Creating Surveys Using the Surveys Administration Dashboard

This topic describes how to use the Surveys Administration dashboard in the Aptify Desktop client to create a survey. 

1. Right-click Surveys and select Create Survey from the drop-down menu.
   
   
2. Configure the following fields within the new survey record's General tab:
   
   
   • Name: The name of the Survey; this is the name of the survey that will appear on the e-Business eeb site.
   • Max Questions Per Page: The maximum number of questions that will appear on each survey web page. By default, this is set to 5, which means that a web user will see no more than five questions on any survey screen. To proceed to the next screen, the web user clicks a Next button. Some survey screens may have less than the Max Questions Per Page if a particular Survey Question has Check Answers or Page Break enabled.
   • Start Date/End Date: Enter the date range for when the survey should be made available to users. The Start Date specifies the first day that the survey will be available; the End Date specifies the last day that the survey will be available.
   • Allow Partial Completion: Select this option to allow Aptify to save incomplete survey results. This creates a Save button on survey screens for Web users who are logged into the system. It allows users to save a survey and pick up from where they left off at a later time. Also, you must allow partial completion if you plan to use the Force Save option for any Question Branches. See About the Survey Questions (Question Branches) Form for more information.
   • Allow Duplicates: Select this option to allow a web user to take a survey more than once.
   • Category: Specifies the category to which the Survey belongs. You can create a new Survey Category by clicking the blue link to the left of the field.
   • Capture Mode: Set this field to Full Results.
   • Tracking Type: Specifies how users are tracked. When set to Anonymous, Aptify does not associate a user with survey results. When set to Identify, Aptify associates a user with survey results; only web users who are logged into the system will have access to the survey. When set to Mixed, all users have access to the survey, and Aptify associates a user with the -survey results if the user is logged into the system at the time he/she takes the -survey.
   • Status: Specifies the survey's current status. When set to Planning, a survey will not appear on the web site. When set to In Progress, a survey is available for users to take on the Web site (assuming that the survey is set to use a Web delivery type). When set to Complete, the survey no longer appears in the Survey List for new users; however, the survey is still available to Web users who already took the survey so they can review their answers (this assumes that the user was logged into the web site and the survey's Tracking Type is set to Identify or Mixed). When set to Closed, the survey no longer appears in the Survey List for any web users.
   • Erase Message: The text that appears when a user changes an answer that affects the order of questions within the survey. This is applicable if any -Survey Questions use Answer Logic. See About the Erase Message for details.
   • Description: An optional description of the survey. This text appears within the Survey Center on the e-Business Web site's main Surveys page. 
3. Click the Delivery Types tab and add Delivery Type records.
   • The Surveys module includes the Web delivery type by default.
   • You must add at least one Delivery Type entry and set it to Web if you want to the survey to appear on the e-Business Web site.
   • Configure an Access Password, if desired. This is applicable if Delivery Type is set to Web. A user is prompted to enter the Access Password after selecting the survey. The survey does not appear unless the user enters the correct password. Note that this password is not case sensitive.
4. Click the Applied Style Sheets tab and add one or more style sheets (from the Survey Style Sheets service) to the survey.
   • Add a start and end date for the style sheet if necessary.
5. Click Save to save and close the Surveys record.
6. Right-click the Survey and select Add Root SurveyQuestion from the drop-down menu.
   
   
7. Fill out the form to add the first Survey Question (also referred to as a Question Branch) to the Survey.
   
   
   
   1. Enter the question that you want to include in the survey in the Question field.
      
      • To create a new Question, click the blue link to the left of the field. See Creating Survey Questions Using the Questions Service for more information.
   2. Select the Check Answers option to enable Answer Logic.
      • Answer Logic allows you to create conditional branches within a survey based on a user's response to a specific question. You must have the Check Answers option enabled to use Answer Logic for a particular Survey Question in a survey.
      • When enabled, Aptify adds a page break after the Question and examines the answer provided by the user to determine which question to display next.
      • See Using Answer Logic in Surveys for more information.
        
        
   3. Select the Force Save option to allow Aptify to save a user's answers. When enabled for a particular Survey Question, the system saves a user's responses after the user answers the question and clicks the Next button to proceed to the next screen of the survey. The system saves all responses entered up to that point.
      • If none of the Survey Questions in a Survey have Force Save enabled, the system saves a user's answers only after the user completes the survey.
      • The Survey must have Allow Partial Completion enabled to use the Force Save feature.
        
        
   4. Select the Page Break option to add a page break after a Question Branch. A user will need to click a Next button to proceed to the next page and continue the survey.
   5. Select the Answer Required option to require the user to answer the Survey Question's question before proceeding to the next question.
      • If the user attempts to click Next or Finish within answering the question, an error message appears on-screen stating that the specified question must be answered before the user can proceed. The text of the error message depends upon the Survey Style Sheets in use.
      • This option only applies to certain Question Types. See About the Answer Required Options for details.
   6. Click OK to save the Survey Question's configuration settings.
8. Right-click the last Survey Question within the dashboard.
   • Select Add New Survey Question to add another question.
   • Select Add Virtual Survey Question to add a link between two branches of the survey. This is a useful feature if you want to reuse lines of questioning within the same survey. See Using Virtual Branches in the Surveys Administration Dashboard for more information.  
     
     
   • Select Add New Survey Question as Answer Logic or Add Virtual Survey Question as Answer Logic to create a conditional branch based on the web user's response to the highlighted Survey Question.
     • Answer Logic options only appear in the right-click menu if you selected the Check Answers option for the highlighted Survey Question and the highlighted Survey Question already has a configured next Survey Question or Virtual Branch.
     • See Using Answer Logic in Surveys for more information.
       
       
9. Complete the survey by adding Survey Questions, Virtual Branches, and/or Answer Logic as necessary.  
   
   
10. View the survey on the e-Business Web site to confirm that it operates as expected. See Viewing Surveys for details.
11. After completing a survey, create a view of the Survey Participants and Survey Results services and double-click a record to see the format in which Aptify saves a web user's responses to a survey.

Related topics

• Creating Survey Questions Using the Questions Service
• About Survey Question Types
• Using Answer Logic in Surveys
• Using Virtual Branches in the Surveys Administration Dashboard
• Editing Survey Center Listings
• About the Erase Message
• About the Answer Required Options
• Editing Surveys