Combining the Different Modular Pieces to Build an Adaptive Form

We have looked at the different features that exist within Adobe Experience Manager Forms which allows for the ability to design, build and maintain modular forms. Templates are the fundamental piece allowing the separation of shared structural elements in forms.  Themes empower marketing teams to manage the appearance of organizational branding from a central location without needing to rely on a technical team to be able to make changes. Fragments grant business owners the ability to control content and allow IT to create technical elements that business users can reference when needed rather than relying on IT every time a technical aspect appears in a form. The last feature we looked at was an adaptive form itself. Embedding adaptive forms within each other allows for a user to build out portfolios of required forms rather than having to point to multiple forms at a time.

Understanding the different features is one thing, being able to implement a modular design that leverages the extent of the Adobe Experience Manager Forms features takes experience. The first step in the process is to perform a form analysis on your current forms. It is critical to be able to identify:

1. What pieces are shared among the different forms?
2. What is the frequency or likeliness that the content will change?
3. Who owns the responsibility for the different pieces?
4. What pieces are part of the forms framework vs the function of the form?
5. Are there any sections with complex logic?
6. Are there combinations of forms that need to be completed together?
7. Does a form design require a different appearance while maintaining the functionality?

After having an understanding of your forms you can start building the different sections into the appropriate Adobe Experience Manager Forms feature. Once your sections have been built it is simply a matter at specifying the parts you want for each form along with the individual content that is unique to each design.

Although a modular design does take time upfront to be able to separate the different pieces the maintenance is drastically reduced. The idea of modular form design eliminates duplicates and ensures that the current version of content is always being used.