, we encourage you to stick to 3 or fewer columns.
Once you have the form looking like it should, use the Design > Preview switch to see what it will look like to the people submitting the form.
Pro Tip #1: Name your Sections & Gadgets
When you drag in a gadget, it gets a default name. Change this name! It will help you in the whole rest of the process if your gadgets and sections are named well.
Pro Tip #2: Use (lots of) Sections
The Kuali Build Form Builder allows you to use Sections, which are containers for gadgets
Gadgets should always be in a section! Here's why:
- Only Sections can be marked Office Use Only (see tip #3 below)
- Sections can be helpful to align gadgets if you're having trouble getting them to line up.
- Only Sections can be hidden/revealed or marked editable during approval workflow steps.
- Top-level sections can be turned into pages. For long forms, you can use top-level sections (i.e. sections not in another section) as pages on the submission form.
Find this setting under Form Settings > Turn top-level sections into pages.
Other cool Section facts:
- Sections can be inside sections, too! Nested sections can be very helpful when laying out a form.
- You can remove the heading from a section by clicking its name, and using the Hide Gadget Label on Form.
When you do this the section just becomes a container for gadgets, invisible to the person submitting the form.
- Sections can help you hide whole groups of questions when they're not necessary for people to answer.
Pro Tip #3: Office use Only
If you don't want the submitter of a form to see a section, you can mark it Office Use Only. Do this by clicking on the section, and using the Office Use Only control in the right-hand settings sidebar.
These sections are often used when an approval or task step is used in a workflow. The person assigned to the task or approval can then fill out the Office Use portions of the form without them being exposed to the submitter.
Required gadgets in an Office Use Only section are only required when they're visible (i.e. when an approver or task assignee is working through the form later on), so you can mark those gadgets required and not worry about a submitter getting hung up on fields they can't even see.
Pro Tip #4: Limit Visibility
Sometimes, you need to hide/show a gadget, based on the answers to other gadgets in the form.
To accomplish this, click a gadget, and use the Limit visibility based on other gadgets control in the right-hand settings sidebar. Once this is selected, you'll be offered a condition builder. Click Add visibility rule and select one of the other gadgets from the dropdown. Then, go on to specify conditions, based on the contents of other gadgets. Only when these conditions are met, will the gadget be visible.
In the example above, the selected gadget would be visible only if:
- The word "upgrade" is in the "Comments" field, AND
- There is at least some value in the "Reason for change" field.
Please note that required fields that are hidden are not considered required by the form builder. Thus, by hiding a field, you can make it required only if the conditions to show it are met.
Step 4: Set permissions on your form
Before your publish and share your form, you'll need to assign permissions to your app. To start, click the 3 dots to the right of the title of your app in the top left corner of the screen, and select Permissions.
If you want anyone to be able to submit documents in the form, check the box, under the heading All Authenticated Users labelled Create documents in this app.
This setting allows anyone who is logged into Kuali Build to submit your form.
If you need to set more granular permissions on your app, you can add a role for your app, and select specific users, groups, or affiliations that can access this app.
This page also allows you to specify other people or groups who can administer your app. These people will be able to edit the form and workflow, and see all the documents (submissions) created in the app.
Step 5: Publish your form
When you have the form created and tested, and you've set your permissions so that people can see it, it's time to publish the form.
To publish your form, click the 3 dots to the right of the title of your app in the top left corner of the screen, and select Publish.
On the publish screen, click Publish. This will make the form available for people who are authorized (based on the permissions you assigned in the last step) to fill out the form.
Step 6: Share your form
Once a form is published, you can share it. Get a link to share the form by clicking the Share Form button on the Publish or Form tabs of your app.
You can copy this link into an email or a Teams message, or send use it to request a new card on MyCU that points to your form.
You can even generate a QR Code so that people can open the link with their phone from a piece of paper or a Powerpoint/Digital signage slide.