Forms Tracking Utility (FTU) - Dashboard - Frequently Asked Questions About Preferences

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GENERAL PREFERENCES

What control do I have over the look and behavior of the FTU Dashboard?

Preferences let you customize the Dashboard by telling FTU how to display information, act on routing actions and generate email notifications for pending actions. Just click the Preferences link in the left sidebar navigation to view and change your settings.

Modifying your personal preferences is optional. FTU uses a set of default values if you choose not to set your own. When you make a change to your preferences, be sure to click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page so that your changes will be retained after you leave the Preferences page or exit the Dashboard.

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What are the benefits of the "Action Confirmation" preference?

During the approval process, "Action Confirmation" can prompt you to confirm your actions. After you have clicked an "Approve", "Disapprove" or "Review" button for a pending routing action:

  • Confirm On (default) tells FTU to prompt you with a "confirm" or "cancel" request before applying your action to the routing slip. "Cancel" causes FTU to ignore the action you took on the routing action. "Confirm" causes FTU to immediately apply your action to the routing slip.
    Benefit: Clarity of the approval process -- When you act on a routing action with Confirm Off, FTU automatically moves to the next routing action in your pending actions. This can be confusing if forms look very similar. The pause required for a confirmation clearly separates each pending action.
  • Confirm Off tells FTU to immediately apply your action to the routing slip.
    Benefit: Faster approval process

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What is the "Frame Display" preference and when should I use it?

"Frame Display" determines how you view the application form during the approval process. When FTU displays a pending routing action for your approval:

  • Allow Frames (default) displays the form in a frame (an area that looks like a box) on the Dashboard Routing Slip Content page, with scroll bars if the form is larger than the frame.
    Benefit: Faster than opening a new window, with fewer clicks
  • Do Not Allow Frames displays a link to the form content on the Dashboard Routing Slip Content page. Clicking the form content link opens a new browser window containing the form.
    Benefit: Provides a more accessible option for those using screen reader technologies that may be unable to correctly interpret HTML inline frames. Additionally, a form presented in its own browser window provides easier viewing and printing and eliminates excessive scrolling.

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What is the purpose of "Display Date Format" settings?

"Display Date Format" dictates how all Dashboard dates and times look on the page. You can choose to see dates (month, day, year) with or without time ( hours, minutes, seconds), although FTU stores both date and time internally. The default date format is "mm/dd/yy" (date but no time). Example: 9/10/14

Date format also applies to the "From" and "Through" selection dates appearing at the top of some action list pages. This date range is used by FTU to select the routing slips or actions to display.

Note: It is possible that changing your date format can produce a different list of routing slips for the same date range, if "From" and/or "Through" dates contain a time other than midnight.

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What "Initial Page Display" setting is best for me?

"Initial Display Page" specifies the web page that you see when you first enter the Dashboard website. If your primary reason for using FTU is to approve forms, the "Pending Actions" page is probably your best choice. If you are a form initiator and not an approver, you might choose the "Routing Slips Initiated" page.

Exception: A link in an FTU email notification takes you directly to the page intended by the email (i.e. a specific routing action or the Pending Actions list page) and not to the Initial Display page.

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What is the "General Results Limit" preference?

"General Results Limit" sets the maximum number of search results items that display on a Dashboard page. For example, the Actor Search (used when adding approvers to the route before taking action) displays its findings using this limit. The default is 100 search items per page. A minimum of 10 must be specified.

Some pages such as Pending Actions have their own page limit preferences and these are addressed in the Page Display Preferences below.

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How can I temporarily override my saved preferences?

It is often handy to quickly change sort order or the display date range "on the fly" while leaving your normal preferences intact. You can temporarily change the:

  • Sequence of data by clicking any column name link. For example, clicking "Title" arranges routing slips in alphabetical order (from A to Z) by Slip Title.
  • Time period of data selected for display with "From" and "Through" dates (top of page). Just change the dates to what you want to see. Some pages do not support this feature (e.g. Pending Actions list).
    When you move to another page or exit the Dashboard, these temporary changes are not saved and your preferences will be used the next time you visit the page.

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PAGE DISPLAY PREFERENCES

What control do I have over the look and behavior of specific FTU Dashboard pages?

Each of the five "list" pages shown on the left sidebar navigation uses a combination of preferences to customize how data is displayed:

  • Selection Date Range - the time period of data on a page FTU displays any routing slip or routing action that falls within a specified date and time range. Date Range preferences default to show one month of data (today and anything as far back as one month), but you can change your preference to use any number of days, weeks, months and years.
  • Sort Order - the sequence of data on a page
    Sort Order preferences default to show data in order of Routing Slip ID (column name "ID"), but you can change your preference to sort data on other fields (e.g. Title, Timeout Date, Reference).
  • Display Limit - the maximum number of routing slips or actions presented on a "list" page view
    Display Limit preferences show 100 routing slips on a page by default. You can increase or decrease the limit as desired (minimum 10).

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Why does FTU use a date range when displaying data?

FTU retains information on all actions taken for both current and completed slips. Because it would be impractical to display this much information at one time, the Dashboard displays a small amount of data at a time based on a specified time period. The time period being used is displayed at the top of each page that uses a date range: Routing Slips Initiated, Performed Actions and Rear View. Action list pages that do not use a date range are Pending Actions and Upcoming Actions, and they display data for all open routing slips.

You can change the date selection in your preferences (permanent) or you can change starting ("From") and ending ("Through") dates on a page to temporarily increase or decrease the volume of data you see.

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What are some helpful hints about setting the "Selection Date Range" preference?

The most efficient setting is one that displays the data that is useful to you, no more and no less, with the least amount of data retrieval and display time. Start with a relatively narrow date range if you receive many slips for approvals (e.g. one to two months is optimal). Set a wider date range if you receive a low number of routing slips to approve (e.g. several months to one year is good). Temporarily change the date range "on the fly" (using the From-Through text boxes) if you need to see more or less data.

You may want to view only today's or this week's activity. In this case, set your "Selection Date Range" preferences to "1 Day" or "1 Week".

If you find yourself frequently changing a page's "From" or "Through" date range, consider changing your preferences for that action list page to a more appropriate date range.

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What are some tips and tricks for using the "Sort Order" preference?

Creative use of the Sort Order feature can group data to help locate routing slips and actions. Here are examples of some things you can do by sorting, either by changing a preference (saved) or clicking a column name link (temporary).

  • View all routing slips for a specific type of form (example: J1 Scholar forms):
    On any action list page, sort on "Title". Since titles generally begin with the form name, all data will be arranged by type of form. J1 Scholar forms have routing slip Titles that start with "J1", GradPlan routing slip Titles start with "GradPlan" and the student's name, etc.
  • View all "Open" (not completed) routing slips for forms that I submitted:
    On the Routing Slips Initiated page, sort on "Status". "Open" slips will be grouped together. You can look at any status (approved, disapproved, cancelled or open) in this way.
  • Make sure that a form I submitted has been received by FTU:
    On the Routing Slips Initiated page, sort on "Title" (to find by form type or description) or "Reference" (to find by organization, account or some other identifying value). Then locate your form.
  • Find a routing slip initiated by a specific person:
    On the Pending Actions, Upcoming Actions or Rear View page, sort on "Reference". Then scan this column for the MSUNetID of the person you are interested in.
  • View forms for a particular organization or account:
    On the Pending Actions, Upcoming Actions or Performed Actions page, sort on "Requested By". Then scan this column for the organization or account number you want to see.

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Why does FTU use "Display Limit" when displaying data?

FTU contains a substantial amount of data. The "Display Limit" acts as a safeguard by controlling the amount of data that will be displayed. Limiting the display reduces database retrieval time and prevents a user from inadvertently requesting a huge list that is resource-intensive to display.

The five "list" pages display their data on a single page. They do not provide "Next" or "Previous" buttons to move between pages. If your date selection results in more rows than your display limit allows, a "Display Limit" warning message will be presented near the top of the list page.

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A yellow-shaded message displayed in my Dashboard:

"Displayed list has been limited to 20 rows out of 175 rows selected" (numbers vary)

What does this mean and what should I do about it?

This message indicates that all the data for the selected date range will not fit on the page. FTU has found more routing slips or routing actions (in this case 175) than can be displayed on the page based on your preference for "Display Limit" (in this case 20).

To correct this situation, simply change the appropriate action list page's Display Limit preference to a value that is greater that the number of rows found.

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What methods can I use to arrange Dashboard information in a particular sequence?

Setting a Sort Order preference is permanent -- it is saved and is always used when a page is first displayed. But you can temporarily change the sequence of a page's information by clicking one of the column name links (e.g. "Title" or "Reference"). Column sorts are used to override preferences during your Dashboard session, but are discarded when you leave that action list page or exit the Dashboard.

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Can I set a Dashboard preference that causes only Open routing slips to display in the action lists?

No, there is no preference to filter slips on Action List pages such as Rear View. You could, however, use sorting to group routing slips by Status, then look for "Open" status. You can accomplish sorting in two ways:

  1. In Preferences, set the Sort Order option for each of the pages you like to sort. This is a permanent change. If you close your browser and start the Dashboard later, this sort remains in effect.
  2. For a temporary sort, click a column heading (underlined link) on any Action List page. For example, on Rear View, click the Routing Slip Status column heading to sort, then look for "Open" slips.

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E-MAIL NOTIFICATION PREFERENCES

What control do I have over the frequency with which I receive FTU email notifications of pending actions?

Two Dashboard preferences determine how often you will receive FTU emails:

  • Approval Action Frequency controls emails for pending approval actions
  • Review Action Frequency controls emails for pending review actions FTU Email preferences only affect notification emails that are sent by FTU to let someone know that they have a routing slip waiting for approval or review. Email preferences do not affect email routing actions that are part of the route to indicate routing slip status or tell the recipient that they are affected in some way by the form. They also have no affect on emails generated by the form application.

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What is the best way to set up my FTU email notifications?

If you do not set your email preferences, the default is "Immediate". Your options are:

  • Immediate: the email is sent to the recipient without delay (default)
    "Immediate" is a good setting for people who do not receive many approval requests, or for people who like to monitor their pending actions as soon as they are available
  • Daily: all emails for the user are accumulated and sent once a day in a summary format
    "Daily" is a good setting for those who receive a moderate amount of approval requests and do not want to be continually interrupted with email notifications throughout the day
  • Suppress: no email notifications are sent
    "Suppress" is a good choice for those who are required to approve a very high number of routing slips and review their pending actions list regularly. For example, approvers in the Controllers Office who check the Dashboard frequently might use this setting.

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Is a disapproval email sent to the initiator if the initiator had his/her email preference set to Suppress?

The form owner decides if the initiator should get an email upon disapproval. FTU then sends emails accordingly. Your email preferences control pending approval and review notifications. Final disposition emails that indicate status for completed routing slips are unaffected by email notification preferences.

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If I add a person to the route in the Dashboard, will that person receive an email notification?

Yes, FTU will attempt to send an email notification to that person. However that person may have their email preference set to suppress or may receive the email and not understand what to do with it. Until they act upon it, the slip will not continue with the approval route. If you add someone to the route, it is a good practice to contact them yourself and let them know that their approval is needed.

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Can the form initiator set an approver's email preferences?

No, the FTU user can only set his/her own preferences. The form initiator cannot force an approver to receive an FTU email notification, but the initiator can send an email manually.

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If my email preferences are set to "Suppress", why am I still getting FTU emails?

You are probably receiving an email from an email routing action which is not affected by email notification preferences. The FTU route may include emails as part of its processing, such as to notify a person that they are affected by a form or to notify people of a form's final outcome.

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How can I tell if an approver has received a reminder email notification from FTU?

Contact the MSU IT Service Desk at 517-432-6200.

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Forms Tracking Utility (FTU)
FTU allows multiple campus units to develop electronically routed and tracked, multi-signature web forms through a consistent design interface.