Panelists Administration

The panelists’ data is captured in panelists administration. Powerful auxiliary functions are available for managing and editing:

The search function allows you to locate both individual panelists and panelists who meet specific common criteria and then edit them.
You can view and manually edit the data of each panelist in the panelist database.
When administrating a panel, you usually do not work with individual panelists, but with larger groups of panelists and project-specific samples whose members are selected according to specific criteria.

Information

EFS Panel is designed to manage panels with several hundred thousand participants.

If you are running such a large panel, please mind advice given in this manual regarding performance optimization, in particular when planning the master data, when creating groups and when recoding master data.
How many panelists can simultaneously use the panel website, depends of the server configuration. Therefore, when planning a large panel, please take the capacity of the selected server into account. Your TIVIAN contact can provide advice, too.

Panelists Administration

The People → Panelists administration menu allows you to view and edit the data of all panelists, including candidates. The content area of the menu contains its centerpiece: The function for searching panelists administration and – after a search has been performed - the results list.

When you open the Panelists administration menu, only the search dialog is displayed, but not the entire list of panelists. If you wish to list the data of all panelists, just enter an @ into the search field, and then trigger the search.

Simple Search

Executing a search query

Switch to the People → Panelists administration menu.
In the field “Search text”, enter a term or part of a term, e.g. the name of a panelist.
Confirm by clicking on Search.
If the search term is contained in a panelist’s data record, this panelist will be displayed as the result. However, deleted panelists will be ignored by this process.
Click on the name of the panelist who was found: The detail view will be opened.

How the search function works

Upper and lower case spelling will be ignored.
The following fields are not included in a simple search or when using “Search in all fields” in the extended search: “WWW” (u_www), “street” (u_street), “place” (u_city), “PLZ” (u_zip) and “phone number” (u_phone).
The search will return all entries containing the term entered as its result.

Information

Please note that, with a large number of results, the first page of the results list may not display all panelists found. You will find an entry labeled “x results on y pages” above the table. You can scroll through the results list using the > (Next page) and < (Previous page) links.

Extended Search

The Extended search function, which you can open by clicking on the link of the same name, offers you diverse options for narrowing the search in your panelist data. The search criteria listed in the following table can be either used individually or combined.

Field	Explanation
Search in all fields	See above.
Language version	Indicates which panel site and language version a panelist you are searching for used to register or which panel site and language version was preset as an attribute during import.
Name	The panelist’s last name.
First name	The panelist’s first name.
E-mail	The e-mail address.
Homepage	The panelist’s homepage.
Street	The street.
City	The city.
Zip code (from) / (to)	The zip code range.
Phone	Phone number.
Member status	Allows you to access panelists with a specific panel status.
Status	The search can be restricted by panel status, to as an additional status in customized panels to describe the reliability of panelists. Cannot be used in the standard panel.
Group category	The search can be restricted to one category.
Group members	Allows you to access panelists who belong to groups that have already been created. Clicking on the Binoculars icon opens a popup window, in which you can select the group. In addition you can choose from between two search methods: Search for exactly this group Search for all groups with this name fragment
Pseudonym	Anonymized panelist ID, e.g. found in exported data records.
Member entered panel via	Indicates how the panelist you are searching for entered the panel, e.g. by data import or admin entry.
Ways of entry	Attribute assigned during registration.
Number of master data survey invitations from / to	Allows you to search for panelists that have received a specific number of invitations to the master data survey.
Date of entry from / to	Allows you to search for panelists who have registered within a specific period.
Date of last master data invitation was before	Allows you to search for panelists who have last been invited to the master data survey quite some time ago.
Duplicates status	The status output from the duplicates check.
PCI value	Describes the reliability of panelists.
Show additional master data variables	Expands the table with columns that contain the selected master data.

Add Panelists

Making a manual entry is advisable if you wish to enter a single person into the panel, e.g. to create a test account.

Open the People → Panelists administration menu and click the Add panelist button.
Fill in the form. The details marked with an * must be entered.
If you wish to create a tester account, select the “Tester” status.
When using panelist profiles, you can define the visibility of the profile data for the new panelist in the “Profile visibility” section. In the example shown below, the profile will not be made visible to others immediately after the creation, the reception of private mails is deactivated initially.
Confirm by clicking on Create account.

Import Panelists

You can import externally created lists of future panel members, which include their participant data, their master data as well as selected system data and use them to generate new panelist accounts.

Information

Panelist import should not be confused with updating parnelist and master data via import, another EFS feature which is introduced in Chapter "Updating Panelist Data". It does not involve creating new panelists; it merely involves updating parts of a data record or the entire record for an existing panelist.

Please proceed as follows:

Switch to the People → Panelists administration menu.
The dialog where the import takes place is opened by clicking on the Import panelists button.
EFS provides a preformatted import template already containing all necessary columns. It can be downloaded by clicking on Download import template.
Open the template in a suitable program, e.g. in Excel, and enter the data.
Save the file in Excel or CSV.
Prepare the import:
> If you want the imported panelists to be characterized by a common way of entry, create this way of entryaccording to the instructions given in Chapter "Recruiting Panelists". This is recommended because subsequently, it will be easy for you to recognize the imported panelists in the overall pool and, if required, organize them in special groups.
> If you wish to group the imported panelists together into their own group immediately, create this group according to the instructions given in Chapter "Creating and Editing Groups".
Go back to the import dialog.
Select the appropriate character set.
In the “Source (CSV and Excel)” field, select the name of the file containing the import data.
Verify that the checkbox in the field “First row includes column labels” is set appropriately. Normally, it should be activated.
Optionally, you can select a way of entry.
Optionally, if you wish to group the imported panelists together immediately, you can specify the category and group.
Select the panel status to be assigned to the imported panelists.
Specify the language version through which the panelists are going to enter the panel.
When using panelist profiles, you can define the visibility of the profile data for the new panelist in the “Profile visibility” section. In the example shown below, the profile will not be made visible to others immediately after the creation, the reception of private mails is deactivated initially.
Click on the Send file button to start the import operation.
In the next step, all columns of the import file must be matched with the appropriate database fields. For the panelist import, the database fields are displayed on two separate tabs Participant data and Master data. If you have used the template without changing the column labels, as recommended, the software will carry out the allocation automatically.
After checking the allocations on the Participant data tab, confirm by clicking on Save allocation.
Switch to the Master data tab. After checking these allocations, confirm by clicking on Save allocation. Then, click on Proceed to preview.
In the import preview all the data records are displayed as they will be imported into the project. The traffic-light icon in the “Status” column indicates whether the data record is complete and logically coherent. If the icon is red, i.e. if an error occurred, the reason for this will be indicated when hovering the cursor over the icon. In one of the data records shown in Figure 6.8, for example, the e-mail address has not been entered properly.
If necessary, use the Edit and Delete icons to open and subsequently edit resp. delete specific data records. Afterwards, use the Back link to return to the overview.
Start the import by clicking on the Import button.

Information

The import may take some time, depending on the amount of data. Do not close the browser. If required, open a second browser window before starting the import and continue your work there until the import has been completed. If you wish to import a large number of data records (> 5,000), you should work with several smaller import files.

After completion of the import operation, you will be shown how many data records have been created and how many have not been created due to problems.
By clicking on the Download results button you can retrieve an Excel file containing the following information:
> all data contained in the import file
> the “result” column contains the import result, i.e. a message “Data record import successful” or “Data record not imported”.
> in case of problems, the reason will be indicated in the “messages” column.
If necessary, you can correct the data records that were not successfully created directly within this file, delete the data records created successfully, and use this file for a new import attempt.

Data to be Imported in Detail

Before performing the import, you must specify which data will be imported and how they will be saved. The following data must or can be entered for a panelist import:

Participant data: The e-mail address must be present, all other data is optional.
Optionally, you can import passwords, bonus points and a reason for the allocation of bonus points. See the following sections.
You can optionally import either all master data or selected master data.
The system data listed in the table below is created automatically.

Importing passwords

Usually, initial passwords for imported panelists are generated automatically during the import process. Then, a reset link is dispatched. But it is also possible to import existing passwords.

Enter the initial passwords in the “u_passwd” column of the import file.
Length and content of the passwords must match the security criteria defined for the respective language version.

Information

Usually, you will send links for resetting the passwords to imported panelists in the invitation. Please use the wildcard #password_recovery_url# for this purpose.

Importing an start value for bonus points and a reason

Optionally, you can credit the accounts of the panelists with bonus points during import. Just enter the desired number of bonus points in the “credit_points” column of the import file.

A reason for the allocation of points which will be displayed in the account statement and the bonus points log can also be imported g. To do this enter the desired text in the “descr” column. If you import bonus points without adding your own text, the default text “Balance on YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS” will be used.

Importing master data

Optionally, you can include either selected master data or all of them in the panelist import. The master data variables must be created in advance according to the instructions given in Chapter "Master Data".

Information

To update master data, use the Update panelist data function . This will merely update the records of existing accounts, but not create new accounts.

System data that are automatically set during import

Some system variables are set automatically during import. The following table describes which values they take on during import.

Variable name	Automatic setting	Meaning
pstatus	1 (Admitted temporarily)	The panel status.
pinput	2 (Data import)	The mode of entry.
pcredit_points	Contains the value of the “credit” import variable if values for that variable have been imported. Additionally, an entry in the detailed account management table is created.	The total sum of bonus points.
pstatus_date	The current system date during the import operation.	The date of the import.
penter_date	The current system date during the import operation.	The date of entry into the panel.
pseudonym	Created individually.	The pseudonym.
md_status	12	The status in the master data survey.
reg_code	The value will be set if a way of entry has been selected in the import dialog.	The way of entry.

List of Panelists

The list of panelists shows all found panelists, plus the following information:

Name: The participant's names are active links. Clicking on a participant will open the detail view
E-mail: Clicking on a panelist’s e-mail address will open the standard mail dialog, allowing you to write an e-mail to that particular panelist.
The other address and system data listed in the table above, and a few additional data (e.g. bonus points, gender).
Mark: Clicking on the Mark icon will open a separate window displaying an input field, allowing you to record comments on the respective panelist. For example, you can note specific agreements or anomalies. You can identify a marked panelist by a red square displayed in the first column.

Display Functions

As most lists of results contain very large amounts of data, they will usually show excerpts only. However, there are several functions that enable you to pre-determine which panelist data and how many panelists per page will be displayed.

By clicking on the View button you can display a dialog that allows you to specify whether the various table columns are to be shown or hidden. You can also change the number of rows per page. After you have confirmed by clicking on Send the table will be expanded accordingly.
The links labeled > (Next page) and < (Previous page) allow you to scroll forward and back through the list of panelists.
Clicking on a column title allows you to sort all panelist data by the content of the respective column. For example, clicking on “Name” will sort all panelists alphabetically by their names.

Editing Panelists

You can use the search function to view information about individuals. However, you will use it more frequently to apply actions to individuals or to a set of persons found: To change the panel status, to write an e-mail to the selected persons or to assign these persons to a group.

You will find the actions under the list of panelists in the “Select action” drop-down list.

In addition, you must choose to which panelists the action is to be applied:

If you wish to apply the action to an individual panelist, tick the checkbox for that panelist in the “Actions” column.
If you wish to edit all panelists displayed on the current results page, tick the “Mark all entries on this page” checkbox. All panelists in the current display will then be marked via JavaScript.
If you wish to apply the action to all panelists found, tick the “Mark all entries found” checkbox.

Information

Please note that the number of selected panelists may be larger than the number of panelists listed on the first results page, in particular when you are using the “Mark all entries found” checkbox.

Actions

The actions listed in the following table can be applied to selected panelists or all.

Action	Meaning
Default mail	This action opens the standard dialog for e-mail dispatch. Here you will find mail templates of the “default mail” type.
Welcome mail	Candidates will usually receive an automatic welcome mail after submitting their registration form. Alternatively, this action allows you to manually trigger the mail dispatch. It opens the standard dialog for e-mail dispatch. Here you will find mail templates of the “welcome mail” type.
Password recovery mail	This action opens the standard dialog for e-mail dispatch. Here you will find mail templates of the “password recovery mail” type. Please make sure that the text of these templates contains the wildcard #password_recovery_url#: This will be replaced with a link for resetting the password when the mail is sent.
Master data survey	This action opens the standard dialog for e-mail dispatch. Here you will find mail templates of the “master data invitation mail” type. After the invitation has been sent, the number of invitations to the master data survey will be increased by 1 (“num_inv” export variable) and the invitation date (“inv_date” export variable) set to the current date in the respective panelists’ system data.
Registration error mail	This action opens the standard dialog for e-mail dispatch. Here you will find mail templates of the “registration error mail” type.
Duplicates check mail	This action opens the standard dialog for e-mail dispatch. Here you will find mail templates of the “duplicates check mail” type.
Bulk edit	This action allows you to change the value of a specific master data item for all selected panelists in one single operation.
Reset and delete data	The panelist’s statusin the master data surveyis reset to “active”. If the panelist has participated before, he may participate again. The survey data are reset, i.e. deleted, however, the master data variables arenotchanged. Please note: Bonus point allocations from a final page or by bonus trigger cannot be reset by using this action. Please use the “Allocate bonus points” action described below or go to the detail view to manipulate the bonus points of the affected panelists.
Reset without deleting survey data	The panelist’s statusin the master data surveyis reset to “active”. The survey data arenotdeleted, the master data variables arenotchanged.
Define profile visibility	When using panelist profiles, this action allows you to change the visibility of the selected panelist’s profile data.
Assign to group	With this action, you can assign the selected panelists to a specifc group.
Allocate bonus points	This action allows you to allocate or subtract bonus points or to reset the selected panelists’ accounts to zero. The reasons you enter will be displayed on the account balance page visible to the panelist, if that page contains the corresponding wildcard {bal_title} (which is the case in the standard panel).
Reset duplicates status	This action allows you to reset the duplicates status of the selected panelists to “not checked”. They will be subjected to the duplicates check again.
Export login links	This action allows you to export the login links of selected panelists.
Delete panelists	The selected panelists will be removed past recovery. Please mind: This action cannot be reversed.
Change status to	This action allows you to change the status of the selected panelists Please mind: The action “Delete panelists” (see above) is used to assign the status “deleted”.

Add Panelists

Clicking on a panelist’s name in the list of panelists allows you to open the detail view of that panelist’s data.

Distributed across several tabs, you will find the following:

Detail view: detail data, as e.g. account data, visibility settings for the profile, bonus points, contact history etc.
Tracking information: The panelist’s tracking data (see Chapter 11.6, p. 211).
Groups, SurveysandTasks: Information on membership in groups and samples (with the option of making manual changes) and list of assigned tasks.
Sessions: Information on the most recent sessions.
History: History of changes made to address data and master data by panelists themselves.

Overview

TheDetail viewtab itself provides an overview of the most significant data of the panelist selected, as e.g. account data, visibility settings for the profile, bonus points and contact history. Various buttons open dialogs with further information and editing options.

Account data

The “Account data” section lists participant data.

Excluded here is the password which - given appropriate authorization - can be viewed and changed in special dialogs.
Also displayed are the language version, PCI value, duplicates status, panel status, e-mail verification status and e-mail verification code.

With the exception of the last change of panel status and e-mail verification code, all these data can be edited.

Profile settings

In the “Profile settings” section, you can change the following settings for the selected panelist:

visibility of profile data.
permission to send and receive private messages.
permission to tag posts.

Status information

Field	Meaning
Pseudonym	Encoded unique panelist ID.
Panelist code	Code the panelist can use to log directly into the panel.
Way of entry	Indicates way of entry via which panelist reached the panel.
Canvasser	If the panelist reached the panel on the basis of recommendation the name of the canvassing panelist is listed in this field.
Number of recruited panelists	The number of friends this panelist has recruited in tell-a-friend campaigns, divided into: Number of friends invited Number of friends who registered as panelists Number of friends who have completed the master data survey
Mode of entry	Characterizes the nature of entry, for example by data import or manual entry.
Admitted to panel on	Panel entry date saved in “penter_date” system data.
Last modification by	Records who last changed the account data. The information is saved in the “last_mod_user” system data item.
Last modification	The date of last modification of account data.

In this area, information regarding the panelist’s activity on the panel site is listed. Further details can be found under theSessionstab.

Field	Meaning
IP address on registration	From the panelist’s IP address conclusions can be drawn regarding identity, place of residence, country or Internet connection. This can be helpful, for example, if there is any suspicion of dual accounts being maintained or other forms of abuse. Please note: The determination of hostnames and IP addresses is possible only to a certain extent, due to legal and technical reasons.
Host name on registration	From the host name conclusions can be drawn regarding the panelist's identity, place of residence, country or Internet connection. Please note: The determination of hostnames and IP addresses is possible only to a certain extent, see above.
Number of panel sessions	Total of all previous panel sessions conducted by the panelist. Calculated from the number of successful logins.
Number of page views	Total of all page views triggered by the panelist during panel sessions to date.
Date of last login	Indicates when the panelist last logged in to the panel successfully.

Updating Panelist Data

Panelist and master data of already existing panelists can be changed by means of a dedicated update function.

Provided that the panelists already exist and the required master data is created:New panelists are created using Panelist import. For creation of new master data, a dedicated massimport feature is available as well.
Participant data, master data and various important system variables can be updated (“mail_validation_status”, “credit_points”, “descr”, “pstatus”, “site_id” und “pci”)
It suffices if the import file contains the data to be altered for the desired panelists.
Various linking variables can be used for matching with the panelist datasets.

Executing an Update

You can find the update feature in thePanelists administration → Update datamenu.

The work steps should be quite familiar from other EFS import features:

As usual, an import template is available. Enter your data. In addition to the panelist and master data, the linking variable is needed: If you use “pseudonym” or “panelist_code”, an additional column must be created.
Then, upload the file.
As in other import processes, choose the linking variable and match the columns of the import file with the database fields.
Finally, check the allocation in the preview and start the update.

Information

The update may take some time, depending on the amount of data. Do not close the browser. If required, open a second browser window before starting the import and continue your work there until the import has been completed. If you wish to import a large number of data records (> 5,000), you should work with several smaller import files.

Linking Variables

You can use five variables to link the data to be imported with the data records of the panelists:

“pseudonym”: This variable is used in most cases.
“u_account”, “u_email” and “panelist_code”: These variables are used in many panels to identify panelists unambiguously. Therefore, they can be used as linking variables as well.
“u_other_id”: Using this variable is advisable for special panels which reference an external data source via “u_other_id”. For example, additional information on each panelist is kept in an external database and should not be imported. In this case, in addition to the respective user ID each panelist will have another ID from the external database which is saved in the “u_other_id” field. In this case, it could be easier to use “u_other_id” as the linking variable for the import process as it can simply be included in the export from the external database

Panelists Import from Employee Project

In the Panelist administration, you can import users or participants from Employee projects into the panel. This way, you are able to import Org Processor users for example and add them to an existing or new panel group. When importing users or participants, they are automatically assigned to their respective panelist accounts, based on their matching email addresses.

Besides the Panelist import from Employee Project, the Employee synchronization from the panel to the Org project also enables the assignment of panelists to users.

The user executing the import requires the access right panelimport.

In order to import users or participants into the panel, proceed as follows. The user executing the import requires t:

Open the modulePeople.
Click onPanelist administrationin the sidebar menu.
The Panelist administration is openend.
Click on the buttonPanelists import from Employee project, this button is only visible to users having the panelimport read right.
For the import of users:
Activate the optionUserin the rowType.
For the import of participants:
Activate the optionParticipantsin the rowType.
In the drop-down list Choose project, select the Employee project you want to import panelists from.
Select a Group category for the following selection of the panel group. The category “default” includes all groups of the panel.
Select the panel group participants or users will be added to

For the import of users:

Confirm withSave.
The preview is opened. Here, you can check if your data list is complete and, if necessary, adjust it.

Information

If Org Processor users already exist as panelists, they will not be automatically imported. Therefore, they will have to be added to the group manually, also their roles and units will have to be assigned manually.

Click on the buttonImport.

>> The import of Org Processor users into the panel has been performed. Via the respective button, you can download the results in an Excel list.

For the import of participants:

In the following drop-down lists, select Structure view as well as metaname and label of the Masterdata column for your own department as well as the metaname of the Masterdata column for your parent department.
Confirm your specifications withSave.

>> The import of participants into the panel has been performed.

Information

NOTICE: If you openPeople → Groups → [open group], you see the panelists who have just been added to the group. To set each panel status to active, check the relevant group members, selectActivein the drop-down listSelect actionand confirm withExecute.

To search for panelists, enter @ into the search field of the Panelist administration and confirm with the enter key.

Viewing and Changing a Panelist’s Master Data

Use theEdit master databutton to access a dialog which allows to view and edit the master data of the panelist:

The Master data tab lists the labeled master data for the panelist (i.e., for a “occupational status” variable, the “Employed” label instead of the code “14”). You have the option of restricting the process to specific master data categories.
If you wish to change one or more master data manually, click on theModify master databutton. If the master data item is encoded, you must enter its code in this entry form. This can be found in the master data codebook underPeople → Master data → Master data codebook.
Clicking on theCategory overviewbutton will open a table which lists the following for each category:
- The number of variables contained.
- The number of variables which are standard variables, i.e. not of the “Recording” or “Lookup” type. (These variable types cannot be edited directly by the panelist.)
- The number of variables the panelist has already edited. Variables which the panelist cannot edit (i.e. recodings and lookups) are not counted.
- Traffic-light icons indicate the progress of the processing.

Viewing the Incentives History

You can view the incentives histories of the individual panelists and change the number of bonus points. Clicking on the Edit incentives button opens a dialog where you will find three tabs with the following information:

Bonus points:
- On this tab you can view the panelist’s account balance.
- Clicking on theChange bonus pointsbutton opens a form where you can manually change the number of bonus points; see below.
Prize draws: List of the prizes a panelist has won in prizes draws.
Tell-a-friend campaigns: Campaigns that the panelist may participate in, and a list of successful recruitments.

Changing the bonus points of a panelist manually

Open the detail view for the desired panelist.
Click on theEdit incentivesbutton.
Click on theChange bonus pointsbutton.
In the “Number of points” field, enter the number of bonus points you wish to add or subtract. You can enter an integer or a floating point number. Enter a floating point number in the format “number.number”, i.e. “3.4”, not “3,4”.
Set the desired action, i.e. “Add” or “Subtract”, in the “To member account” field.
Enter an explanatory text into the “Reason” field. This text will be displayed on the account balance page visible to the panelist if that page has been configured accordingly (which is the case in the standard panel).
After that, confirm by clicking onSubmit.

Information

Write rights for panelbonus are required for changing the bonus points of a panelist manually.

Documenting Contacts

EFS Panel helps you document the communication with your panelists. Clicking on theEdit contactsbutton opens a dialog where you will find three tabs with the following information:

Contacts: You have the option to log personal and telephone contacts or e-mail exchanges that were not conducted via EFS Panel. Use theAdd contactbutton to enter a new event (see below).
Contacts via panel site: Requests made via the contact form on the panel site will also be logged.
Contacts via system: E-mails that were sent to the panelists via EFS Panel are automatically logged in full.

Information

Please note: In the long run, the data volumes involved in the sending of mails put an unnecessary strain on the installation’s performance. The mail archives are therefore cleaned automatically at regular intervals: archived mails are deleted six months after dispatch.

Logging contacts that take place outside EFS Panel

To log a contact that took place outside EFS Panel, please proceed as follows:

Open the detail view for the desired panelist.
Click on theEdit contactsbutton.
Use theAdd contactbutton to open the form for new events.
In the “Way of contact” drop-down list, specify whether the contact was made by phone, personally or via e-mail.
The editor and date are automatically defaulted by the system.
The subject is an internal text used to improve clarity. You can enter, for example, “Telephone inquiry about bonus points”.
The “Content” entry form allows you to enter detailed information on the contact.
After that, confirm by clicking onSubmit.
The new entry will appear in the “Contacts” table.

Viewing a Panelist’s Login Data

In order to view a panelist’s access data, click on theShow login informationbutton: This opens a dialog where you will find pseudonym, panelist code, login link and the optionally-available security question and answer.

Via the login link you can directly log into the panelist’s personal area.

Viewing and Using Login Links

Logging in to the website is possible both via account or e-mail and password, and by clicking on a URL containing a certain code. The latter option is particularly useful for invitations by e-mail: Instead of having to enter various account details, the recipient merely clicks on the login link to open the website.

As a panel moderator, the login link provides you with a convenient shortcut if you want to log into the panel interface with either your own account, a tester account, or a panelist’s account. Just click on the login link in the panelists administration and you will view the website from the perspective of the desired account.

The standard login links of EFS contain 40-digit codes that are randomly generated and cannot be guessed. Alternatively, you can create shorter links, e.g. to avoid wordwrap problems in e-mails.

Information

You need read rights for show_ppasswd to view or generate panelist code or login links.

View panelist code and login links and use them for direct login

You can view the login link and/or the actual panelist code here:

detail view, “Status information” section: You will find the code in the “Panelist code” field. It is clickable, so you can log in directly from the perspective of the desired panelist.
detail view,Show login informationbutton: In this dialog you will find both the panelist code and the login link. The login link is clickable, so you can log in directly from the perspective of the desired panelist.

Generating new panelist codes

In order to generate a new panelist code, simply click on theGenerate new panelistcode in the “Status information” section of the detail view.

Exporting login links

To export the login links of selected panelists, search for them in thePanelists administrationand apply “Export links”.

Sending login links by e-mail

If you want to send personalized login links by e-mail, you usually construct the links using wildcards:

Wildcard for the panelist code: #panelist_code#
URL parameter: login_code

The code URL for the login usually looks as follows:

http://your-domain.com/panelwebsite/?login_code=d23188009b375e0481ba8a0c836ab+2b04b99c80

You could generate this using the following combinations of wildcards, for example:

http://your-domain.com/panelwebsite/?login_code=#panelist_code#

or

#panel_url#?login_code=#panelist_code#

This contains:

#panelist_code#: Panelist code
#panel_url#: URL of the panel

If you don’t want panelists to be directed to the “My panel” page after clicking on the link, but rather to another page of the panelist area, use the following wildcard combination:

#panel_url#dateiname.php?login_code=#panelist_code#&chosen_site=#site_id#

This contains:

#panel_url#: Domain of the panel
dateiname.php: File name of the panel page
#panelist_code#: Panelist code
#site_id#: ID of the language version which the panelist has been assigned to.

Example:

http://your-domain.com/panelwebsite/end_membership.code?login_code=....&chosen_site=2

One could send such a URL, for example, to a panelist, who has asked about the possibility of leaving the panel.

Using shortened login links to be sent by e-mail

If the login links of your panel containing the 40-digit panelist code become too long for mail programs to forward them correctly, EFS allows you to alternatively generate shortened login links using the wildcard #panelist_login_code#.

Wildcard for the shortened code: #panelist_login_code#
URL parameter for direct login with shortened code: lc

Sample link:
http://your-domain.com/panelwebesite/?lc=QAplygBpxAoPhVL3ceoIL8ztW5g

Resetting 2FA

If a panelist has fully set up two-factor authentication for a panel website, the Reset 2FA button is displayed in the panelist administration for this panelist. By clicking this button, you can reset the two-factor authentication for the panelist in question so that they have to scan the QR code again the next time they log in.

Viewing and Changing Member Information

The tabsGroups, SurveysandTasksshow you to which groups, project-specific samples and tasks the panelist is assigned.

Information

Memberships in the samples of archived projects are not displayed in the list.

The “Assign panelist to a sample” feature allows you to assign the panelist to a sample manually and, at the same time, specify the disposition code they are to have in the respective project.

Information

Please note: A panelist can only participate in one sample per project. If a panelist has already been allocated to a sample, and you allocate them to a second sample of the same project via the detail view, they will be removed from the first sample.

Viewing Session Data

TheSessionstab provides details of the panelist’s activity on the panel site.

Panel site information

Field	Meaning
Number of panel sessions	Total of all previous panel sessions conducted by the panelist. Calculated from the number of successful logins.
Number of page views	Total of all page views triggered by the panelist during panel sessions to date.
Date of last login	Indicates when the panelist last logged in to the panel successfully.

Latest panel sessions

List of latest panel session contains a maximum of 500 sessions.

Field	Meaning
Start of session	Date and time of login attempt.
Last access	Date and time of last registered action in course of the session concerned.
Page views (logged in)	Number of page views triggered while the panelist was logged in.
Page views (logged out)	Number of page views triggered after logout, but which can still be referenced to the panelist via session data.
Referrer on start	Address from which the panelist reached login
IP address on start	From the panelist's IP address conclusions can be drawn regarding identity, place of residence, country or Internet connection. This can be helpful, for example, if there is any suspicion of dual accounts being maintained or other forms of abuse. Please note: The determination of hostnames and IP addresses is possible only to a certain extent, due to legal and technical reasons.
Host name	From the host name conclusions can be drawn regarding the panelist's identity, place of residence, country or Internet connection. Please note: The determination of hostnames and IP addresses is possible only to a certain extent, see above.

Viewing Change History of Panelist Data

Changes to address data or master data, either made by panelists for example when the master data survey or the re-registration form is updated, or by moderators in the admin area, can be logged. The data will be kept for 60 days, if desired this period can be changed by our support.

The Before-After Protocol can be viewed on theHistorytab of the detail view. The overview table contains the following information:

First and last name of panelists
E-mail
Date of change
Changed by: Type of change. Changes can be made by using the re-registration form and a master data survey.
Changes: The change that has been made.

Click on theShow detailsicon to open a popup window with details.

Information

Since the amount of data to be logged can grow very large, the panelist record history is not automatically activated on every panel installation. It will only be activated on request by our support if the respective panel is not too large. If you are interested in this function, please get in touch with your TIVIAN contact or with support.

Please note that changes will only be logged from the time of activation.

Candidates

The basic version of EFS Panel is based on a two-stage entry procedure. In the first stage, potential participants register and are admitted temporarily. After that, they are invited to the master data survey by the panel administrator. This chapter deals with the process that leads from temporary admittance up to the master data survey. The process can be subdivided into three steps:

Review of the data and validation.
Processing: You can, for example, reject panelists who have been registered temporarily or make further inquiries.
Invitation to the master data survey: By answering the master data survey, the candidate completes the transition to fully valid panelist.

During the admission procedure, the central task of the administrator is to validate the panelists. This is a special problem with online panels: It must be ensured that a candidate is a real person and that the e-mail address is functional and really belongs to the registered person. Also, multiple participation must be excluded. Many panels also require that the contact address and other data are complete. EFS Panel supports you in assuring quality:

During registration, a candidate’s entries are immediately verified using plausibility checks.
Also a check is performed immediately during registration, to see whether the email address used to register already exists in the EFS Panel system. If this is the case, an error message will be displayed.
The list of candidates provides an overview of all newly registered panelists.
An automated duplicates check for identifying panelists with identical or similar data is optionally available.

The List of Candidates

In thePeople → Panelists administration → Candidatesmenu you will find the overview of the candidates. These are panelists with “admitted temporarily” panel status.

The interfaces and functions of this list, in particular the search forms and actions, are identical with those of the panelists administration. Only in theCandidatesmenu, the search is restricted to panel status 1 (admitted temporarily) by definition.

By clicking on the name you can open the detail view of the respective candidate.

Inviting Candidates to the Master Data Survey

After completion of the validation process, you can invite the candidate to the master data survey. To do so, select the panelist in theCandidatesmenu, select the “Master data survey” action, and confirm by clicking onSubmit. After you have finalized the invitation text, you can send the mail.

After the prospective panelists have completed the master data survey, they will automatically become “active” members of the panel and will then be available for panel surveys and other activities such as promotional campaigns. At the same time, they will no longer be listed as candidates.

Duplicates Check

Occasionally, prospective members may register twice using different e-mail addresses. This may happen, for example, when panelists forget their passwords and, failing to notice the password reminder function, register again. In panels offering incentives panelists may sometimes register repeatedly in order to benefit several times.

The highly efficient duplicates check of EFS Panel allows to search the candidates and the panelist database for such duplicate registrations automatically at hourly intervals. If any candidates are identified as duplicates, their respective entries in the panelists administration will be marked accordingly. You can then notify these candidates, e.g. via e-mail, delete their accounts or set them to “inactive”.

The functional scope at a glance:

The duplicates check is performed automatically at hourly intervals.
You can decide for yourself whether you want to activate the duplicates check.
The duplicates check offers a high degree of flexibility in defining the checking algorithm. For example, you can specify yourself which participant and master data are to be considered in the duplicates check.
The duplicates check will be configured for the entire panel. It is not possible to configure individual duplicates checks for each individual website and language version.
The duplicates check configuration is protected by a special “panel_dupcheck” right for which write rights are necessary.
The action “Reset duplicates status” inPanelists administrationandCandidatesmenus allows to reset the check status, if necessary.
The duplicates status of the panelists can be edited in their respective detail views.

Function in detail

Incremental check

The duplicates check worksincrementally, i.e. only those panelists will be checked that have not yet been checked (duplicates status “not checked”). Upon checking and depending on the results they will be assigned either the status “not checked” or “duplicate”. By clicking on the Reset duplicates status button in thePeople → Panelists administration → Duplicates checkmenu, you can reset the status of all participants. The action of the same name in the Panelists list allows you to reset the status of selected panelists.

Reference sets

The duplicates check comparesa particular subset of panelists of “not checked” duplicates status(the selection criteria are to be specified by the administrator, see below)with the total set of panelists. This means two sets are being compared:

Set 1: a subset of panelists selected by the administrator of “not checked” duplicates status. For performance reasons this set is limited to 5,000 panelists. If more panelists need to be checked, the check will process these successively.
Set 2: the entire panel except for deleted panelists.

Checking intervals

The duplicates check will only be performed in an asynchronous manner (i.e. as a job). This means thatonce every hourthe system checks whether there are any panelists that need to be checked for duplicates (i.e. panelists which belong in the data set defined by the administrator and possess “not checked” duplicates status). If any such panelists exist, the duplicates check will be initiated.

Activating the duplicates check

Initially, the duplicates check is deactivated both in newly set up and in migrated panels, i.e. if you want the check to be performed, you need to explicitly activate it. To do so, open thePeople → Panelists administration → Duplicates checkmenu. Make sure that data set and checking algorithm are configured as required (see the following chapter). Then tick the checkbox “Activate regular duplicates check” and confirm by clicking onSave settings.

Configuring the duplicates check

Data set

In the section “Data set for checking” you can specify which panelists are to be checked against the entire set. These panelists have to

meet your specified criteria
possess the “not checked” duplicates status

The possible criteria are listed in the following table.

Field	Meaning
Which panel statuses should be included in the check?	You can choose whether to check only candidates (“Admitted temporarily” status) or also panelists with other statuses.
Mode of entry.	Specific modes of entry, such as manual input by the administrator or automatic generation via project tests, can be excluded from the check.
Way of entry	See Chapter "Ways of Entry".
Language version	Allows you to select a particular language version. As the duplicates check applies to the entire installation, it is usually not advisable to restrict the data set to one language version only.
Category	Allows you to select a panel category.
Group	Allows you to select a panel group.

Checking algorithm

In the “Checking algorithm” section you can specify which data are to be checked according to which criteria.

You can specify up to seven conditions that are linked with AND to form an algorithm, i.e. those participants that meet all of the specified conditions will be identifed as duplicates.

The following data can be checked

all participant data (u_x)
all master data (m_x and md_x)
the system data penter_data, remote_addr, pstatus, pinput, reg_code, and site_id.

The table lists the types of comparison and the corresponding parametrizations.

Type of comparison	Meaning	Parametrization
Equality (integer)	Is applied to data of the “Integer” type. The entries must be identical.	-
Equality (numeric)	Is applied to data of the “Integer” or “Float” type. The entries must be identical.	-
Equality (text)	Is applied to data of the “Text” type. The entries must be identical. Entries are considered “identical” if their letter strings are similar regardless of upper or lower case, punctuation, and space characters. For example, the following entries would be identified as “identical” in the check: Tivian TiVIaN TIVIAN T.I.V.I.A.N. T-I-V-I-A-N ti vian	-
Similarity (%)	Can be applied to data of any type. The entries must match to a predetermined degree (match percentage).	Minimum match percentage for the two values
Distance (numeric)	Is applied to data of the “Integer” or “Float” type.	Maximum absolute distance between both values (i.e. the amount of the difference between both values)

When configuring the checking algorithm you select the value and the appropriate type of comparison.

Special features

Please note the following special features:

penter_date: The variable “penter_date” contains the date and time of the panelist's registration. Including this value in the duplicates check is usually aimed at identifying registrations performed by the same person at short successive intervals. To do so, you should select the “Distance (numeric)” type of comparison: The system converts the combination of date and time into a unix timestamp, i.e. a number for which a distance should reasonably be specified. As parameter, enter the desired maximum temporal distance between the two registration events in seconds (e.g. 3600 = 1 hour).
remote_addr: The variable “remote_addr” contains the IP address used by the panelists during registration. In order to define a duplicates check for this IP address select the “Equality (text)” type of comparison.

Viewing results

Open the advanced search in theCandidatesmenu or in thePanelists administration. In the “Duplicates status” field select the option “Duplicate” and confirm by clicking onSearch. The persons in the basic set for whom duplicates have been identified will be listed.

By clicking on theDuplicate alertlink you can open a list of duplicates for each one.

Via the actions in the drop-down list (Chapter "Editing Panelists"), you can then edit then duplicates found. For example, you can notify the candidates via e-mail (the most efficient manner ist to use the action “Duplicates check mail”, which invokes prepared mail templates of the type “Duplicates check mail”), set the duplicate accounts to “inactive” or delete theim.

Access right to configurate the duplicates check

Write rights to “panel_dupcheck” are required to configurate the duplicates check. Without this right thePeople → Panelists administration → Duplicates checkmenu is not visible.

This protection is particularly important, because the duplicates check is applied to the panelists ofallwebsites of an installation. By restricting this access you can prevent accidental overwriting of data, e.g. by new users.

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