Forms Overview
Every morning at 6 AM, before the first shift starts, Kenji walks the packaging line with a clipboard. He checks 22 items — conveyor belt tension, label printer alignment, metal detector sensitivity, seal integrity, room temperature, and more. He marks each one with a pen, signs the sheet, and drops it in a folder on the supervisor's desk. Nobody looks at it until something goes wrong.
With ProBeya Forms, Kenji opens a QR code on his phone, taps through the same 22 checks on a digital form, attaches a photo of the label printer calibration sticker, and hits Submit. A new item appears on the packaging board with every field pre-filled. His supervisor sees it on the dashboard before the standup even starts.
How Forms Work
- You create a form linked to a specific board within a project.
- The form includes fields that map to columns on the board.
- You share the form via a public link, an embedded
<iframe>, or a printed QR code. - When someone submits the form, a new item is automatically created on the board with all submitted values pre-filled into the corresponding columns.
The form builder is powered by form.io (self-hosted), which provides a drag-and-drop interface for designing complex multi-step forms without writing code.
Pharma Use Cases
Forms replace paper everywhere that structured data needs to flow from the shop floor to the board:
| Form | Who fills it in | What happens on submit |
|---|---|---|
| Gemba Walk Checklist | OpEx coordinator during a floor walk | Observations become items on the Gemba board, each tagged with area and category |
| 5S Audit Form | Area owner during weekly 5S audit | Scores populate KPI fields, non-conformances become actions |
| Shift Handover Log | Outgoing shift lead | Handover notes, open issues, and equipment status appear on the TIER 1 board for the incoming team |
| Deviation Report | Operator who discovers the deviation | Item created in "New Deviations" group with batch number, equipment ID, and GMP classification pre-filled |
| Change Control Request | Site engineer requesting a change | Request appears on the Change Control board for QA review and approval |
| Training Acknowledgment | New operator after completing GMP module | Completion record appears on the Training board with the module name, date, and trainer name |
| Visitor Safety Briefing | External visitor at site reception | Safety acknowledgment logged for compliance records |
Creating a Form
Navigate to your project, click the Forms tab, and click + Create Form.
The form builder has three tabs:
Builder Tab
Drag fields from the Field Palette on the left into your form layout on the right. Available field types:
| Field type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Short text | Single-line input | Batch number, equipment ID |
| Long text | Multi-line textarea with rich text | Observation details, deviation description |
| Number | Numeric input with min/max validation | Temperature reading, particle count |
| Date | Date picker with optional time | Date of observation, shift start time |
| Dropdown | Single-select from predefined options | GMP Classification, Root Cause Category |
| Multi-select | Multiple selections (rendered as tags) | Affected systems, impacted areas |
| File upload | Attach documents, images, or files (S3) | Photo of defect, calibration certificate |
| Checkbox | Boolean yes/no | "I confirm this observation is accurate" |
| Email with format validation | Reporter's email for confirmation receipt | |
| Phone | Phone with format validation | Contact number for follow-up |
Settings Tab
- Branding — add your organization logo, brand colors, and custom background. Make the form look like it belongs to your company, not a generic tool.
- Thank-you message — customize the confirmation screen. Include next steps: "Your deviation report has been submitted. The QA team will review it within 24 hours."
- Redirect URL — optionally send respondents to a URL after submission (e.g., back to the training portal).
- Language — forms support all six ProBeya languages (EN, FR, NL, DE, IT, ES).
- Theme — choose between light and dark themes.
Preview Tab
See exactly what the respondent will see before publishing. Test the form end-to-end, including conditional logic and validation.
Conditional Logic
Show or hide fields based on previous answers. This keeps forms short for routine checks while capturing detailed information when needed.
Example: On a deviation report form:
- Always show: Date, Area, Batch Number, Description
- Show "Product Impact Assessment" only when GMP Classification = "Critical"
- Show "Customer Notification Required?" only when Product Impact = "Yes"
The conditional logic editor lets you build these rules visually — no coding required.
Operators wearing gloves on a tablet at 6 AM do not want to fill in 30 fields. Use conditional logic to show only what is relevant, and use pre-filled values to auto-set fields like Status, Priority, and Default Assignee behind the scenes.
Sharing and Distribution
| Method | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Link | Direct URL to the form on a standalone page | Email distribution, intranet links |
| Embed | <iframe> code for embedding on websites | Company intranet, SharePoint pages |
| QR code | Scannable code that opens the form | Printed and posted at workstations, equipment, meeting rooms |
Public forms are accessible to anyone with the link — no ProBeya account needed. Use these for visitor briefings and external submissions. Restricted forms require the respondent to be logged into your organization. Use these for internal audits and shift handovers where you need verified identity.
Notifications
- Confirmation email — automatic email to the respondent with a summary of their submission
- Team notification — email or in-app notification to board members when a new submission arrives
- Webhook trigger — fires an
item.createdevent for external integrations (e.g., trigger a Slack message or update SAP)
Form Lifecycle
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Form is being built — not yet accepting submissions |
| Active | Form is live — submissions create items on the board |
| Paused | Temporarily stopped — the link shows "submissions paused." Use this during system maintenance or form updates. |
| Deleted | Permanently removed. Existing submissions remain as board items. |
Form Analytics
Each form includes analytics showing:
- Total submissions since the form was published
- Submissions over time — bar chart by day, week, or month
- Completion rate — percentage of respondents who started and finished
- Average completion time — how long respondents take
Use these metrics to optimize your forms. A low completion rate on a 5S audit form might mean it has too many fields for a mobile device — time to simplify.
Security
- All submissions are logged with IP address, timestamp, and user agent
- Enable reCAPTCHA on public forms to prevent spam
- File uploads are stored in your organization's S3 bucket with access controls
- Submissions respect your organization's data isolation — no cross-tenant leakage
Best Practices for Pharma Forms
- Keep shop floor forms under 10 fields. Operators in gloves on a tablet do not have patience for 30 fields. Capture the essentials, use conditional logic for the rest, and auto-set hidden defaults.
- Print QR codes at workstations. Laminate them and post them next to equipment. When an operator spots a deviation, they scan the code, fill in the form, and the item is on the board before they walk back to their desk.
- Use pre-filled values strategically. Auto-set Status to "New", Priority to "Medium", and Assignee to the shift QA lead. The operator should not have to think about workflow routing.
- Test the form on a mobile device. Most shop floor submissions happen on phones or tablets. Preview the form at mobile width before publishing.
- Review analytics monthly. If completion rates drop or average completion time climbs, the form needs simplification.
When you update a form that is part of a validated process (e.g., a gemba checklist linked to an SOP), pause the form, make your changes, and re-activate. The pause ensures no submissions come in during editing. Document the change in your change control system.
What Kenji's Form Replaced
Before ProBeya, Kenji's morning pre-shift check involved:
- A paper form on a clipboard
- A signature and date
- A folder on the supervisor's desk
- A weekly manual entry into an Excel tracker by someone who was not Kenji
- No feedback loop until something went wrong
After ProBeya:
- A QR code scan on his phone
- The same 22 checks, digitally
- A photo attachment for the calibration sticker
- An instant board item visible to the supervisor, the QA team, and the site director
- Trend data in the dashboard showing which checks fail most often
The paper form took 8 minutes. The digital form takes 5. But the real win is not the 3 minutes — it is the visibility.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Form not accepting submissions | Check that the form status is "Active," not "Draft" or "Paused." |
| Submitted item missing from board | Verify the form is linked to the correct board and the target group exists. |
| QR code not working | Regenerate the QR code after changing the form URL. |
| File upload failing | Check that your S3 bucket is configured and the file does not exceed the size limit. |
Approval Workflows
Forms can be connected to approval workflows that route submissions through one or more review stages before they are finalized. This is especially important in regulated environments (GxP, GMP) where submissions require sign-off from authorized personnel before they take effect.
Key capabilities:
- Visual flow builder — design multi-step approval chains using a drag-and-drop node editor. Add approval nodes, conditional branches, action triggers, and end states.
- Email-based approval — approvers receive an email with one-click approve/reject buttons. No ProBeya account needed for external reviewers.
- GxP e-signatures — when GxP mode is enabled on a flow, decisions require authenticated login and create a tamper-evident audit trail that satisfies 21 CFR Part 11 and Annex 11 requirements.
- Post-approval actions — automatically create a PPM project, Kaizen event, support ticket, or send a notification email when a submission is approved.
For full details, see Form Approval Workflows.
Distribution
Instead of sharing a single public link, you can distribute forms directly to a list of recipients and track individual engagement:
- Targeted sending — upload a recipient list (email + optional name) or import from CSV. Each recipient gets a personalized link with a unique tracking token.
- Response tracking — monitor per-recipient status: pending, opened, started, completed. View response rate in real time.
- Reminders — send manual or automatic reminder emails to recipients who have not yet completed the form.
- OTP verification — for forms that require identity verification without a ProBeya account, respondents verify their email via a one-time password before accessing the form.
For full details, see Form Distribution.
Theming
Customize the look and feel of your forms to match your organization's branding:
- Color customization — set primary colors, background colors, and accent colors so forms look like they belong to your company.
- Font selection — choose from a set of web-safe and professional fonts for form headings and body text.
- Templates — save and reuse theme configurations across multiple forms for a consistent visual identity.
Theme settings are found in the Settings tab of the form builder under Branding.
Next Steps
- Creating Forms — step-by-step guide to building your first form
- Form Approval Workflows — design and manage multi-step approval chains
- Form Distribution — send targeted forms and track responses
- Form Responses — view and manage submitted data
- Custom Fields — understand the column types that forms map to