Hi Chad,
Thank you for providing those details. Since you have determined that the lack of identity verification and the risk of accidental data entry are acceptable for this specific use case, we can look at the technical configuration required to achieve your goal.
If you would like to move forward with updating your master list directly via a public form, the following setup is the most direct way to achieve that within Ragic. Please keep in mind that this approach relies on the specific workflow you’ve described, so you’ll want to be comfortable with how it handles data history and the open nature of public editing.
Technical Configuration Steps
1. Expand the Master List On your master list, use the New Sheet from Subtable feature. This converts your subtable employee rows into individual records on a new sheet (e.g., “Employee Details”). This is necessary because you cannot “target” a specific subtable row for an update from another sheet without it being its own record.
2. Configure the Sign-in Sheet To bring the list of employees into your Sign-in form dynamically, set up the Loading All Subtable Data Based on a Linked Independent Field feature. When a company or branch is selected, this will automatically populate the subtable with the corresponding names.
3. Expand the Sign-in Subtable On your Sign-in sheet, use the New Sheet from Subtable feature again to create a sheet we’ll call “Signature Details.” This allows each sign-in row to act as a standalone entry point for the signature.
4. Bridge the Data Back to the Master On the “Signature Details” sheet, set up Update Value on Another Sheet. Configure it to update the “Employee Details” sheet created in Step 1. You must establish rules to ensure the signature maps to the correct person (e.g., matching “Branch”, "Employee First Name, and “Employee Last Name” at the same time). You can also enable the Advanced Setting to have this action run automatically upon saving.
Recommended Workflow
To make this functional for public users, instead of having every employee create a new sign-in record, I recommend pre-defining the sign-in records for each branch. For example, if you have 10 branches, create 10 records in your Sign-in sheet. Each record will automatically load the associated list of employees.
Employees should then access the “Signature Details” sheet directly. On this sheet, they can use Filters to find their specific branch and name, then click into the record to leave their signature.
Critical Considerations
Before implementing this, please be aware of the following structural consequences:
- The Overwriting Issue: By updating the Master List directly, you are essentially treating a transactional event (signing for a specific training) as a permanent attribute of the employee, similar to their ID or Date of Birth. This creates a weak logical link because the Master List will only ever display the most recent activity. While Ragic’s record history tracks changes made to the signature field, it functions as a system log for manual auditing rather than a structured report. Consequently, when users review the Master List, the specific context of how and when the signature was left remains unclear, which can complicate long-term data management.
- Security and Data Pollution: Since this is a public (EVERYONE) form, there is no barrier preventing a user from modifying the signature of any other employee. Because this updates your master list directly, any accidental or intentional errors will immediately “pollute” your primary source of employee data.
I hope this setup provides a helpful starting point for your training sign-off process. Given the specific constraints of your workflow and the data structure involved, this should allow you to bridge that information back to your master list as requested.
Best of luck with the implementation and the upcoming training sessions!
