This article describes what collection links are, and how to use them to collect Records to a Form.
What are collection links?
Collection links offer a way to collect responses to a Form from audiences who are not signed in to ActivityInfo. When using a Collection link, users are able to enter Records into a Form without needing an ActivityInfo account.
Users can add Records while offline when using a collection link. Records added while offline are saved as drafts and can then be submitted when the User comes back online.
When to use a collection link
You can use collection links in cases where you need to collect responses from respondents outside of your organization who would need to have access to your databases. They are ideal when conducting surveys among program participants or crowd-sourcing data from the general public. They can also be used to collect data from external stakeholders like partners or donors.
Because a Record is submitted without requiring the respondent to sign in, the Form does not capture any information about the respondent. Therefore, you can use collection links if you require data to be submitted anonymously.
If you need to verify who submitted a Record or if Users should be able to view or edit previously submitted Records, you need to add them as a User into your Database.
In cases requiring large-scale data collection (e.g. baseline surveys), enumerators often need only to perform one-way data entry and do not need to have access to the submitted Records. Account owners can save on license costs by sharing a collection link to the Form instead of adding them as Users to the Database.
Due to data privacy, uniqueness constraints (e.g. Key fields, Unique fields) are not enforced when adding records using a Collection Link.
This protects previously submitted data from being exposed to unauthenticated users, but makes it possible to add duplicate records to a Form.
To remove duplicates from a Database, use the Duplicate scanner.
How to use collection links?
To successfully create and deploy collection links, consider the following aspects:
The “Manage collection links” permission is needed to create and deploy collection links. For more information, see Understanding permissions and Operations.
There are two types of collection links you can launch: web collection links or app collection links. Web collection links can be used in browsers on PC or mobile devices. App collection links are Functional Web Apps (FWAs), that enable users to save the Form (to which you are trying to collect records for) as an app on their mobile devices. This is useful in cases where users need to submit data on a recurring basis while on the field.
Creating, deploying and closing collection links is easy, especially if you follow an example like Add and deploy a survey using a collection link.
If you receive a collection link, you can save the ActivityInfo app on your device and submit a response. To do so, follow the steps in Submit a response using a collection link.
Any Referenced Forms need to be set to “Public” visibility to enable users to view the available options when entering data. For more information, see Editing the visibility of a Folder or Form.
To review data from collection links, consider Adding a Report.
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