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Frequently Asked Questions |
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| GENERAL INFORMATION | |||||||||
| Q:
What
is the purpose of putting the administrative forms on the web? |
A: The main purpose is to save time for those that need to fill out administrative forms. Users on and off campus can access these forms. This is particularly useful for those located in satellite offices such as Shannon Point, Facilities and 32nd St. | ||||||||
| Q: Will these forms print correctly? | A: Yes. Web based forms are generally designed to "look and feel" like their paper forms versions so they can be printed. Department form owners determine whether they require a printed hard copy of their forms. | ||||||||
| Q. What about confidentiality.? Are the forms secure? | A. Yes the forms are secure. Read the Fast and Esign forms information provided directly below. | ||||||||
Q:
What is a
Signature Form?
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A: Signature Forms are forms that require accompanying paperwork. You can complete this form online however it must be printed out, signed and returned to the department. A Signature form can be an HTML, Adobe or word processing document. | ||||||||
Q:
What is a Fast
form?
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A: Fast
Forms have a
single destination.
They can
not be re-routed. Fast
Forms can be submitted immediately to the pre-assigned email address. The submitter is not required to enter their
"Pin" and "WWU ID" #s. however, the submitter will
not receive an email when the form has been closed (completed).
When the submitter (originator) electronically signs the form by entering
their "Pin" and "WWU ID" #s, the form functions as an Esign form.
The form submitter and approvers are issued email notifications providing
the link to the submitted form. They can click on the link to see the
current status of the form at any time
to track
progress of form throughout the approval process. |
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Q: What is an Esign
Form?
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A: Esign Forms can be sent to multiple destinations for approvals processing. Esign forms can be submitted immediately to the appropriate office - no paper is required. .To electronically sign the form the user must enter their "Pin" and "WWU ID" #s. All submitters and approvers will receive an email notification providing a link to the form that will show the current form status in real time. The final processor of the form can "lock" the form (preventing any further modifications to the form) by pressing the "LOCK" button -- the original submitter will then be emailed notification that the form has been processed. | ||||||||
| Q: Where do I send the form? | A: You send the form to the department or approver (Department Head, Manager, Supervisor) as you would the paper form. Each form has "Routing Instructions". | ||||||||
| Q. Why do I get an error when I try to send an email to someone with a WWU email address - @wwuedu or @cc.wwu.edu? | A. You are not entering the correct E-mail Address. The e-mail address entered in the "To" field of the E-form authentication box is verified against the Outlook GAL (Global Address List) and Banner. This is to prevent accidental misspelling of an e-mail address and ensures an "official" WWU e-mail address is used from the GAL. | ||||||||
| Q: What are these ID, PIN and Email To fields anyway? |
A: The
ID and
Pin fields are used to verify the identity of the form submitter and approvers
by comparing their "W" (WWU ID) and "Pin"
numbers against the
Banner database. A: The ID field is your University W Number. It starts with a "W" followed by 8 digits with no dash in between. You can locate your WWU ID number on your Western student or employee ID card or from any of your pay deposit slips. A: The Pin field is for your 6 digit Personal Identification Number that you use to enter the Web4U (Faculty/Staff Employee Web). Your Pin number is essentially your password and it can be changed by you. It is usually the first six (6) digits of your telephone number or social security number. If you have forgotten your pin # contact the ADMCS Help Desk at x.4444. Students should contact the Registrars Office at x3424.. Esign
forms
should be forwarded to the same person or department as you would using the paper version
of the form. The email address of that person or department should be
entered into the Email To field. A link to the form will be
mailed to that address when the form is submitted or approved
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| Q: What are the purposes of the Submit, Approve, Disapprove, Lock and Save buttons? |
A:
Submit:
The
submitter uses this button to send the form to the approver (e.g. Department Head, Dean,
Director or Supervisor). A: Approve: The Approver (s) use this button to verify their approval of the submitter's request. A: Disapprove: The Disapprove button is generally used by the Department's final Approver to deny a request. Requests are denied for various reasons e.g. missing or wrong information, a form was not submitted by the proper department authority. etc: The 'Disapprove' notification will be displayed in the 'Actions' field of the esign form Authentication box. An email notification is sent to the Submitter if a form is Disapproved.  A: Lock: The final Approver uses this button to "lock" the form so no other changes can be made to the form. The original submitter of the form is notified that the form has been completed. A: Save: This button allows the user to save the current data entered and continue or to revisit the form later. This can be useful when there is a large amount of data to be entered or when another task must be completed prior to submitting the form. The Save button is only available prior to the user SUBMITTING the form. Once the form has been submitted, all data changes are subject to standard ESign Web Forms tracking and auditing and the Save button will no longer be available. |
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| Q: The Routing Instructions are not clear to me, how do I find out where to send the form? | A: Place your mouse cursor over the form's name located on the Administrative Web forms home page and it will display the department's name and telephone extension. | ||||||||
| Q. I clicked my mouse on an information link inside a form and nothing happens. Why can't I see the page? |
A: Verify that your web browser
has Java installed. A: If you use a popup blocker utility, press and hold down the "Control" key on your keyboard then mouse click on the link to enable popup window capabilities. |
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| Q: How do I find out if the Esign form has been processed? | A: You can view the status in real time by clicking on the link to the form that was enclosed in an email - sent to you at the time the form was submitted. The status will indicate "completed" if the final approver has processed the form. | ||||||||
| Q: If someone has made changes to my form entries, how can I find out who made them? | A: You can view who made the changes if your browser is IE 5.X or Netscape 6.X and above. Simply mouse click on any of the Authentication rows appended to the bottom of the form. It will highlight the form fields (in light purple) that this particular user has modified. | ||||||||
| Q: Is the data secure when it is transferred over the Internet? | A: Yes. The data is transmitted over a secure connection using SSL (secure socket layer) to encrypt the data. | ||||||||
| ATTACHMENTS | |||||||||
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Q:
Is it possible to send attachments? e.g. text document or spreadsheet along with a form? |
A.
Yes. - Enter your WWU ID and Pin# and your email address - Click on the Save/Attach button - Click on the browse button and go to the location where the item to be attached is located - Double click on the item to be attached - Click the ATTACH button - Click on the DONE button - Type email address of the person you want to send the form to - Click on SUBMIT button |
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| Q. Is it possible to send multiple attachments? | A. Yes. However, only the submitter of the form can make attachments. | ||||||||
| Q. Why can't an approver of the form attach additional items? | A. This is not currently possible however, it will be probably be part of the next esign forms upgrade. | ||||||||
| Q. Can I modify an attachment and send it to someone else? | A. If you need to modify an attachment such as an Excel spreadsheet and then forward it to another approver you must save it to your local or network drive. After you have made the change(s) attach the revised spreadsheet to a NEW form and submit it to the appropriate person | ||||||||
| FORMS: Other questions | |||||||||
| Q: How do I get a form created and placed on the web? | A: You can email the Word, PDF or text document to the ADMCS Help Desk. mail the paper form to the ADMCS Help Desk, or fax it to 650-7323. | ||||||||
| Q: Who do I contact if I have questions about completing a form or I think changes should be made to a form? | A: Contact the department that provides the form. You can find out the department's forms owner by placing your mouse cursor over the form name's hyperlink - a popup marquee will display the department name and phone #. | ||||||||
| Browser Information | |||||||||
| Q: What browsers can I use to view and execute these forms correctly? | A: You can use Microsoft Internet Explorer ver. 5.0 and above, Netscape 4.5 and above or Firefox 1.05 and above. | ||||||||
| Q: How do I stop printing the form's background colors? It's using too much ink! | A: Both Explorer & Netscape browser defaults are set to "not print" background colors. If your browser's print preference option is set to "print background", reset the print preference value to not print the background colors. Change the background printing option in Internet Explorer by selecting the Tools menu, then internet options and advanced options. Netscape users must select File then the Page setup menu options where changes are made in the page options sub menu. | ||||||||
| Q: Can I save form field entries such as the recipient's email address when I send a form? | A: Yes, but for best web form performance, please do not use the auto complete settings function allowed in IE 5.X and above. Web forms will function best when all IE auto complete settings are unchecked. Netscape does not support auto complete. Similar to the browser's web address bar which displays the saved URL addresses to the sites you have visited, this option can be also be set to cache the submitted form fields info. However, sometimes when auto complete settings are turned the web form will appear blank. Usually, by unchecking the auto complete options and closing and reopening the browser, the data view is restored. If you have questions regarding auto complete, please contact the ADMCS Help Desk x4444. | ||||||||
| Q: A pop-up window displaying a JavaScript runtime error message: "Do I wish to debug the JavaScript", what do I do, and what is causing this? | A: Check your browser and make sure that you have enabled the browser's JavaScript functions. If there is still a problem, we would really like to know about it. Record the error line number, the form name and email to the ADMCS Forms Administrator. | ||||||||
| Forms Search Capabilities | |||||||||
| Q: Can I search for a form or forms that were submitted by me, or that I approved etc:? | A:
Yes. All Fast and E-sign forms data is collected and stored in a
database. The form is electronically filed thereby eliminating the need
for manual storing of forms in a local mailbox folder. You can search and locate the forms using the
Web
Form Finder tool.
This search engine allows you find forms based on
users first name or last name, the form data, the form name,
the department and the time submitted.
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| Q: What about confidentiality? Can everyone do searches and see the forms I submitted? | A: Currently, the search capabilities of Web Form Finder are restricted to the submitter, approvers and other approved persons such as form owner department personnel. Therefore, the only people that can search and retrieve your form are people who have been authenticated and whose name shows up in the approval table at the bottom of the form. | ||||||||
| ADMINISTRATOR FAQ | |||||||||
| Administrating a Departmental email box | |||||||||
| Q: There are several people in my area that will mange forms. How will they know which forms need to be processed? | A: You will need a Departmental Mailbox with a unique email address where the forms can be collected, sorted and processed. Email notifications containing the form links will be sent to the department forms email box. The owner of the mailbox can assign folder privileges to the appropriate forms processors. | ||||||||
| Q. How do I get a departmental email box? | You can request an “Outlook Department email" box by submitting an email request to the ADMCS Help Desk@wwu.edu | ||||||||
| Q: How will I manage all the forms processed by our department? | A: After an esign form has been processed you do not need to file it as the info is permanently stored in an Oracle database. | ||||||||
| Q: Who sets up the department mailboxes? Can I do it myself? | A: Once you have been notified that your Department email box has been created, you can call the ADMCS Help Desk (xt.4444) or ATUS Help Desk (x.3333) for assistance. | ||||||||
| Administrating a Local email folder | |||||||||
| Q: Can I set up a local email folder in my own existing Inbox folder since I am an administrative assistant and no one other than me will ever manage the forms ? | A: Yes, however it is not recommended! In your absence, others can not process any outstanding or new forms. Do not give someone your password to manage the forms in your absence, this is a security violation. | ||||||||
Form: FAQa12.htm revised 12/22/05
