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Bulk Actions Plugin

Thomas Hardy
  • Updated

The Bulk Actions Plugin is a replacement for the older plugins Bulk Edit and Bulk Delete. These latter tools have been deprecated and are no longer supported by WizeHive. 

If you are using a workspace that currently relies on Bulk Edit and Bulk Delete, and would like to upgrade to Bulk Actions, this plugin can be installed for free by workspace users who have a permissions role of Administrator or Owner from the Marketplace. If you would like assistance with installing this plugin, please reach out to the Zengine Support Team.

Contents

Overview

The Bulk Actions Plugin is an incredibly useful and versatile tool for Zengine workspace administrators. It allows workspace users to perform a number of different actions in “bulk” - that is, to many records at once in a specific form. These actions include:

  1. Making a single edit (either to a field or a folder change) to multiple records from the same form at once
  2. Deleting multiple records from the same form
  3. Generate documents from a template for many records at the same time
  4. Download one or more attached files from upload field(s) from multiple records in a single ZIP file

This article will discuss these actions in more detail and explore some common use cases for each, before describing how to use the Bulk Actions tool to perform any of these four actions to affect multiple records from the same form at once.

 

Bulk Actions: Description and Features

Using the Bulk Actions tool to affect multiple records at the same time can be done with four simple steps:

  1. First, determine which form contains the records that should be affected with one of the possible actions.
  2. Next, indicate which records on that form should be affected. Bulk Actions includes a Filter that can be set to only show records from that form that meet the filter conditions; alternately, users can elect to affect all records on the form, or manually select specific records to be included.
  3. Choose which action you want to perform: edit records, delete records, generate documents, or download attachments.

  1. Finally, depending on which action was chosen, define the parameters of the action: the edit to be made, which template should be used to generate a document, or which fields contain attached files that should be downloaded.

Users can also customize the appearance of the records that appear on screen by showing or hiding certain columns/fields or changing the number of records that appear on a page. (See the section Using the Bulk Actions Plugin below for more information..)

Let’s take a look at these four actions in a little more detail, along with some common use-cases, before continuing. 

 

Edit

The Edit action allows workspace administrators to edit information on multiple records at one time in a specific form. Once a form has been chosen, the screen will populate with records from that form; administrators will then be prompted to which field should be edited, and what the edit should be. This edit will be made to all selected records in the same way. If several different edits need to be made to different batches of records, then the Edit action must be performed multiple times - once for each edit.

This can be used for a wide variety of different purposes. Here are a few common examples:

  • Use-Case 1: the Edit action is ideally suited for changing the folder status of batches of primary form (i.e., an application) records. These batches usually represent cohorts or groups of applications progressing through a workflow. For example, Bulk Actions can be used to change the folder status of recently submitted applications to a folder representing the first review stage. 
    • Another example would be putting all reviewed applications over a certain score threshold into the “Awarded” folder, and all those below that threshold in the “Not Awarded” folder. Administrators would perform this in two actions, and use the Filter tool to separate the applications above and below the score threshold.
  • Use-Case 2: If an administrator needs to add a new required field to a form, or change the validation options for a field, any existing records in that form must meet the validation rules for that field (or have any data in the required field). Bulk Actions can be used to quickly and easily add placeholder data into that field for existing records. 

Note: the Edit action cannot be used to upload attachments to Upload fields, and will not affect automated fields, such as Summary or Calculation fields. For more information on field types, see the article Form Builder Overview (Field Types).

 

Delete

The Delete action allows program administrators to delete multiple records from a form in a single action. Once a form has been chosen, the screen will populate with records from that form, and administrators can individually select records to be deleted or use the Filter tool to display only certain records. 

There may be several reasons why program administrators would want to delete a batch of records:

  • Use-Case 1: A program cycle has ended and while preparing for the start of a new cycle, administrators want to remove old applications that have not been awarded from a form. There are many ways to handle old data such as this, but using Bulk Actions to delete all records in the “Not Awarded” folder, for example, is perfectly valid if program administrators want to continue using the same form and submission portal setup.
  • Use-Case 2: Program administrators want to remove some external reviewers from the system who no longer participate in review cycles. However, all of their old review feedback - which exists in the workspace as child records linked to each reviewer - must be deleted before the reviewer can be removed.

Note: Records can only be deleted if there are no dependent child records linked to them. Selecting a record from the Bulk Actions screen will display any related child records that must be deleted or unlinked first. (For more information on parent and child records, see the article Linking Forms (Form Relationships).) 

 

Generate Document

The Generate Document action allows administrators to generate documents from a template for multiple records in a single action. The documents that will be generated must be set up first in the Document Templates plugin, and administrators will be able to select which template they want to generate for the selected records in Bulk Actions.

  • Use-Case: There is really only one intended use for this action, which is to generate documents from a template that are individualized for specific applicants in bulk. The most common example would be to generate Award Letters or Grant Agreement documents for awarded applicants. While this can be done one at a time from the form view of each record, it saves substantial time to do so in a larger batch, as program administrators can perform other tasks while the system is generating and uploading these documents in the background. 

Note: When a template is created in Document Templates, it is configured to generate the document and upload it to a specific field on a form. As a result, administrators using Bulk Actions to generate a document from a template can only select a template that is configured for the form selected; if no templates are set up for the form that has been selected in Bulk Actions, this Generate Document button will appear, but no options will be available from which to generate a document. 

 

Download

Finally, the Download action can be used to download attached files from one or multiple File Upload fields for many records from the same form in one action. Administrators can specify which File Upload fields contain attachments that they would like to download, and which records should be included in the bulk download. These attached files will be packaged together in a single .ZIP file, which can be downloaded by administrators.

The number of reasons this might be useful is as varied as the number of attached files that might be requested or stored on a form in  Zengine, but here are a few examples:

  • Use-Case 1: Exporting data views is a good way to back up the data from different forms contained in a workspace, but this function does not include attached files. The Download action in  Bulk Actions can be used to download any attached files for backup storage outside of Zengine.
  • Use-Case 2: Some programs may use applicant-submitted documents, videos, or photos for promotional and marketing purposes, and the Download action allows administrators to download these files more quickly and easily than doing so record-by-record.
  • Use-Case 3: A program workflow may involve steps outside of Zengine to actually process award payments, and this may involve exporting data and/or documents (such as Award Letters or Disbursement statements) generated in Zengine using the Document Templates plugin. The Download action in Bulk Actions allows administrators to quickly download these financial and award documents and easily provide them to finance staff members for payment processing and disbursement. 

These four actions are flexible enough to handle nearly any requirement a program administrator may have for processing records in bulk. 

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Using the Bulk Actions Plugin

Using Bulk Actions begins with navigating to the tool and entering which form contains the records upon which one of the four actions described above will be taken. Records from that form will appear on screen, and Zengine users can change this view by setting a filter, changing the fields which appear on screen as columns,  or changing the number of records that appear on each page. Once the user selects an action, however, the process differs somewhat from action to action (see below, Performing Bulk Actions).

To begin using Bulk Actions: 

  1. Navigate to the tool by selecting the Bulk Actions icon in the blue toolbar at the top of your screen (note that the appearance of each workspace may differ slightly from the example in the image).

  1. The following screen will appear. From the dropdown menu labeled -Select a form-, choose the workspace form that contains the records to be affected using one of the four available actions. 

  1. Once a form is selected, a number of records will be displayed on the main section of the page. At this point, users can also create a filter to isolate specific records, change the appearance of the Record Display Section, or choose one of the four actions to continue.

  • A - Form Selection Dropdown: This dropdown designates the form which contains the records to be affected using one of the four actions. Changing this will change the records that display on screen in the Record Display Section (F).
  • B - Filter: Select the Filter button to open up a screen overlay and set a filter (see the article Filtering for more information on using this tool). This will change the records shown in the Record Display Section (F) to only those that match the filter criteria. 
  • C - Number of Records to Display per Page: Select this dropdown to choose the number of records that will be displayed on a single page. Users can choose to display 20, 50, 100, or 200 records on a single page.
  • D - Display Columns: Select this button to open a screen overlay labeled Display Columns on the right side of the screen. This will list every available field on the form selected in the Form Selection Dropdown. Users can check or uncheck the box next to each field to show or hide each field as a column in the Record Display Section (this will update as boxes are checked or unchecked). 

Users can also check or uncheck all fields/columns by using the two buttons in the upper right corner (highlighted with a red box in the image above).

  • E - Action Buttons: Select one of these four buttons to set the specific parameters for each action (see the section below Performing Bulk Actions). Note that the Download button may not appear if there are no File Upload fields on the selected form. 
  • F - Record Display Section: The main portion of the page will display information related to each record from the form selected. The information displayed can be changed using the Display Columns (D) button, while the records that are displayed can be changed using the Filter (B) tool.
  • G - Batches Running: This button will display the number of Bulk Actions jobs currently in progress. If no batches are currently running, this button will appear white and display the number “0”. Select this button to open a screen overlay labeled Action History on the right side of the screen. 

Action History Pane

The Action History overlay pane will list the completion status (Pending, In Progress, Completed, or Failed) of any batch jobs (under Action Name) that have run or are currently running in Bulk Actions, along with the date and time of the last status update.

A Bulk Actions “job” that appears on this list can include any action too large to perform in a few seconds, such as:

  • Generate Documents - generating PDF documents requires a fair number of system resources, and can take several minutes for a small number of documents, or several hours for a job attempting to generate hundreds. 
  • Downloads - most batch file download jobs will only take a few seconds to a few minutes, but may take longer for a large number of records. In addition, the resulting .ZIP file can be downloaded from here by selecting the Action Name for a Completed job (in the example image above, this would be the Download | Test 2 job). 
  • Most Edit and Delete jobs involving fewer than several dozen records can be done very quickly, but those affecting several hundred or thousand records will take longer, and these will appear in the Action History pane. 

Return to Contents

 

Performing Bulk Actions

After setting a filter and changing the appearance of the Record Display Section as needed, the next step is to determine which action to perform, define the parameters, and select which records should be identified. 

Edit Records

To perform the Edit action on multiple records:

  1. Once the form which contains records to be edited has been selected and a filter has been set (optional), select the Edit button below the -Select a form- dropdown  menu. 

  1. This section of the screen will change to show new options:

  1. Select the dropdown menu labeled Change, which will show all fields from the form selected. Select the field to be edited. (Note that the fields shown will vary depending on the specific form selected, and will differ from those shown in the example image below.)

  1. Select the dropdown menu labeled To and select or enter the value that the Change field should be changed to. 

 

The options that appear will be context dependent: a single-select dropdown field will display the options available for that field; a date field will prompt users to select a date; a text or text box field will allow users to enter in a desired value, and so forth. 

Note that fields with validation rules set (such as number fields, or text fields set to only accept email addresses, for example) will allow any input in this field, but will not actually change the value of selected records if the value entered violates those validation rules.

  1. Next, select which records should be included in the Edit action. There are three ways to select records:
    • Select the Edit All checkbox to select all records included in the Filter that was set for this action (see the section Using the Bulk Actions Plugin above for more information on setting a filter). If no filter is set, all records on the form will be included in the action.

    • Select the checkbox next in the upper-left corner of the Record Display Section (next to the first column heading) to select all records displayed on the page. Note that this will only include records on the page; if more records are included in the Filter that appear on subsequent pages, they will not be included in this method.

    • Finally, individual records can be selected by checking the box next to each record displayed in the Record Display Section. 

  1. The final step is to select the blue Edit button to initiate the Edit action. The Edit button will display the number of records that have been selected and will be edited. Select Cancel to clear the screen and revert back to the previous screen.

A popup message will appear asking to confirm the action. Select Yes to make the change, or Close to return to the previous screen and continue configuring the Edit action.  

 

Once an Edit action has been successfully confirmed, the popup message will close, the Bulk Actions screen will return to the original page, and a message will appear at the top of the screen confirming Records Edited. Refresh the browser page to take additional actions on records using Bulk Actions, or return to the data view of the form to review the changes.

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Set Records to Draft Using Edit

The Edit action can be used to set multiple records from the same form to Draft status in a single action. 

To change multiple records to a Draft status using the Edit action:

  1. Access the Bulk Actions Plugin, select the form in the -Select form- dropdown menu, and set any filters as described above (Performing Bulk Actions). Select the Edit option from the Bulk Actions buttons (see above, Edit Records). 
  2. In the Change dropdown, choose the isComplete option. This option determines whether the record will be in a Draft status or a Complete status. 
  3. In the To dropdown, select false. This will set the “isComplete” tag for any selected records to “false,” meaning that the records will be set to Draft status.

  1.  Select the records to be edited and execute the Edit action on those records following the instructions above (see the section Edit Records). The selected records will be set to Draft status.

If any records already in Draft status are selected as part of this action, those records will not be affected.

Note that any Draft records can also be changed to Complete status using the instructions above, but selecting true instead of false in Step 3. This action will only be possible if all selected records to be edited have no validation errors (i.e., if those records have values entered for all required fields). 

 

Clearing Values Using Edit

The Edit action can also be used to clear values for multiple records - that is, set the value for a field to be empty, clearing any values already in a specific field for any selected records. Note that this can only be done for non-required fields on a form, or for any required fields only if the record is currently in Draft status.

To clear values for all selected records using the Edit action:

  1. Access Bulk Actions, select the form in the -Select form- dropdown menu, and set any filters as described above (Performing Bulk Actions). Select the Edit option from the Bulk Actions buttons (see above, Edit Records). 
  2. In the Change dropdown, select the field for which values should be cleared, as would be done for any normal Edit action. 
  3. In the To dropdown, the correct action depends on the field type selected in the Change option above. 
    • If the field chosen is a Text, Text Box, Date, or Number field: Select (or click) the To box so the cursor shows, but do not enter anything. Once you can see the cursor in the To box, select somewhere else on screen. The box should remain empty, but a green check mark will appear. This is confirming that the current value in the chosen field should be replaced with a blank value.

    • If the field chosen is a Dropdown (including State, Country, or Year), Radio Button, or Checkbox field: Select the To box and choose the blank option just below the -Select- option. This represents a blank value, which will clear any existing values in the field chosen.

  1.  Select the records to be edited and execute the Edit action on those records following the instructions above (see the section Edit Records). The values in the field chosen will be cleared and left blank.

Limitations:

  • Clearing values from a field using Bulk Actions can only be done if either the chosen field is not a required field, or if it is, the records selected are in Draft status.
    • If the field is required, and that field is a single-select or multi-select field, the “blank” option in the dropdown menu displaying available options will not be present unless a filter is applied to only show records in Draft status. This can be done with the filter condition “Draft is True (Show only drafts)”. 

    • If the field is required, and that field is a Text, Text Box, Date, or Number field, attempting to clear values in that field will produce an error message at the top of the screen unless the filter “Draft is True” is applied. 

    • If you want to make a change to required fields for completed records, it may be helpful to change these records to Draft status first (see above, Set Records to Draft Using Edit), since a record cannot be marked complete if one or more required fields are missing values.
  • Some field types, such as Linked Form fields, cannot be cleared using Bulk Actions.

Return to Contents

 

Delete Records

Deleting records will delete the record and any information contained therein. This action cannot be undone, so be sure that the correct records have been selected before confirming the delete action. 

To delete multiple records in the same action:

  1. Once the form which contains records to be deleted has been selected and a filter has been set (optional), select the Delete button below the -Select a form- dropdown  menu. 

  1. This section of the screen will change to show new options:

In addition, a new pane labeled Related Records appears on the right side of the screen, next to the Record Display Section. (See Related Records below for information.)

  1. Next, select which records should be included in the Delete action. There are three ways to select records:
    • Select the Delete All checkbox to select all records included in the Filter that was set for this action (see the section Using the Bulk Actions Plugin above for more information on setting a filter). If no filter is set, all records on the form will be included in the action.

    • Select the checkbox next in the upper-left corner of the Record Display Section (next to the first column heading) to select all records displayed on the page. Note that this will only include records on the page; if more records are included in the Filter that appear on subsequent pages, they will not be included in this method.

 

    • Finally, individual records can be selected by checking the box next to each record displayed in the Record Display Section. 

  1. The final step is to select the red Delete button to initiate the Delete action. The Edit button will display the number of records that have been selected and will be deleted. Select Cancel to clear the screen and revert back to the previous screen.

A popup message will appear asking to confirm the action. Select Yes to delete the records, or Close to return to the previous screen and continue configuring the Delete action.  

Once a Delete action has been successfully confirmed, the popup message will close, the Bulk Actions screen will return to the original page, and a message will appear at the top of the screen confirming Records Deleted. Refresh the browser page to take additional actions on records using Bulk Actions, or return to the data view of the form to review the changes.

 

Related Records

Records can only be deleted if there are no dependent child records that are linked to a record to be deleted. If a user attempts to delete records with linked child records, Zengine will prevent this and display a popup message listing any dependent records that must be resolved first.

 

However, to assist with this, the Bulk Actions Delete function includes the Related Records pane to show which records have linked child records that must be resolved first. (To learn more about child records and form relationships, see the article Linking Forms (Form Relationships)). 

The Related Records pane appears once the Delete action has been selected. It will display any related records on child forms that are linked to a selected record in the Record Display Area. This means that, at first, it will display “No related records” until one or more records are selected. 

Selecting the checkbox next to a single record will change the Related Records pane and display any linked child records:

  • A - The first section will display the current record name of the record selected.
  • B - Any linked child records will be displayed in the second section below that.

Each set of linked child records will be displayed separately, organized by the form to which they belong. Selecting the name of a linked child record from the Related Records pane will open a new browser tab or window displaying the form view of that record.

Because a record can only be deleted if it has no dependent child records, users must resolve any linked records before continuing.  This can be done by deleting all child records or de-linking child records from the record to be deleted. Both can be accomplished by selecting the name of a child record listed in the Related Records pane to open the form view of that record and following the directions in the article Deleting a Record. 

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Generate Documents from a Template

The Bulk Actions Generate Document function can be used to generate a document that has been set up in Document Templates for multiple records from a specific form. The document template must be configured to a specific form and File Upload field in advance. This action may take Zengine a while to generate templates for each record, depending on the length of the document and the number of records selected, but workspace users can perform other actions in the system while Zengine generates the documents in the background. 

To generate documents from a template for many records in a single action:

  1. Once the form which contains records for which documents should be generated has been selected and a filter has been set (optional), select the Generate Document button below the -Select a form- dropdown  menu. 

  1. This section of the screen will change to show new options:

  1. Select the dropdown menu labeled -Select- and choose from the available templates that have been configured for the form selected. (In the example image below, only one template is available, but more may be present depending on a given workspace.)

  1. Next, select which records should be included in the Generate Document action. There are three ways to select records:
    • Select the Generate All checkbox to select all records included in the Filter that was set for this action (see above Using the Bulk Actions Plugin for more information on setting a filter). If no filter is set, all records on the form will be included in the action.

    • Select the checkbox next in the upper-left corner of the Record Display Section (next to the first column heading) to select all records displayed on the page. Note that this will only include records on the page; if more records are included in the Filter that appear on subsequent pages, they will not be included in this method.

    • Finally, individual records can be selected by checking the box next to each record displayed in the Record Display Section. 

  1. The final step is to select the black Generate Document button to initiate the Generate Documents action. The Generate Document button will display the number of records that have been selected and for which a document will be generated. Select Cancel to clear the screen and revert back to the previous screen.

A popup message will appear asking to confirm the action. Select Yes to delete the records, or Close to return to the previous screen and continue configuring the Generate Documents action.  

Note: if a record that is selected to be included in the Generate Document action already contains an attachment in the designated File Upload field, that existing attachment will be overwritten.

Once a Generate Document action has been successfully confirmed, the popup message will close, the Bulk Actions screen will return to the original page, and a message will appear at the top of the screen confirming the action.

At this point, the Batches Running button on the right side of the screen will change appearance to show the number of current jobs running in Bulk Actions (if no previous jobs were running, this button will turn from white to green and the number will change from 0 to 1). Select this button to open the Action History pane and view the status of the Generate Document job.

 

The Status message will update to Completed when documents have been generated for all selected records.  (See the section Action History Pane above for more information on the Action History pane.)

Refresh the browser page to take additional actions on records using Bulk Actions, or return to the data view of the form to review the changes. The generated documents will appear in the File Upload field that was designated in the Document Template configuration for the template selected.

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Download Attached Files from Records

The Bulk Actions Download function can be used to download file attachments from any File Upload field on a form, for all selected records. These attachments will be compiled together in a single .ZIP file, which can be downloaded from the browser. More than one File Upload field can be included in a single action. 

To download attached files from many records on a form in one action:

  1. Once the form which contains records for which documents should be generated has been selected and a filter has been set (optional), select the Download button below the -Select a form- dropdown  menu. Note that the Download button will only appear if one or more File Upload fields exist on the selected form.

  1. This section of the screen will change to show new options:

  1. In the Download File Name text box, enter the name of the .ZIP file that will result from this action.

  1. Next, select the Files to Download option and choose which File Upload field on this form contains the attachments to be downloaded. You can choose as many fields as exist on this form. To remove a field from the action once it has been chosen, select the small x next to the field name.

  1. Select which records should be included in the Download action. There are three ways to select records:
    • Select the Download All checkbox to select all records included in the Filter that was set for this action (see above Using the Bulk Actions Plugin for more information on setting a filter). If no filter is set, all records on the form will be included in the action.

    • Select the checkbox next in the upper-left corner of the Record Display Section (next to the first column heading) to choose all records displayed on the page. Note that this will only include records on the page; if more records are included in the Filter that appear on subsequent pages, they will not be included in this method.

    • Finally, individual records can be selected by checking the box next to each record displayed in the Record Display Section. 

  1. The final step is to select the green Download button to initiate the Download action. The Download button will display the number of records that have been selected and will be downloaded in the .ZIP file. Select Cancel to clear the screen and revert back to the previous screen.

A popup message will appear asking to confirm the action. Select Yes to delete the records, or Close to return to the previous screen and continue configuring the Download action.  

Once a Download action has been successfully confirmed, the popup message will close, the Bulk Actions screen will return to the original page, and a message will appear at the top of the screen confirming the action with the message Files are being prepared. You will be notified when the files are ready. 

At this point, the Batches Running button on the right side of the screen will change appearance to show the number of current jobs running in Bulk Actions (if no previous jobs were running, this button will turn from white to green and the number will change from 0 to 1). Select this button to open the Action History pane and view the status of the Download job.

Once the Download action is complete, select the green link for the job under the Action Name column to download the .ZIP file containing all file attachments using your browser. (The item under Action Name will display Download | [Download File Name].) 

When ready, download the .ZIP file or refresh the browser page to take additional actions on records using Bulk Actions.

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