11 Pendragon

11.1 Overview

Dan Phillips, a Pendragon Forms company representative, presented to the e-device group on Sept. 22, 2022. Dan suggests that Pendragon falls into the middle of the array of e-device software options, between the very simple, quick menu driven and completely customized form, and forms developed from scratch using base coding languages. Pendragon is in the middle because it has a basic structure that must be followed, but it also has significant flexibility with custom scripting options. On the more complex end, Pendragon forms can include sub-forms, scripting, and custom Java scripted rules and calculations. Pendragon, unlike some other competitors, creates and saves the form in a relational database. MySQL is the database server used.

11.2 Key Features

11.2.1 Form Developing Interface

There are two approaches to developing a data entry form:

Basic Form Designer

Fields can be added one by one through the web-based forms designer GUI.

Figure 11.1: Pendragon web-based forms designer GUI.

Figure 11.2: Pendragon web-based forms designer GUI.

Figure 11.3: Pendragon web-based forms designer GUI.

Custom built solutions

The core scripting language of Pendragon is simplified version of Java. Pendragon provides many built-in/proprietary “Calls” (functions) that provide common forms options that are often repeated many times within a form. Pendragon also provides an interface for user-developed Calls; Custom calls are a more advanced form-building options, but these can provides further flexibility and application optimization.

11.2.2 Forms Options

The date time stamp is included no mater what, but form of date-time can be customized.
Full range of field types: Radio buttons (drop-down lists); look-up lists (for large list of records)
GPS can be captured by Pendragon from the device. Precision of GPS depends on capacity of device.
Images (more than one) can be captured by the device and associated with a record.
Access to sub-forms can be added (nested format)
Forms can extend across multiple pages.

Figure 11.4: Pendragon forms can extend across multiple pages.

Voice to text can be used for text fields.
Web-designer provides an ’All-fields” view for review of Form fields
‘Buttons’ are functions that use custom written scripts. Dan Phillips (Pendragon) suggests: For someone who has never done any scripting or coding before, the Forms design routine will be new. For someone who has done some basic scripting, this tool will be quick to pick up.
Option available to ‘Go To’ a second input field based on the response of the first input field.
There are ways to hide certain fields based on the response of an initial input field.

11.2.3 Form Permissions Management

There are three different levels of access to a Pendragon account. The User-level can only get in from the interface on the device and cannot design or change the data collection form; The Designer-level can design forms but cannot control users; The Administrative-level can do both. Completed forms can be assigned to groups and users can be added to have access to these forms.

Completed forms can be assigned to groups and users can be added to have access to these forms.

Figure 11.5: Completed forms can be assigned to groups and users can be added to have access to these forms.

Completed forms are ‘frozen’ to lock down form configurations; forms are ‘published’ to make available to specified users.

Figure 11.6: Completed forms are ‘frozen’ to lock down form configurations; forms are ‘published’ to make available to specified users.

11.2.4 Web Tool Options

Web tool menu displays can help organize all forms created.
Pendragon forms can be used and tested in any browser which allows you to test everything before it is deployed on a mobile device.
The ‘mobile view’ of the All Fields form provides a preview of the form as it would appear on the device.
Pendragon forms can be transposed to different device types (forms have a ‘responsive layout’)

Figure 11.7: Pendragon forms can be transposed to different device types.

11.2.5 Mobile Options

The Form display will only show columns that fit on the page so the design choice is important for for different device types.
Rules can be assigned to specify which records come off of the device.
Rules can be assigned to indicate which fields are transferred during a synchronization.
Two actions during synchronization: Records to server; new Forms to device
GPS: even if you don’t have internet, you can still import a GPS reading from your device.
In offline mode: data is not transferred to the server – all data collected locally.
Pendragon can collect GPS from device API; GPS through Bluetooth connections are a more complete problem.
Pendragon can trace monitoring path and calculate distance

Figure 11.8: Pendragon forms collect the GPS of monitoring path and calculate basic trace distance.

11.2.6 Data Interface

Custom API connections available
NO version control on the cloud service so CANNOT revert to previous states of the database.
Default method for data collection is to run the export (export csv file plus image attachments). Dan: A secure obdc protocol could be configured so that users can develop their own version control; The user connects to Pendragon cloud storage through an API, pulls and saves data daily, uses their own script to establish version control.
Pendragon data CANNOT backed up to local laptop right now.
Can Pendragon be configured to synch to a local system? Dan: It would have to be set up like that originally; The built-in Java calls can send individual data to a server or an IP address. It is expecting a web server but a custom API could be configured to synch to a local system.

Figure 11.9: The Pendragon data transfer to the cloud SQL platform is initiated manually with a synch button outside of the data entry form.

11.3 Criteria Tables

For in-depth definitions of each criteria, see e-device comparison criteria.

11.3.1 Forms Options

Table 11.1: Forms Options
Category	Feature	Available	Description	Group Notes
Data entry validation/QC	Geo-referencing	Yes	Only android feature can provide tracking. Some trig functions available. Theoretically could calculate distance using ‘native’ Pendragon scripting; but could also use Java scripting to develop a more advance calculation (e.g., survey distance)
	Constrained choices from a list	Yes	Drop down option, radio buttons (selection list), look up list can reference another form.
	Rules guiding answer series (e.g., “Conditional Questions” and “Skips”)	Yes	Also, can get more sophisticated with scripting. Logic of survey where subsequent question are based on the responses of earlier questions.
	Constrained choices from an external table or set of rules	Yes
	Form Version Control	Yes
	Real-time Data Review	?	No information
	Real-time Edit (“on the fly”)
Ease of Form Development	Intuitive form design tool	Yes		Dan Phillips (Pendragon) suggests that Pendragon falls into the middle of the array of e-device software options: between the very simple, quick menu driven and completely customized form developed from scratch using base coding languages.
	Coding language required?	No	Unless more complex forms required, and this would require Java scripting
	Different styles of question types	Yes
	Flexibility to configure in a logical order for field entry (e.g., nested design)	Yes
Other IEP Survey needs	Permissions Management	Yes	Three different types of users. User can only get in from the interface on the device and cannot design or change the data collection form; Designer can design forms but cannot control users; Admin and do all of it. Completed forms can be assigned to groups and users can be added to have access to these forms.
	Muti-users of an app	Yes
	Off-line capacity	Yes	Actually only works in off line mode. When the data transfer synch occurs, one is out of the Forms entry mode.
User Accessability	Multiple-language options	?	No information
	Font adjustment/ Speak-to-text	Yes	Voice to text can be used for text fields

11.3.2 Data Interface

Table 11.2: Data Interface Options
Category	Feature	Available	Description
Database interface	Cloud-storage	Yes	Pendragon Server software can be either Cloud-based or ‘On-premise’.
	Direct integration with database	Yes/No	Pendragon saves the form in a relational database on MySQLdatabase server. Further processes would be needed to download and transfer these relational tables to the user/project database. Custom API connections are available which could support integration with user/project database.
	Integrate data from local tables	?
Edit after transfer	Editing data ‘on-the-fly’ (data already submitted)	?
Data format	Open (standard) format output	Yes	Default form is .csv
	Data format logical / useable	Yes
Data transfer	Real-time data transfer	No	Not standard
	Cloud connectivity & back up	Yes	Cloud upload is done manually as a separate step; separate mode from the Form/data entry mode.
Data change logs	Audit trails (data version control)	No	Custom API connections are available which could support user-developed version control routines.

11.3.3 Photo Integration and External Sensors

Table 11.3: Photo Integration and External Sensors
Category	Feature	Available	Description
Photo Integration	Collect photo & assoc. with element	Yes	Photo integration supported for both OS
	Ease of interface	Yes
	Multi-photo per element (and # limit)	Yes
	Drawing-on/ Annotating photo	No	No drawing option integrated in Pendration
X-tern sensors	GPS from device	Yes
	Integrate data from bar codes	Yes
	Integrate data from external sensors	Maybe	Establishing communication to external sensors would require Pendragon tech time/fees; apparently they have done this a couple of times.

11.3.4 Hardware Platforms

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Table 11.4: Hardware Platform Options
Feature	Available	Group Notes
Smart Phones and Tablets
- iOS (phone and tablet)	Yes
- Android(phone and tablet)	Yes	Android systems provide more flexibility for customization (iOS requires certifications)
Desktop/laptop
- Windows 7,8,10, 11	Yes	Web-based only
- MacOS (computer)	Yes	Web-based only
- Ubuntu Linux	?

11.3.5 Security Factors

Table 11.5: Security Factors
Feature	Available	Description
Where’s the application/product origins from?	U.S.A.
Is the application Cloud based, and if so, where?	Azure	Pendragon Forms is a software as a service (SaaS) cloud application paid via monthly subscription based on the number of reserved users. However, an On Premise version is also offered for organizations who cannot or do not want to use a cloud-based solution.
Where is the data being stored for the application?	Cloud version - Azure (central US); On-premise (users server)
Is the data center FedRAMP certified?	Yes	Azure is FedRAMP certified; but Pendragon use is not certified
Online Security measures	?	No further information

11.3.6 Business Model and Customer Support

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Table 11.6: Security Factors
Feature	Available	Description	Group Notes
Price (Option 1)	Cloud Essentials: 2-9 Users; Storage 1 GB	$40/mo/2 users
Price (Option 2)	Cloud Standard: 10-24 Users; Storage 5GB	$260/mo/14 users
Price (Option 3)	Cloud Professional: 25-99 Users; Storage 10GB	$560/mo/28 users
Price (Option 5)	On-premise option allows organizations with restrictive IT policies or requirements for tighter integration to install on their local servers.	3950	https://pendragonforms.com/pendragon_pricing_on_premise.html
Business model
Technical Support	Pendragon “QuickStart” Our support specialists will guide you through the initial steps of converting your paper forms to digital forms so that you can begin collecting data in minutes.	Not provided

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