Secure Internal Data Gathering?

[jcarlson]

I am a front end focused coder with very limited database experience. One of the non-profits I volunteer for needs a web based tool to collect form data for it's students. They will need multiple web based forms for internal data entry. Ex. student registration, goal setting, progress and so on. Reporting progress based on the data entered across these forms will be very important.

They are hoping for an admin interface with a few user roles to access each form to enter data. An admin role could access and edit everything and create all types of user accounts. A volunteer mentor, for example, would have data entry privileges but for security and data integrity, this role would not be allowed to edit or delete data entered on any form.

I've researched many open source and low cost options for the organization and so far this tool looks the most promising as a foundation. We've placed ads through United Way and others to find a volunteer to help create this web based tool as described above, but its been tough to find people to volunteer for this type of work.

So my question is... based on what you know about Form Tools and the needs of the non-profit (horizons4girls.com), if I did my best to self teach skills needed - is Form Tools a feasible solution?

Thanks!!

[alexh]

Yes, it is definitely a feasible solution. Best of all there is no cost involved! If you are only using it for internal data entry, you might not even need to create the web forms. If you create an internal form, you will have the ability to do data entry on the back end without any coding. Of course if you want to gather data from outside, such as from the public, you can create a web form or use the Form Builder module to create a web form for you. There are several ways you can customize who has access to what.

You can specify precisely what form information can be viewed and edited, down to each and every form field. We tried to balance functionality with usability to allow for this, so please let us know if you feel certain functionality is missing, or if the user interface is unclear. (Taken right from the documentation).

Good luck, and post any questions you have along the way!

[jcarlson]

Hi Alex,

Thank you so much for responding so quickly. This is very good news!

Thanks!
Julie

Yes, it is definitely a feasible solution. Best of all there is no cost involved! If you are only using it for internal data entry, you might not even need to create the web forms. If you create an internal form, you will have the ability to do data entry on the back end without any coding. Of course if you want to gather data from outside, such as from the public, you can create a web form or use the Form Builder module to create a web form for you. There are several ways you can customize who has access to what.

You can specify precisely what form information can be viewed and edited, down to each and every form field. We tried to balance functionality with usability to allow for this, so please let us know if you feel certain functionality is missing, or if the user interface is unclear. (Taken right from the documentation).

Good luck, and post any questions you have along the way!