Choice elements

Choice elements are the steps where staff pick from a set of options you've defined. There are five of them — a checklist of items to tick off, a single-choice picker, a multi-choice picker, a rating scale, and a cascading select.

What choice elements are

A choice element shows staff a list (or scale) of pre-defined options. Staff pick one, several, or work through them. The picked option (or options) go into the workflow run.

You set up the options when you build the workflow template. Staff can't add new ones at the moment they fill it in — they pick from what you've defined.

All choice elements at a glance

Element name	What it does	Plan required	Notes
Checklist	Staff tick off a list of items one by one.	Basic	Each item has its own check state. Good for "did you do all of these" sequences.
Single choice input	Staff pick one option from a list.	Basic	Radio-style picker.
Multi choice input	Staff pick one or more options from a list.	Basic	Multiple selections allowed.
Rating scale	Staff pick a value from a numeric scale.	Basic	Configure start and end (any range between 0 and 10). Auto-generates the buttons.
Cascading select	Two linked dropdowns — the child options depend on the parent choice.	Basic	Good for hierarchical lists like region then site, or category then sub-category.

Common configuration

Every choice element shows the same two fields at the top of its config card:

Input name (text, required) -- the label that appears in run history, exports, and reports.
Instructions (textarea, required) -- the help text staff see above the picker on their phone.

There's also a Mandatory toggle. Turn it on and staff can't complete the workflow without picking something.

Per-element configuration

Checklist -- you add items one at a time:

Add an item in the Add item box and press Enter (or tap the plus icon).
Each item shows up in the list with its own check state. Staff tick each one off on mobile.
Remove an item with the red X.

Single choice input -- you add the options staff can pick from:

Add an option in the Add option box and press Enter.
Staff see them as radio buttons on mobile and tap one.

Multi choice input -- same option setup as single choice, but staff can pick more than one.

Rating scale -- five fields:

Start (number, required) -- the lowest value on the scale.
End (number, required) -- the highest value on the scale.
Low label (text, optional) -- a word to show under the lowest button (for example, "Poor").
High label (text, optional) -- a word to show under the highest button (for example, "Excellent").

Start and end must both be between 0 and 10, and end must be greater than start. Pilla auto-generates a row of tap buttons for every integer in the range — so a 1 to 5 scale gives you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Cascading select -- you build a two-level tree:

Add a parent option in the Add parent option box.
For each parent, add child options underneath using the Add child box.
On mobile, staff pick a parent first. The child dropdown then only shows the children of that parent.

Use cascading selects when one choice naturally drives the next — region then site, department then station, category then sub-category.

How plan locks show up

All five choice elements are available on every plan. You won't see a lock icon on any of them in the element picker.

Tips

A checklist is the right shape when staff need to confirm they did several things in sequence. A multi choice is the right shape when they pick a subset from a known list.
For a rating scale, 1 to 5 is fastest on mobile (less scrolling). 1 to 10 gives you finer-grained data but takes longer to fill in.
Low and high labels on a rating scale make a huge difference. "1 = unusable, 5 = perfect" tells staff exactly how to grade — without labels, everyone scores differently.
Cascading selects keep long lists manageable. If you have 50 sites across 5 regions, splitting them into region then site means staff only see 5 options first, then 10 or so.
Keep choice element option lists short on mobile. More than about 8 options and staff start scrolling — consider splitting into a cascading select or using a different element type.