The Finance items group in the form builder holds the fields that tell infoodle how to code the money a form collects. They do not collect money themselves. That is the job of the Payments group. Finance items sit alongside the payment fields and decide which campaign, which account code and which pledge drive the resulting transactions are recorded against, and they let you sell stock items through a form.
You add them the same way as any other field, by dragging them from the list of available fields on the left of the Build form tab into the Build form area on the right.
Before you start
Role Permissions
- Create and manage forms and entries (subject to cluster and form restrictions)
- Manage, Read and report on transactions, if you want to change a Campaign or Pledge Drive value while approving an entry
- Manage pledges, instead of the above, on a form that also carries a Recurring period field
For an explanation of the finance permissions above, see Finance Permissions.
What has to exist first
Each finance item only appears in the field list once the data behind it exists. This is the single most common reason a field you expect is not there.
- Your site needs the Finance package. Without it the Finance items group does not appear at all, apart from the stock fields on a site that has the Events package.
- You will need at least one active campaign that you can see, added at Finance → Campaigns, before the Campaign field appears. If your role is limited to your own groups, the field only appears once one of your groups has a campaign. See Adding a Campaign.
- You will need at least one account code, added at Finance → Account Codes, before the Account code field appears. See Adding account codes.
- You will need at least one pledge drive, added at Finance → Campaigns → Pledge drives, before the Pledge Drive field appears. See Adding a Pledge Drive.
- You will need at least one stock item, added at Finance → Stock, before the Stock item and Total stock added fields appear. See Adding a Stock Item.
- You will need an Amount field from the Payments group on the same form. Campaign, Account code and Pledge Drive all refuse to save without one.
The fields in the Finance items group
Campaign
Lets the person filling in the form choose which campaign their payment belongs to, or lets you set it for them. The campaign is recorded on every transaction the entry produces.
Settings specific to this field:
- Available Campaigns: pick which of your campaigns to offer. Click the button to open Please select the items to allow the form filler to choose from, tick the campaigns you want, and tick Include blank entry if the person should be able to leave it unanswered. Tick at least one campaign. Saving with none of them ticked reports You must choose a list of available campaigns.
- Routing on answer: send the person to a different part of the form depending on their choice. This only does something once the form has at least one Form Page Break field.
- Show style: Drop down (choose one), Radio (choose one), or Radio 2 Columns (choose one).
The list of campaigns you can offer is limited to the campaigns you can see. If your role has Is a member of a cluster, or has Limit finance admin to just users own groups on a site where campaigns are restricted to groups, you will only see the campaigns for your own groups.
Account code
Sets the account code for the money the form collects. Whatever is chosen here replaces the account code configured on the Amount fields, which is why the builder shows the note This overrides the account code on "Amount" fields under the setting. When an entry is being approved, the same field carries the on-screen reminder This will update the account codes used by all "Amount" fields.
Settings specific to this field:
- Available Account codes: pick which account codes to offer, in the same chooser as Campaign, and tick at least one. Each code appears as its code followed by its description.
- Routing on answer: as above, needs a Form Page Break field to have any effect.
- Show style: Drop down (choose one), Radio (choose one), or Radio 2 Columns (choose one).
Pledge Drive
Records the payment against a pledge drive, so it counts towards that drive's total. Its settings are the same shape as Campaign: Available Pledge drives, which also needs at least one ticked, Routing on answer and Show style.
Pledge drives are set up at Finance → Campaigns, then Pledge drives. Until one exists, the page reads No pledge drives have been created and the field is not in the builder.
Giving Number
A plain text box for a supporter's giving number. It appears whenever your site has the Finance package, because it does not depend on any giving numbers already existing.
Its only settings are the common ones: Label, Help message, Mandatory and Only on approval form.
The number is used when the entry is approved. infoodle looks for contacts holding that giving number and offers them in the list of possible matches, so you can link the entry to the right person. The number itself is not written back to the contact, and it is not recorded on the transaction. Giving numbers are added and changed at Finance → Giving numbers.
Stock item
Sells a single stock item through the form, with a quantity box, a unit price and a line total. It has its own settings for the item, the maximum quantity and how availability is shown.
Stock on forms has its own article. See Stock Items on Forms.
Total stock added
Shows a running count of every item chosen across all the Stock item fields on the form, so a person buying several things can see how many they have selected. It appears alongside Stock item and needs the same stock data to exist.
Settings specific to this field:
- Minimum purchase quantity: the smallest total the person must select. Defaults to 1.
- Alternative word for "Stock": the word to use in the messages the form shows, if "stock" is not how you describe what you are selling.
Settings shared with every other field
Every finance item also carries Label, Help message and Only on approval form. All of them except Total stock added add Mandatory, and Campaign, Account code, Pledge Drive and Stock item add Default value as well.
For what each of these does, see Common field settings.
Only on approval form plus Default value is the combination worth knowing. Set Only on approval form to Yes and the field is hidden from the person filling in the form, so you can either preset the value with Default value or choose it yourself while approving the entry. That is how you code every entry from a form to one campaign without asking the supporter about it.
What each field contributes to the transaction
When the entry turns into one or more transactions, the finance items are applied to every line the form produced.
| Field | What it sets on the transaction |
|---|---|
| Campaign | The Campaign on each transaction. |
| Account code | The Account Code on the transactions created from the Amount fields, in place of the code set on the Amount field itself. |
| Pledge Drive | The Pledge Drive on each transaction. |
| Stock item | A transaction of type Stock, carrying the item, the quantity and the price at the time the form was completed. |
| Total stock added | Nothing. It is a count shown on the form, and it produces no transaction line of its own. |
| Giving Number | Nothing. It is used to match the entry to a contact while approving. |
Common questions
Why is a finance field missing from the list of available fields?
Because the data it needs does not exist yet. Campaign needs a campaign, Account code needs an account code, Pledge Drive needs a pledge drive, and both stock fields need a stock item. Add the missing item under Finance, then reopen the form. The Campaign field also depends on a campaign you can see, so a role limited to its own groups needs a campaign in one of those groups. If the whole Finance items group is absent, your site does not have the Finance package. If the fields were on your form before and are no longer there, check that your site still has the Finance package, or the Events package in the case of the two stock fields.
Can I put two Campaign fields on one form?
No. Drop a second one in and both rows are outlined in red with the message Highlighted fields cannot be repeated outside of a repeating block, and the form will not save until you remove one. The same applies to Account code, Pledge Drive and Giving Number.
Why will my form not save without an Amount field?
Campaign, Account code and Pledge Drive exist to code an amount, so infoodle checks there is one to code. Saving without it reports You must have an amount field on the form for this campaign, or the matching message for the account code or pledge drive.
Does the Giving Number field give someone a giving number?
No. It looks up contacts who already hold that number so you can link the entry to the right one. On the approval screen the giving number's Match list and Action column reads Add/Update value. That labels the list of matching contacts above it, and there is no tick box next to it to apply anything, because the number stays with the entry rather than being written to the contact. To give a contact a giving number, go to Finance → Giving numbers, or see Adding a Giving Number.
Can I hide these fields from the person filling in the form?
Yes. Set Only on approval form to Yes. Campaign, Account code, Pledge Drive and Giving Number are then left off the live form completely and only appear when you approve the entry. Stock item and Total stock added stay on the form but are hidden from view, because the form still needs them to work out the total.
Next steps
Add the Amount and Pay/Donate method fields your form needs from the Payments group, then publish the form and work through the entries as they arrive. See Payment Fields and Processing Form Entries.