Collective Steps

Collective steps add users to a collective group without creating approval requirements. They're used to gather stakeholders across multiple forms and submissions for later reference or action.

Overview

Unlike dynamic steps which create approval notifications, collective steps simply add users to a shared pool called a "collective." This is useful when you need to track related parties across multiple submissions without requiring their immediate approval.

Key Difference from Dynamic Steps

Aspect	Dynamic Step	Collective Step
Creates approval notifications	Yes	No
Adds users to a group	Optional	Yes (to collective)
Blocks workflow progression	Yes (until approved)	No
Purpose	Get approval from form-derived users	Track stakeholders for later

Collective Types

Initial (`initial`)

Adds the original submitter to the collective.

Behavior:

Retrieves the user who created the submission
Adds them to the specified collective
Records the source submission for tracking

Use Case: "Track all employees who submitted requests this quarter."

Form (`form`)

Extracts user data from form fields and adds them to the collective.

Behavior:

Reads email, name, and optionally phone from specified form elements
Creates or updates users with the extracted data
Adds users to the collective with source tracking
Does NOT create approval notifications

Configuration:

Email field (required) - form element containing email
Name field (required) - form element containing name
Phone field (optional) - form element containing phone
Role - role to assign to created users
Group - optional group membership

Use Case: "Gather all referenced clients from project intake forms into a client collective."

Collectives

A collective is a named group that aggregates users across multiple forms and submissions.

Use Cases for Collectives

Cross-form reporting: Track all stakeholders mentioned across different form types
Batch notifications: Send updates to everyone in a collective at once
Audit trails: Know which submission added which user
Committee assembly: Gather reviewers from multiple intake forms

Step Sequencing

Collective steps follow specific sequencing rules:

Can be preceded by: Any step type
Can only be followed by: all, dynamic, conditional, or other collective steps

This prevents collective steps from immediately preceding basic approval steps (one, multiple, group_select).

Workflow Behavior

When a submission reaches a collective step:

Users are added to the collective
The workflow immediately advances to the next step (no approval wait)
Users are tracked in the collective for future reference