Survey Manager Basics

When using the Illume Survey Manager, you can choose to work locally, or to connect to a server by logging in to a specific server location. You can create and edit surveys while working locally, but in order to check in, check out, or publish a survey, users must be connected to a DatStat server.

Working Locally

1. Start Illume Survey Manager by double clicking the icon on your desktop, or navigating to the survey manager from your Start menu.

2. Check Work Locally

3. Click Login

Configuring the Server Connection

The Illume Survey Manager must be configured with the URL of the server location in order to log in.

Follow these steps to add or edit the connection information:

1. Start the Illume Survey Designer application. This can be done by double clicking the icon on your desktop, or navigating to the survey manager from your Start menu.

2. Click the New button.

3. Enter a name for the server to connect to. This name is for your reference – any name can be utilized. This name will appear in the list of available connections.

4. Enter the URL of the DatStat Server in the Service Location field. Contact your Administrator to get this information. The URL should be a normal http or https internet address and should be hand entered as opposed to copied and pasted.

5. Click OK to add the connection to your list.

Editing an Existing Server Connection

To change the name or the URL of an DatStat server that is already in the list of available connections, select the connection from the list, click Edit, and follow steps 4-6 above.

Logging in

1. Start the Illume Survey Manager 

2. (Optional) If you have access to more than one DatStat server, click the Options button and select the name of the server you want to log in to from the Connections list

3. Enter your User Name and Password

4. Click Login

To reconnect if the connection is lost to the Illume server after an extended period of inactivity, or if there is a problem with the network connection, simply choose the Reconnect option from the Illume Survey Manager‘s File menu.

This method can also be used if you have more than one Illume login and want to switch to the other login.

Surveys that are newly created, checked out or cloned and are listed in the My Surveys Tab of the Illume Survey Manager, are saved on your local machine as a file with .xml extension.

This location is called the Storage Location and the default is the My Documents folder of the user that installed the application.

To see the Survey Storage Location:

1. Click on Edit in the Main Menu of the Illume Survey Manager

2. Select Storage Location
   

3. The Default Location can be changed by entering in a new location in the Other field and then Click OK.
   

This section describes the Survey Administration tab in the Illume Survey Manager and the features it provides for managing multiple surveys in various stages of development.

Generally, survey development follows a life-cycle that includes creation, revision, approval, publication, suspension, and possibly deletion. Survey administration is the process of marshalling a survey through these steps.

Along with these stages, it is important to understand the concepts of workflow, version control, and publication.

Workflow

Illume enforces a simple workflow rule that requires all surveys to be approved before they can be published. Any Illume user who has Designer or Reviewer role on a survey can edit the survey. However, only the Reviewer or Power User can approve the survey for publication.

In a larger organization, several designers may collaborate on a survey, and a manager may be required to approve it before it is presented to participants. In this case, the survey collaborators should each have the role of Designer, and the manager should have the role of Reviewer.

When the designers feel the survey is ready, they submit it for review to the manager. If the manager approves the survey, then the manager can publish it. If the manager rejects the survey, he or she may include comments specifying what revisions are required for approval.

In cases where survey designers should be allowed to publish their own surveys, and manager approval is not required, an Illume user with the Administrator role can simply give the Designers the Reviewer or Power User role for the survey in question, and the Designers will be able to approve the survey themselves.

Version Control

The Illume server maintains a central “master” copy of all of the surveys that have been checked in. Whenever a user checks in a survey, Illume copies the survey to the central Illume server, and deletes the user’s local copy. From then on, anyone wanting to edit the survey must check it out from the server.

When a survey is checked out, Illume creates a local, editable copy of the survey on the user’s computer, and marks the “master” copy as checked out.

While the survey is checked out, other Designers cannot edit it. This prevents multiple users from making conflicting simultaneous edits. The Illume Survey Manager will display the name of the person to whom the survey is checked out.

It is possible for an administrator to cancel a user’s checkout if another user needs access to review or edit a survey. Note, however, that cancelling a checkout will cause the master copy of the survey to revert to the version the user checked out. It will not include any changes the user made, and in fact will result in the loss of that user’s changes.

When the designer checks the survey back in, Illume updates the version number, and the new version will require approval before it can be published.

Each version of a survey may have check-out and check-in notes attached. These notes form a history to describe how the survey has changed from one revision to the next.

Publication

Publication is the act of making a survey ready to “go live.” Publication essentially puts the survey into a ready state and makes the survey available for data collection or entry.