Is it possible to populate a field in a feature class from related table from within Field Maps?

Question

Using ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1. We have a feature class containing point features that effectively are the inventory of that particular facility (water meters, if it matters). That inventory layer contains fields such as the meter register ID and serial number, among others.

I'm setting up a related table for some specific maintenance activities such as replacing the meter with a brand new one, which will require updating the inventory fields accordingly. I plan to use the Smart Forms capability within Field Maps to guide the user through entering all of the required fields for a particular activity into the related table. For some of the activities, the user will need to populate a field in the related table with the new meter register ID (as one example). I would like that value to automatically update the feature class field upon submitting the related table edits.

Is there a way to set up an attribute rule or something similar that will update a field in a feature class with a value from the related table?

I'm open to any possible solutions. What I don't want is for the user to need to jump from one form to another (related table form over to the feature class form) to populate values or duplicate the population of a value (double entry and double the chance for user error).

Thanks for any ideas you might have!

BrianOevermann · Answer

@LongDinh, I probably should have been a bit more clear regarding the conditional logic in Field Maps. The use case for the related table will be field-only, so the conditional logic in the form will not be undermined by outside editing. But your point is well taken!

For this particular situation, the conditional logic in the form will be to govern which fields are shown based on the type of service activity since not all of the fields in the related table apply to all of the service activities.

I intend to use the attribute rules to 'sync' certain values from the related table back into the inventory feature class fields.

LongDinh · Answer

@BrianOevermann creating conditional logic in Field Maps forms is also an option, however, it is difficult maintain data quality/integrity and scale the use of the underlying service across multiple applications.

For example, should another application like a Portal Web Maps or a ArcGIS Pro make edits on the feature service url, then the conditional logic from Field Maps is not applied as it is a self contained application.

Applying attribute rules ensures any data entry from any application using the Feature Service adheres to the rules of editing the dataset.

BrianOevermann · Answer

Thank you @LongDinh. This is helpful. I've duplicated our data into a sandbox enterprise gdb that I maintain for testing purposes so that I can demo what the user says they want. So I already have a test bed ready for trying to implement my desired attribute rules.

My users think that this request only requires creating a smart form with conditional logic in Field Maps. And that is basically the case on the surface. They simply have no idea what needs to happen administratively behind the scenes to keep everything in sync so they don't need to do any double entry of the data.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!