Smartforms in Afosto OMS - Manage product data consistently and error-free

What are Smartforms?

Smartforms is a flexible tool within the Afosto Order Management System (OMS) that lets you define your own product data structure. Instead of working with a single fixed product structure, Smartforms lets you decide which fields, categories, and options are relevant for your type of products.

Why use Smartforms

Smartforms makes it possible to capture product data in a structured and scalable way. It is not only intended for organizations with a complex assortment, but especially for businesses that value control and quality of product data.

With Smartforms you can specify per product category which data is required, optional, or not applicable. This way you enforce that the correct data is entered when creating or editing products. As a result, all entered product information immediately meets the requirements of:

external marketplaces (such as Bol.com or Amazon)
shipping providers and logistics rules
filter and search functionality on your webshop
analytics and marketing tools (such as GA4, Meta, or Klaviyo)

Instead of discovering incomplete or incorrect product data after the fact, Smartforms ensures data quality at the front of the process. This gives employees and AI models clear guidelines about what needs to be filled in per product category, preventing inconsistencies and errors right at the point of entry.

Key benefits:

Flexible data modeling per product category
Consistent and complete product information
Reusable attributes and options
Fast and error-free onboarding of new products
Direct validation against PIM and marketplace requirements

Smartform Management in the OMS

In the OMS menu you will find Smartforms under: Products -> Smartforms

Here you manage:

your Smartforms (the forms themselves)
the categories within each form
the attributes (fields)
the options (choice values)

Creating a new Smartform

1. Open the overview

Navigate to Products -> Smartforms. You will see an overview of existing forms with their name and creation date.

2. Add a new form

Click Add Smartform in the top right. A window appears where you can enter the name of the form.

Smartform name: enter a recognizable name, for example Jewelry store form or Clothing form.
Click Add to save the form.

The new form now appears in the overview.

Editing a Smartform

Click on the name of the form to open it. Within a Smartform, three tabs are available:

Categories
Attributes
Options

Together these form the structure of your form.

Managing categories

1. Add a new category

Open the Categories tab and click Add.

Give the category a name, for example Jewelry or Watches.
Click Save to store the category.

You can then create subcategories, for example:

Jewelry -> Bracelet -> Chain bracelet
Jewelry -> Ring
Jewelry -> Earrings

Categories can be dragged to adjust the order or hierarchy.

2. Rename or delete

Click the three-dot menu next to the category name:

Edit name to change the name.
Delete category to remove it.

Managing attributes

Attributes are the fields within a category. Examples: Length (cm), Color, Material, Price increase, Image.

1. Add a new attribute

Go to the Attributes tab and click Add attribute. A form appears where you configure the properties of the attribute.

Fields

Name and key:
Name is the visible label (e.g. "Bracelet length (cm)").
Key is the technical reference (e.g. "length_cm").
Description: Describe what this field is for, for example: Length of the bracelet in centimeters.
Data type: Choose the input type (e.g. Text, Number, Boolean, Image).
Max length: Set the maximum length for text fields.
Options (optional): Link an existing option list (for example Color list).
Unit (optional): Add a unit, such as cm, kg or EUR.
Other settings:
Multi value - Allow multiple values for this field.
Restrict special characters - Restrict special characters in the input.

Click Save to add the attribute.

2. Managing attributes

In the attribute table you can see:

the name and description
the linked data type
whether the field is multi value
the linked option or unit

Via the menu on the right you can:

Edit an attribute
Duplicate it (useful for similar fields)
Delete it

You can also export the list as .csv.

Managing options

Options are reusable choice lists that you can link to attributes.

1. Create a new option

Go to the Options tab and click Add option. You get a form with the following fields:

Name: the name of the option list (e.g. Color or Size).
Description: brief explanation or context of use.
Values: add one or more values, for example:
Red
Blue
Green
Black

Click Save to store the option list.

2. Managing options

In the overview you can:

Edit existing options
Duplicate them
Delete them

You can also export the option lists as .csv for use in other forms.

Linking attributes to categories

Within the Categories tab you can specify per category which attributes are visible or required.

Select a category in the left column.
Click Add attribute on the right to add fields to the category.
In the list you can configure for each attribute:
Show: whether the attribute is visible in the form.
Mandatory: whether the attribute is required to fill in.

These settings ensure that users only see the relevant fields when adding product data.

Best practices

Create forms per product group (e.g. Jewelry, Clothing, Electronics) rather than one large form.
Use reusable option lists to maintain consistency.
Keep attribute naming unambiguous (e.g. Length (cm) rather than Bracelet length).
Archive forms that are no longer in use to keep things organized.
Use export functions to share definitions between teams or to create backups.

Summary

With Smartforms you decide how product data is captured within your organization. By combining categories, attributes, and options, you can build forms that precisely match your assortment and data management needs.

This creates a scalable and consistent way to manage product information, fully integrated into the Afosto OMS.