Columns changed in a heavily used FORM causing chaos

I recently was asked to add several new fields to a form that is used quite a bit, globally. I've received complaints from Kenya and the USA letting me know that there was an error message when they tried to submit their application. The URL address is the same.

Does it sound reasonable that they may have opened the URL address BEFORE the changes were made, closed it, then came back to it when they were ready? I really need to clear this up immediately.

Second thought - when I make major changes to a form, should I create a NEW version of that form so that the URL address is different?

Thank you for any and all help!

Kitty Sandel

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Accepted answers

Aravind GP

Hi Kitty,

It is possible that they might have accessed the form before the changes were completed as you would've been editing an existing form that has a single URL. Your second thought is better, where you can duplicate the existing form and modify it with additional fields and let your users know before you deactivate the old form and roll out the new form, which will have a new URL.

Thanks,

Aravind

All comments

Aravind GP

Hi Kitty,

Thanks,

Aravind

Kitty

Thank you so much. I thought I was losing my mind for a minute, and your comments confirmed what I hoped was happening and what would be the best "go around" - Again - thank you!

Kitty

Dale Murphy

From a change management perspective, having to push out a new URL to everyone who may have bookmarked it will be tricky. Your technical team probably has change windows you may want to fit into.

(I have started to embed a version control field in forms. The field has a default value using a naming convention like FORMv1 or a release date stamp. I update that hidden value whenever a significant change is made to a form in case there is an issue like yours. (I don't think any of mine have the volume of use you are dealing with though!)

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