This article describes how data is integrated between nFORM and nCORE for the purposes of both (1) prepopulation of new submissions and (2) population of nCORE data elements from new nFORM submissions.

Data Integration from nFORM into nCORE

Data provided in an nFORM submission is extracted and used to update data in nCORE. Data integration rules and behavior is largely driven by the Tag value assigned to nFORM Sections and Controls. This section describes how to use tags to control data integration behavior when a new submission is received.

Submission data is used to update Site, Contact, Submission, and Feature details. Specifics for each are described in the following sections.

Site Data Integration into nCORE (including Person and Organization)

Site Control Tag to nCORE Site Database Field Mapping

The table below indicates form control Tag are used to

Submission Data Integration into nCORE

Only one SUBM record is ever associated with a given nFORM submission.

nFORM Control Tag to nCORE Submission Database Field Mapping

The following table provides a mapping from individual fields on the nFORM contact control to nCORE Submission fields.

Feature Data Integration into nCORE

Feature information is gathered from nFORM sections whose control tags are prefixed with the text SITE or FEATR, or contains a Location control. For example, if a control in a section is tagged `FEATR_CARWASH`, the import process will attempt to insert or update a feature. There are no requirements around section tag names for data import; it is based entirely on the section's control data.

The integration logic can only create or update one feature record per section. 

Sections can be repeating to import multiple features.

Inserting versus Updating Features

nCORE will only create new features if a Feature Type is specified in the submission data. The Feature Type can be specified using any of the following methods:

1. Include a Location control whose label matches an existing Feature Type Description, or

2. Include a Location control whose tag matches an existing Feature Type Code, or

3. Include a pre-populated, hidden text control whose default value matches a Feature Type Code or Description, or

4. Include a single select control whose dropdown values match an existing Feature Type Description.

If an existing Feature is found with a matching FEATR_ID_TXT, the feature will be updated with all fields. If a feature is not found with a matching FEATR_ID_TXT, a new feature will be created upon import.

nFORM Control Tag to nCORE Feature Database Field Mapping

The following table provides a mapping from individual fields on the nFORM contact control to nCORE Feature fields.

Contact Data Integration into nCORE

Submission contacts in nCORE are created from nFORM Contact controls.

Configurating a Contact’s Affiliation Type

Every contact imported from an nFORM submission into nCORE is assigned one or more Affiliation Types. The Affiliation Type assigned to the contact upon import is determined as follows:

1. The nFORM contact control’s Label matches an Affiliation Type Description (e.g. “Applicant”), or 

2. The nFORM contact control's Tag matches an Affiliation Type Code (e.g. “APPLCNT”)

If no matching Affiliation Type Code or Description is found for the contact, nCORE will assign the generic Affiliation Type “Contact” to the submission contact.

Allowing a User to Assign One or More Affiliation Types to a Contact

Often a form needs to allow the user to select one or more roles to assign a contact. To achieve this:

1. Add a Contact control to the section. The Tag value is not important.

2. Add a single or multi-select nFORM control. Set the Tag to ‘AFFIL’ and set the values to one or more Affiliation Type descriptions.

When this configuration is used, the section may only contain one contact control. Otherwise, the system would not know which contact to assign the selected Affiliation Types to. The section can be set to repeating if multiple contacts with different Affiliation Types are needed.

Configuring Multiple Contact Controls with the Same Affiliation Type

Form design rules require that all tags in a form are unique, but this could cause a challenge if two or more contact controls need to be tagged with the same Affiliation Type Code. To overcome this limitation, use the + sign to add text at the end of the tag to create a unique tag value. For example, a contact control with tag CMPLNT+TEST1 will yield a contact with affiliation type CMPLNT.

Configuring a Contact Control to Update Site (Person) Details

A common scenario for license forms will require that a Contact control be used to update the Site (Person) Details. When the Applicant is also the Site, the contact control may be used to create both. To achieve this, the Contact control Label can be set to "Applicant" and Tag can be set to "SITE". 

Note: The Site Name comes from contact Company Name / Organization field. The first name/last name fields are only used for updating Person sites.  

Creating Submission Contacts and Site Relationships from a Site Lookup

See the Relating Sites in a Submission article for more information on configuring form controls to reference a list of other sites, organizations, or persons, and then create submission contacts or site relationships based on the selection in a submission.

Contact Control Field to nCORE Contact Database Field Mapping

The following table provides a mapping from individual fields on the nFORM contact control to nCORE Contact fields.

Document Integration from nFORM into nCORE

Submission PDF

nFORM produces a PDF document containing the information provided in the submission form. The naming convention of the PDF is configurable in the Form Details screen.

Submission Attachments

Document attachments are always imported from an nFORM submission and attached to the Submission record in nCORE. If a description has been provided for the document within the nFORM attachment control, the description will be carried forward into nCORE.

Integration from nCORE into nFORM (prepopulation)

Prepopulation from nCORE into nFORM is accomplished through nFormImport.SOURCE_[SUFFIX] views where the view name suffix indicates the section tag to populate.

Prerequisite 

To prepopulate forms, Pre-fill → Import from External Source (SQL) must be checked:

For each Section that will require prefill, the Enable Form Pre-Fill (via Context ID) field must be checked and the Section Tag should be set to view name suffix of the source name eg. (SITE, PRMT, or FEATR, )

Available sources are: 

• nCORE - nFORM Integration Tags#Sites

• nCORE - nFORM Integration Tags#Submissions

• nCORE - nFORM Integration Tags#Permits

• nCORE - nFORM Integration Tags#Features

• Other sources can exist depends on clients needs. 

Site Prefill into nFORM

Populated from view: nFormImport.SOURCE_SITE

Available standard data for pre-population in a section tagged SITE are:

Submission prefill into nFORM

Populated from view: nFormImport.SOURCE_SUBM

This view is primarily used for:

• Populating data about the submission's parent Schedule

• Populating the Alternate Identity in the Submission Header

• Schedule Due Date (that should typically be set to Read Only when populated)

• Schedule Name (see Notes below on what it contains)

Available standard data for pre-population in a section tagged SUBM are:

Populating the Alternate Identity with the nCORE-generated submission number

The nCORE source view nFormImport.SOURCE_SUBM can be used to populate the nCORE-generated submission number into the nFORM Alternate Identity, making this available on the Submission Wizard Header and Submission Summary screen:

1. Create a new section (or use an existing section), and tag it SUBM, and enable it for prefill

2. Create a new short-text control tagged SUBM_REF_NUM and make it "Read Only"

3. At the form version level in the "Details" Section, check box "Activate Display of Alternate Submission Identifier"

4. Check newly-displayed box "Override Display Label", and enter label of your choice 

Permit prefill into nFORM

Populated from view:  nFormImport.SOURCE_PRMT

Sections must have a Tag set to ‘PRMT’ in order to prefill permit data into the section.

Since permit information is never updated in nCORE upon submission receipt, any controls tagged for Permit data prefill controls should set to read-only.

A maximum of one permit can be specified on a form using these tags. The PRMT section should never be marked repeatable. Information about other permits can be collected on the form but the controls for these permits should be given tag values that are not in the reserved list below.

A section tagged PRMT should only be included on Permit Change forms or Compliance Schedule forms. Since Permit Change forms (e.g., modifications, renewals) and Compliance Schedules (e.g., annual reports, notifications) are typically used in the context of an existing, in-effect permit, including a PRMT section on these forms provides a convenient way of automatically displaying information about that permit on the form. For example, the permit number and effective date can be displayed at the beginning of the form so that the applicant can confirm that they are filling out the form for the correct permit.

Permit Change forms and Compliance Schedules can also contain site information, but this should be done by using a section tagged SITE containing the appropriate SITE tagged controls.

Available standard data for pre-population in a section tagged PRMT are:

Feature prefill into nFORM

Populated from view:  nFormImport.SOURCE_FEATR

Feature data can be filtered for prefill/autofill into nFORM Submissions by using a special Tag syntax on the Section where the feature type code to filter for is suffixed onto the tag after a dollar sign. For example Tag FEATR$STACK would filter only for features of feature type code STACK. 

Available standard data for pre-population in a section tagged FEATR are:

Contact prefill into nFORM

Populated from view:  nFormImport.SOURCE_CONTCT

Section Prefill

Contact data can be filtered for prefill/autofill into nFORM Submissions by using a special Tag syntax on the Section where the contact type code to filter for is suffixed onto the tag after a dollar sign. For example Tag CONTCT$BILLING would filter only for contacts with affiliation type BILLING.

Single Contact Prefill (v2023.01+)

If a contact control on any section that allows prefill is tagged XXXXX${AFFIL CODE} (e.g. APPLCNT$BILLING) then it will be prefilled with the most recently entered contact of type BILLING for that regulated entity (e.g. Site). The prefix (XXXXX) of the tag can also match the same or a different affiliation type and will be imported into nCore if so.

In summary: {Export AFFIL CODE}${ Prefill AFFIL CODE}. So for example OWNR$OWNR would prefill with the Owner contact, and would export to nCore as a new version of that Owner. If the {Export AFFIL CODE} does not match a valid AFFIL code, then it will not be pulled back into nCore, it will just remain in nForm, but still can be reported on in nVisage.