Purpose and Design

The Clinician Information Form (CIF) system provides an easy, user-friendly way to collect data from our clinicians about their weekly availability, vacation days, and appointment information for the upcoming term. It is sent out via email to clinicians by our Client Services Coordinator (Gema) approximately 6 weeks before the start of a new term. Once populated, Gema uses this information to set up each clinician’s schedule in Accuro.

The current system uses both a SharePoint List and a Power Apps Form to collect and store data.

The SharePoint List houses all the data that is entered in the Power Apps Form by each clinician. It acts like a database or spreadsheet.

The Power Apps Form is where the clinicians enter their information each term. The data from this form is pushed into the SharePoint List for Gema to access.

More information about both can be found in the Technical Details section of this document.

Termly Updates and Distribution to Clinicians

Every term, a few updates must be made before the Power Apps Form can be sent to clinicians.

These updates need to be done by the end of the second month of term (February, June, October).

Update the SharePoint List

Open the SharePoint List.
Uncheck all boxes in the Submitted for Upcoming Term and Unchanged from Last Term columns.
Update the Clinician Name column.
1. If any clinicians have left, select them using the checkmark beside their name and then click the Delete button at top.
2. If any clinicians are missing, click the + Add new item button, fill in their details, and click Save.

Changes to make to the Power Apps Form

Open Power Apps in an Incognito Window.
Login with cw-tech@uwaterloo.ca and its current password.
Click Apps on the left and open the most recent previous version of the form.
Click the down arrow next to the Save button and select Save As. Save it as Clinician Information Form (Term Year) where Term is Fall, Winter, or Spring, and Year is the year for the upcoming term (e.g., Winter 2025). This allows you to make changes without affecting previous versions.
Modify the form:
1. Update the upcoming term (e.g., change all references from Fall to Winter).
2. Update CW Hours in the Availability sections. Ask Gema for the hours in the upcoming term.
3. Update CW closures in the Availability sections. Check UW’s calendar to find closure dates.
4. Make any changes that Gema has requested (if you haven’t already).
Ensure appropriate providers have access:
1. Open the Staff Directory list in a new browser tab.
2. Find the Scheduling Group column and filter it so only those with Yes are shown.
3. Go back to the Clinician Information Form that you saved in Step 5 and click Edit.
4. Click the Share button at the top-right and choose Manage access.
5. Manually add each person from the Staff Directory’s Scheduling Group list by typing their WatIAM and selecting their name.
Publish the form:
1. Press Publish.
2. Check that it has been published by clicking the Play button to preview it.
3. If it does not show the newest content, repeat the a and b steps above until successful (may take a few minutes).
Generate a link to the form and provide that to Gema.

Notify Gema

Now that the form and list are ready, email Gema to let her know she can send it out. She will send the following email to the clinicians:

Hello Everyone,
It is time to let me know about your availability for the upcoming term.
Please complete the form found at the link below. You will need to login with your UW credentials (e.g., username@uwaterloo.ca and the password you use to login to your computer in Campus Wellness).
Link to Clinician Information Form (CIF)
If you have any questions or difficulties during this process, please submit a ticket to the Tech Team.
Thank you!

Access

Access to both the SharePoint List and the Power Apps Form is limited to clinicians who need to fill it out each term and specific Admin staff so they can make changes when necessary. Currently, access is granted as follows:

User	SharePoint List	Power Apps Form
Campus Wellness Tech Support	Owner	Owner
Lance Chase	Co-Owner	Co-Owner
Violet Cozzarin	Co-Owner	Co-Owner
Gema Yescas Portillo	Co-Owner	Co-Owner
Pettina Lafrance	Co-Owner	Co-Owner
Katherine Pyke	Can edit	No access
Gail Wagner	Can edit	No access
All doctors/NPs	None	User
Dietitian (Courtney Wilson)	None	User
Respirologist (Amy Massie)	None	User

Troubleshooting/Common Issues (WIP)

Problem: A clinician reports that they cannot access/use it.

Solution:

Access the form in edit mode.
Press the Play button to preview the app.
Complete the app as the clinician did.
Go to backend and ensure that all variables are correct.
If there is an incorrect variable, attempt to diagnose and fix the problem (likely in the Apps code).
If all variables are correct, then try republishing the App (make a small change, reverse it, save the App and then hit publish multiple times) Ensure that the clinician uses the new version of the App, and that the problem is resolved.

Problem: SharePoint List is not updating, even though the clinician has submitted the form.

Solution:

Likely an error regarding not correctly publishing the App.
Republish the App (make a small change, reverse it, save the App and then hit publish multiple times) Ensure that the clinician uses the new version of the App, and that the problem is resolved.

Technical Notes

SharePoint List

Only users with UWaterloo emails will be able to access the list.

Power Apps Form

Only users with UWaterloo emails will be able to access the form.
The cw-tech account is the only one which has access to two PowerApps environments—the Campus Wellness Tech Support Environment (used for development) and the University of Waterloo Environment (live).
To make changes to the form, you MUST make them in the Campus Wellness Tech Support Environment, and you MUST access it with cw-tech@uwaterloo.ca.
PowerApps will automatically save your application every 2 minutes.
It is highly recommended that you make a copy of the Power App Form before making any major changes to it, particularly if you are changing data sources. This is both to ensure that you have a backup in case you make a major, unfixable error and to ensure that you have a copy of the Form with a Standard license designation.

Function Basics

You will see that there are numerous buttons throughout the form. Upon selection these buttons use functions to perform actions. The functions that are used in the CIF are:

Name – Purpose	Structure	Example
Set – Sets the value of a variable (Creates and sets the value of a variable if it doesn’t exist).	Set(VariableName, Value)	Set(LeftNE1, true)
Navigate – Used to move to a different screen in the form.	Navigate(ScreenName)	Navigate(FinalDetails)
Launch – Used to launch a URL in another tab (Submit Ticket to Tech Support).	Launch(URL)	Launch(https://www.youtube.com )
Office365Outlook.SendEmail – Used to send an email using Outlook.	Office365Outlook.SendEmail(“SentToEmail”, "Subject Line", "Body of Email")	Office365Outlook.SendEmail(“cw-tech@uwaterloo.ca”, "Hello World”, "I like trains.")
Reset – Resets a control to its default state.	Reset(ControlName)	Reset(NameSelect)
Lookup – Used to find values in the SharePoint List.	LookUp(Database, Condition).'ColumnName’	LookUp(TestListClinician, Name = ClinicianNameHidden.Text).'Catch-Up Spots Length'
Patch – Connects the form and the SP list. See Patching Basics for more information.	See Patching Basics	See Patching Basics

NOTE: In the CIF, comments have been included, giving a brief explanation of what each function is doing. Please refer to these comments to gain an understanding of how/what a button/control/text label is doing.

Link to a very helpful YouTube tutorial:

HOW to use Microsoft POWER APPS (2023) – Creating the App, Solution & Screen Navigation

Patching Basics

The Patch function is used to update the SharePoint list in which the clinician's data is stored using any data obtained in the form. Most of the patching occurs when the clinician presses the Submit button on the Final Details screen. Although some patching also occurs on the Name and Form Submitted screens.

This is an example of the patch function:

Patch(
  TestListClinician,
  LookUp(
    TestListClinician,
    Name = ClinicianNameHidden.Text
  ),
  {
    'Monday Start': MondayStart.Selected.Value,
    'Monday Lunch Start': MondayLunchStart.Selected.Value
  })

General form of a patch function:

Patch(
  Database,
  Lookup(Database,
  Column of Database = FormValue.Output
  ),
  {
    ‘Updated Column’ = FormValue.Output,
    ‘Updated Column 2’ = FormValue.Output
  })

Patching Terms

Database: For this form this refers exclusively to TestListClinician, which is the SharePoint list in which the clinician data is submitted and stored. Otherwise, this can refer to any connected SP list or Excel spreadsheet or other data source.

FormValue: This refers to the name of the control as listed in the form on PowerApps (e.g., EmailInput, TermSelect).

Output:

Dropdown list: .Selected.Value
Text Input: .Text
Rich Text Editor: .htmltext

Use of multiple Patch functions: To use another function either before or after a patch function you need to separate them using a semicolon [;].

Using Multiple Functions in a Single Control

If you want to have a button that performs multiple functions upon selection, then you need to have some way to separate the functions for the button to work properly. This is done either with a semicolon [;] or an ampersand [&]. Using a semicolon always works when it comes to separating functions. However, an ampersand can be used if the functions are the same and simple (Set for example). A mix of semicolons and ampersands are used throughout the CIF.

Backend Basics

One of the final screens of the form is the Backend Screen. This screen should not be accessed by the clinicians. To access the Backend Screen select Campus Wellness Tech Support as the name and input cw-tech@uwaterloo.ca as the email. You do not need to select a term or input year. Here you will see the variables that are used in the logic of the app. There are 2 main categories of variables, Left variables, and Updated variables.

Left Variables: These variables are used to determine whether the user has left the No Edit path of the form, and when they left. These variables determine if the SharePoint List is patched.

Updated Variables: These variables are self-explanatory. They will tell you whether a screen has been patched into the SharePoint List. Upon submission of the form, all values should equal true. These are useful for when a clinician is having difficulties submitting the form.

Screen Resets: On a separate screen that is connected to the Backend Screen are the Screen Resets which allow you to reset the values of the selected screen to their default state. This screen will be useful for troubleshooting any potential form issues that may arise.

Formatting

Spaces between words (e.g., Monday Lunch Start) refers to columns of the SharePoint List. No spaces between words (e.g., MondayLunchStart) refers to controls/labels/variables that are part of the PowerApps Form.

Example: MondayLunchStart is the name of the control where clinicians input their Monday lunch start time in the Availability section. Monday Lunch Start is the column name on the SharePoint List.

Also, ensure that Edit and No Edit screens look as identical as possible—text labels should be the same size and in the same location as their text input counterparts.

Licensing

Members of the CW Tech Team have a Premium PowerApps license. However, some clinicians may not have this level of license. To ensure that all clinicians can use this form, you must ensure that the app/form requires a Standard license. This can be checked by going to the PowerApps homepage, clicking on the three dots on the app (Clinician Information Form) and choosing Settings. The license designation will be listed on the side. If the license designation states anything other than Standard, this means that some clinicians may run into issues when opening the form.