IT Department Applications Database

Submitted by vgebhart on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 2:20pm

Hey All,

Total newb to Formulize but I've used drupal for most of my latest projects, but was thinking it was overkill and didn't like the webform module for this application. I'll probably have started banging my way through but wanted to query the group for some guidance. Here's what I'm trying to accomplish:

IT Department - has many Applications, Servers, Databases, Users

Want entry form where User can define the following:

App Name -> 1-1
Vendor -> Could be several apps with same vendor
Version, patch, etc.
Server -> Can be Many - Many
Database -> Can be Many - Many
Maintenance Contract - Y/N
Expiration Date
Sales Contact - Would like to link to vendor?
Tech Contact - ditto

I'm thinking my best plan is to create several forms:

Vendor
Applications
Departments
Servers
Databases

Then I'd begin to populate the Servers, Databases, etc and create links between the nodes.

Am I on the right track?

‹ Changes in new formulize? Solved code problems in Formulize 3.12 ›

Comments

Interesting project, here's how I'd set it up

Submitted by Julian Egelstaff on Tue, 05/25/2010 - 9:25am.

First thing to know if you didn't already....there is a drupal module available in the SVN repository, which you can use to synch Formulize and Drupal. It's not 100% perfected, but it will at least ensure user synch between the two systems, and will be extended to synch roles/groups as well. Perhaps you can help complete that part. :-)

Anyway, as far as the Formulize app goes...

I'm not sure what you mean by the App Name would be 1-1? But in general, you could create a form for each entity that you're managing. So having a form for:

Vendors
Applications
Departments
Servers
Databases

Makes sense, like you say. The Applications, Servers and Databases forms would have linked selectboxes that point to vendors and to departments I expect? The server form would have a linked selectbox that points to applications and to databases as well?

A lot depends on the workflow you expect people to follow. Formulize is very user-focused, and tries to setup the right data model for you, based on what your user workflow is.

So if people need to manage a list of servers, then you want a server form, and it probably has a linked selectbox that points to applications, which may be maintained by an admin in a separate form.

But if people need to manage a list of applications, if that's the primary thing they're doing, then maybe the applications form has a linked selectboxes that point to the servers and databases forms.

So a lot depends on how you want people to be able to work with stuff. Often you work from the interface backwards, at least I find myself doing that. What are the screens I want people to interact with. OK, now what kinds of data/forms do I need to have for them to work with those screens.

I recommend checking out the PDF How to Design a Formulize Application, which can hopefully help with this decision making.

Sorry for the great delay in replying. I hope you have found a good way forward with Formulize, or otherwise. Let us know how it's going.

--Julian