Using Forms for RFI?

[Glenn_Fick]

I would like to use airtable Forms to track Requests for Interpretation with my Architect. Here’s what I’m struggling with…
I want to fill out each RFI with the information I’m requesting comments on. Each form will be a different request. Once I’ve filled out the Question, I want to share the form for the Architect’s Response. I only see ways to share the same blank form every time.

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

your formula is dynamic doesn’t do @Glenn_Fick any good, if he has to continually keep giving people a constantly-updated URL

Well, that’s just it, he doesn’t have to keep giving people an updated URL - I surmised that each RFI is a two-stage process:

1. He primes a form with some basic data.
2. He asks an architect to embellish that data.

The first record created by the form is the “primed record” and its sole objective it to craft a dynamic pre-filled form link that the architect is assigned to complete.

Once the architect completes her embellishment, the newly-created instance of the primed record (we’ll call it “prime-plus”) is now complete and likely enters process stage three which is not disclosed by Glenn.

Views and filters are able to work their magic to shield Glenn and other workers from earlier states of the process (i.e., filtering out all but the latest version of the same workflow states).

Indeed, we’ve said more than enough - Glenn can chime in to see if this works for his business.

[ScottWorld]

Bill.French:

Indeed, we’ve said more than enough - Glenn can chime in to see if this works for his business.

LOL, yes. At this point, we’re just trying to deduct how Glenn wants to run his business. :winking_face:

[Glenn_Fick]

Thanks guys! Let me digest all this when I have time and get back to you. I truly appreciate the input. Trying to balance getting my work done with optimizing new software…

[ScottWorld]

You’re welcome! Also, if you have a budget for this project and need to hire an Airtable consultant to help you with this, feel free to send me a private message.

[Sean_Bradley]

I know this is a long dead thread, but I stumbled across it while looking up a different question...

But Bill is right. There is a way to do this natively. I've been really cheap and have not paid the $110/mo for MiniExt and have done a very similar thing on many bases.

Bill's explanation is pretty spot on (I use it more to update records than to create new ones).

If you need the form to refill with all of the latest info... just have a standalone table with one record with all the necessary lookups to contain all the prefill info you want. (You can update it w an automation upon each form submission if you wish). Make a gallery view. Pare down the visible fields to just having the formula driven URL visible. Share that gallery view. The client then has to click twice. Once on the static URL you share (the one-card-gallery view) and then again on that dynamic link on the card in the gallery view.
Certainly not a pretty solution. But if you don't want to add/pay for externals it is doable within airtable alone.

(You could probably also just do this w Bills original primer record being automation-updated instead of a whole extra table- and filter the gallery view for that one record. I'm certainly guilty of making bases way more complicated than need be.)