Best Practices

FormLink Best Practices

The following article is intended to be used by Inspectors to assist them in accurately recording inspection results on their inspection forms in FormLink.

Refer to the following tables for additional details regarding the general browsing guidelines shown above.

Internet Browser

Login Page URL

Incognito/Private Mode

Browser History

Automatic Updates

Pay Attention to Recovery Record

Recover Record (Form) Instructions

1. If you have entered data to a form that was not saved prior to closing, FormLink will display a warning message the next time you access the login screen (Figure 1).

Note: A recovery record message may be displayed if you have a form open in another tab and then navigate to the login page from your current tab.

Figure 12. Select Recover to save the form (Figure 1).

Note: The data you entered in step one will now be recovered.

Note: The recovered form WILL NOT contain any attachment that may have been added before exiting the form.

3. The FormLink login page is displayed.

4. Login to FormLink.

5. The recovered form is displayed in the Incomplete Forms section of the Inspector page (Figure 2).

Figure 2

 6. You can now select and continue completing the form.

 

Inspector Guidelines for Completing Inspection Forms

The following general guidelines should be followed by Inspectors when completing inspection forms.

• Always use the “Save” button located at the bottom of the form to save the form.
• Always use the Cancel button located at the bottom of the form to exit a page.
• To capture photo attachments, you should take all photos using a camera application where you can save the photos in the camera roll.  
• Incomplete forms must be completed before they can be uploaded.
• Completed forms should be uploaded by pressing the “Upload” button from the inspector home page.as soon as reasonably possible.  
• Inspection forms should only be entered using inspector accounts.
• PDFs should be flattened and unencrypted.
• Use only one tab when working on an open form.
• If you believe there is a problem with your inspection reports (such as missing from device, not uploading, etc.), you should contact FormLink immediately by creating a ticket.

Troubleshooting Tip

When uploading reports, all locations with incomplete reports will be automatically redownloaded. When you select the Upload button, the software uploads all locations first (removing them from your device) to make sure the location data on the server is updated before uploading the inspection reports. This means any "new" assemblies will be added, contact information will be uploaded, etc. The software then uploads the completed forms.

If there are incomplete forms remaining on your device after the completed forms have been uploaded, The software will automatically redownload the location for those forms. The location data is required to be on your device in order to open any incomplete forms.

Note: If there is a form on your device without the corresponding location, you will need to download the location manually in order to open and complete the form.

Refer to the following tables for additional details regarding the inspector guidelines shown above.

Saving Forms

Exiting Forms

Photo Attachments

Incomplete Forms

Completed Forms

Inspector Accounts

PDFs

Tabs

Problems with Reports

Recommended Practice	NOT Recommended
If you believe there is a problem with your inspection reports (such as missing from device, not uploading, etc.), you should contact FormLink immediately by creating a ticket.   To create a support request, select the Support button located at the bottom of all Formlink pages.	Do not try to recover the forms internally or change the browser settings.