Options

The Options menu item in the System menu gives you access to functions that allow you to configure the behaviour of EFS to your habits. For example, you can gain access to the platform cockpit, organize secure data exchange or define ACL rights for specific teams.

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Platform cockpit

The platform cockpit, which is located in the Options module, visualizes the status of the platform and offers the administrator an overview of important performance and access figures.

• Read rights for “platform_cockpit” are required to view and open the Options → Platform cockpit menu.

The Cockpit tab gives an overview of the key data for the installation.

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Database report

On the Database report tab, you will find general information on the state of the database as well as on completed and scheduled maintenance operations.

Database report of the previous day

Database maintenance

Login Log

The archived login data informs you on which user logged in when, including rejected login attempts. If you click on the column titles of the table, the information will be sorted by the respective column. This makes it easier to search for, e.g., a specific user.

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Login

Admin Log

The Admin log tab not only provides a detailed log of the actions executed by users in the system, but also allows an insight into the performance in the installation’s admin area. Similar to the login log, you can click on a column title in the “Matching log entries” area to sort the entries by the respective column. This function makes it easier to search, e.g. for actions in a specific module. If you click on the icon in the “Functions” column, you can also display a detail view of the respective entry with all identification data, including request parameters.

Search for log entries

Matching log entries

OSPE Watchdog

The OSPE watchdog tab provides details on overall system performance as well as on the performance of each project and each questionnaire page.

Restricting performance data

Overall performance

Performance by project

You can check the performance of the individual questionnaire pages of your project by clicking on a certain project in the “Performance by project” area.

Project mail overview

The Project mail overview tab in the Options → Platform cockpit menu gives a central overview of all mail processes that can be initiated from the current installation.

• You can display mail activity from any desired period in time.

• Listed for each mail activity are the name of the project, precise dispatch date, project type, field time, e-mail subject and number of mails submitted.

• Excluded from the count are mail submission processes from deleted projects.

• Mail activities are arranged by project.

• Access to this tab is only possible for users with root or admin rights. These users may see mail activities for those projects for which their team holds read rights.

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Read rights for platform_cockpit are required to view and open the Options → Platform cockpit menu.

Interview count

You can use the Interview check tab to examine how many interviews your organization has conducted. The following analyzes can be carried out with the statistics tool:

• Interview numbers for specific projects

• Interview numbers for a custom time range

• Daily statistics for interview numbers

• Interview numbers for disposition codes > 30 in detail

The following rules apply to the calculation:

• All interviews are charged with disposition codes > 30 (31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 41).

• If you reset a participant and he participates again, this is counted as two interviews.

• If the external survey start is used and the start and target project are both EFS projects, the interviews are counted twice: The participants reach the end page in both projects.

• Interviews that were uploaded via data import are not counted.

Installation check

The check mechanisms on the Installation check tab allow you to check the data consistency in your installation.

• If errors are detected that you dare not fix yourself, please contact support.

• Optionally, you can have the results e-mailed to you.

System settings

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Limiting the mail volume per mail interval

The mails in the queue are processed in packages: per default, up to 300mails will be processed in 10 minute intervals. You can change the value of 300 mails. To do so, open the Options → System settings menu and enter the new maximum value in the “Job size for mail sending” field. Up to 2,000 mails can be sent per package.

Defining the number of repeats for dispatch problems

If the mail server does not accept a mail or if it is not possible to connect to the mail server at all, the sytem will try to dispatch it again eight hours later. After four unsuccessfull attempts, the mail will be deleted and the recipient will be assigned disposition code 14. You can change the maximum number of dispatch attempts. To do so, open the Options→ System settings menu and enter the new maximum value in the “Maximum number of attempts to dispatch the mail” field.

Delay between delivery attempts

You may define the amount of time (in minutes) to pass between delivery attempts. Find the respective option in the Options menu → System Settings.

System-wide Activation and Deactivation of Participation Limits

In the “Participation limit” field of the Options->System settings menu you can set the installation-wide limit for the number of simultaneous survey participants of individual projects. Disable this option by entering a value of “0”.

• The Options → System settings menu is only accessible to members of the administrator team or the system administrator team.

Setting the threshold for the server load

The threshold for the load limit is specified by the platform administrator. (Platform administrators are all members of the “Administration” user team.) To do so, switch to the Options → System settings menu and make the setting in the “Load limit” area. At a value of “0”, the load limit will be switched off. If you wish to use the function, a value of “3” is recommended. In general, this value naturally depends on your server’s performance.

• The Options → System settings menu is only accessible to members of the “administrator” team or the “system administrator” team.

Defining default survey messages for an installation

As an administrator you can determine what default set of messages is to be used across the installation when creating a new project. When administering an installation where English is predominantly used, this allows you to ensure, for example, that an English message set is always imported.

To do so, navigate to the Options → System settings menu. In the “Default survey messages” field you can select one of the available message sets and then save it with Change.

• The Options → System settings menu is only accessible to members of the administrator team or the system administrator team.

Mail queue

Mail Report

System → Options → Mail queue leads you to the global Mail Report, where you can find information on all installation-wide mail processes. For more details on the topic “Mail report”, click here.

Do-Not-Email list

Navigate to the Do-not-Email list using the following path:

• System → Options → Mail queue → Do-not-Email list

General and project-based Do-Not-Email lists are managed here. To add emails to the blacklist, download the import template (Import → Download import template), add the email list to the rctp column and use pid 0 to create a general blacklist or a specific pid to create a project based blacklist. The efs.mailblacklist.add, efsmailblacklist.delete, efsmailblacklist.get-List, efsmailblacklist.isBlacklisted web services can be used to automate the management of blacklists. When new e-mails are sent from EFS, the addresses from the Do-Not-Email list are automatically removed from the list of recipients. Emails that have already been placed in the queue are marked as "canceled".

• Participants whose e-mail addresses are on the Do-not-Email list can still take part in the survey.

To implement self-service blacklists in the e-mail templates (“unsubscribe” functionality), add #unsubscribe_survey# or #unsubscribe_global# to your e-mail template.

• #unsubscribe_survey# generates a blacklist link for the current EFS project.

• #unsubscribe_global# generates a global blacklist link.

SMS admin

On installations with the SMS module enabled, you‘ll find SMS Report under Options → SMS admin. This functionality gives you a detailed list of all SMS sent by EFS to the provider along with the initial response received from the SMS provider. 

File exchange

After opening the File exchange menu, you will be directed to an overview of the files of all exchange teams for which you have at least read rights. You have a simple and an advanced search. In the case of the advanced search, you can search for the status, the team or the time period in which the file was uploaded in addition to the keyword search.

The View function for restricting the table is also available.

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The following table explains the contents of the overview list in detail:

Uploading a new file

You may upload files of any format, except for PHP and HTML. The maximum possible file size of the respective installation is displayed in the import dialog. Please note that the name of the file you want to upload has to be unique; i.e. if test.doc already exists, you cannot upload a second file named test.doc.

• Click on the Upload new file button in the File exchange menu.

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• Enter the title you want to use for file identification in the field “File title”.

• In the field “Additional password” you can optionally enter a password to protect your file against unauthorized access. If you make use of this option, an input field will be displayed in the “Security” field of the file list where the password has to be entered before downloading. Downloading is not possible without entering a password.

• The Browse function in the “File” field allows you to search the hard drive of your computer for the desired file to be uploaded.

• The “Comment” field may be used for entering further information on the file.

• Select the team you want to upload the file for from the drop-down list.

• Ticking the checkbox “Send info mail to team” will subsequently allow you to notify all members of the selected team of the newly available file.

• Click on Upload to start the upload process.

• If you have ticked the checkbox “Send info mail to team” in step 6, a form will now be displayed, which allows you to notify your team members. Change the default text as required.

• If you really want to use the mail, confirm by clicking on “Yes” in the “Send info mail” field.

• To complete this step, click on Continue.

Notifying team members of new files

When uploading a file, the info service allows you to directly notify the team for which this file is intended. To do so, tick the checkbox “Send info mail to team” when you upload the file. When the upload is complete, a mail template will be displayed where you can enter a message for the team members.

• The form is filled with a predefined mail template. this template, entitled “New upload for your exchange team”, can be opened and edited in the Libraries→Mail templates menu, but it cannot be deleted. It is not possible to select a different mail template. It is also not possible to send different language versions.

• The following details can be entered via wildcards:

  • #team_name#: Team name

  • #filetitle#: User-defined title of the file

  • #filename#: File name

  • #filecomment#: Comment

  • #fileauthor#: Author

Downloading a file

• Locate the file in the file list and tick the corresponding checkbox in the “Selection” column.

• Select the “Download” action from the drop-down list.

• Click on the Execute button.

• The file will be transferred in a zip file. Save this file locally on your computer.

Changing file status

If the uploaded files are frequently revised and replaced with new versions, assigning a file status will help you keep track. There are three possible file statuses to describe the degree of currentness and accessibility of a file: “Active”, “Obsolete”, “Locked”.

File statuses

In order to change the status of a file, proceed as follows:

• Select the file by ticking the checkbox in the “Selection” column.

• Choose the new file status from the “Actions” drop-down list.

• Confirm by clicking on Execute.

Deleting a file

If you hold the requisite write rights to a file, you may delete it:

• Locate the file in the file list and tick the corresponding checkbox in the “Selection” column.

• Select the “Delete” action from the drop-down list.

• Click on Execute.

• Acknowledge the confirmation prompt by clicking on OK.

• The file will be deleted.

ACL rights

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There are usually a number of staff working in EFS installations, often in larger staff groups.

• In addition to the project management, large numbers of additional users are often involved in large survey projects or the administration of panels. There are, for example, users that specialize in questionnaire programming, while other users are responsible for the evaluation of questionnaires.

• In collective installations, users from different clients work completely separately on their respective projects.

• Some users may not be granted access to the admin area. Instead, separate logins such as EFS Survey Status and EFS Translator Interface provide restricted access to the information and functions their work requires.

EFS allows you to effectively configure and control the access rights of all these staff

• Instead of configuring the access rights for each individual user, you define teams: These reflect the respective rights and duties of entire user groups with identical responsibilities. Subsequently, you allocate the actual users to the user roles.

• The various ways of accessing and changing information and functions are mapped in a dedicated rights system. Thus, you can not only define which information and functions a team may generally access, but also which individual objects (e.g. specific projects)

Assignement

The particular access options of users in EFS are controlled via assignment to one or more teams:

• The configuration of the teams reflects the respective rights and responsibilities of entire staff groups with identical responsibilities.

• Users can be members of several teams.

  • The ACL rights of his teams are added up, i.e. he may access all information and functions that at least one of his teams has access to. If, for example, one of his teams holds write rights for ct42partadm, i.e. it can create participants in the participant administration, while another of his team has only read rights, he can create participants.

  • With regard to individual objects, he also has the widest access that is configured for one of his teams, i.e. if one of his teams holds write rights for project x while another team only has read rights, he has write rights.

• Each user belongs to one primary team.

  • The primary team is always automatically granted read and write rights for projects created by this user.

  • In new projects created by this user, the survey URL contains the name of the primary team.

In new EFS installations, teams reflecting the most frequently required user roles have been created and preconfigured by default. These roles includes:

• Project manager: The project manager is responsible for conducting survey projects. However, he generally requires no access to panel administration functions and often has no access to staff administration, either.

• Panel administrator: In EFS Panel installations, the panel administrator is mainly responsible for panel administration. He may also be in charge of the CMS and the panel community.

• System administrator: This role is reserved for support operations by TIVIAN. It contains special functions which, if applied incorrectly, can cause damage to the system.

Importing and exporting rights templates

Export and import functions allow the transfer of rights definitions from one EFS installation to another. Please proceed as follows:

• Select the Options → ACL rights → Rights templates menu.

• Click on the Export ACL rights template icon.

• A file with the .tpl format will be downloaded. Save this file locally on your PC.

If you wish to transfer the exported rights template to another EFS installation, continue as follows:

• On the destination installation, switch to the Options → ACL rights → Rights templates menu and click on the Import ACL rights template button.

• Enter name and title.

• Identify the desired file on your PC.

• Confirm by clicking on Import.

• The rights template will be imported.

In the Assign rights templates menu, you can assign the template to a team on the target installation.

Configuring access options precisely using ACL and object rights

Which information and functions are accessible to a user team is controlled by a combination of two types of rights:

• ACL rights: ACL rights (“Access Control List”) define whether someone is entitled to view certain information or perform certain functions.

  • ACL rights are granted to user teams.

  • This is done in the user administration.

  • Each ACL right includes read and write rights. Write rights usually activate more powerful functions than read rights.

• Object rights: EFS allows for the precise control of the access to a number of individual objects. An object may be a particular project, a layout template, or a set of survey messages. With object rights you can define which team is entitled to view, use, or edit the respective object.

  • Object rights are also granted to user teams.

  • Object rights are not assigned in the user administration, but directly via the respective object. For example, object rights for projects are assigned via the project list. The dialog for assigning rights is usually called up via a Rightslink or a Rights icon.

  • Object rights also include read and write rights. Read rights usually grant passive access to information, while write rights permit the active use of functions