---
title: "Creating and Configuring Form Templates"
description: "Form templates are the foundation of data collection in Data Collection. A form template defines the structure and layout of the data you want to collect from reporting entities. You can configure your form templates by adding elements that are based on Consolidation & Financial Planning structures, or by creating them from scratch."
source_url: https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/data-collection/basic-configuration-dc/creating-and-configuring-form-templates
language: en
last_updated: 2026-05-28
---
# Creating and Configuring Form Templates

## Overview

Form templates are the foundation of data collection in **Data Collection**. A form template defines the structure and layout of the data you want to collect from reporting entities. You can configure your form templates by adding elements that are based on Consolidation & Financial Planning structures, or by creating them from scratch.

## Creating Form Templates

To create a form template:

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Navigate to **Data Collection** | **Form templates**.
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Click **Create Form Template** in the top right. The **Create Form Template** dialog is displayed:

'Create form template' dialog
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Enter a unique **Name** for your form template.
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Click **Create**. The form template detail view opens, where you can build your form by adding sections and elements.
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In the **Form structure** panel, click **Add section**. The **Add Section** dialog is displayed:

'Add Section' dialog
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Enter a unique **Name** for the section within the form template.
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Click **Save** to create the section.
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In the section, click **\+ Add element**. The **Add Element** dialog is displayed:

'Add Element' dialog
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Select the type of element you want to add. The available element types are described in the following section. The selected element is displayed in the form template.
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In the **Element configuration** panel on the right, enter the following:

- **Element name:** The name must be unique within the template.
- **Label**: This is the display name that data collectors will see. The label must be unique within the template for each language.

- **This element is mandatory:** Activate this checkbox if data collectors must complete this element before submitting the form.
- **Enable Lucanet.Financial Warehouse structural mapping**: With this option enabled, this table can receive data from Lucanet.Financial Warehouse during data collection. For the full configuration and import workflow, see [Importing Data from Lucanet.Financial Warehouse](https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/data-collection/collecting-data-dc/importing-data/import-warehouse.md).
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### Available Elements

The following elements are available when creating a form template:

| Element | Description |
|---------|---------|
| CFP pivot table | A table whose row structure is imported from a Consolidation & Financial Planning workspace. Select a ledger or schedule to import the account hierarchy, preserving the structure and element descriptions. |
| Pivot table | A custom table that you define manually by adding your own rows and columns. Requires at least one row and one column. |

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The **Add Element** dialog displays additional element types that are grayed out. These element types are not yet available and will be provided in a future update.
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## Configuring Form Templates

After creating your form template and adding elements, you can configure the table structure by adding columns and rows.

### Adding Columns

Columns define the data points you want to collect for each row in the table. Click **Add column** in the table header and select one of the following options:

### Empty Column

Creates a column from scratch where you define all properties manually. The following options are available:

'Add new column' dialog

#### Name

Unique name for the column within the table

#### Type

Data type for the column values. Available types include:

- Numeric (float)
- Numeric (integer)
- Currency
- Text

#### Period value type

Available for numeric and currency columns. Defines which type of period data is retrieved when importing from Consolidation & Financial Planning. See [Period Value Type for CFP Import](#period-value-type) for details.

#### Decimal places

Specifies the number of decimal places. Available for **Numeric (float)** and **Currency** column types.

#### Text type

Defines whether the text field allows single-line or multi-line input. Available for **Text** column type.

#### Used for postings

Available for **Currency** columns in CFP pivot tables. When activated, the values in this column are used as posting amounts when Consolidation & Financial Planning retrieves data from this process to generate postings.

The selection rules depend on the underlying structure type:

- **Balance Sheet**, **P&L**, and **Statistical Ledger:** You can mark at most one **Currency** column per table as **Used for postings**. If you activate it on a second column, the previous selection is cleared automatically.
- **Schedule:** You can mark several **Currency** columns at the same time. Each marked column produces posting amounts for the **Transaction Type** it represents in the underlying **Schedule.**

Marked columns display a **Used for postings** indicator icon in the column header.

If you save a table without a marked **Currency** column, no postings are generated for that table and a warning is displayed.

{% info-box %}
For details on how Consolidation & Financial Planning retrieves and imports posting data from Data Collection, see [Importing Data Collection Postings](https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/consolidation-financial-planning/imports-journals/importing-data-into-reporting-entities/importing-data-collection-postings.md).
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#### This column is mandatory

When activated, data collectors must provide a value for this column.

### Based on Consolidation & Financial Planning Dimension

Creates a column based on dimension elements from Consolidation & Financial Planning. The following dimensions are available:

- Transaction types
- Partners
- Adjustment levels

'Add Column from CFP' dialog

### Total Column

Creates an automatically calculated column that aggregates values from other columns.

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The total column is only available when your pivot table contains at least two numeric or currency columns. Calculated columns (such as existing total columns) cannot be included in a new total column.
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The following options are available when creating a total column:

'Add Total Column' dialog

#### Name

Unique name for the column within the table

#### Type

Data type for the aggregated values:

- Numeric (float)
- Numeric (integer)
- Currency

#### Decimal places

Number of decimal places for the result. Only available when **Currency** or **Numeric (Float)** is selected as the type.

#### Select columns

Columns whose values are aggregated

### Period Value Type for CFP Import

**Period value type** is a required setting for Numeric and Currency columns. It defines which type of period data the system retrieves when importing from Consolidation & Financial Planning, so that each column gets the right values — for example, opening balances, within-period movements, or closing balances.

| Period Value Type | Description |
|---------|---------|
| Beginning of period | Value at period start |
| Within period | Changes during the period |
| End of period | Value at period end |
| YTD value | Cumulative from fiscal year start |
| Standard (auto) | Let CFP determine based on account type |

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Period value type is configured when creating the column. Once data has been collected in the column, this setting cannot be changed.
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### Adding Rows

Rows define the items or categories for which you want to collect data. Click **Add row** at the bottom of the table and select one of the following options:

### Empty Row

Creates a new row where you define the name manually.

'Add empty row' option

### Total Row

Creates a row that automatically aggregates values from other rows.

'Add total row' option

### Subordinate Row

To add a subordinate row under an existing row, right-click the row and select **Add row**. The submenu offers:

- **Empty**– adds an empty child row under the selected row.
- **Based on the CFP Partner dimension** – opens the **Add row based on CFP** dialog to add subordinate rows based on the **Partner** dimension.

Adding a subordinate row

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The **Add row** option is not available on total rows.
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## Configuring Drill Down

Drill down allows data collectors to provide more detailed data at a lower, reporting entity-specific level. You can configure drill down at the row level or column level.

### Drill down at row level

To configure drill down for a row:

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Right-click the row.
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Select **Drill down**. The **Configure Drill Down** dialog is displayed:

Configuring drill down
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Select the dimension from the **Drill down by** drop-down list:

- **Local account**: Collect data by local/company-specific accounts
- **Cost center**: Collect data by cost center
- **Partner**: Collect data by intercompany partner
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Click **Save**.
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The row now displays an indicator showing that the drill down is configured. When row-level drill down is configured, data collectors must provide data for all numeric and financial columns of that row for each member of the selected dimension.

### Drill down at column level

You can configure drill down for columns with **Numeric** or **Financial** data types. To configure drill down for a column:

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Right-click the column.
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Select **Add drill down**. The **Configure Drill Down** dialog is displayed:

Configuring drill down
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Select the dimension from the **Drill down by** drop-down list:

- **Local account**: Collect data by local/company-specific accounts
- **Cost center**: Collect data by cost center
- **Partner**: Collect data by intercompany partner
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Click **Save**.
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When column-level drill down is configured, data collectors must provide data for that column for each member of the selected dimension, across all rows in the table.

### Second-level drill down

Once drill down is configured for a row or column, you can add a second-level drill down to create hierarchies for more detailed data collection. To add a second-level drill down:

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Right-click the row or column that already has drill down configured.
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Select **Configure drill down**. The **Configure Drill Down** dialog is displayed:

'Add second-level drill down' option
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Click **\+ Add second-level drill down**.
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Select the dimension for the second level from the drop-down list.
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Click **Save**.
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The row now displays indicators for both drill down levels. Data collectors must provide data for each combination of the selected dimensions.

Second-level drill down added

## Managing Form Templates

The form templates list displays all configured templates with the following information:

Form templates list

#### Form template name

Name of the form template

#### State

Current state of the form template:

- **Draft**
- **Published**

#### Created on

Creation date

#### Last modified on

Date of the most recent modification

### Editing a Form Template

To edit an existing form template, click the three-dot menu at the end of the row and select **Edit**.

### Publishing a Form Template

When first created, a form template is automatically in **Draft** state. While in this state, it can undergo any number of modifications. Once its configuration is finalized, the form template must be **Published** before it can be used in validation rules and reporting packages.

To publish a form template, click **Publish** in the top right of the form template editor.

A published form template can only be modified if it is not referenced by other configuration elements (such as ongoing data collection processes). Editing a published form template automatically brings it back to **Draft** state.

### Deleting a Form Template

To delete a form template, click the three-dot menu at the end of the row and select **Delete**. In the confirmation dialog, click **Yes, delete**.

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Form templates that are attached to a reporting package or referenced by validation rules cannot be deleted.
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