Releasing your form to the public

Now that you've completed testing, you're ready to release your form to the public.

On this page:

• Confirm you are technically ready
• Confirm the business is ready
• Schedule your release
• Schedule post-release work, if needed

Confirm you are technically ready

First, confirm that your form is ready from a technical perspective.

• All the creation or revision work is done
• The form has been tested and approved by the client
• The form's design takes citizen privacy into account
• You've set the time window and re-published the form (if applicable)

Confirm the business is ready

If this is a new form or major revision, confirm:

• The date and time the client wants it released
• Related content pages are updated and scheduled to publish simultaneously

If this is a form with a minor revision, confirm if:

• They want the release to be immediate
• They want to schedule release for a specific date and time

If this is a time-limited form, also confirm:

• If they will want the expired message updated in the future, such as to link to a content page or report that won't be ready for a while
• If they want the form unpublished after expiring, assuming an expired message update isn't planned
• That related content pages will be modified to remove the links and scheduled to publish before the form page is unpublished to prevent broken links

Time-limited forms will require you to schedule post-release work.

If there are content pages to update, you can assist authors by:

• Reminding them that they link to a form the same way they link to a page
• Recommending that:
  • A button style link is used, at least for the "primary" call to action
  • The Target be set to New Window, as this is a link to an application
• Providing the location of the form in the content architecture so they can find it in tree navigation
• Providing the Nav Title of the form so they can find it through search

For additional information see:

• CMS Lite manual | Insert links (Create a 'call to action' button link)

Schedule your release

If your client indicates that the form can be released right away, you can just go ahead and publish your form page.

If the client wants the form released on a specific date and time, you'll need to set the form to publish at that time.

For additional information see:

• CMS Lite manual | Publish assets and content using 'Publish Now'
• CMS Lite manual | Publish assets and content using 'Publish Later'

Schedule post-release work, if needed

Some forms are meant to be available only for a specific amount of time, such as a grant application or nomination period.

• These forms are normally set up with a time window
• They are automatically disabled when the expiry time occurs
• Form visitors are presented with an expiry message

These forms do not need to be modified, unlinked or unpublished.

If your client wants the page unpublished after expiry, you'll need to set yourself a reminder to go into CMS Lite and unpublish it. Unpublishing can't be scheduled in advance.

If your client wants the expiry message updated to link to content that exists in QA, but won't be published until a future date, you can prepare ahead.

1. Confirm the wording and links to be used in the new message
2. Update the message and re-publish the form, readying it in QA
3. Then either:
   • Schedule the publish for a later date specified by the client, or
   • Advise their content author that the form page can be published when needed

For additional information see:

• CMS Lite manual | Publish assets and content using 'Publish Later'
• CMS Lite manual | Unpublish content and assets in CMS Lite