Using the Survey Portlet

Overview

A "survey" refers to a multiple page survey questionnaire, which is usually shown in a maximized portlet view, while the normal portlet view shows only a link inviting people to take the survey. A "poll" refers to a one page questionnaire, which is displayed in the normal portlet view and is replaced by poll results after voting.

Surveys and polls are created using the Cogix ViewsFlash application and organized into "Places". A survey is scheduled to open and close at given times. A Survey Portlet instance is configured to display the survey, and then the portlet is included in the appropriate portal pages.

To show a survey in the portal, esource Permissions are applied to make the Survey portlet available to the intended audience and to allow its configuration by appropriate personnel. Portlet configuration determines what surveys are shown in the portlet.

After the Survey portlet application is added to a page, it can be configured in three ways:

• To show one survey to everyone. The same survey is shown until the portlet is re-configured.
• To show each user those surveys that he or she has been invited to participate in. The portlet is configured once, and the portlet displays links to the surveys that are scheduled and that the user can participate in. Every survey created specifies whether everyone should be invited to participate, or only certain users, using Invite Lists.
• To show a rotating poll to everyone. Polls are created and scheduled in advance, and portlet is configured once. At the appointed times, the new poll is automatically shown in the portlet.

Assigning Access to the Survey portlet

1. In Portal Administration, click on Portlets. Enter Survey in Search by: and press Search. The Survey portlet will be shown. Click on the Assign Access key next to it.
   
2. In Resource Permissions, two Roles need to be set: User and Administrator.
   Assign the User role to "All Authenticated Portal Users".
   
3. In the same manner, assign User Groups and Users to the Administrator role. Note that the portal administrator, by default, already has this role.
   Users in this role will see the Configure icon in the portlet, which will give them the right to select what survey to present in the Survey portlet.
   
   SECURITY NOTE If using User Security with a portal running in Secure mode, the list of what polling places is restricted to those for which the logged in user has access. The portal administrator, when creating new Polling Places, must grant appropriate rights to those users who are expected to access the polling place.
   

Adding the Survey portlet to a page

1. Navigate to the page where the Survey portlet is to be deployed and click on the Add Page Components and Applications icon, and click on the Applications tab. In the Sort Title search box, search for Survey
   
2. click on the Survey application and click on Add to Page. The Survey portlet will display on the page:
   
3. Drag the portlet to another location if appropriate.
4. Click on the top right of the Survey portlet and choose Configure from the menu.
   Click on its Configure button (the drop menu icon):
   
5. Perform this step once, when logged on as a ViewsFlash administrator (usually wpsadmin). Click on Survey setup. This will open up the ViewsFlash survey creation application in a separate window. Change the URL to
   .../servlet/viewsflash?Diagnose=1
   or, if using User Security, to
   .../servlet/vfadmin?Diagnose=1
   and press Enter to go to that page:
   
   Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Administration and Setup link. Complete section 1 and press Submit. Then close the ViewsFlash application window. If you see any errors during this procedure, please refer to the Installation procedure.
   
   SECURITY NOTE If using User Security with a portal running in Secure mode, the portal administrator is authorized to create new Polling Places. When the Administrator creates new Polling Places, he must grant appropriate rights to other users besides himself.
   
6. Survey portlet configuration is now complete.

Configuring the portlet instance to show everyone a survey

1. In the survey portlet Configure page, select the polling place where the survey was created, such as Examples. The page will refresh with updated settings for that polling place. From the list of surveys, select which one to show in this portlet. In the radio buttons, select "as a link that opens in maximized mode ". Check the boxes labeled "Show a link that shows results" and "After questionnaire completed, display results instead" as desired. By default, visitors can only take a survey once. Press Save.
   
2. When done, click on "Return to portal".
3. The Survey portlet is now ready for use. Log out and log in as a typical user, and click on "take survey". The portlet will be maximized, and successive survey pages will be presented. At the end, a thank you message with an optional tabulation of results will be shown. Click on the restore button and return to the portal, where the survey invitation link will be replaced by a "survey already completed" message.

Configuring the portlet instance to show each user all the surveys he or she has been invited to

1. To conduct multiple surveys at the same time, the ViewsFlash application must be installed using a database.
   Go to the survey portlet Configure page. If it is, you will see "Show all eligible" as an option in the top pull-down menu. Choose that option and press Change:
   
   
   
2. The portlet will now show a link to every survey that the logged in user has been invited to.
   Click on Return to portal and you will now see two links to two available surveys:
   
   
   
3. When you click on each link, the survey is displayed. When you finish taking the survey, you return to the survey list,
   but the survey just completed is no longer on the list. When there are no more surveys to take, the Surveys portlet will show
   "no surveys scheduled".
   
   
4. It is possible to limit who to show a survey to by using Invite Lists.
   Logged in as the Survey portlet Administrator, click on Configure, then click on Survey Setup to bring the ViewsFlash application UI in a separate window.
   Go to Polling Places, then Examples. Go to car_satisfaction2.
   Now click on Options, then click on Invite, select your Invite list from the drop down menu, and press Go.
   
   
   
5. Click on Manage lists, scroll to the bottom, and edit the list of users who should be able to see the portlet, press Submit, and close the window.
   
   
   
   
6. Back at the Invite and Track page, press Invite Now. After doing this, only users whose user IDs are on the list will see the link to this Survey.
   Invite Lists can be created by hand as shown here, or from an LDAP filter, or a database query. Lists can be created and reused repeatedly.

Configuring the portlet instance to show an automatically rotating poll

1. Create a new portlet by copying the portlet used above. To do so, go to Portlets, Manage Portlets, search for Survey, highlight the portlet that was used above, and click on Copy on the right hand side. The new portlet will now appear.
2. Change the new portlet's title to HR survey by highlighting it and clicking on Modify Parameters, then Set Title for selected locale. Configure the new portlet's Resource permissions and add the new portlet to a page.
3. Click on My Portal to leave Portal Administration and enter the Portal. Go to the page where you added the new portlet, and click on its Configure button (the tool wrench).
4. In the Survey portlet's Configure page, select Portlet_Polls from the drop-down menu. Click on Survey Setup. In the ViewsFlash application, click on the Scheduled column link for the HealthBenefits poll. and in its Publish page enter opening and closing dates in the near future. The portal will automatically switch between polls at the designated times. Return to the polls list by clicking on Portlet_Polls at the top of the page and repeat the procedure with the other poll. When finished, close the ViewsFlash window, and fill out the page with the settings shown below and press Save:
   
5. Click on Return to portal. The new portlet will now show the current poll. After a visitor votes in it, poll results will be shown instead of the voting forms.

Creating your own surveys.

Go to the ViewsFlash application by clicking on the Configure link when logged in with the appropriate rights and clicking on Survey Setup. You can bookmark this page to access the ViewsFlash application outside the portal. In Polling Places, either use the pre-installed Portal_Surveys and Portal_Polls polling places, or copy one of them to create your own. Portal_Surveys is set up to manually schedule the survey that is served in the portlet, and Portal_Polls is set up to rotate polls or surveys through the portlet automatically.

For information on creating portlets and surveys in multiple languages, see Internationalization.