Automation and Follow Ups

Abstract

Administrators often need a streamlined way to manage vendor onboarding tasks by automating follow-up emails, gathering necessary information via forms, and ensuring all relevant data is captured quickly. This article discusses how to optimize these steps in order to reduce back-and-forth communication and save time. A common use case involves sending periodic reminders to a newly engaged supplier until they complete a required registration form, helping your organization finalize vendor records more efficiently.

In this article, you will learn about the Advanced Vendor Onboarding automation and follow-ups features, focusing on how to configure automatic follow-up emails, customize form settings, and add new fields for vendor data collection. Each section includes an overview explaining why the task is necessary and a numbered list of steps demonstrating how to complete it.

Follow Up Emails

Automatically sending follow up emails is crucial to ensure vendors complete their onboarding tasks without requiring an administrator to send manual reminders. By enabling and configuring follow up intervals, you can control how frequently vendors are reminded, how many reminders they receive, and customize their content.

1. To navigate to the main AFB Settings page, open the Setup menu dropdown, hover over the Advanced Form Builder tab, and click the Settings option:

   

   This will open the main AFB Settings page, where you can modify feature availability:

   

2. To configure follow up emails, click the Edit button on the AFB Settings page:

   

3. If you want to send vendors periodic reminders automatically, locate the Follow Up Emails section under AFB Form:

   

4. Decide how often you would like to nudge vendors and set the Follow Up Interval (for example, once a week or every two weeks) in the designated field:

   

5. Determine the maximum number of follow up attempts by configuring the Maximum Follow Up Attempts so that your system, for instance, stops after two attempts:

   

6. If you want your email to align with your brand, include a subject and body to your message:

   

7. When you have finished configuring your reminders, click Save:

   

Form Responses

Managing form responses is essential for tracking whether vendors have submitted all necessary information. Asynchronous processing ensures that vendors have a fast experience while you can still configure how and when the system reviews their data.

1. To implement asynchronous handling, enable the Process Form Responses Asynchronously checkbox under the Form Response section:

   

   Note: Verifying the responses can take up to fifteen minutes to fully process in the background:

   

2. Adjust form review rules by selecting the desired setting for Review Form Responses (e.g., require review if On Field Change Only):

   

3. If you want to reduce unnecessary checks, select Never under the relevant Approve Form Responses field when it is not needed for vendor onboarding:

   

   Note: Custom Metrics Field ID and Request More Alert Info Alert Default are not going to be necessary for vendor onboarding:

   

4. Save your changes if you are satisfied with the form review configuration. Click the Save button so the system applies your chosen review rules:

   

Adding and Configuring Form Fields

Creating new fields in your vendor onboarding form allows you to capture additional information relevant to your organization. You can decide how these fields behave, whether they are required, and how they map to your existing records.

1. If you need to customize your onboarding forms, you can add a field with the necessary data that you want to be included in the form:

   

2. To store the data in a specific location, create a corresponding record or field within your system (e.g., custom record “Favorite Color”):

   

3. To ensure your vendor’s input is valid, select from Free-From Text, Hyperlink, Email Address, Phone Number, or other relevant options:

   

4. Mark the field as required if it is crucial for your vendor records by checking the Required field box:

   

5. To customize form appearance, choose the number of columns from Column Layouts:

   

6. To map your newly created field, input the field ID under the Apply to Field ID section:

   

   Note: Sometimes, customers will have to create custom records to map to them.

7. If your new field is ready for use, click Save so the new question appears on the vendor’s onboarding form:

   

Previewing the Onboarding Form and Email

Previewing your form and email helps ensure the experience is polished and user-friendly. This step allows you to verify the branding, logos, and form layout before sending it to vendors.

1. To show what a completed form looks like, go to the Setup dropdown, select the Advanced Form Builder tab, and click the Forms option:

   

2. To preview the form, browse under the AB Form List and select the form that you want to preview:

   

3. Once you find the form that you want to preview, click the View button to open the form:

   

4. If you want to confirm how the form will appear to vendors, click Preview Form:

   

   

5. If you need to see how your branding elements are displayed, click Preview Email to confirm that your logo, colors, and message content appear as intended:

   

   

By leveraging these automation and follow up features, administrators can create a proactive, branded onboarding experience for new vendors.