North Central University offers several form creation tools to meet different needs across campus. For quick, temporary surveys and simple data collection, Microsoft Forms is available for self-service use by all staff and faculty. For service requests, ticket tracking, and workflow management, TeamDynamix (TDX) is the university's primary system—used by departments across campus including IT, Facilities Management, Housekeeping, Events, Marketing, Academics, Registrar, and One Stop. For more complex, permanent forms—especially those that are customer-facing, require payment processing, or need advanced features—the university provides FormAssembly and FormAssembly with Salesforce integration through IT support. This guide will help you understand which tool is best suited for your specific requirements and how to access each option.
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Microsoft Forms (Self-Service)
Microsoft Forms is available to all university staff and faculty for creating simple surveys and forms. This tool is best used for ad-hoc, quick forms that do not require any kind of permanence.
Best for: Quick surveys, event feedback, simple data collection, temporary forms
How to access: Available through your Office 365 account at forms.office.com
Limitations
Microsoft Forms is a user-friendly tool for creating surveys and quizzes, but it does have several important limitations to be aware of, especially when planning large-scale or highly customized data collection.
The main constraints of Microsoft Forms revolve around response capacity, customization, file uploads, and advanced logic.
Response and Storage Limits
These are the most common limitations, primarily dependent on the type of Microsoft 365 account being used:
- Maximum Responses per Form: Most standard commercial Microsoft 365 accounts are limited to 50,000 responses per form. Once you hit this cap, the form stops accepting new submissions.
- File Upload Limits: If your form includes a question allowing users to upload files:
- The total number of files allowed across the entire form is typically 200 files.
- The total size limit for all files uploaded to a single form is usually 1 GB.
- Note: File uploads are only available if the form is set to restrict responses to users within your organization.
Design and Customization Limits
Forms offers limited control over the look and feel compared to other survey tools:
- Branding and Theming: Custom branding is minimal. You can choose from a few pre-set themes, background colors, or a basic background image, but you cannot fully control fonts, complex layouts, or custom CSS.
- Question Types: While it covers the basics (Choice, Text, Rating, Date, etc.), it lacks advanced or specialized question formats (e.g., matrix questions, complex ranking, or proprietary survey scales).
- Data Validation: Basic validation (number range, required field) is available, but complex custom validation (e.g., specific text formats, validating against an external list) is not easily supported.
Logic and Branching
While Forms supports basic branching logic, it lacks the sophistication needed for highly dynamic or adaptive surveys:
- Simple Branching: Logic is generally limited to simple "go-to" rules: based on an answer to Question A, skip to Question C or D.
- No Multi-Criteria Logic: You typically cannot set up logic based on multiple previous answers (e.g., "If Q1=Yes AND Q2>5, then show Q5").
- No Piped Text: You cannot "pipe" or dynamically insert a respondent's previous answer into the text of a subsequent question or section title.
Integration and Automation
Forms works well within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, but complex data handling usually requires other tools:
- Integration: The primary way to extend functionality is through Power Automate (Flow), which requires configuration. Without Flow, data simply exports to Excel or SharePoint.
- Live Data Analysis: The built-in summary/results page is great for quick analysis but lacks the power of dedicated BI tools. For advanced reporting, you must connect the data to Excel or Power BI.
- No Anonymous File Uploads: As mentioned above, file uploads must be tied to identified users within your organization. Anonymous respondents cannot upload files.
TeamDynamix Forms (IT Support Required)
TeamDynamix (TDX) is the university's primary system for service requests and ticket tracking. TDX forms are used across nearly every department at NCU, including IT, Facilities Management, Housekeeping, Events, Marketing, Academics, Registrar, and One Stop.
Best for: Service requests, ticket tracking, workflow management, internal request processes, forms requiring approval workflows
Key Features:
- Complex tracking and ticket management
- Multi-step approval workflows
- Automated routing to appropriate departments or staff
- Built-in status tracking and communication
- Integration with university service catalog
- Notification systems for requesters and approvers
- Comprehensive reporting on requests and trends
Important Notes:
- Almost exclusively used for internal university requests, though forms can be made public if needed
- While accessing the ticketing aspects of TDX requires a license, forms can be built to send notifications and approvals to staff without ticketing access
- All TDX forms must be created by IT
When to choose TDX over other options: Use TDX when your form is part of a service request process, needs approval workflows, requires ticket tracking, or integrates with existing departmental service catalogs. Choose FormAssembly or Microsoft Forms instead when you need data collection without ticketing or workflow management.
FormAssembly (IT Support Required)
FormAssembly is an enterprise-grade form builder ideal for standard university forms that are more permanent and customer-facing. This platform provides advanced capabilities beyond what Microsoft Forms can offer.
Best for: Permanent university forms, customer-facing forms, forms requiring payment processing, forms needing advanced configuration and notification options, highly customizable forms with flexible question types and objects
Key Features:
- Payment processing integration
- Advanced notification and workflow options
- Flexible question types and custom objects
- Highly customizable branding and design
- Complex conditional logic and branching
- Enhanced security and compliance features
FormAssembly with Salesforce (IT Support Required)
FormAssembly with Salesforce integration provides all the capabilities of standard FormAssembly, plus deep integration with the university's Salesforce system for seamless data management.
Best for: Forms that need to integrate with existing Salesforce data, applications requiring pre-populated form fields from Salesforce records, forms with advanced lookup functionality against Salesforce data
Key Features:
- All FormAssembly features listed above
- Direct data integration into Salesforce objects
- Pre-populate form fields with data from Salesforce
- Advanced lookup capabilities to search and retrieve Salesforce data
- Automated record creation and updates in Salesforce
How to Request IT Form Services
TeamDynamix Forms
To request a new TDX form or modifications to an existing TDX form, submit a request through the TDX Service Request in the Service Catalog describing your service request needs and workflow requirements.
FormAssembly Services
To request either FormAssembly or FormAssembly with Salesforce integration, submit a request through the FormAssembly service in the Service Catalog on TDX.
When submitting your request, be prepared to provide details about your form requirements, including the purpose of the form, required fields, integration needs, and any specific functionality you need.