At Aclaimant, Control Types are the specific input methods used on a digital form to capture information. Think of them as the digital equivalent of the different spaces on a paper form—like a checkbox for a "Yes/No" choice or a large lined area for an incident description.
Why Control Types Matter
- Standardization: They ensure every user provides data in the same format, preventing inconsistent entries (e.g., "IL" vs. "Illinois").
- Data Integrity: Choosing the right "container" ensures your data is valid, searchable, and ready for deep-dive reporting.
- User Experience: They act as a guide, making it clear exactly what information is needed and reducing the time it takes to complete a report.
Essentially, control types are the building blocks of your digital workflow that turn a blank screen into an organized and useful data collection tool
Aclaimant Control Types
✨Golden Rule✨
When designing a form, try to move as far to the right (specialized controls or limited choice lists) as possible. The more structured your data is during collection, the more powerful your insights will be in Analytics. Avoid Path A (Free Text) for any question you want to report on!
Text & Information
These controls are the "Open Mic" of your form. Use them when the information being captured is unique to the individual or requires a narrative explanation that a list cannot provide.
Text
Description: A single-line free-text field for short answers. Includes built-in validation for specific formats like Emails.
Best/Example Use Cases: Name, Job Title, or Email Address.
Text Area
Description: A multi-line text box designed for long-form entries.
Best/Example Use Cases: Incident descriptions or witness statements.
Markdown
Description: Read-only static or dynamic text. Supports formatting, images, and links.
Best/Example Use Cases: instructions, or legal disclaimers.
💡 Pro-Tip: When in doubt, use a Dropdown or Choice-List instead of a Text field. Limiting users to a set list of options makes your data significantly easier to analyze in the Aclaimant Analytics dashboard!
Selections & Lists
These controls are the "Guardrails" of your data. Use them whenever you want to limit user input to specific, reportable categories.
Boolean
Description: Displays as a single checkbox (True/False). Aclaimant defaults these to "False" to ensure clean reporting data.
Best/Example Use Cases: Simple "Yes/No" or "On/Off" questions i.e. “Was a police report filed?” or “Were there any Witnesses?”
Choice-list
Description: Displays all options as radio buttons. Recommended for 5 or fewer options.
Best/Example Use Cases: High-priority questions with very few options (5 or less) where you want the user to see all choices immediately without clicking i.e. “Shift Type” (Day, Night, Swing) or “Employment Status” (Full-Time, Part-Time, Contractor). Can also be used in place of booleans to display Yes, No options to questions rather than a check box
Dropdown
Description: Includes a search bar and requires a click to view options. Recommended for 6+ options.
Best/Example Use Cases: High-priority questions with very many options (6 or more) i.e. “Nature of Injury” (Laceration, Burn, Fracture, etc.) or “Specific Body Part”
Multi-Select
Description: A dropdown that allows users to pick multiple values. Note: Use sparingly for Analytics fields, as each combination of choices creates a unique data value.
Best/Example Use Cases: Capturing multiple contributing factors i.e. “Personal protective Equipment (PPE) Worn” (Hard Har, Gloves, Safety Glasses. Note: Use only when a single choice won’t tell the whole story
User
Description: Pulls from your Aclaimant user list. Can be filtered by Aclaimant “Role" to ensure only relevant staff are selectable.
Best/Example Use Cases: Assigning Accountable or routing tasks i.e. “Who is the Supervisor responsible for the follow-up investigation?”
Policy
Description: Automatically pulls in Insurance Policies configured in your Aclaimant Platform.
Best/Example Use Cases: Streamlining the claims process and ensuring that when an incident is reported, it is immediately tied to the correct insurance coverage for financial tracking
Numbers & Calculations
Use these when you need to perform math on the backend or ensure a user doesn't accidentally type "Ten" instead of "10.”
Number
Description: Accepts digits and decimals. Can be used for complex backend calculations and can be formatted into percents or USD currency on output (if the number "1" is input, $1 or 100% can be generated)
Best/Example Use Cases: Financial data, measurements, or precise percentages. i.e. “Hourly Wage” or “Estimated Property Damage Value”
Integer
Description: Accepts only whole numbers (no decimals). Can be used for complex backend calculations and can be formatted into percents or USD currency on output (if the number "1" is input, $1 or 100% can be generated)
Best/Example Use Cases: Inventory, counts of people, or distinct units i.e. “Number of dependents”
Dates & Times
Accuracy here is vital for legal compliance and identifying trends (like "Monday morning" incident spikes).
Date
Description: Captures a specific calendar day. Stored as Day/Month/Year for easy filtering.
Best/Example Use Cases: High-level milestones i.e. “Employee Date of Hire” or “Date Employer Notified”
Date & Time
Description: Captures a specific time of day (Hour/Minute/Second).
Best/Example Use Cases: Duration tracking i.e. “What time did the employee start their shift”
Time
Description: Combines both into one control. Defaults to the user’s local time zone (or Company Default) but allows manual time zone selection.
Best/Example Use Cases: The moment of the event i.e. “Exact Date and Time of Incident”
Specialized Inputs
These controls handle complex data validation automatically so your team doesn't have to.
Address
Description: A smart field that captures and parses United States addresses into Street, City, State, and Zip for reporting.
Best/Example Use Cases: Any location that is NOT one of your pre-configured sites i.e. “Thirs-Party Witness Address” or “Off Site Location Address”
International Address
Description: Expands the Address control to support 15 countries and allows the data on the back end to be separated by country, street, city, state/region/province, and zip/postal code
Best/Example Use Cases: Any location that is NOT one of your pre-configured sites i.e. “Third-Party Witness Address” or “Off Site Location Address”
💡 Pro-Tip: If you ever foresee your company expanding beyond the United States request all address fields be International to avoid the need for data migration down the road
Current Supported Countries
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Ecuador
- Greece
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Phillipines
- South Africa
- United States
Phone Number
Description: Formats and validates 10-digit US phone numbers to ensure they are saved correctly.
Best/Example Use Cases: Ensuring contact info is usable i.e. “Witness Phone Number” or “Treating Physician Contact Number”
Social Security Number
Description: A secured field (XX-XXX-XXXX) that can be separated on the back end into area, group and serial. Inputting data here automatically flags any generated PDFs with this question as Confidential, restricting visibility to authorized users only. Additionally, only users with confidential access permissions will ever be able to unmask the field
Signature
Description: Captures a digital signature along with the name, email, and timestamp of the signee.
Best/Example Use Cases: Formal acknowledgments or legal verifications i.e. Reporter Signature verifying all information entered is valid and correct
Attachment
Description: Allows users to upload photos, videos, spreadsheets or PDFs. These are stored in the "Files" tab and can be appended to generated reports and submitted to carriers or other contacts
Best/Example Use Cases: Visual evidence and supporting documentation i.e. “Photos of Vehicle or Property Damage”, “Copy of Medical Release” or “CCTV Footage”
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