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Important Concepts
Native and PDF Forms
IMMS InfraLink supports two kinds of work forms - web-native (or simply, "native") and PDF.
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It is not unusual for work procedure to change as the project relying on them evolves. To allow for the already completed work forms to be rendered correctly while ensuring that the new tasks are completed using the updated work form, IMMS InfraLink implemented the concept of work form revisions. The concept of revisions has the following key characteristics:
- The user with sufficient privileges may create any number of revisions for a given work form;
- IMMS InfraLink allows for a given work form to have both native and PDF revisions, thus allowing the administrator to change the format;
- The administrator must designate one of the revisions of the form as active. IMMS InfraLink uses the active revision when presenting the form as part of task completion. (IMMS InfraLink can render the already completed forms using inactive revisions);
- The administrator may delete previously created revisions, provided that there are no completed work forms associated with it. If a revision was previously activated AND users completed work forms using that revision, it can no longer be deleted.
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- Contract: display only the forms associated with at least one of the selected contracts;
- Categories: display only the forms associated with at least one of the selected categories. Categories are simply text tags defined by the administrator via the configure menu. Their purpose is to allow for effective navigation and selection of forms.
- Groups: allows the administrator to quickly separate the forms already utilized in PM group definitions ("Associated") from those that have been defined but are not associated with any of the defined PM groups ("Not Associated").
- System element types: by selecting one or multiple types of system elements, the user may narrow the list of forms to only show those associated with the selected system element types. Work forms are associated with system element types to streamline selection when defining PM groups and to prevent using incorrect forms.
- Deleted items: as with most other lists of items in IMMSInfraLink, the user has the option to display deleted items by selecting the "Include Deleted" in the Deleted Items filter.
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Managing Work Form Revisions
As discussed earlier, IMMS InfraLink work forms are version-controlled. Specifically, each work form may have one or multiple revisions, and the revision contains the actual definition of the work form, which is used when completing a task. To make changes to the work form description, completion time estimated, and/or structure (i.e. fields, sections, etc) the administrator should
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Additionally, the Form Revisions widget provides the options to export and import form revision definitions, which is useful when reusing work form across multiple IMMS InfraLink instances and/or relying on external version control management system (e.g. git) to manage the reference repository of work form definitions.
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The easiest and the most common way to create a new native revision of a work form is by starting with a previously defined one. To do so, select the revision you would like to use as the starting point and click the "Edit" button. When the native work form editor page loads, click the New Revision button at the top.
IMMS InfraLink will create a new revision of the work form, load it in the work form editor, and present all applicable controls to make changes. Refer to the "Using Native Work Form Editor" section for guidelines on navigating and modifying the native work form structure.
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Depending on the revision format - native or PDF, - IMMS InfraLink will present the Native Work Form Editor view or the PDF Form Edit pop-up.
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To enable effective reuse of native work form definitions among different IMMS InfraLink instances or across different task templates within the same instance, IMMS InfraLink provides the ability to export and import work form definitions.
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- Select the revision you would like to export from the list in the Form Revisions widget (Note: you can export an active revision or an inactive one)
- Click the Export button, which becomes available
- IMMS InfraLink will export the selected revision in the JSON-based .frm format. Use your browser's download functions to save the generated file on your local disk.
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- Click the Import button in the Form Revisions widget
- Use the Browse control in the appeared Work Form Import dialogue to select a .frm file saved on your local disk
- If you are confident that the work form definitions do not require further editing, you can choose the Activate Revision option in the dialogue to immediately activate the newly created revision upon import. Alternatively, you may choose to deselect this option, which will allow you to review and potentially edit the form structure after importing it.
- Click OK to upload the file for processing. IMMS InfraLink will validate the .frm file structure and create and, optionally, activate the new work form revision if no errors are found.
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Managing Export Templates
Export templates allow IMMS InfraLink to output the work results (completed work forms) in a customized, project-specific, user- and printing-friendly format. IMMS InfraLink currently supports work form export templates defined in the MS Word (.doc, .docx) and MS Excel (.xlx, .xlsx) formats:
- The format of the template defines what file format will be generated when IMMS InfraLink exports the completed form. That is, if the template is defined as a MS Word file, IMMS InfraLink will export the completed form(s) using the MS Word format. Likewise, if the template is defined in MS Excel, IMMS InfraLink will use the MS Excel format when exporting completed forms.
- Additionally, IMMS InfraLink can export completed forms in the PDF format based on both MS Word and MS Excel templates.
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