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
- 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 lists all forms created for your management company, along 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 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
- From the Form Management page, click New Form. The form builder opens.
- Click Form Settings and enter a name for the form (for example, ARC Request - Fence).
- 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.
- Drag additional field types from the field palette onto the form canvas to customize the form.
- Configure each field's properties in the right-side settings panel.
- 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.
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.
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.
- 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. Forms linked to an active action item type cannot be deleted.
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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