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How to Configure Op Question Types
Who is this article for?Primary and Place Admins building Ops at their Organisation
Questions are an important part of managing your op and there is a variety of question types available fr use.
This article is an in-depth guide to the different question types and best practice techniques for using them. This article is split into the following sections:
1. Form Flow & More Info
- Form Flow (enables different follow-up Questions based on the user's answers)
- More Info (extra question-specific info for the less experienced user)
1.1. Form Flow
Form flow is conditional logic that applies to user input. For example, if the user answers Yes, you can display one set of questions and, on the contrary, if they answer No, you can display different questions.
1.2. More Info
Whilst more experienced Staff demand little assistance as they move through their tasks, newer and less experienced members may require to be able to access further guidance to complete a particular Question.
The More Info option enables you to add short and relevant information that will be displayed when the user taps the Additional Information button. This can be presented with the following tools:
- Formatted text
- Images
- Videos
- Files
- Hyperlinks
Note: Please see How to Create & Manage an Op for a quick overview and more general instructions.
2. Question Types
New question types are added from time to time. The ones we currently support are:
- Checkbox: Typically Yes/No or Done/Not Done.
- Number: Number input only.
- Free Text: User must enter text or numbers, or with the Barcode Scanner.
- List: The user can choose one option from a predefined list.
- Rating: A five point scale with configurable labels.
- Date and Time: Requires the date and/or time to be input.
- Photo: The user must take one or more photographs.
- Signature: Collect authorization via mobile touchscreen.
- Staff: This allows you to select a particular member of the team.
- Asset: Lets you select assets within your Organisation.
- Information: Displays to the user, no user input allowed.
- Section: Separating your Op into separate series of questions.
- Repetition: The same question/questions can display multiple times.
2.1. Checkbox
Checkboxes are the most simple and common question type, giving the user just two choices of response, e.g.:
- Yes or No
- Done or Not Done
- Now or Never
- Etc
Simply click the text label to change it. You can also change the button colour and turn on form logic for one or both possible responses.
2.2. Number
The number question type requires the user to enter any number, (input such as £ or % is not allowed).
Optionally you can add less than and/or more than validation so that if the user enters a number outside of the range, a different action will take place: e.g. raise an Issue or initiate conditional form logic.
Temperature checks and breakage counts are common uses of the number question.
2.3. Free Text
Free Text allows the user to enter a text response, it is not limited to a single line. This is commonly used when a more descriptive answer is required (and that answer doesn't require reporting or analysis).
This Question type also allows enabling barcode scanning. When switched on, the user will have the option to enter free text or scan a barcode/QR code to collect data and save time.
2.4. Lists
Lists require the user to select one option from a predefined set of choices.
Every possible response will have its button colour and optionally conditional logic. You also can allow for more than one item on the list to be selected.
2.5. Rating Type
Ratings can be used for any 5-point scale, e.g. from Good-to-Bad, Hot-to-Cold, Clean-to-Dirty, Satisfied-to-Unsatisfied.
Every point on the scale can be given its text label, button colour and trigger conditional logic if required.
2.6. Date and Time Type
This question can be configured to request the date, time or both.
As Smartforms logs when the Ops are started and submitted, this Question type is most useful for Ad-Hoc Ops (i.e. run on demand) where the user oughts to enter a date/time that differs from the Op Start or Submission time: e.g. when did the accident occur?
2.7. Photo Type
Photos are good for evidence. A common use of these would be to prove cleanliness or show the nature of pest activity. For example, if the user responds to a previous question that pest activity is visible, then conditional logic can reveal the photo question so that you can see one or more photos and evaluate the extent of the problem.
2.8. Signature Type
Although Smartforms keeps a record of the completer of each Op upon submission, it may be important to you to collect a signature, for a variety of reasons:
- Approval
- Witness
- Authorization
A signature is collected digitally via mobile touch screen, and saved in the Ops Report.
2.9. Staff Type
It allows the person completing the Op to mention or refer to another member of the team. E.g. someone who was informed after a task was completed, a partner that assisted with completing a task, etc.
2.10. Asset Type
This question will allow you to select one of the Assets previously entered in Settings > Assets, as part of your Organisation. This could be useful to indicate what Asset your Op is referring to when monitoring temperature, performing daily checks, food rotation, oil changes, etc.
2.11. Information Type
Information will always be displayed to the user and requires no response from them. It can be used for adding further instruction or to provide more detail.
As well as formatted text, it is also possible to include:
- Images
- Videos (links to videos hosted on other sites)
- Hyperlinks (to websites)
2.12. Section Type
This Question type allows you to organise your Op into separate groups of questions. Can be especially useful when conducting scored Ops; on top of the final total for the overall Op, this setting will also add subtotals to be tallied for each section.
You can also enable the Skip button to let the completer continue without responding to the questions in the section.
2.13. Repetition Type
The purpose of the repetition question is to enable one or more questions to be repeated. It can be powerful when used well, so requires a little explanation to get the best results...
There are 3 types of repetition:
- Repeat N times. Here you can specify how many times the following question(s) should be repeated. E.g. when you want staff to probe 3 items from delivery.
- Repeat Unlimited times. The user decides how many times to answer the selected Question/s by tapping the add another button in the Native app. This is useful for audits or breakages, where the number of responses is not known before the event. E.g. an inspector visiting a site might not know how many refrigeration units are there, but will need to record the temperature for each.
- Repeat for Each Item in a list. This is best used when you know how many repeats are needed and what are recording information about: e.g. all of the fridges at a Site.
Need some additional help with repeating questions? Visit How to Setup Repeating Questions for more information.
3. Raise Issues Within Questions
Ordinarily, Issues will be raised in conjunction with Form Flow when a response is unsatisfactory. When active, the conditional logic will prompt the Op performer to generate a new Issue in the system for follow-up action.
The settings for the Issue Question allow you to specify a Title, a Type and a Flag colour.
Note: The title and type can be auto-assigned based on the rules configured in Ops and Issues Settings.