EFS Release Fall 2020

Owned by Dennis Mergemann (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 12, 2021 by Jennifer Geers (Unlicensed)
7 min read

EFS Survey

Recently used question types

To improve usability in the questionnaire editor, the new question type dialog now provides a "recently used" view, which contains up to ten last used question types per user. Since most surveys are using only a small subset of our question types, this speeds up the creation of a survey, by showing all recently used question types from different categories in a single view.

Accessibility improvements in Responsive Layout 3

The accessibility of Survey Layout 3 has been further improved for users with disabilities. The questions now contain additional guidance information when filling out lists of answers and DAC checks notifications will automatically be read to the user by the screen reader.

Improvements to the sample overview of a project

The sample feature in panel and master data project types has now a new header across all sub-screens and the new header also allows easy navigation between samples within a project. This allows better orientation when working with different browser tabs and different samples in EFS and reduces errors, such as editing, or invitation, of the wrong sample.

More options for single response question types

Existing question types were extended with new functions:

  • Single response list with icons question type now also supports Randomization and Missing Values

  • Dynamic answer option question type now also supports "Randomization"

Survey filters now support wildcards

You can now use #wildcards#, e.g. #v_1#, as a value in standard filters of a survey, allowing users to compare answers of a question with a given answer of a different question without the need to use the alternative or LUA filter.

Layout templates for question types

EFS Survey now supports editing of templates for all question types in Responsive Layout 3. Until now, it was only possible to edit some selected templates, with this release, it is now possible to introduce small modifications through the Pro-Editor to any question type, without the need to use the question type editor.

In a project, by going to the layout editor and selecting the Pro editor, a new template section “Additional Question-Type templates” is available, with a list of all templates used by the various question types. Click on edit on any of the templates, to customise it.

IP Restrictions in Survey Projects

It is now possible to change the mode of the IP access control in Project properties > Login options for project types AN, PE, ES and MSF. Previously the list of IPs functioned as an allow list, now it is also possible to block an IP range or individual IPs through the select box. A mixed mode, where some IPs are allowed and some blocked from access is not possible.

Other changes in EFS Survey

  • All slider question types now also optionally provide a reset functionality, which allows respondents to reset their answer to the default value.

  • The LUA question type is now also executed in the preview and any runtime errors will be shown immediately to the admin user. Please note when accessing survey variables from within LUA, that some of these don’t exist or are not populated during preview.

  • LUA date() and time() functions from the os library are now also available as os.time(), os.date(), allowing easier portability and reuse of 3rd party LUA scripts. We have added support for os.difftime().

  • The recoding trigger now allows u_email to be recoded in PE projects.

  • EFS now provides GDPR Purpose Statements for following languages: DE, EN. FI, ES, FR, IT, NB, DA, SV.

  • When a panelist is deleted through the privacy assistant, all scheduled emails for that panelist will also be deleted.

  • When deleting a participant in a personalised survey, any scheduled emails to that participant will also be deleted.

EFS Panel

Domain mapping for Portals and Panel Websites

The existing feature domain mapping has been enhanced to support Portals. It is now possible to specify the redirect for the default root-website of a domain (e.g. https://qubie.app/) to a specific portal, just like it was possible to specify a language version of a website previously. The feature now is also located in People > Panel configuration, since not all installations have the older Website module activated.

This allows easier hosting and management of multiple portals, with different domains on a single EFS installation.

Adding of panelists to multiple groups

Panelists can now be added to multiple groups at the same time through the panelist administration.

Portals

New guide type: Topic

With the new Topic guide, you can collect feedback not related to a persona or a team, but to a specific topic. A topic could be for example an event, a supplier or a marketing campaign.

A topic can be entered by the guide-initiator during the guide-setup or provided as a list (prepared in guide-configuration) for the initiator to select from. Validation for topics entered is available, and the topic can be optionally checked to be an URL, Hashtag or Email address.

A new guide survey invitation mode for US & TOPIC guides is available in the form of a shareable link. Individual participants no longer need to be individually invited to take part in the survey, but instead you can publish a single link to a wide group of potential participants. In addition, a QR code will be generated and can be included in flyers for easier participation on mobile devices.

 

Access control for Guides-Monitoring – “layered access”

Guides Monitoring now provides access control. Rules can be defined, which person can track/manager which subset of guides (e.g. by department, country or region).

Other improvements to Portals and Guides

  • Guides & Groups
    When entering an e-mail address of a non existing panelist, the system will try to detect the firstname and lastname from the entered e-mail address.

  • IDEA Guides, manager participation optional
    We have added a setting in guide-configuration to toggle manager participation.

  • Guides Monitoring, several adjustments

    • A new status „overtime“ is shown in the guide monitor for processes in overtime.

    • The end date now represents the date when the process actually ended (including overtimes)

  • Guide status, when a process is in overtime, it is no longer possible to:

    • End guide

    • Manual reminder

    • Add participants

  • Guides, filtered participant search
    Search results can now be filtered by Groups, Individuals and All. The sort order has also been changed to show individuals first.

User defined topics in IDEA guide setup

Portals now supports custom categories for IDEA guides. To enable custom categories in an IDEA guide, select “User defined categories” in the Categories tab of the guide setup process.

If enabled, IDEA Guide users can add their own category to the guide during creation of a new guide wave. This custom category will then be used across all functions in Portals, including action planning/ ideation.

Custom categories are stored in the same table as regular categories and can also be managed in the Libraries > Categories EFS Administration tool. Newly created categories will receive an automatically created meta name in the format: custom_{id}.

Service Layer

EFS now has following new Service-Layer methods in SOAP and REST.

  • Functions for managing group categories in the people module

    • panel.groups.getGroupCategoryById(id),
      REST: GET /service/panel/groups/category/{id}
      Returns id, label and description of the matching group category

    • panel.groups.getGroupCategoryByName(label),
      REST: POST /service/panel/groups/categoryByName
      Returns array of id, label and description of each group category matching the name.

    • panel.groups.addGroupCategory(label, description),
      REST: POST /panel/groups/categories
      Creates a new group category, returns id, label and description.

  • Functions for managing of Portals groups (circles) in the People module

    • panel.circles.add(circleInitData),
      REST: POST /service/panel/circles
      Creates the circle with specified definition.

    • panel.circles.delete(id),
      REST: DELETE /service/panel/circles/{id}
      Deletes the specified circle

    • panel.circles.generate(id),
      REST: POST /service/panel/circles/generate/{id}
      Generates (updates contents) of a managed panel circle

    • panel.circles.getById(id),
      REST: GET /service/panel/circles/{id}
      Returns the circle

    • panel.circles.getListByCriteria(condition , offset, limit),
      REST: POST /service/panel/circles/listByCondition
      Returns an array of panel circles

  • Functions for management of object access rights:

    • efs.privileges.removeRight(objectId, groupId, right),
      REST: POST /service/efs/privileges/addright
      Allows removing of a specific right from a specific object.

    • efs.privileges.addRight (objectId, groupId, right),
      REST: POST /service/efs/privileges/addright
      Allows setting of a specific right, even if a different one is already set.

  • panel.panelists.addV1() now also supports immediate assignment to a group category (gc_id).

  • The error handling of the REST service has been improved and standardised. Additional info is now included in the RAML file and the automatically created documentation.

Please also refer to our updated Service Layer documentation.

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