Remote Data Collection

Remote Data Collection (RDC) is module for the DatStat Platform which gives you the ability to capture data in areas where an internet connection is sparse or nonexistent.

1.Remote Data Collection Overview

Data collection in Illume Next can occur in one of two ways: through the web, or remotely using RDC (which does not require an internet connection). Remote Data Collection (RDC) is a method of collecting offline Interviewer-driven Illume surveys in environments in which obtaining an internet connection is difficult or impossible. It allows interviewers to pull open the survey completely offline, and administer it to multiple interviewees, with the survey having the same functionality as it would on the web. Once an interviewer has completed the interviews for the day, RDC provides the ability to send (or “synch”) those collected data, sending them from the interviewer’s local device up to the server.

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2.Tablet Setup

Illume Next survey sessions taken offline store a file on the tablet of the RDC user. By default, this storage location is in the user’s C drive folder on the device. If multiple users are to use the same tablet, then this storage location should be edited to be a storage location to which all windows users have access. This storage location is edited by going to the Edit menu/ Storage location.

If any virus software is installed on the tablet, that software should be configured to NOT scan the aforementioned storage folder, so as to prevent that virus software from “holding” a file during scanning while the Illume application needs to access it.

Downloading the RDC Software

The RDC software must be put on any device on which you want to collect offline data. It is software that must be obtained from your DatStat system, installed, and then configured in a particular way so that it can connect to the DatStat server. This process must be done on all new devices on which you are installing RDC. This process need not occur a subsequent time unless an upgrade is conducted on your server due to a change in the remote data collection feature set. See the section below on RDC Maintenance which further discusses this issue.

Using RDC requires being a User in the DatStat system. A User with the Administrator role will need to create you as a user.

Another method for getting access to and installing the Illume RDC software is to have one user download the .msi file that is the Client Install file, and distributing this file to anyone who needs to install Illume. Doing this bypasses steps 4-6 below.

Log into the DatStat gateway

Click on the Download Survey Manager link from the navigation menu in the top right corner.

This will download an .msi, or Installer application. Run the Installer (discard any warnings about running dangerous or unfamiliar software)

Once the installation is complete, you will have an Illume Next DatStat Survey Manager icon on your desktop.

Double click on the DatStat Survey Manager icon. The application will open to a logon window.

Click Options

Click New

For Connection Name you can enter any label you prefer, such as “DatStat”. For the Service Location, you must put the “DesignerService” URL for your install

You may now log in with your Illume User Name and Password. Your Administrator will create your username and password. Typically the username will be the prefix of your email address. The initial password will be communicated to you by your Administrator, and when you first log in Illume will ask you to reset your password.

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3.RDC After Upgrade

On a periodic basis DatStat releases an update to the Illume software. In most cases, these updates do not affect RDC, and thus there is no action you need to take. Occasionally, however, bugs are fixed or new features are added. When this occurs, your server will be upgraded to this new version. When your server gets upgraded to a new version, you must also upgrade your RDC device so that your device version matches the server version. To do so, simply follow the steps above to obtain the Client Install for the most recent version.

To be notified of Illume product releases, you may sign up for notifications on the Release Notes page for Illume by filling out the form at the bottom of the page. Whenever a release occurs, the release notes will be available on the DatStat Academy and an email will be sent to those subscribed to release updates notifying them of the new release. Release notes describe the changes in the current version from the prior version. There is a section in the Release Notes for RDC when changes are made to the RDC module. If RDC is not listed, then there is no need to download a new RDC device. It is extremely rare for changes to be made to RDC, so it is likely that this will only need to occur once in a year.

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4.Creating Users

Individuals utilizing the RDC client must be set up as Users by the organization’s Administrator. There are two types of RDC users: Those whose sole responsibility is to collect data via RDC, and those who have multiple responsibilities/privileges beyond remote data collection.

Creating a Remote Data Collector User

The steps below are for creating a user whose sole responsibility is to collect data via RDC.

Steps:

Log into the Enterprise Manager as either the Administrator or a User with the Administrator Role over the Projects to which the Users will be added

In the Enterprise Manager click on the Users Icon

Click Take Action

Select Add User

In the Profile tab select the Remote Data Collector User Type

Add the Logon Name, Display Name, Email (optional)

Set the Expiration, if desired, and initial Password

In the Illume Roles tab select the Security Type – either Survey or Project level

Select the Project for this User to have access

Select the Data Collector Role

NOTE: After selecting the Security Type, Project, and User Role, click the Add Role button for each role added.

There are no Features to enable for this type of user

On the Site Access tab assign the Sites/Site Groups to which the User has access (optional)

NOTE: Sites may or may not exist at the time of User creation. A Site can also be assigned afterward by editing the User.

When all appropriate information has been entered for the User, click the Save button

At the User Saved screen click OK

Creating a User with Multiple Roles

A User that is a Remote Data Collector in a may also have other roles within the project. For this reason they cannot be added as a Remote Data Collection User but must be a “Normal” User with a specific set of permissions.

Steps:

Log into the Enterprise Manager as either the Administrator or a User with the Administrator Role over the Projects to which the Users will be added

In the Enterprise Manager pane click on the Users Icon

Click Take Action

Select Add User

In the Profile tab select the Normal User Type

Add the Logon Name, Display Name, Email – Should be added because it can be used in alerts and other emails within the study

Set the Expiration, if desired, and initial Password

In the Illume Roles tab select the Security Type – for Project level

Select the Project for this User to have access

Select Data Collector and click Add Role.

Add the additional Roles that are needed, clicking Add Role after each is selected

Click the Features Tab

Check the Remote Data Collection check box

On the Site Access tab assign the Sites/Site Groups to which the User has access (optional)

NOTE: Sites may or may not exist at the time of User creation. A Site can also be assigned afterward by editing the User.

When all appropriate information has been entered for the User, click the Save button

At the User Saved screen click OK

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5.Add Surveys

For a new interviewer, the first step in RDC is to put the survey(s) onto your RDC device (also referred to as “pulling down the survey”). This needs to be done before the very first interview AND whenever a new survey is published that you need to administer offline. Every offline data collector user must put the survey on device.

When you pull down the survey, you are also pulling down the associated Participant List, i.e. the individuals you’ve created through Uploading IDs onto the Participant List. Therefore before following the steps below, ensure you have added participants to your list.

Open the desktop client and login

If the User type is not Remote Data Collector and the user has more Roles within the DatStat Illume Survey Manager, the Remote Data Collection Tab must be selected. Users of Remote Data Collector type with no other roles will only see the Remote Data Collection tab.

Click the Add Survey button

If the User is of type Remote Data Collector, the surveys assigned to the User will automatically download and appear in the Survey List. If the User is of type “Normal”, the Get Survey for Remote Data Collection window will open

Select a Survey or multiple Surveys by holding the CTRL key and selecting multiple surveys at one time

Click the Next > button and the survey or surveys will be retrieved.

If the survey you are putting on the device has a known list of potential respondents associated to it (i.e. a “Participant List” containing IDs), the following dialog appears explaining that if your survey has more than one list associated to it, you need to pick the list that you want to go out into the field with. It also states that if you have only one list associated to the survey, it will be selected automatically. You can click “do not show this dialog again”

Click Ok. NOTE: If the survey is authenticated, i.e. one or more questions exist in the Login collection of the survey, and no participant lists are associated with the survey or the survey is not associated to a Discovery survey Study Task, the User CANNOT proceed past this step and will not be able to download the survey for remote data collection.

Click the Finish button to complete the process and add the survey and any selected participant lists to your Remote Data Collection tab.

Note that multiple users can download a survey for remote data collection at the same time, allowing you to have multiple interviewers in the field collecting data for the same survey.

Once the survey has been successfully retrieved, it will appear in green under Surveys. Green indicates that the survey(s) has collected no data, or has collected data but all of the data has been synced. No unsynced data sessions are associated to the survey.

If you click on the name of the Survey, on the right pane it will show you information about that survey, such as its current version in remote data collection, the number of complete survey sessions collected but not synchronized with the Illume server, and the number of sessions in progress (sessions that have been started but not submitted).

The status definitions are as follows:

Not started: Authentication has not occurred, i.e. login or Start button has not been clicked
In Progress: Have collected partial data, but those data have not been synced with the server
Partial: Have collected partial data, and those partial data have been synced to the server
Submitted: The submit button has been hit but the full submission has not been synchronized
Collected: # of submissions

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6.Available Surveys and Survey Status

To view the surveys that are available for remote data collection, click on the Remote Data Collection tab and click on the survey in the left-hand pane. The Survey Status pane shows you information about the survey, including the version of the survey currently in remote data collection, the number of complete survey sessions collected but not synchronized with the Illume server, and the number of sessions in progress (sessions that have been started but not submitted).

There are two colors utilized in the survey list:

Green: Utilized for surveys that have collected no data, or have collected data but all of the data has been synced. No un-synced survey sessions are associated to the survey

Red: Utilized for surveys that have collected data and at least one survey session has not been synced

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7.Collect Data for an Authenticated Survey

Once you have retrieved the survey(s) to your local device, you can go out into the field and administer them without an internet connection.

Click on the Illume icon on your desktop

You do not need to login. You may check the Work Locally box and click OK. This allows you to work offline.

Under Surveys you should see the surveys you downloaded earlier when you had an internet connection.

From the Remote Data Collection tab, select the survey in the list of available surveys by clicking on the name of the survey

You may now launch the survey in one of two ways. The first option is to click the Participants button. This shows a list of all participants associated with the survey. Under Status it will show as either Not Started, In Progress (has started but has not been completed), or Submitted. The “Alternate Participant ID” is the Study ID connected to the submission. You can sort by any column by clicking on the column header

This shows a list of all participants associated with the survey from the participant lists downloaded from the Illume server. Test participants are displayed in a grayed-out fashion in this view to distinguish them from real participants.Select the participant whose data you want to collect and click the Collect Data… button.

A New Survey Session window will display to allow verification of the Participant information

Click Yes to begin the Survey Session

The survey will open in your default internet browser, but it is not online.

The other option for launching the survey is to press the “Collect Data” button. This will launch the survey, and will require you to enter a ID in order to continue into the survey.

Select the participant whose data to collect and click the Collect Data… button

A New Survey Session window will display to allow verification of the Participant information. A completed survey will have a Status of Submitted, one that has started but not completed will have a Status of In Progress.

Click Yes to begin the Survey Session

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8.Continuing a Partial Survey

In Illume surveys, whether completed via the web or on RDC, every time the Interviewer hits the “Next” button the data are stored. On the web, the data are stored by being sent immediately to the server. In RDC, the data are stored on the local device. Because the data are stored as you move along in the interview, if you need to leave the survey, or accidentally close out the survey, it will be saved in “In Progress” completion state. Surveys in this state can be resumed later, right at the point you left off. Partial survey sessions that were started offline and have been synched can be continued online. Partial online surveys can be completed offline.

If the data have been synchronized, you can continue right where you left off on ANY device. If data has not been synchronized, you MUST continue where you left off on the SAME device. Otherwise, you will run into the issues with multiple tablets accessing the same survey, with the risk of sessions being overwritten in the database.

There are two ways to resume the partially completed survey from the RDC device:

Participants Button Method:

Click on the Participants button
Locate the survey that has the In Progress status and click Collect Data

Collect Data Method:

Click on the “Collect Data…” button
Enter the Study ID for the survey that is In Progress/Partial to resume

When the Survey begins the Resume Page will open with the choices of Restore or Start Over with the survey. Both choices may not be available if they have been disabled by the Survey Programmer. The wording may also different than as shown below due to changes made by the programmer.

While out in the field collecting data, changes may be made to the content of the surveys. When these changes are made, a new “version” of the survey is created (Illume numbers the versions starting at 1 and increasing sequentially with each new version). Interviewers can obtain the new version of a survey by Synchronizing their devices (see section on Synchronizing).

Interviews started in one version will always resume in the new version. If “major” changes were made to the survey (major changes include adding or moving a question or changing survey logic), the interview will resume at the start of the survey. If only “minor” changes were made to the survey (minor changes include correcting text content), then the interview will resume at the point at which you left off in the interview.

To resume a synced partial session while online, simply navigate to the survey URL and enter the authentication credentials on the login page. You will reach the same “Resume/Restore” page.

Continue with the Survey.

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9.Multiple Users, Multiple Devices

Remote Data Collection allows Users to download one or multiple surveys, and the associated participant lists, so they may be administered offline. In most cases a single User will be responsible for a specific set of Participants. However, there may be times where any number of Users will have the same list of Participants. If more than one User may administer a survey, or collect data, from a specific participant there is the potential for Data Synchronization issues.

An interview started on a particular device for a specific participant should always be completed and synced from that same device. The risk of not doing so is the possibility of ending up with two sessions for the same participant on two different devices, and thus 2 data sets. When those two data sets get synced, Illume will not know which session contains the “right” data, so it will use the most recent submission as the one that is kept (thus overwriting the initial submission). If the most recent sync contains less data than the prior sync, you may end up losing some of your collected data.

The best prevention strategy is to use a procedure whereby an interviewer always completes a survey session on the same device it was initiated.

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10.Synchronize Surveys

Whenever you complete a survey in RDC, the information is stored on your computer. In order to get the data to the database on the server, you will need to synchronize your surveys.

Synchronizing performs the following actions:

Uploads any survey sessions collected to the server – this includes partially completed survey sessions and fully submitted sessions.
Downloads any survey design changes that have been published since the last time synchronization (see section above on Resuming After Survey Changes)
Downloads updates to associated participant lists used for remote data collection with this survey.

Synchronizing should occur before going out into the field to collect data (to ensure the device has the most recent survey version, submission statuses, and participant information), and after data collection once you’ve returned from the field.

Note: While an interview with a Participant remains in an unsubmitted state (i.e. partial or in progress), the data still reside in a file on your local device. In contrast, once you have fully submitted a survey, synchronizing your data PERMANENTLY removes it from the device on which it was collected. This is an important security measure built into the remote data collection module.

You can synchronize after one interview or after many interviews – there are no restrictions on how many interviews you can do before you synchronize. Keep in mind, however, that until you synchronize, all of the data are being stored on that local computer. Only one survey can be synchronized at a time.

Open Illume in a place where you have internet access and log in using your username and password.

Select the survey you wish to synchronize.

Press the “Synchronize” button. All of the data, whether fully complete or in a partial state, will be uploaded to the server and immediately available for access and query in the Data Manager

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11.Remote Cache

To change the location where remote data are stored on the local machine:

Choose Storage Location from the Edit menu in the Survey Manager

Click the Other radio button and browse for and select a different location on the local machine in which to store remotely collected data, the surveys and participant lists used with the Remote Data Collection module

Click OK to commit

NOTE: Doing this will copy all of your existing Remote Data Collection data to the new location.

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12.Remove Surveys

Once collecting data remotely has been completed for a survey and all collected data synchronized, the survey can be removed from the Remote Data Collection tab.

NOTE: Removing a survey will delete remotely collected data that has not been synchronized and cannot be undone. To save collected data for the survey, be sure to synchronize the survey before removing it.

Steps to Remove:

Click on the Survey to Remove

Verify that all data has been synchronized

Click the Remove Survey button

If data remains (i.e. Partial Submissions) a warning message will appear

Click Yes to remove the Survey

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13.Remote Data Collection In Studies

Offline surveys in the context of a Discovery study operate in the same way as web surveys when it comes to access to those surveys for data collection. Like web surveys, an RDC survey will become available for Data Collection if:

The survey has been added to the Participant’s Study Tasks by the workflow
The survey has an open status code (i.e. a status of either pending, interim or suspended type)
Today is on or past the Schedule Date for the survey

Adding Discovery Study Surveys to RDC Device:

The user be connected to the internet and logged into the DatStat Illume Survey Manager
If the User has more Roles within the DatStat Illume Survey Manager they must click on the Remote Data Collection Tab

Click the Add Survey… button or right-click anywhere in the Survey list and Choose Add survey… from the context menu

The Get Survey for Remote Data Collection window will open

Select a Survey or multiple Surveys by holding the CTRL key and selecting multiple surveys at one time

Click the Finish > button

NOTE: There will be no prompt for a participant list as there is only one list associated to the study.

Adding Surveys with Multiple Studies and/or Illume only Surveys

When users have access to multiple Discovery Studies, the Get Survey for Remote Data Collection window will change.

There will be a Drop-Down to select the Study
The first Surveys that will show are from Illume only

After selecting surveys from different studies and/or stand alone surveys, the Surveys window will show the following information:

Collecting Data using Surveys in a Study

Collecting data with Surveys in a Study is the same as with a Standard Illume survey. The only difference is the amount of detail shown for each participant.

In addition to the study-specific data displayed, Remote Data Collection will permit users to administer specific instances of a survey to a participant. For example, if the participant is scheduled to take 4 of the Sports Lab surveys on different dates, the Remote Data Collection user will have the option for which of these survey instances to administer.

Synchronizing Surveys from Discovery Studies

When surveys utilized in Discovery studies are synched from a Remote device, and those surveys have a Completed status (i.e. the Submit button has been hit), the Survey study task in Discovery will show as having a final complete status code (or whatever custom status code is being used by the Study for surveys with a final complete status). Just as with any other survey, once a completed survey session has been synched, that survey study task cannot be “opened” again.

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