Forms: Mapping events - Soup to nuts

In this article:

What you’ll learn

This article shows you how to map a basic event form that captures contact information and RSVP status for each invitee. You’ll also see how to set up the mapping for a more complex form that captures a set of data for each invitee.

Introduction

Mapping a form to collect event registrations, even a simple registration for one attendee, is more detailed in setup and configuration than mapping a simple donation form. Your form will probably capture constituent name and contact information, but you might also want to accept general information such as:

  • Multiple ticket purchase levels
  • An additional optional donation
  • Additional guest names
  • Meal preferences

Because LGL offers the option to customize your event by adding categories and attributes to store additional general data about your invitees or attendees, it’s important to identify what data you want to capture and make sure you have already added the event to LGL, along with any categories and attributes associated with it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Build your event in LGL, being sure to include any custom event categories or attributes, before you begin building your event registration form.

A destination for your form data

We’re going to repeat this because it’s important: All of the data you plan to collect through your form needs a home in LGL before you begin accepting form submissions through LGL Forms. Your first step is to create your event in LGL before you start working on your form. This way, you'll have a place to map all your form fields to.

Name, contact information, and many other fields exist in your LGL database by default, but as you’re creating an event registration form, consider any other fields that may not exist in LGL because they apply only to your event.

Thinking through the data buckets described in the following three sections will help you keep track of the information you want to capture before you build your form.

1. The event

Which event is the form associated with? Does this event exist in LGL? If not, you'll need to create the event before building your event registration form.

2. General data related to the event

If you’re capturing event-related data such as meal choice, the first step is to determine the destination for this information in LGL. It could be placed in the gift note, or it could go into a custom field in the event specifically set up to capture that data for each invitee. If you want the data to go into a gift note, you’d map to the “Gift Note” field. In the latter case, you’ll want to make sure your event has a custom field created for meal choice so that you can map to it, then map to that field.

3. Gift data related to the event

In the mapping process, you’ll be able to define multiple gifts that could be created for a single submission. For example, how do you want to classify payments that will be submitted through your form for things such as ticket purchases? In most cases, tickets would be considered non-deductible, so a good place to classify them would be as gift records with the type “Other income”. An additional donation, however, would be classified with the gift type of ”Gift”. ( Note: Gift types in LGL are limited to Gift, Pledge, Other Income, and In Kind.)

Mapping a basic event form

This event form will capture one simple event RSVP for one person (with no extra guests or other fees).

To set up an event and capture one RSVP per person, follow these steps:

  1. Create a corresponding event in LGL
  2. Create your form
  3. Define the fields in your form
  4. Map the fields
  5. Test your mapping by making a form submission

1. Create the corresponding event in LGL

If you haven’t already set up the event, you can do so now.

2. Create your event form

Make a list of all of the data you want to capture with your form and keep it handy for reference. Then create your event form.

3. Define the fields in your form

Refer to the possible options for fields to determine which ones you want to include in your form. Then add the fields to your form.

4. Map your fields

Read the general mapping article for guidance on mapping the fields in your form to the corresponding fields in LGL. As with the general donation form, many of your form fields will be automatically mapped based on the field name. Some will not be mapped, meaning that you need to choose fields to map them to. Some will require that you set a default, a piece of data that is also brought in with each submission to that field, such as a gift type, the choice of an acknowledgment template, or subscription to a newsletter, for example.

To set up the mapping for your form, find your form on the Forms page and click the LGL integration or Linked link as shown below.

If the form has not yet been linked, the LGL Status will display as "Not Linked", as shown here.

Click the Link to LGL button to begin mapping the form.

Look at the list of fields, and make sure that you map all fields you want that are without a checkmark in the Mapped? column. Any field name without a checkmark has not yet been mapped and will not be brought into LGL unless you map it. NOTE: Some fields may not need to be mapped, such as “Submission date”, which is not required to capture a simple RSVP status.

Connect your form to the relevant event

To set up the mapping so that submissions to your form will go into the correct event, connect your form with your event, as shown below.

NOTE: You'll be able to connect your form to only one event at a time, which means you can map to custom fields for only one event at a time. In addition, the event must be active within your LGL account (not archived).

Refer to the General mapping article to set up or confirm the mapping for the fields not related to the event, such as name and contact information. Now your mapping should look something like the following:

Add defaults to your Event #1 mapping so that every form submission includes the event name for your event ("Gen. event name) as well as an RSVP yes in LGL for that constituent:

IMPORTANT: Click the Save & Finish button to publish all changes to your form mapping:

5. Test to make sure the form works

To check whether your form is working correctly, view the form and make a test submission. (You may want to use your own name/email address, etc.) 

A few things to keep in mind

You don't have to submit a credit card number when you're testing a form; you can complete the fields and click the Submit payment button but ignore the payment part of the form. The test data that you submitted will be added to your LGL Forms account. Since you are ignoring the payment part of the submission, however, the submission is technically an incomplete payment, so you'll need to manually push the data over to your Little Green Light database (you can see the submissions in your LGL database by going to LGL Forms > Submission Queue).

This applies even if you have unchecked the Require review before saving checkbox on your form's Integration page:

To push the submission manually, go to the Submission queue for your form and click Re-Sync to LGL:

Now go to the Forms tab in your LGL account and review the Unsaved tab of the Submission Queue. See if the record you submitted is there. Save that one record and go to the constituent record in LGL to review the results and see whether the data came in the way you expected.

If the data came in correctly, your form is ready to use. Good job!

Mapping a complex event form

If you want to capture registrations for an event with multiple levels of ticket purchases available, in addition to other event-related information, follow these steps:

  1. Create a corresponding event in LGL
  2. Customize the event to collect event-related data, such as meal preference
  3. Create your form
  4. Define the fields in your form
  5. Map the fields
  6. Test your mapping by making a form submission

1. Make sure your event is set up in LGL

If you haven’t already, set up your event in LGL.

2. Customize your event to add categories or attributes

In your event, include all customizations and attributes you want to track, such as meal preference, table captains, etc.

NOTE: It is possible to map to an LGL event's custom categories and attributes ONLY if your form is mapped to that one event.

3. Define the fields in your form

Refer to the possible field options to determine what you want to include in your form. Make a list of all of the data you want to capture.

4. Create your event form

Keeping your list of fields from step 3 handy, create your form.

5. Map your fields

Many of the fields in your form will have a default mapping that LGL Forms creates automatically based on the field name. Some will require that you set a default.

To set up the mapping for your form, click the LGL integrations or the Linked link on your Forms page.

If the form has not yet been linked, the LGL Status will display as "Not Linked", as shown here.

Look at the list of fields for your form, and make sure that you map all fields without a checkmark in the Mapped? column. Any field name without a checkmark has not yet been mapped (many fields are mapped automatically).

Connect your form to the event

To set up the mapping so that submissions to your form will go into the correct event, connect your form with your event, as shown below.

NOTE: Please refer to the General mapping article to set up or confirm the mapping for the fields not related to the event.

Map the gift fields

The example form we’re working with collects ticket purchases, meal preferences, table captains, and the option to bring additional guests. Here are the field names that apply to each and what field it would be mapped to in LGL:

  • Meal preference => Custom Category on event in LGL
  • Table Captain => Custom Category on event in LGL
  • Additional Guests => Inv. Guest Names field in LGL

The gift-specific fields include:

  • Ticket amount => Gift Amount
  • Ticket details => Gift Note or Invitation Note, so you can see what’s been purchased (It is also often good to map that description to the Event Invitation Note.)

You will need to add and map a gift record for each of the Amount fields on your event form. To add additional gift records, select the Add record type button at the top of your form mapping and select Gifts/Pledges/Goals. You can then click the "Map a field" and "Add default" buttons to map each corresponding Amount field to a gift record in LGL.

You will also probably want to add some default values for each gift, to tie the gift to the event, and to set the Gift Type and Gift Category. Keep in mind that if your donors don't provide a gift date when they submit your form, the submission date will automatically become the gift date.

Here's what your 3 gift mappings might look like once you're done:

When you first pull up your form mapping, most of these gift fields won't be mapped automatically. To add mappings for each field, follow these steps. In these screenshots we're mapping the Details field from the form to the "Gift note" field in LGL.

A. On the right of the mapping page, click on the "Map a field" button in the gift record where you want to establish a new mapping:

B. Select the form field you want to map: "Bar and dinner tickets - Details"

Then select which LGL field you want the form value to map into: Gift note

C. Save the mapping.

Adding defaults

Adding a default is a great way to set a value for each form submission, even if the data isn't contained within the form itself. For example, in this case we might choose to set each ticket purchase so that in LGL it's recorded using the "Other Income" gift type and the "Tickets" gift category.

A. Click the Add default button:

B. LGL Forms will ask you which gift field you want to set a default for. Choose "Gift type" as shown here:

Then, in the Default Value dropdown, assign "Other Income":

C. Now that you've set the gift type to "Other Income", you can set the gift category.

Again click "Add default". Then (1) choose the gift field you want to set: Gift category, (2) assign the value of your choice, such as “Other Income: Tickets”, (3) click the Save button, and then (4) click the Save & Publish button at the top of the form.

6. Test to make sure the form works and the data is coming in as expected

To check whether your form is working correctly, view the form and make a test submission. (You may want to use your own name/email address, etc.) 

Mapping an "Amount with Quantity" field

When selling tickets to an event, you will most likely use the quantity field so purchasers can buy multiple tickets. To do this, click the Suggested with quantity radio button, which sets your Amount field to "Suggested with quantity":

When someone is filling in your form, the Amount field will look like this (in the screenshot below, someone is buying two tickets):

When mapping this type of amount field, you can also map a third type of field - the Quantity field:

As shown above, you can map the Quantity field to your LGL event "Inv. attendee count" field. This is a great way to capture the number of people signed up to attend your event, as long as each item purchased (i.e., ticket) represents an attendee. (NOTE: It is possible to use this option only when the additional guest feature is not enabled.)

After an attendee completes your form, if you look at the form submission in LGL Forms you can see how each of the three elements of an "Amount with Quantity" field appears. (1) Amount, (2) Details, and (3) Quantity.

Testing your form without a credit card

You don't have to submit a credit card number when you're testing a form; you can complete the fields and click the Submit payment button but ignore the payment part of the form. The test data that you submitted will be added to LGL Forms. Since you are ignoring the payment part of the submission, however, the submission is technically an incomplete payment, so you'll need to manually push the data over to your Little Green Light database (you can see the submissions in your LGL database by going to LGL Forms > Submission Queue).

This applies even if you have unchecked the Require review before saving checkbox on your form's Integration page:

To push through your test form submission manually, go into the submissions for your form and click Re-Sync to LGL:

Now go to the Forms tab in your LGL account and review the setup. See if the record you submitted is there. 

Save that one record. Now go to the constituent record in LGL to review the results and see whether the data came in the way you wanted.

If the data came into LGL correctly, your form is ready to use.

Related Articles