Configuring devices to receive custom data forms
When you set up devices, you can configure them to receive custom data forms. You must choose to install the custom data forms component, and specify custom data form options on the agent configuration dialog.
In the agent configuration dialog, you need to specify how you want to update forms on the device:
- Automatic update: If all of the forms are stored centrally (automatic updates), users check a single location for new forms. That way, when a new form is available, all devices looking there have immediate access to it. The disadvantage is that users may see forms that aren't relevant to them.
- Manual update: If forms are stored locally (manual updates), you'll need to distribute the forms to the users that need to fill them out. There is less network overhead because each device has its own copy of the form. The benefit of local forms is that you can limit the forms users see to only those that are relevant to them. You copy forms to devices during device setup or with the Scheduled Tasks tool.
You also need to specify when forms will be shown on the device:
- On startup: The device's form viewer checks for any new or modified forms each time the device boots. The form viewer launches after the operating system loads. The next time the inventory scanner runs, it sends completed forms to the core database.
- When the inventory scanner runs: The inventory scanner starts the form viewer, which checks for any new or modified forms. As soon as users finish filling out the form and close the form viewer, the scan finishes and the data is entered in the core database.
- When launched from the Ivanti program folder: The form viewer can be launched manually from the Endpoint Manager program group. The next time the inventory scanner runs, it sends completed forms to the core database.
You can also use the Scheduled tasks window to launch the form viewer on devices at a predefined time. In this scenario, use the Scheduled tasks window to first distribute the forms to devices. Make sure to allow enough time to distribute the forms before you use the scheduled task scriptable jobs feature to run the form viewer.