How to build a survey?

Surveys

How to build, score, activate and review a survey in the Clew Platform

Contents

• 1. Introduction & Context
• 2. Key Features & Functions
• 3. Requirements
• 4. Step-by-Step Guide
  • Building a survey
  • Adding fields to a survey
  • Adding instructions and sections
  • Copying a field
  • Defining scoring
  • Activating the survey
  • Responding to a survey
  • Making changes to an active survey
  • Viewing survey responses
• 5. Common Issues & Troubleshooting
• 6. Related Articles

1. Introduction & Context

A survey lets you build your own set of questions, publish it to your users, score their answers automatically and review every response in one place. You design the questions in the Builder, decide whether and how responses are scored, then move the survey through your workflow so people can complete it.

A worked example: you need a monthly site inspection completed by supervisors. You build a survey with multiple choice questions, mark two of them as critical so the whole inspection fails if either is failed, activate it, and then review each submitted response against the site it relates to.

Who is it for? Surveys can be created and edited by both standard users and system administrators, provided they have the required permissions. Anyone with access to the relevant register can respond to an active survey.

What does it impact? A survey can only be edited while it is in Draft status, so changes to an active survey mean moving it back to Draft first. Scoring rules determine the outcome recorded against every response, so test them before you collect real data.

2. Key Features & Functions

• Ten field types: attachment, date, multiple choice, number, range, text, system field, role and user, so most question formats are covered without custom work.
• Flexible scoring: fail the whole survey if a critical question is failed, pass on a total score, or score against thresholds that produce outcomes such as low, medium and high risk.
• Sections and rules: group related questions into sections, and use rules to reveal fields only after a particular answer is selected.
• Instructions: add non-selectable guidance text to help respondents answer correctly.
• Copy and reorder fields: duplicate a configured question with the clipboard icon, then drag it into position.
• Export and import templates: export a survey template from the Builder as a .json file and import it into another environment, so you can build and test in staging and then move it to production.
• Response controls: limit users to one response each, and notify the survey owner automatically when a new response is submitted.
• Linked items: link a system item to a question so the response also appears on that linked item.

3. Requirements

• Version 4.22 or later.
• Permission to create and edit surveys. Standard users can hold this permission, it is not restricted to system administrators.
• The Add option must be visible on the custom type. If it has been hidden, a system administrator can enable it.
• Scoring must be switched on for the survey by selecting Score responses when you create it.
• Threshold-based scoring must be enabled once in System Settings by Clew before it is available to you.
• Role fields apply only to configurations that use role-based assignment.

4. Step-by-Step Guide

Building a survey

1. Navigate in the menu dropdown to Survey. To create a new survey, click Add in the top right corner.
2. Complete the form to create your survey. The available fields may differ depending on your organisation's setup. See the table below.
3. Click Build in the top right corner to start designing your survey.

The Survey list, with the Add button in the top right corner.

Click Build to open the Builder and start designing the survey.

Adding fields to a survey

1. To add a new field to the survey, click Add field at the bottom of the survey.
2. Complete the field settings and choose a field type, using the tables below.

Add field, at the bottom of the survey in the Builder.

Field settings

Field types

Adding instructions and sections

1. To add instructions, a non-selectable field that provides guidance to respondents, click Add Instructions in the bottom panel and complete the form.
2. To group related fields together, create a section. Entire sections can be hidden if needed.

Copying a field

1. Click the Clipboard icon next to the field you want to copy.
2. Click Paste, either in the bottom panel or within a section.
3. Drag and drop the copied field to place it in the order you want.

The Clipboard icon copies a field, including its scoring and choice settings.

Defining scoring

Survey scoring is flexible. You can set different outcome rules:

• Fail if any children fail.
• Pass or fail based on total score.
• Score based on thresholds, customisable per section.

1. Click the pencil icon to configure scoring for the entire survey.
2. Select your applicable scoring method, using the table below.
3. Once the scoring has been defined, save and move the survey to Active or Open so you can test it.
4. If any changes are needed to the survey or the scoring, move the survey back to Draft first.

The pencil icon opens scoring configuration for the whole survey.

Fail if any children fail: one failed critical question fails the whole survey.

Pass mark: a minimum total score to pass.

Score based on thresholds: each score range produces its own outcome.

Activating the survey

1. Click the survey you want to move to Active or Open.
2. Click the workflow button. Its colour and wording may differ based on your organisation's setup.

The workflow button moves the survey into its next state.

Responding to a survey

1. Navigate to the relevant register, select Survey from the menu dropdown, and click the green Respond button next to the survey you wish to complete.
2. Complete the survey and click Submit to record your response.

The green Respond button beside an active survey.

Making changes to an active survey

Edits can only be made to surveys in Draft status.

1. Click the survey you want to move to Draft.
2. In the top right corner, click the appropriate workflow button to move it back to Draft.
3. Select the Builder icon, apply the necessary changes and save the survey.
4. Reactivate it by progressing it through the correct workflow state.

Move the survey back to Draft, then open the Builder to edit it.

Viewing survey responses

1. Click the survey whose responses you want to view.
2. Scroll down to the Survey Response sub-panel, where you can see all responses from users.
3. Click the hyperlinked ID to see all details from that response.

The Survey Response sub-panel. Click an ID to open the full response.

5. Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Best practices:

• Build and test on staging first, then export the template as a .json file and import it into production.
• Submit at least one test response before going live, to confirm the scoring produces the outcome you expect.
• Finish configuring a field, including scoring and colours, before you copy it.
• Use sections to group related questions, and keep rules inside the section they affect.
• Add a clear description and instructions so respondents understand what the survey is for.
• Assign an owner and enable new response notifications so submissions are not missed.

6. Related Articles

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