Thursday, October 19, 2017

forms - Interface to merge suggested updates with existing information


I'm building an application that will let a record administrator merge updates submitted by the general public with an internal record. Records include contact information, qualifications, etc. Information is captured from the general public using text fields, drop lists, check boxes, and radio buttons.



The updates are placed in a pending area. All changes to the internal record must then be approved by the administrator. Often times, the administrator will approve all the suggested changes, however there are cases when the administrator must consider the change, and possibly override the suggestion.


Pending vs Current


I started building two copies of the form side-by-side. All user submitted fields were open for editing. Changes could be applied by section (i.e. Address, Qualifications, etc.), or by field. The result was a very intimidating form with far too much going on.


What is the best way to compare the information from two forms, and merge the two forms together?



Answer



It would be great to see your form to provide more relevant results. Anyway, there are several ways to provide merge capability to the form, I will try to provide several conceptual idea in order to provide some starting point for you.


So ideas are the following:



  1. Do not change the form, but balloons in order to show changed value. Optionally you can let user apply all or cancel all changes.

  2. Modify form components (edit fields, etc) to let user switch values. This solution is not flexible enough and highly component dependent.


  3. Use common approach, put old values on the left, new on the right and let user do the rest. Optionally you can hide empty or not-changed fields


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