Forms Tracking Utility

Introduction

The Forms Tracking Utility (FTU) is a service provided by Administrative Information Services (AIS). This service includes a software application product along with full support services. It is a technology solution designed to meet the business requirements of any university department and/or office unit. Virtually all MSU offices and departments are the direct customers of the FTU. FTU helps to increase efficiency, eliminate waste, and facilitate greater ease of form routing and approval through a user-friendly software interface. All people involved in the signature process benefit, as initiators, reviewers, approvers, and administrators alike will quickly and easily type and click their way to streamlined, organized, electronically routed University form approvals.

What Is It?

FTU allows multiple campus units to develop electronically routed and tracked, multi-signature web forms through a consistent design interface. Electronic forms allow efficient, paperless transactions for various university business functions. FTU automates the challenge of form routing and approval tracking.

What Does It Do?

FTU provides the following features, benefits, and advantages:

One place for approvers to act on University-wide forms

Form application developers need not write their own “routing engine”

Potential for routes to be customized for particular units or accounts, without changing form application programs

Establishes an electronic “buck slip”

Automates the approval step in electronic workflow processes

Provides a common record of approvals

Designed to support hierarchical and horizontal approval flows

Enables process improvement by promoting "paperlessness"

Provides a means to reduce bureaucratic delay

Supports process improvement leading to cost containment

Provides the opportunity to revisit the degree of delegation a "form" requires

What is Included?

The Major Components of FTU are:

	FTU Dashboard application: A web-based application to support review, approval, and tracking of form instances. This application provides the initiator, approver and reviewer interface to the FTU system.
	FTU Dashboard Administration application: A web-based application to support FTU form and route definition and maintenance. The administration application is a hidden part of the FTU Dashboard and provides Central and Unit administrators with FTU form maintenance and administration capabilities.
	FTU Role Administration application: A web-based application to maintain person, department, account, process/review roles, and relationship data. This application provides the administrative user interface to the FTU system to maintain people, groups, responsibilities and groups memberships.
	A library of API’s (Application Programming Interface) that can be used by any web-based application to incorporate form approval/review/tracking functionality within the client application.
	Sample Form Applications: Provided to demonstrate Form Application and FTU interfaces.
	A set of automated tasks for electronic routing slip batch/mass operations.
	FTU Routing Engine: The part of FTU that processes routing slips, email notifications and other internal functions to create a smooth user experience from form initiation to form completion.
	Security: Implements Single Sign On security feature, using D6501 and Sentinel authentication and authorization.
	Form Instance Auditing: Includes full record of approvals for each form instance on a form-specific basis.
	FTU Administration Actions Auditing: Includes full audit record of administrative actions.

How Do I Get Started?

Contact the AIS Help and Support Center at ais311@msu.edu or call 353-4420, ext. 311

Documentation

Click the "Documentation/Training" button (http://ftu.ais.msu.edu/FTUDocTrain.html) to access FTU Online Documentation in PDF and html formats. No Login is required.

Training

Click the "Documentation/Training" button (http://ftu.ais.msu.edu/FTUDocTrain.html) to view FTU Dashboard training options and available training materials.

Additional training information appears on the FTU Frequently Asked Questions web page. FAQ's may be accessed from the FTU login page's "Information" box or by navigating to http://ftu.ais.msu.edu/FTUFAQ.html.

If you need assistance with training or if you have any questions, you may contact the AIS Help and Support Center by email at ais311@ais.msu.edu or by calling 353-4420 x311 (Monday through Friday, 7:45 am to 5:00 pm). A member of the AIS FTU support staff will then contact you.