In this guide we will show you how to create and manage Staff Forms. This function allows a user to create Staff Forms that can be sent to Staff members for various purposes. For example Staff surveys or feedback on staff policy changes.

Use this guide to do the following;

• Create basic question types
• Create advanced question types
• Edit a form
• Send out forms to recipients and manage the recipient list
• Complete a form
• Preview a form
• Analysis of form responses
• Request to reopen a form

Access: The minimum permissions required to create a Staff Form are found in the Administration Module of Config > Setup > Roles & Permissions.

Create basic question types

Go to Modules > Administration > HR & Performance Management and click Surveys And Forms

If creating Forms for the first time the screen will be empty as shown in the example below.

The example below shows the following potential column headings (this will vary according to the individual form created):

• Name
• No of Questions
• No of Recipients
• No of Submissions
• Active/Inactive
• Created By
• Created Date
• Actions: Edit (pen icon), Delete (bin icon), Monitoring (bar chart icon), and Preview (play icon).

To create a new Form, click New at the top right of the page to open the Edit a Form popup. The popup has three tabs: Form Details, Form Contents, and Manage Recipients

Form Details

This tab allows a user to create the details of a form and contains the following fields:

• Name – enter a name for the form. This is a required field.
• Description – an optional field to add more information about the form.
• Attachment – an optional field that allows up to ten attachments to be added to the form. Use this option to also remove attachments from the form. Click Browse files to locate files on your pc.
• Created by – displays the last name, first name, and staff code of the user who created the form. Cannot be edited.
• Created date – the date the form was created. Cannot be edited.
• Active – a checkbox to indicate whether the form is currently active. Unchecked by default. A Form must be Active in order to add recipients.
• Anonymise Responses – if selected, this option anonymises the names of any respondents to the form.
• Expiry date – an option to set a date after which the form will not longer be active.

Click the bottom right Save to save any changes. Click Close to discard any changes and return to the Surveys & Forms page.

Form Contents.

How to create questions. Use the top left Question Type* drop down to choose the required Question Type.

Three fields are common to all Question Types:

• Question Type – select Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, or Single Answer from the dropdown list (see below for more details about each option).
• Question Title – enter a title for the question.
• More information – allows additional details about the question to be added.

• Required. This is unchecked by default. If checked, this question in the form must be answered.

Multiple Choice/Multiple Answers

By default, two choices are always available (‘Choice 1’ and ‘Choice 2’). The following options are also available:

• Add Choice – Multiple Choice – allows a user to add further multiple choice answer options for a question. Answer options can be deleted, but there must always be a minimum of two answer options (with a maximum of 20 options).  To delete a choice, click the bin icon on the right.
• Add Choice – Multiple Answers- allows a user to add further multiple answer options for a question. This option is similar to ‘Multiple Choice’, but allows a respondent to choose multiple answers to a question, instead of just one. Answer options can be deleted, but there must always be a minimum of two answer options. To delete a choice, click the bin icon on the right.
• Resources – allows a user to add a maximum of 10 attachments to the form.
• Add a link – allows a user to add a maximum of 10 links to websites or other resources (type or paste the link in the box, and then click the Add button).
• For Multiple Choice and Multiple Answers questions there is an Add Other option that, if selected, allows the user to enter a free-text answer to a question in a form.

Single Answer

Allows a respondent to enter a text answer to a question. The following options are also available:

• Resources – allows a user to add a maximum of 10 attachments to the form.
• Add a link – allows a user to add a maximum of 10 links to websites or other resources.

When a question has been created, click Add Question to Form to add the question to the form. The question is displayed in the list on the left of the popup.

Edit/Preview/Reorder Questions

Select any question and the click the Preview button to display a preview of that question.

To Edit a question, select a question on the left of the panel to display the question on the right, edit the question, and then click Update to save any changes that are made, or Cancel to discard any changes and revert to a blank question creation form on the right of the popup.

To Reorder a list of questions, select a question in the left hand list and use the blue up/down arrow keys to move it within the list.

Click Close to exit the popup and return to the Surveys & Forms page where the created form is displayed in a list.

Create advanced question types

The following advanced question types are available.

• Rating – displays five outlined stars, which the user can click to provide a rating.
• Date – prompts the user to enter or select a date (in DD/MM/YYYY format) in response to the question.
• Ranking – allows the user to move multiple options up and down a list to create a ranked list. Options are added to a form in the same way as choices are added in Multiple Choice questions. Click Add Choice to add answer options (‘Choice 1, Choice 2’, and so on). Answer options can be deleted, but there must always be a minimum of two answer options (up to a maximum of 20). Options are displayed in the order that they are added to the form. To change the order of options, drag and drop the entries. When all of the option fields have been completed, a new option entry appears below. Empty options are not included in the saved form. To delete an option, click the bin icon on the right.
• Likert  – this option allows a user to assign a statement/response/score to a series of questions to rank each on a sliding scale (for example, bad to good). The user can create a list of options for the respondent which are displayed at the top of a table with the associated statement to the left forming a grid pattern. For each row in the table there is a radio button for the user to enter an option for each statement. Click Add Choice  to add question options (‘Choice 1’, ‘Choice 2’, and so on), with five options as the default and a maximum of seven. Question options can be deleted, but there must always be a minimum of two question options. Click on the option text box to edit the text. To delete an option, click the bin icon on the right. Click Statement to add a response (‘Statement 1’, ‘Statement 2’, and so on), which the user can then select as a reply. There is a default number of two statements, with a minimum of one and a maximum of 20. Click on the statement text box to edit the text. To delete a statement, click the bin icon on the right.
• Section Break – allows titled section breaks to added to the form (for example, ‘Personal Details’, ‘Contact ‘Details’, and so on). Although not strictly a question, this option effectively creates a new panel heading for any questions within the section. Select the option to display two text input boxes: Section Title – enter the required text in the input box. Section Description – enter the required text in the input box.

Edit a form

A user can remove, change, or add question to a form. No new notifications are sent out to respondents when a form is edited. Notifications are only sent when a user is assigned to the form, or when a user is reminded to complete a form.

When a user clicks on a link to a form which has been updated since the notification was sent, the form is displayed in its current state of completion, not the state of completion when the notification was sent.

For a partially completed, but not submitted, form any previous answers are kept, but:

• If a question has been removed, the question will no longer be visible, even if it has been answered.
• If a question has been edited, an answer is kept, unless, for example, the question type has been changed from ‘Multiple Choice’ to ‘Single Answer’. If only the question text has been edited, the answer is kept.

Send out forms to recipients and manage the recipient list

The Manage Recipients tab on the Edit a form popup allows a user to manage the list of people who receive any forms that are created, and then monitor who has replied.

A form must be Active before adding recipients see the Form Details tab.

The top section of the tab allows a user to add people to a recipient list. The bottom section shows a list of recipients with their status information and some options for actions.

A user can add recipients in three ways via the Add people by dropdown list. Select one of these options:

• Staff Unit – displays the Staff Units dropdown list to the right of the popup. Select the required unit(s) from the dropdown list.
• Roles – displays the Roles dropdown list to the right of the popup. Select the required role(s) from the dropdown list.
• Staff Member– displays the Staff Member dropdown list to the right of the popup. Select the required staff from the dropdown list.

The table below displays the following information for the selected recipients:

• Person name
• Staff code
• Date assigned – the date when the recipient was added to the list and sent a notification.
• Completed – whether the form has been completed (‘Yes’ or ‘No’).

There are also two available Actions:

• Nudge – click the alarm icon to send a new notification and reminder e-mail to the staff member.
• Delete – click the delete icon to delete that recipient from the list. If the recipient has completed, or partially completed the form, their answers are not saved. If they click on the link, a message is sent to confirm that their answers have not been saved.

Click the bottom right Save to save the list. Any new recipients that have been added to the list are sent an e-mail to inform them that they have been sent a new form.

If the user clicks Close, or closes the popup without saving, a confirmation message is displayed warning that any changes will be lost if you continue.

Complete a form

Click on your photo on the top right of the screen and choose My Profile

A panel on this page lists any forms that a user has been asked to complete and the Status of the form (Incomplete, Available, and so on).

Click Go to Form for any form in the list to display the form as a full page in the My Profile area.

The first page of the form displays the following information:

• The name of the form
• A description of the form
• A list of any attachments to the form
• The number of recipients of the form
• An estimated time for the completion of the form
• The percentage of recipients who have completed the form

Click the right hand Start to begin completing the form. The next page displayed depends on the questions in the form.

Multiple choice questions page

• The question number is displayed, with the question text. Any additional question description text or links/attachments are shown below.
• Answer options are displayed with radio buttons for the user to select their single answer.
• For this, and all other question types, a running total of the questions in the form is displayed at the bottom of the screen (for example, ‘Q1/15’), together with the estimated time remaining in the form (based on an estimate of 45 seconds to answer each question).

Multiple answer questions page

• This page is identical to the multiple choice questions page, except that users can select multiple answers from the radio button options.

Single question answers page

• The question number is displayed, with the question text. Any additional question description text or links/attachments are shown below.
• Users can type their answer in the text box with the placeholder text ‘Type your answer here’.

Rating

• The question number is displayed. Users can click on the five outlined stars to provide a rating.

Date

• The question number is displayed. Users can enter or select a date (in DD/MM/YYYY format) in response to the question.

Ranking

• The question number is displayed. Users can move multiple options up and down a list to create a ranked list.

Likert

• The question number is displayed. Users can assign a statement/response/score to a series of questions to rank each on a sliding scale (for example, bad to good).

Completed forms

Note: Once a form is submitted, it cannot be edited. Permission from the form creator is required to edit the form.

At the bottom of the final question of the form a message informs the user that the last question in the form is completed, but there is the option to go back and review any of the answers before they are submitted.

When ready, click Submit to send the response. A ‘Submit Form’ confirmation message is displayed

Click Confirm to submit the form and display a ‘Submission successful’ pop up and ‘You can review your answers by clicking on ‘View Results‘ confirmation popup with two options:

• View Results – displays a screen that shows all of the questions from the form with the user’s answers. If required, click Request to reopen to request the ability to edit the form from the creator of the form

Go to Home Page – return to user’s profile page (My Profile). 

Click Go to Form and you have the option to View Results and/or Send request to re-open

Notes:

• A form is saved each time a user completes a question. A form can be edited via the link in a notification e-mail, or via the Surveys & Forms panel on the My Profile page, if the form is still available.
• A link in a reminder e-mail takes the user to the form in question without losing any previously saved information.
• Once submitted, there is no option for an available form (that is, one that is active and has not expired) to be edited by the user. They need to get authorisation from the form creator to edit the form (see above).
• A form that is marked inactive, or with an expiry date in the past, cannot be edited, and does not appear on the Surveys & Forms panel on the My Profile page, If a user clicks the link to a form in a notification or e-mail, the first page of the form is displayed, with the Start button disabled and the information message ‘This form is no longer available, so can no longer be completed.’
• If a user clicks on a link for completed form, the first page of the form is displayed. There is no option to re-start the form, but there are options to view their previous results, or request to re-open the form.

Preview a form

A user can preview any forms that have been created from two locations.

• On the Surveys & Forms  page, there is an icon (play button) in the Actions column that allows you to preview both active and inactive forms.
• When editing a form, there is a Preview button on each of the Edit a form tabs.

When a user previews a form, a new tab is opened in their browser and the form is displayed in an MIS page as it would appear to an end user.

Users can click through the form as if they were completing it, but no information is saved. A user can click Back to view their previously entered answers.

The Submit option on the final question of the form is disabled and there is no option to view responses. The previewer will click Close on the final question to end the preview

Note: If a user closes the preview, and then clicks on Preview again, they will not see their previously entered answers.

Analysis of form responses

A form administrator is able to view the responses to forms in order to analyse them. Click on the View Responses icon for any form listed on the Surveys & Forms page.

This opens the Forms and Surveys – Responses popup with two tabs.

Response Analysis tab – shows whether the form is active and the number of responses to the form, with a breakdown of individual responses to questions.

Download Files tab – Save All to Records creates a spreadsheet file of an individual respondent’s answers and sends a copy to the Documents area of their staff record. This option is not enabled if the form has been anonymised. Download Files creates a spreadsheet file of all responses to the form. If anonymised, the form displays ‘Anonymous’ in the Name column.

For each individual user there is the option to copy a file of their answers to their staff record or download a file of their responses.

In the following circumstances, a ‘No responses have been received’ message is displayed:

• If the form has questions and has not been assigned to anyone.
• If the form has no questions and has not been assigned to anyone.
• If the form has questions and has been assigned to someone, but has no responses for all questions.
• If the form has no questions and has been assigned to someone.

Request to reopen a form

When a request is submitted, the form creator receives a notification and e-mail in the following format:

• Subject: ‘A request to re-open a form has been received’.
• Body:  ‘STAFFNAME has requested to fill in ‘FORMNAME’ again. Click here to process this request

Clicking the link opens the Surveys and Forms >Repeat Form Requests page showing a table that lists the forms that have requests to be re-opened.

• Person Name – the name of the requester.
• Form Name

Accept request (green tick icon) – resends the normal form notification and e-mail as if it were a new form. The form is re-opened for the requester to complete from scratch.

• Until the form is resubmitted any answers are removed from any analysis of the form responses.
• On the Staff > My Profile > Home page, the form is marked in progress until it is resubmitted. The re-open request is removed from the list page when it has been processed.

Deny request (red cross icon) – denies the requests and removes it from the list.

Two other options are available at the top right of the page:

• Approve All – accepts and processes all re-open requests.
• Reject All – rejects and removes all re-open requests.

Note: If a repeat request has been submitted, but that form is no longer available, the request is displayed on the page, with the following changes:

• The form name is prefixed with ‘No longer available’.
• Only the Reject option is available.
• On the Forms List page, if there are any unprocessed re-open requests, a Repeat Form Requests button is available which takes the form administrator to the Repeat Form Requests page as described above.