Multi-section Questionnaires
Definition
A multi-section questionnaire groups sets of questions together in sections. It is used to:
- Divide long questionnaires into several pages in order to make data entry easier, more legible and more comfortable for users;
- Adapt the choice of answers to a question based on the answer to a previous question.
EndDefinition
Examples
- Create a satisfaction survey via a questionnaire containing 70 questions spread over 2 pages instead of one long page with all 70 questions
- Section 1: All questions related to the personal details of the user, e.g. name, address, job, etc.
- Section 2: All questions related to the satisfaction survey.
- Create a questionnaire in which the list of Support persons is dynamically based on the group selected in the previous question
- Section 1: This contains a question (GROUP code) whose type is SQL List used to select a group from the existing ones.
SELECT group_id,
group_$lng,
group_level
FROM am_group- Section 2: This contains a question (SUPPORT_PERSON code) whose type is SQL List used to select the Support person from those belonging to the group selected in the previous question.
SELECT e.employee_id,
last_name
FROM am_employee e
INNER JOIN am_emplgroup eg
ON eg.employee_id = e.employee_id
WHERE eg.group_id = Cast('#[QUESTION_CODE.GROUP]#' AS INTEGER)
ORDER BY e.last_name
Notes
- A given section can be associated with several multi-section questionnaires.
- Each section can be displayed directly after the previous section or on a new page.
- Questions whose contents depend on previous questions must be created in a section displayed directly after the previous section.
- Answers are saved in the Service Manager database when users validate by moving on to the next page. They are kept even if users click Cancel in one of the questionnaire pages.
- A multi-section questionnaire can be exported.
- All sections and questions will automatically be exported.
- The overrides will not be taken in account.
NotesQuestionnaires
- You can create questions in advance in reference tables in the Operation or Transition menu, or directly in the current questionnaire.
- A given question can be associated with one or more questionnaires but it cannot be included twice in the same questionnaire.
- You define the properties of questions using the Manage Questions wizard.
- A question can be displayed only when the questionnaire is opened in an Service Apps app, or it can be permanently displayed regardless of whether it was run from an app or from an Service Manager screen.
- Each step of the workflow can run a different questionnaire.
- If the same questionnaire is used in different workflow steps, then by default the last answer to any given question will be displayed.
- If a given question was already asked in a workflow step in the same questionnaire, then the last answer will be displayed instead of the default answer.
- In workflows that manage incidents, questionnaires are displayed only when the action is completed, and never when a task is created, a transfer is defined, or when an action is put on hold or reopened.
- Answers to questions:
- They do not have an impact on charge back.
- They can be seen in the Questions/Responses tab of the Incident/Request/Action form.
- Answers to questions are not logged. If a questionnaire is used in several workflow steps, the answers displayed in the tab are the ones the user last entered.
- Depending on the type of answer, they can be stored in specific target fields in the SD_REQUEST table. They will then appear in the Incident/Request/Action form if these fields are visible.
- Incidents, requests or problems created before a questionnaire was deleted will retain their questions and associated answers.
Best Practice
See also Best practice - Questionnaires.
BestPractice
- As dynamic values are calculated when the questionnaire is run, you should associate only those you want to use in questions.
- If you want to create a new questionnaire that shares a common core of questions with an existing questionnaire, you should duplicate the existing one and save it with a new name. You can adapt the new questionnaire to your requirements.
- Select the Single answer option for the answers that must not be modified when the same questionnaire is run a second time. See Manage questions wizard.
- To improve the rate of replies to optional questions in satisfaction surveys, spread the questions over several pages in the questionnaire. This reduces the number of quick answers limited to the first few questions of the survey.
- When there are no more questions, you can use a standard questionnaire.
Menu access
- Sections: References > Other references > Questionnaires: Sections
- Multi-section questionnaires: References > Other references > Questionnaires: Multi-sections
Screens description
Section
Description: Name of the section.
Title displayed on Wizard: Name displayed in the title bar of the questionnaire when the section is called.
Questions
List of questions associated with the section using the Manage Questions wizard.
Multi-section questionnaire
Description: Name of the questionnaire.
Title displayed on Wizard: Name displayed in the title bar of the questionnaire.
Multi-section Questionnaire: This box is automatically checked. It indicates that the current questionnaire is a multi-section questionnaire.
Sections
List of sections associated with the questionnaire using the Manage Questions wizard.
Questions
List of all questions used in the questionnaire. They are associated with each section using the Manage Questions wizard.
Overrides
List of categories related to incidents, requests or problems based on which a questionnaire may be replaced by another during a workflow or during a workflow step.
Manage Sections wizard
: Used to add a section selected from those in the reference table to the questionnaire.
- Click New Section to define a new one. It will automatically be added to the reference table and associated with this questionnaire.
- You can add sections from another questionnaire.
- You cannot include the same section more than once.
: Used to remove the section from the current questionnaire.
- The section will remain in the reference table, only the link with the questionnaire will be deleted.
- If the section is being used in another questionnaire, it remains associated with it.
: Used to define the questions in the section using the Manage Questions wizard.
New Page: Used to indicate whether the section should be displayed on a new questionnaire page (box is checked) or on the same page directly after the previous section (box is not checked). Note: The box is automatically checked for the first section of the questionnaire.
example Create a questionnaire divided into two sections, section 1 = Group and section 2 = Support Person
| Support Person section: New Page box is not checked | Support Person section: New Page box is checked | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
||
Group section
|
 |
 |
|
Support Person section
|
 |
 |
and 
: Used to modify the order in which sections are displayed in the questionnaire table. Note: In the Sections tab, the display order is indicated in the Rank column.
Procedures and Wizards
How to create a multi-section questionnaire
Step 1: Creation of the questionnaire.
1. Select References > Other references > Questionnaires: Multi-sections in the menu
2. Click .
3. Enter the description of the questionnaire
4. Click Finish.
The form will open.
Step 2: Definition of the contents of the questionnaire.
1. Select the Manage the sections wizard.
2. Select each section to be added to the questionnaire by clicking 
.
- By default, the new section will appear on a new page. Unselect the New Page box if you want the contents of the new section to appear directly after the questions in the previous section. See the example.
- Click the or arrow next to each section to move a section.
Note: Sections are displayed to users in the order in which they appear in the questionnaire table.
3. Define the contents of each section.
- Click next to the section.
The Manage Questions wizard will appear.
EnterQuestion_CreateQuestionnaireProcedure
- Select each question to be added to the questionnaire by clicking .
- Note: If you click Create a new question, the new question will automatically be associated with this questionnaire. It will also be added to the reference tables and will be available for all questionnaires.
- To delete a question from the questionnaire, click
. Note: Only the link will be deleted.
To display a horizontal line separator, display the list of questions and sort them using the Type column. Next, go to the System type and select the Horizontal line separator question.
- Click the or arrow next to each question to move a question.
Note: Questions are displayed to users in the order in which they appear in the questionnaire table.
- Define the properties of each question.
Note: These properties will apply only to the current questionnaire.
- Click Assign the dynamic values to select the dynamic values you want to use for conditions and constraints in the questionnaire's questions.
- Click
(existing constraint) or 
(no constraint) to define a constraint for a question. See Manage Questions wizard > Manage data entry constraints.
Note: You can use regular expressions. See the examples.
- Click
(existing condition) or 
(no condition) to define a condition for a question. See Manage Questions wizard > Manage display conditions.
- Click Assign the dynamic values to select the dynamic values you want to use for conditions and constraints in the questionnaire's questions.
4. Check the layout of your questionnaire by clicking Preview.
5. Click Save.
The Sections and Questions tabs will be updated in the form.
Step 3: Use of the questionnaire in a process.
UseQuestionnaireInProcess_CreateQuestionnaireProcedure
1. Associate the new questionnaire with a workflow or with a workflow step using the graphic editor.
2. (optional) Replace the current questionnaire by another questionnaire when the workflow is triggered for a specific category in the incident catalog or service catalog.
- Open the questionnaire.
- Select the Overrides tab.
- Click .
- Select the questionnaire that will replace the current one and indicate the category where the override will apply.
Step 4 (optional) Modification of the contents of questions in a questionnaire section subsequently.
1. Open the questionnaire.
2. Select the Sections tab.
3. Click 
next to the section you want.
4. Select the Manage Questions wizard.
5. Make the required modifications to the contents.
How to change a long questionnaire to a multi-section questionnaire
ProcedureChangeTypeQuestionnaire
Step 1: Analyze of the questionnaire.
1. Decide how many pages the questionnaire should be divided into.
2. Determine the questions to be placed at the start and end of each page.
Note: The display condition of a question based on a previous answer in an earlier page must be expressed again as an SQL condition.
- To save time and facilitate the expression of these SQL conditions, you should group, on the same page, questions whose answers determine the display of other questions and these conditional questions.
- If the questions cannot be grouped, edit the display conditions to change them to SQL. See the example of a query.
3. Note down the display order value of the first and last questions of each page.
Step 2: Creation of the questionnaire sections.
1. Duplicate the questionnaire as many times as required to create the pages in your questionnaire. Check the Is a section box each time.
2. Edit each of the questionnaire sections you just created.
3. Delete the questions found in the other sections (pages).
Note: In large questionnaires, it may take some time to delete a question. You can delete questions quickly by running a query in the database.
Caution: You should test the query first in the sandbox environment because it involves the deletion of data.
- Edit each of the questionnaire sections and take note of the identifier displayed in the URL to the right of the q2_id parameter:
example ...filter=1&q2_id=68&q2_tree_id=...
- Run the query below.
WHERE question_list_id = parameterValue
AND ( display_order < firstQuestionOrderValue
OR display_order > lastQuestionOrderValue );
Step 3: Creation of the multi-section questionnaire.
1. Create the multi-section questionnaire.
2. Associate the questionnaire sections. Check the New page box for each section.
3. Check that the display conditions of the original questionnaire do not refer to questions that have been moved to different pages.
See the query in the FAQ.
Step 4: Use of the new questionnaire in the processes.
1. Replace the old questionnaire with the new multi-section questionnaire in workflows and questionnaire overrides.
Wizards
Section
Duplicate
Manage questions
Delete