Citizen Problem Reporter Update?

[MT_JenAmes]

Are there plans to update the Citizen Problem Reporter solution? There are some facets of the solution that are newer, like the hub site, but the Reporter application doesn't really reflect the direction that applications have been going in. It seems to be pretty WAB based, where Esri is pushing us towards EB and Instant Apps.

The biggest issue I have with the solution right now is that while there are a lot of customizable aspects, they're minor things to customize. For example, I can't make fields required, I can't add any subtitles to the headers (to include examples of what information we're looking for), or add in additional fields to request more information (our residents are used to submitting a streetlight ID# with their requests, but there's no explicit location to put that). If any of these things ARE in fact currently possible, I have been unable to get them to work, because every thing I have tried just makes the Reporter application unusable. I was having a ton of issues trying to customize the Reporter app, and ended up having to delete and re-deploy the solution multiple times. One of the biggest things I've enjoyed about EB and Instant Apps is that they accept the rotation of a map. Our municipality is on a nearly 40 degree angle, meaning it's almost a diamond in a square window, which is annoying.

Honestly, there's a lot of the Solution that I won't use, but the Crowdsource Reporter/Manager configurable applications have the same issues. Are either the Solution or the Configurable App templates getting a facelift to EB/Instant App types soon?

[Joshua-Young]

Did you see the recent announcement for the Manager (beta) instant app? It will be replacing the Crowdsource Manager solution eventually.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-instant-apps-blog/introducing-manager-beta/ba-p/1339221?rsource...

I have not heard of any replacements for Crowdsource Reporter. I wonder if you could use a combination of EB and the Survey123 widget to make something similar.

[MT_JenAmes]

I don't think I knew about the Manager beta, but the Citizen Problem Manager isn't really the part of the Solution I have a problem with. It looks like it has potential, but I'll wait to move over to it until it's got some more of the features implemented that are outlined in the roadmap. 

I did think about trying to build an EB app to make my own version of Citizen Problem Reporter, but I don't know if I'm comfortable enough with EB to put together something that would do a good job of replicating everything that this Solution does.

[ChrisFox · Accepted solution]

The Citizen Problem Reporter solutions uses both the Crowdsource Reporter and Crowdsource Manager configurable app templates as key components of the solution. As @Joshua-Young commented we recently released the new Manager instant app template as beta and it will be the replacement for the Crowdsource Manager application template. We are also working on a new Reporter instant app template that will be the replacement for the Crowdsource Reporter application template. We are planning the release of this new instant app template for next year.

Once both of these instant app templates are released and out of beta will be releasing an update of the Citizen Problem Reporter solution leveraging these new instant apps  and incorporating many of the enhancements you describe. For example the new Reporter and Manager apps will leverage the editing form that you can configure in the Map Viewer which provides the ability to mark field as required or add a subtitle/description to individual fields. You will also be able to leverage arcade to conditionally hide/show fields, conditionally require fields and calculate values into fields automatically. These new apps will leverage all the capabilities available in the new Map Viewer, including maintaining the rotation of the map.

With regard to trying to configure things with the current Crowdsource Reporter app and it breaking the app and making it unusable, I would recommend that you do any customization to the map that supports the app in Map Viewer Classic. This is because the Crowdsource Reporter was built with the ArcGIS API 3.x which is compatible with Map Viewer Classic. The new Map Viewer is built with the ArcGIS API 4.x and has many capabilities that are not compatible with the Crowdsource Reporter and other 3.x apps.

So from the items you list above, it is possible to customize the Crowdsource Reporter app to add additional fields when submitting a new issue/request. You would need to add this field to the feature service and then you would open the web map in Classic Map Viewer. You would then configure the pop-up for the Requests/Reports layer. Click Configure Attributes and toggle on the Edit checkbox next to the new field you added. You can also move the field up/down to change the order in which it is displayed in the form. Click Ok, Ok to commit the pop-up change and save the map. Now when you refresh the app you should see the new field in the form. 

[MT_JenAmes]

Awesome, I'm happy to hear there is an update planned. I think I tried in one of my deployments of the solution to use Classic, but I'm so used to Map Viewer now that I quickly got frustrated with it and gave up. So I will try again! Thanks for the tips.

Any idea when in the next year the new solution is planned to be released? 

[MT_JenAmes]

I was just wondering what the timeline is looking like for rolling out the update to Citizen Problem Reporter? It's been almost a year since this conversation, and I'm looking to push out the Solution in my township, but don't really want to use the Solution's Web App Builder format, as it will soon be outdated. However, I am also finding that the existing Reporter Instant App has limitations that don't replicate the Citizen Problem Reporter Web App Builder template. Mainly applying the domains from the Requests csv to the category and type questions, and the function to limit editing to the inside of a set polygon.

[ChrisFox]

We are planning an update to the Citizen Problem Reporter solution for Q4 this year. It will use the new Reporter and Manager Instant apps. We will provide a way to configure the request categories and types via the solution in the initial release. Limiting the ability to submit reports within a given polygon is something we are looking to add early next year.

[MT_JenAmes]

Ok cool. I think I'll probably just roll out the Solution as is, and maybe update it in a year to the newer formats. Thanks for the update and quick response!