FSO Tip: Managing Forms with Portal Commander

Today’s Facility Security Officers (FSOs) have a tough job. Not only must they ensure that their facilities comply with increasingly strict security regulations, but they must also assist with employee training activities, protect classified information, conduct self-inspections, and much more. With so many things to do, FSOs don’t have all day to spend in front of a screen fielding emails or keeping track of individual support tickets.

Portal Commander makes life easier for FSOs by streamlining tasks that hog valuable time, especially in an organization with hundreds or thousands of employees. Self-service features allow cleared personnel to make requests, complete tasks, and file reports without assistance, while user-friendly modules paired with workflow automation enable FSOs to approve requests and retrieve information on the fly.

The Forms Management Module

Cleared organizations often need to collect information from employees as part of their security, compliance, and business procedures. While standard forms may vary between organizations, common ones include the SF86, forms for Badge Requests, Access Changes, Clearance Upgrades, Foreign Travel and more.

Through the Forms Management module, Portal Commander also allows FSOs to store form templates, send them to employees and easily track completion. In the following steps, we will explain how this module works and how it integrates with the rest of the Portal Commander platform.

1. Store and Send Forms

To access the Forms Management module from your Portal Commander dashboard, click on “System Admin” in the left menu; below it, click on “Forms Management.” From this screen, you will have the option to:

• Create and store forms 
• Add custom fields (admin users only)
• Assign them to individual employees
• Assign them to multiple employees at the same time

Custom form in Portal Commander

While Forms Management can be used to store standard form templates like the SF86, it can also be used to create and digitalize proprietary form templates that are unique to your business needs.

2. Fill Out and Submit

Cleared personnel have more than one way to access and fill out the forms you have assigned them. First, they can click on the bell icon at the top right of their dashboard for a list of recently assigned actions. Second, they can navigate to the Pending Actions module located in their left-hand menu for a list of all unfinished actions.

Marking an action as complete

Clicking on the action associated with a form will take employees to the form, where they can either fill it out digitally or download and print it for later completion. When they have finished and submitted a form, they can mark it as complete through the Pending Actions module.

3. Track Completion

As soon as a form is submitted in Portal Commander™, the assignee will automatically be notified by email and through their personal dashboard the next time they log in. It is also possible to check completion status for individual employees by accessing their user profile either directly or through the “Personnel Search” screen. Each time an employee completes a form, that form will be attached to their personnel record for easy reference.

Using the comprehensive data stored in Portal Commander, FSOs and executives can quickly identify insights for improved completion rates, and – with the help of external tools – data visualization and analysis can even be used to compare performance across different departments, roles, and job types.

Get More Done with Portal Commander

The Forms Management module is just one of many ways that Portal Commander saves time for FSOs and frees them up to perform higher-impact activities. With easy access to personnel information, key metrics, and mobile-compatible task management features, Portal Commander provides a simplified overview of your organization and employees from a single location.

MathCraft’s software solutions are designed to give FSOs, CSOs, and other security professionals everything they need to run a successful security program, comply with federal regulations like the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), and effectively manage contract requirements. To learn more, request your free demo today!