What is Formabi?

A form platform purpose-built for organizations that have outgrown simple form builders but can't justify custom development.

Core insight: Most "complex" forms follow patterns that can be modeled declaratively — conditional visibility, entity references, validation chains.

Formabi gives you the power of a custom solution with the speed of a drag-and-drop builder.

The Form Complexity Spectrum

Simple                                                    Complex
|-------|-----------|------------|------------|-----------|
Survey   Contact     Application   Inspection   Regulatory
Form     Form        Form          Report       Filing

         Typeform ------>
         JotForm -------->
                          Formabi -------------------------------->
                                                Custom Dev ------->

Formabi covers the 80% of use cases where existing tools fail but custom dev is overkill.

Key Capabilities

Display Rules (Conditional Logic)

Show or hide fields based on prior answers — nested to any depth.

• If equipment_type = "crane" → show crane inspection fields
• If crane_age > 10 → require additional safety attestation
• If safety_attestation = "fail" → block submission, notify supervisor

Not just show/hide — display rules can trigger validation, set defaults, and control navigation.

Key Capabilities

Entity Relationships

Forms don't exist in isolation — they reference shared organizational data.

• A safety inspection references equipment entities from the asset registry
• A crew manifest references personnel entities from HR
• A geological survey references site entities from the operations database

Formabi models these as first-class relationships, not just dropdown lookups.

The Admin Experience

Form plan design is declarative and visual:

1. Create entities — define the data objects (Equipment, Personnel, Site)
2. Add attributes — text, number, date, select, file, entity-reference
3. Set display rules — if/then conditions for visibility and validation
4. Assign workspaces — who can access which form plans

All changes are live — no build step, no deployment. Update a form plan and users see changes immediately.

The User Experience

Form filling is guided and forgiving:

• Auto-save — every keystroke persisted, never lose work
• Progress indicators — know what's done and what's left
• Validation feedback — real-time, contextual error messages
• Collaboration — multiple users fill the same form simultaneously
• Offline-ready — architecture supports eventual consistency

Auditability & Time Travel

Every form submission is built on an immutable data engine:

• Append-only — nothing is ever deleted, only superseded
• Full audit trail — who changed what, when, with full traceability
• Time travel — rewind any fill or plan to any point in time
• Diff any two moments — see exactly what changed between any two states
• Tamper-evident — immutable transaction log, no silent edits

This matters for compliance (who approved this?), disputes (what was the original answer?), investigations (what did the form look like when it was submitted?), and analytics (how do answers change over time?).

Multi-Workspace Architecture

Formabi is built for organizations with multiple teams and contexts:

• Workspace isolation — data and form plans are scoped per workspace
• Role-based access — admins, operators, and viewers per workspace
• Cross-workspace entities — shared reference data across the org
• Centralized management — super-admins oversee all workspaces

Internationalization

Built for global operations from day one:

• English, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew supported
• Right-to-left (RTL) layout fully supported
• Per-workspace language — each team uses their preferred language
• Translatable form content — field labels, help text, validation messages

Integration & API

API-first architecture with full OpenAPI specification:

• Programmatic form plan creation
• Bulk data submission
• Webhook notifications on form events
• Export to CSV, JSON, or downstream systems

Auto-generated client libraries from the OpenAPI spec.

Use Case: Regulatory Compliance Audit

1. Compliance officer creates an audit form plan:

   • Regulation selection (entity reference)
   • Conditional sections by regulation type
   • Evidence capture with document upload
   • Sign-off with digital signature

2. Auditor fills the form during review:

   • Selects regulation → sees relevant compliance criteria
   • Records findings → each with severity and remediation steps
   • Signs off → form locked, full history preserved for time-travel review

3. Compliance manager reviews submissions:

   • Dashboard of completed audits
   • Filter by regulation, risk level, date
   • Export for regulatory reporting

Use Case: Clinical Trial Data Collection

1. Study coordinator designs the case report form (CRF):

   • Patient demographics
   • Visit schedule with conditional assessments
   • Adverse event reporting
   • 21 CFR Part 11 audit trail — full time-travel history of every change

2. Site staff enters data per visit:

   • Only see assessments relevant to this visit type
   • Validation prevents out-of-range values
   • Queries and corrections tracked with reason codes