Vantaca Home: Build and Manage Forms

Early Access: If your account looks different from what's shown here, don't worry! This update is rolling out gradually and will be available to you soon.

The Forms feature lets management company administrators build custom portal forms for homeowners using a drag-and-drop form builder in CMP. Each form is linked to an action item type (such as ARC Request or General Request) and renders for homeowners on the Vantaca Home portal when they submit a request. You can create multiple forms within the same category to support different scenarios, and you can edit, preview, duplicate, or delete forms as needed.

Important: Forms requires the Settings > Form Management role permission and must be enabled for your organization by Vantaca. Contact your Vantaca account team for access.

Contents

• Before You Begin
• Access Form Management
• Default Starter Forms
• Create a New Form
• Use the Form Builder
• Scope a Form to a Specific Association
• How the ARC Model Affects ARC Forms
• Form States
• Manage Existing Forms
• How Form Submissions Appear in CMP
• What's Coming Next

Before You Begin

Before creating forms, ensure the following:

• The Settings > Form Management role permission is assigned to your role.
• The Forms feature is enabled for your management company by Vantaca.
• The action item types you plan to associate with forms are already configured in Settings > Action Types/Steps.

 

Access Form Management

Navigate to Settings > Form Management. The Form Management page has two tabs:

• Global Forms: Forms that apply to every association in your management company by default. A homeowner sees a Global form for their request type unless an Association form overrides it for their specific association.
• Association Forms: Forms scoped to one specific association. An Association form overrides the Global form of the same request type for that association only; every other association is unaffected.

Each tab lists its forms with the form name, associated action item type, status, and dates.

 

Default Starter Forms

When the Forms feature is enabled, your management company starts with three default forms on the Global Forms tab that match the standard request types homeowners already submit:

• ARC Request: The standard architectural review request form.
• General Request: The standard general request form.
• Service Request (Work Order): The standard service request form.

These forms render the same fields homeowners are used to seeing. You can edit them to add custom fields or create additional forms within each category.

Important: This is not a migration. Your existing request workflows continue to work the same way for homeowners. Forms simply makes those previously hardcoded forms editable and lets you add more.

 

Create a New Form

1. From the Form Management page, choose the Global Forms or Association Forms tab depending on where you want the form to apply, then click New Form.
2. Select a pre-built template (for example, ARC Request or Service Request) to start with its recommended fields already in place, or choose Blank Form to start from scratch.
   The form builder opens with your selection loaded.
3. Click Form Settings and enter a name for the form (for example, ARC Request - Fence).
4. Select an Action Item Type to associate with this form.
   When you select an action item type, the form builder automatically loads the required fields for that action item type.
5. Drag additional field types from the field palette onto the form canvas to customize the form.
6. Configure each field's properties in the right-side settings panel.
7. Click Save.

 

Use the Form Builder

The form builder has these main areas:

• Form canvas: The visual area where you compose and arrange fields. Drag fields up or down to reorder them.
• Field palette (Add Fields): Drag field types onto the canvas to add them to your form.
• Field Settings: Configures properties for the field you have selected.
• Form Settings: Includes the Action Item Type option to associate with your form, plus form name and description fields.

Field Types

The palette includes 16 field types organized into three categories.

Entry fields (homeowner fillable):

• Single Line Text: A short text input.
• Paragraph Text: A multi-line text input.
• Dropdown: A list of options where the homeowner selects one.
• Checkboxes: A list of options where the homeowner can select multiple.
• Radio Button: A list of options where the homeowner selects one.
• Address: A structured address input.
• Phone: A phone number input.
• Date: A date picker.
• Number: A numeric input.
• File Upload: An attachment field for documents, plans, or images. Homeowners can upload directly from a computer or mobile device using this field. It replaces the QR code scan that the ARC request form previously used for uploading photos from a phone.

Dynamic fields (auto-populated from system data):

• Property: Pulls the homeowner's properties from the database. Required for ARC requests.
• Area of Work: Pulls configured area-of-work options. Required for ARC requests.
• Supporting Documents: Surfaces the documents from the association's document library that the homeowner can reference when filling out the form.

Layout fields (non-input):

• Title: A heading to break up form sections.
• Section: A grouping container for related fields.
• Description: Instructional text shown to the homeowner.

Required Fields

When you select an action item type, the form builder automatically loads the required fields for that action item type. These fields cannot be removed because they are required for the form submission to flow correctly into CMP.

• ARC Request required fields: Subject, Details, Property, Area of Work.
• General Request required fields: Subject, Details.
• Service Request required fields: Subject, Details.

You can reorder required fields and add additional fields around them. Any custom fields you add are captured separately in the action item note when the form is submitted.

Configure Field Settings

Click any field on the canvas to open its settings in the right panel. Common settings include:

• Label: The display name for the field.
• Placeholder: Hint text shown inside an empty field.
• Help Text: Additional guidance shown below the field.
• Required: Toggle on to require the homeowner to complete this field before submitting.

For Dropdown, Checkboxes, and Radio Button fields, use the options manager in the settings panel to add, edit, remove, and reorder choices.

Form Settings and Action Item Type

Click Form Settings on the right to update the form name, description (internal notes), or action item type. The Action Item Type dropdown is limited to action item types in the Homeowner Request, ARC Requests, and Work Orders categories. For an ARC form on the Association Forms tab, the dropdown is further limited to the association's current ARC Model type; see How the ARC Model Affects ARC Forms.

Important: If you edit a form that is already associated with an active action item type, a warning message displays. Existing submissions are not affected by your changes, but any homeowner submissions made after you save will use the updated form.

 

Scope a Form to a Specific Association

By default, every form you create on the Global Forms tab is available to all associations in your management company. If you want a form to work differently for one association, for example a stricter ARC request form for a single community, create or edit that form from the Association Forms tab instead and select the association.

• An Association form overrides the Global form of the same request type for that association only. Every other association keeps using the Global form.
• An association with no Association form for a request type continues to use the Global form for that type.
• Removing an Association form does not delete it. It stops overriding Global for that association, but the form is still available to edit, duplicate, or reassign.

Tip: To make a request type available to only some associations instead of all, remove it from Global Forms and add it as an Association form for each association that should have it. Because Global forms apply to every association by default, this is the only way to fully turn a request type off for the associations you don't add it back to.

 

How the ARC Model Affects ARC Forms

Each association has an ARC Model setting, configured in Association Settings under ARC, that determines the action item type and stepping rules used for that association's architectural review requests. ARC-category forms follow this setting automatically:

• When you create or edit an ARC form on the Association Forms tab, the Action Item Type dropdown is limited to the association's current ARC Model type. You cannot assign an ARC form to a different ARC type than the one the association uses.
• A homeowner only sees ARC forms that are both scoped to their association (Global or Association) and match their association's current ARC Model type.
• This restriction applies to ARC-category forms only. General Request, Service Request (Work Order), and other non-ARC form types are not tied to an ARC Model and can be scoped to associations freely.

Important: If an association's ARC Model setting changes after an ARC form was created, that form's action item type no longer matches. A warning icon appears next to the form on the Association Forms tab. Hover over it to see: "This form is bound to an action item type that no longer matches the current ARC Model for this association. Re-associate it with the current ARC Model type, or leave it as-is if this is intentional."

A mismatched form is not deleted and still shows a status of Live, because it still has an action item type assigned; it simply stops rendering for homeowners until the mismatch is resolved. Don't rely on the Status column alone for ARC forms; check for the warning icon as well. To resolve a mismatch:

1. Open the form from the Association Forms tab.
2. In Form Settings, reassign the Action Item Type to the association's current ARC Model type.
3. Click Save.
   The warning icon clears and the form becomes visible to homeowners again.

If you would rather keep the original form as a reference instead of updating it, duplicate it first, then reassign the action item type on the copy.

 

Form States

Forms have three states:

• Draft: The form is saved but is not yet associated with an action item type. Draft forms do not render for homeowners. Use this state when you are still building or refining a form.
• Live: The form is associated with an action item type. Live forms render for homeowners on the Vantaca Home portal when they submit a request of that type. Note: For an ARC form scoped to an association, Live confirms only that an action item type is assigned; it does not guarantee the form is visible to homeowners if the association's ARC Model has since changed. See How the ARC Model Affects ARC Forms.
• Blocked: The form is associated with an action item type that is set to block creation, so it can no longer accept new submissions. Blocked forms do not render for homeowners, and homeowners cannot open or submit them, even through a saved or bookmarked link.

To move a form from Draft to Live, edit the form and select an action item type in the Form Settings panel.

Note: A form becomes Blocked when its associated action item type is later set to block creation, for example, when you retire a request type. In the Form Management table, the Status column shows Blocked with a tooltip explaining that the form is hidden from homeowners because its action item type is set to block creation. To make the form available again, remove the block on the action item type, or delete the form if you no longer need it.

 

Manage Existing Forms

Each row on the Form Management page includes the following options:

• Edit: Opens the form builder with the selected form loaded for editing.
• Preview: Opens a read-only view of the form as homeowners will see it.
• Duplicate: Creates a copy of the form with the same fields and settings. Useful for creating variations within the same category (for example, separate ARC forms for fences, paint, and structural changes).
• Delete: Permanently removes the form.

Note: To remove an unwanted form from the request screen, delete the unnecessary form by navigating to Settings > Form Management.

 

How Form Submissions Appear in CMP

When a homeowner submits a form, CMP creates an action item of the associated type. The submitted data is split into the following locations:

• Required fields (Subject, Details, Property, Area of Work): Map directly to the matching database columns and display in their standard locations on the action item.
• Custom fields (anything you added beyond the canonical set): Capture in the action item note so staff can review the additional context the homeowner provided.
• File uploads: Display in the Attachments section on the action item.

Existing submissions that were made before you edited the form are not affected. Each submission retains the form structure that was in place at the time it was submitted.

 

What's Coming Next

We are continuing to expand the Forms feature in future iterations. Here is a look at what we are working on:

• Additional starter templates: More pre-built form templates beyond the three defaults are on the way.
• Embed forms anywhere in the portal: Soon you will be able to drop a shortcode or merge tag into emails or custom portal pages to link homeowners directly to a specific form, instead of only accessing forms through the Requests tab.
• Expanded support for more request types: Amenity reservations currently continue to work through the Reservations tab. We are exploring how to bring additional request flows into the form builder over time.

 

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