Connecting Kuali Build to Tufts Systems

Depending on your specific goal, granting access to Tufts users or groups to respond to your form or interact with a submitted form (e.g. as an approver) will be set up one of two ways.

• Who can respond to your form?
  • By default, when distributing your form for others to fill out, the form is inaccessible unless a user is explicitly given permissions. You can grant access for specific Tufts individuals or groups of Tufts individuals (such as the Arts & Sciences faculty) on the Permissions screen. See Configuring Access to Your Kuali Build App.
• Who will interact with a submitted form?
  • When setting up a workflow, you can choose specific Tufts individuals or groups of Tufts individuals to approve, acknowledge, or be notified of a submitted form. See Configuring a Workflow (What Happens After the Form Is Submitted?).

Note: To ensure only Tufts users can see Tufts information, data lookup gadgets described in this section cannot be used if you have your form configured to be taken anonymously.

You can pull Tufts users, groups, or department information into your form for questions or as read-only information. For example, you can create a question in your form to identify specific Tufts users as research colleagues or have Kuali Build display an individual’s supervisor.

 

You’ll connect to Tufts information using data lookup gadgets in your form. The three data lookup gadgets are:

• Data Lookup (Single Item). This gadget is a read only gadgets that looks up and displays the username of a user in the form or their supervisor. For example,
   
• The Data Lookup (List) and Data Lookup (Multiselect) are question gadgets that display a list of choices for the user to choose from.
   

When configuring a data lookup gadget, you will need to choose the data source, or where Kuali Build should look for information. Lists of Tufts users, Tufts departments, etc. are already set up in Kuali Build for you – you just need to connect your gadget to it.

For example, let’s add a Data Lookup (List) gadget to our form so our user can choose a single item from a dropdown list.
 

1. We’ll drag and drop the Data Lookup (List) gadget from the left panel to our form.
    
2. We’ll write our question in the gadget label; then, under Data Source, select Choose.
    
3. For a data source, choose whichever suits your needs. For this example, we’ll choose Kuali Data, then Users. Different gadgets have different data source options.
    
4. Kuali Build tells us there is no additional required field setup needed for this data source, so we’ll click Continue.
    
5. The data source will appear in the gadget setup.
    
6. We’re done! If we preview the form, we can click in this question field to choose from a list of Tufts users.
   
    

The data source options for different gadgets will change depending on the gadget and the permissions that you have.

Some data sources will require that you enter a UTLN and prompt you for more information. For example, we can configure a Data Lookup (Single Item) gadget to look up a user’s supervisor:
 

1. When we configure the data source to choose HRMS_getSupervisorInfo, Kuali Build informs us that more information is needed.
    
2. When we click Continue, the data configuration panel prompts us for the UTLN (username) of the employee.
   • You can enter a Fixed Value:
      
   • Or, you can choose From data in this form and choose where in the form Kuali Build can find the employee’s UTLN.
     Tip: “Submitter – Username” will choose the user who submitted the form.
      

Tip: You can use questions as data sources for other questions! Experiment to configure multiple advanced gadgets that interact with each other and build complex layers of pulling Tufts information. For example, use a Data Lookup (List) gadget to have the form respondent choose a Tufts user, then use a Data Lookup (Single Item) gadget to display the supervisor of the chosen Tufts user.

Integration with ServiceNow or Salesforce is only available for some departments at Tufts, and the appropriate business/functional owners of either should be contacted if you plan to do so.

• For ServiceNow (a.k.a. TechConnect), you'll need to work with Tufts Technology Services.
• For Salesforce HR and Finance related processes, you'll need to work with Tufts Support Services.

If you need your Kuali Build app to integrate with either service, please contact kuali-build-support@elist.tufts.edu to get started.

When setting up an integration that will send information to an API, you’ll likely want to change the JSON key that the outgoing data is identified by.

Important: Changing this after an app is published can affect the functionality of your integration. Before setting up your integration, map out your app, workflow, and expected integrations and configuration requirements.

1. Navigate to the Form section of your app.
    
2. Click a gadget whose JSON key you'd like to change.
   
3. Near the bottom of the configuration panel on the right, toggle on Custom column name and enter the name you’d like to appear on the Document List.
   
   

To see more information on Kuali Build and APIs, you can look at Kuali Build’s Developer documentation.