This article provides a comprehensive guide to the various modules available in Portals, including Cards, Feedback Assistants, Portal Invitation, Report Lists, Groups, Action Boards, and Guides. Each module is explained in detail, covering its functionality, setup process, and usage in both the administrative and user interfaces.

Cards

You can control the outer appearance of each panel survey displayed in the cards module by defining a name or changing its teaser image. You can also decide to exclude specific portals from displaying individual panel surveys.

Settings

You navigate via the following path to portal settings:

Projects → [selected project] → Project properties → Portal settings

A list of your portals will be displayed

• Add a name and description

These will be the name and the description for the survey displayed in the exterior view of your portal.

• Select the check box Hide survey in the portal for those portals you would like to exclude from the survey

The survey will not be displayed for panelists of excluded portals. You can upload an image that will be displayed as the background of your survey tile in the exterior view.

• click on the image icon displayed to the far right and activate the image by checking the Featured image check box

Your survey will be visible to your portal’s panelists immediately.

Define in the module on page level whether surveys or featured discussions should be displayed. Discussions can be defined as featured discussions during the creation process. Surveys can be accessed and completed from here. Depending on the survey settings, surveys might disappear from the list once completed.

Employee Projects

Employee projects will automatically appear in a panelist’s survey list if the panelist is contained in the project’s list of participants and has not yet completed the survey.

Featured Surveys

When editing the portal settings, surveys can be marked as featured. In the portal’s exterior view, the respective surveys will be highlighted with a golden star.

Navigate via the following path to the portal settings:

Projects → [selected project] → Project properties → Portal settings

Panel Projects

Panel surveys are assigned to samples only. There is an option located in the project properties allowing us to push a survey to all panelists.

You navigate: 

• Projects → Project properties → Survey options

Check the option All panelists can participate in the survey (independent from being in a sample for the survey). This will allow all panelists assigned to a portal to see and participate in your survey.

Feedback Assistant

The page module Feedback Assistant enables portal users to create template-based personalized ad hoc surveys in Portals. When creating a new survey in the page module Feedback Assistant, portal users in their role of Survey Manager can select contacts from the circles they want to invite to their (predefined and centrally managed) survey. Also, they can collect feedback and view the results on the dashboards of MySight. Only portal users in their role as Survey Managers can use the page module Feedback Assistant.

Exterior view

On the overview page of the module, you can search for created Feedback Assistant surveys, filter the status of the surveys, and sort the view by creation date. 

The status of a survey is labeled with an according color bar at the top of each tile:

• Blue bar: The survey has not started yet
• Green bar: The survey has started.
• Yellow bar: The survey will soon be closed.
• Red bar: The survey is closed.

In the right upper corner of each tile, the remaining time until the expiration of the survey is viewable.

Envelope icon

Via the envelope icon, you can send invitations and reminder emails. The color of the envelope labels type and status of the dispatch:

• Red envelope: The invitation mail is not controlled by a timer and therefore still has to be sent manually.
• Green envelope: After the dispatch of the invitation, reminder mail can be sent manually.
• Gray envelope(not clickable): The invitation has been sent. No reminder emails can be sent.
• Yellow envelope: The invitation mail is controlled by a timer and will be sent automatically at the set time. You also can send it manually.

Dashboard icon

If a MySight project is linked to the related template project, a dashboard icon will be visible on the tile. Via this icon, you can forward survey dashboards to survey participants via e-mail and export your dashboards as PDFs and images. If you decide to forward by e-mail, the standard mail client opens. The recipient line contains all participants of the survey.

By activating the respective checkbox in the CMS of the Feedback Assistant module, you can only allow access to the dashboard at the end of the wave. If this function is active, the dashboard icon on the tile will be hidden throughout the whole term of the survey, so you won‘t have access to the related dashboard until the closure of the survey.

List of participants

By clicking on the banderole in the middle of the tile or optionally on the list icon, you get to the list of participants displaying the invitation status of survey participants in an overview. Also, you can export participants from here.

Tile menu

Via the (three-dots-) tile menu icon, you can edit your surveys, for example, change the title and end date or add and remove participants. The template cannot be changed via this menu, however.

Also, you can copy your surveys. By doing so, the data of the original survey will be transferred automatically to the copy of the survey. However, data controlled by a timer and the end date will have to be defined again for copied surveys.

Furthermore, you can Delete and Finish your surveys. By finishing a survey, you can close it early to prevent any further participation.

Template Configuration for Feedback Assistant

The template configuration for Feedback Assistant can be found in the respective personalized project under Project Properties and is divided into different areas. The access to each template configuration is controlled via the rights and role system of EFS. EFS administrators with respective rights can extensively configure each personalized project as templates for use and choice within the module Feedback Assistant.

Basic information

Here, administrators define a title as well as a description and a background image to make your template in the module Feedback Assistant visible.

Manager participation

You control the manager’s participation in a Feedback Assistant survey by specifying whether the manager never or always participates in a survey or whether the manager can decide whether to participate.

MySight Dashboard

The MySight configuration for the use of dashboards is optional in the context of configuring Feedback Assistant. You can use the Feedback Assistant without having configured MYS.

Allocating the template to certain portals

In the area Portals, all portals of the installation are listed. By activating the checkboxes, you can control in which portals your template will be available within the module Feedback Assistant. The links guide you directly to each CMS of a portal

Defining mail templates for invitations and reminders

You can allocate mail templates of the type “Projects” to the template to be configured, for invitation mails as well as reminder mails for participants of the Feedback Assistant survey.

1. Click on Mail templates in the Survey menu of your project.
2. Open the drop-down menu New draft and select the option New draft for projects.
3. Select the Type of the template Invitation mail or Reminder mail.
4. Fill in at least the mandatory fields Description, Subject, and Mail text for the template and select a respective Mail sender.
5. Click on Save.
6. Switch to the Template configuration of your project under Project Properties and activate the checkbox(es) of the desired mail template(s).

Selecting panelist variables

If panelists take part in your survey, here you can select the panelist-specific variables you want to be available for further use, e.g. for evaluation in the dashboard of the respective Feedback Assistant survey or for mail templates to send out personalized invitations.

Selecting manager variables

Master data variables that are solely allocated to the respective survey manager initiating the Feedback Assistant survey via the respective module in Portals can be selected in this section and appended to the template for displaying hierarchies for instance or later evaluation in the dashboard.

Creating and/or selecting context variables

Create and/or select from existing context variables the variables you want to offer to the survey manager within the module Feedback Assistant for free definition. Accordingly selected and filled variables will be available for evaluation in the dashboard afterwards.

Upon creation of context variables, you can influence the display mode by selecting between Checkbox, Date, and Text.

Synchronizing panelist data

Via the functionality „Synchronize panelist data”, you can keep the data of panelists as participants of Feedback Assistant surveys up-to-date at all times.

Application of the Feedback Assistant

After configuring the template, the survey manager can create surveys in Feedback Assistant and send survey invitations to single participants or circles of participants.

1. To create a survey in Feedback Assistant, log in to Portals.
2. Switch to the page of the Portals module Feedback Assistant.
3. Click on the button Create a new survey.
4. Follow the steps of the instruction

As soon as the participant is selected when creating a Feedback Assistant survey, a slide switch can be found on the right-hand side of the page, whose operability depends on the settings made for manager participation under Template configuration. If you have never or always decided, the switch cannot be moved: The manager may or may not participate in all surveys. Only the setting decided upon by the manager activates the button so that the manager can decide about his participation using a switch.

Choosing exactly one survey template and exactly one e-mail template in the template configuration allows you to skip the step “Template“ on the way to the Feedback Assistant survey automatically, as well as eliminating the need to select an e-mail template. The invitation e-mail is also sent automatically if you choose to send invitations manually in the step “Invitations“.

Portal Invitation

You use the module Portal Invitation to invite any person to a portal as well as to add them to a circle. For the module page integration, you make the following settings: You assign a heading, select an e-mail template and a panel group to which the persons to be invited are to be added by using the drop-down list. In addition, a limit is set for the maximum number of invitations that can be sent per user.

After successful integration, the module can be accessed from the portal’s exterior view.  Clicking the button Invite user opens a modal, inviting future users by entering their e-mail address, first name, and surname. If you want to invite several users at the same time, you can proceed in two ways: Either you click on add another to add further user invitations by entering the email address, first name, and last name, or you click on add multiple at once.#

In this case, type in a free text field the first and last name and the e-mail address, whereby not only the first name, last name, and e-mail address are separated by a semicolon, but two semicolons are set for the listing after each user is invited.  In addition, a Circle can be selected in advance to which users who accept the invitation will be added. After the invitations have been sent, a table is created with all users who have received an invitation. It can be sorted by the column headers of the header. As long as an invitation has not been accepted, the status remains “Invited“. As soon as the user clicks on the link sent with the invitation e-mail and clicks on “Register“ after filling in the registration form, the status changes, and the user is logged on to the portal.

Report list

The Report list page module enables the display of reports that are released or requested for a certain user. The source of these reports are corresponding Employee projects on the installation. The user will be informed about the availability of new reports in the notification center of Portals. To display reports, select one or more Employee projects in the report list and confirm with Publish.

In the exterior view, a list with reports will be displayed, which can be downloaded. When downloading several reports, they are automatically delivered as a single ZIP archive. To see all downloaded reports at a glance, they are highlighted with a background color.

Information

• The Report list is only available if the module Employee is installed.
• To be able to download reports, the setting “Activate download platform for portals“ in the Org Processor configuration of the Employee project has to be checked.

Groups

With Groups, portal users can create predefined or individual groups and use them as contact lists for the Feedback Assistant module by inviting contacts from Groups to participate in Feedback Assistant surveys. Groups enable quick and easy access to a circle of members as well as the dynamic adaption of the display of logged-in members of a circle for portal users accessing this circle.

On one hand, Groups is used as an integrated module in Feedback Assistant to invite participants from Groups to a survey, on the other hand, Groups is used as a separate module in Portals for the organization of groups. There are two different kinds of circles. In the integrated module, Personal Groups as well as Managed Groups can be selected, whereas the separate module exclusively enables the creation and management of Personal Groups.

Personal Groups

Personal Groups can be created in the separate Groups module. With Personal Groups, portal users can create their contact lists from the participants of a portal and manage them. Personal Groups therefore consist of an undefined group of people and are very flexible. Personal Groups are only available for the circle creator who can define available portal users as members of the group.

Managed Groups

Managed Groups can be generated in the administration area of EFS. They consist of a dynamic composition of hierarchically dependent groups of people and only need a little time to be created. Managed Groups can be accessed by any portal user who is a member of the respective circle.

Technical setup of Personal Groups

• To create Personal Circles, open the added module Circles in the exterior view of your portal.
• Click on the button Add new Group.

An entry mask is opened.

• Click on Add Contacts and select from the contact list via the “plus” button the persons you want to be members of your group.
• To confirm the selection of circle members, close the entry mask with the big.

The newly created group is viewable on the circles page of the exterior view.

Technical setup of Managed Circles

To create Managed Groups, open People > Contacts > Groups.

The technical setup of Managed Circles mainly includes the following aspects:

• First, a Panel Group has to be selected as the basis of the circles. The panelists being part of this group will be filtered according to the following defined variables.
• In the variables menu “Find Matches in the following variable”, you define the variable of the portal user who is logged in to the portal, for example, “email”.

Information

This variable always relates to the person being logged in to the respective portal.

• In the variables menu “Group circles by following variable”, you define the reference value according to which the circle will be grouped, for example, “manager”. Under People → Master data → Create master data, you create the respective master data beforehand, for example, “manager”.
• In the variables menu “Variable for Circle Label”, you can optionally define the label of the group. There are two possible options for doing so:
  • Not setting the variable: With this option, only the title of the circle is shown in the exterior view, specified under People → Contacts → Groups → Name.
  • Setting a variable: With this option, the content of the variable is shown in the exterior view instead of the group‘s title.

Information

• Each panelist who shall be able to use a group has to be a member of the panel group which serves the group as a basis.
• Each panelist who is to be shown as part of a group has to be a member of the basic group and has to have access to the portal.
• Most of the content of Groups, like the display of the label, is exclusively shown to portal users being logged in.

Access to the portal

To manage the access of panelists to the portal, open Portals → Settings → Access permissions. If the setting in the field “Access permission for panel groups” is set to “Registered users” (standard setting), all users of the circle with access to the portal will be shown. To restrict the display of portal users to a certain panel group, select the setting “Group members” in the field “Access permission for panel groups” and add the respective panel group.

Setup of Managed Circles via grouping filters

Use group filters and update rules to set up groups as a basis for your group and adapt your group this way. The bigger the basis group, the more members the respective group will have. The smaller the basic group, the fewer members will be in the group.

To implement group compositions in your project setup, proceed as follows:

• First, define your master data under People → Master data → Create master data, for example, “md_brand” and “md_brand_responsible” as matching variables.
• Create a group under People → Groups → Create group. In addition to the group title, you can optionally add a description of the group as well as create a group category to organize your data.
• Filters are used to define which panelists will be added to certain groups. Create a group filter under People > Groups > Grouping filters.
  • Grouping of detractors for NPS calculation (Example)
  • md_nps less 6 AND md_nps greater/equal 0 (Example)
• Open People > Groups > Update rules and define the update rules according to which you want your group to be updated at a certain time.
• Upon the creation of the updated rules, note the following aspects:
  • Select a Group category and the group you want to be updated. This group should be the same as the one used in Circles.
  • Activate the automatic execution of the update via the respective checkbox.
  • Set a Start time.
• Create the following Defined actions that are to be executed:
  • Empty group – in case data of users have changed, members who are no longer relevant will be removed from their groups this way.
  • Apply grouping filter – select your created filter.
  • Select the Filter operation according to the grouping filter – for example, “Add panelists that match condition”.
  • After execution of the update rules, all panelists corresponding to the grouping filter will be added to the panel groups in Panel and Circles [in this example].
  • You have created a circle, and its content complies dynamically with your grouping filters in People.

Information:

• To keep your circle updated properly, the execution date of the update rules for groups should be set to a time before the update execution of Groups. Otherwise, you would have to wait for the next update for at least one day.
• Following the setup, you can optionally execute the actualization of the update rules as well as Groups (in the Groups menu) manually via the play button at any time.

Action Board

To initiate the improvement of engagement, the traditional approaches have been evolved. This development presents the current solution for such applications, the Action Planner, with a challenge. This module uses an organizational structure that restricts the actions to hierarchically coordinated actions and proves inflexible when teams are dynamically assembled. The new improvements module is designed for other use cases. By using the share function, fluctuating team compositions are possible and a commentary function and a lean evaluation option provide the key to sustainable commitment. The measures enacted from above will be replaced by active cooperation.

The page integration of the new module and the first steps

The page module integration in the CMS area of Portals finds no trouble: You place the module Improvements on a page and enter a heading. After that, the module is already available in the exterior view. You use the button “Export list” to export important information in an Excel list. The list contains the information of the persons who created the improvement, with whom it is shared, and who is responsible. The exterior view of the user interface is arranged and easy to handle. The new module offers you a search function and a board that is equipped with the columns “Inbox”, “Ongoing” and “Done”. The three columns help you to document the progress of a ticket. An improvement ticket is created by clicking on the button “Create improvement”. The corresponding ticket is generated in the column “Inbox”. This is furnished with a catchy title by you before the work starts. You sort the tickets horizontally and vertically via drag & drop. Initially, the tickets can be moved back and forth as desired. The improvements are always in the same status for you and every other user.

The improvement ticket and the detailed view

Each improvement ticket has two icons on the right side of the ticket. They allow a quick orientation, i.e. whether the improvement is already shared and who the person responsible is. Clicking on the ticket or its title gives you access to the detail view. There you share the Improvement with Circles and users who will work on it together, and you also equip the Improvement with a topic in which you can participate using the comment function. Any hierarchy, such as an organizational structure, is omitted. Besides you designate one of the users as the person responsible (assignee) by assigning the ticket to her or him. If you want to be the person responsible (assignee), you use the option to assign yourself the ticket. Another setting option, regarding improvements, can be found on the profile page. Here you can determine what type of notification, push, and/or e-mail you want to receive for what change to an improvement shared with you or for which you are responsible. You can also disable any notification.

The share function

To keep the share function simple, a distinction is now made between private and public circles. For new circles to be created, but also for existing ones, you determine now whether they are private or public. Circles that have been published cannot be privatized. The default setting for each circle is: private. They share improvements with all public circles and with the panelists who have access to the portal. Under Shared with you can find out with whom the Improvement is shared, and you can revoke your choice if necessary. From the number of panelists you share the improvement with, you assign the improvement to one or another, making the person responsible. This choice can also be revoked, although every improvement requires a responsible person.

Adding categories

For each improvement, you add up to three categories, which you can create in the CMS area of portals on the sub-navigation field Content under the tab Topics. The colors selected for the categories appear on the Improvement Ticket. Subcategories that you also create in the CMS area of Portals are not supported currently.

The comment function

In the detail view, you comment on an improvement. A profile picture, name, and surname are displayed. By clicking on the name or profile picture you will be forwarded to the profile. The time of the comment is also displayed. Besides the possibility to enter a text, paste a video link, and upload a photo, comments can be answered. If you have activated it, you will be notified by e-mail or push notification when an improvement has been commented on.

Evaluation of an improvement

After moving an improvement ticket into the column “Done”, you can rate it by clicking on the button “Evaluate” visible only in this column. In the detail view, you will now find a scale from 1 to 5 on which you can rate the improvement. The rating must be confirmed. Once a user has rated a ticket, it can no longer be removed from the “Done” column.

Archiving an improvement

An improvement is archived either automatically after all users have rated it, or manually by clicking on “Archive” under the More option. Tickets that have been archived can only be commented on. Other functions are no longer available. Improvements cannot be reactivated either. The archived improvements can be hidden or displayed. If you decide to display archived improvements, the board view changes, and an archive table is displayed with the column headings “Title”, “Person Responsible” and “Shared”. You determine how many improvements per page are listed in the table. You use the information icon to jump to the detailed view.

Guides

With our new page module Guides, you can allow portal users to initiate a templated survey to send to a specified group of people, all from the portal’s interface. Much like our existing Feedback Assistant module, Guides empower your portal users; bringing feedback to their fingertips via a simple and intuitive user interface. This new module can be added to your portals through the CMS area by placing the new Guides page module on the desired page of your portal. Once you have added this new module, you can open the module configuration by clicking on the dropdown arrow. Under the configuration area, you can select the panel group to which those individuals invited to participate in a Guide will be added. The additional profile settings allow you to specify two additional pieces of profile information that will be shown to the portal users when they are searching for those individuals they would like to send a Guide. These additional pieces of information simply enhance the panelist search, making it easier to find individuals. Once you have completed the basic page module configurations, all additional configuration options can be accessed from the new menu sub-navigation option Guides. Once you access the new Guides sub-navigation, you will be presented with the following six tabs:

• Basic information
• Additional information
• Topics
• Questionnaire
• E-Mail templates
• Settings

Under the Basic information tab, you can provide a title for your newly added guide along with entering a description and uploading an image that will be visible to the portal’s users accessing the guide. The Title, description, and picture are displayed in the guide overview area. The Additional Information tab allows you to provide more details about the specific guide you are configuring, to help the end-user determine if this is the correct guide (template) that they would like to use. In this area, you can provide more detailed descriptions of what the guide will measure and how it will operate. In addition to text descriptions, you can also add photos, videos, and links using our new editor, to provide comprehensive details about your new guide. Under the Topics tab, you can associate your new guide with specific topics. These topics must be created first in the Topics area of the Content section of portals. You select a topic by ticking it and you can choose to display the topics alphabetically in either ascending or descending order. You use the Questionnaire tab to select the specific survey that this guide will send out. You can choose from the list of questionnaires that you previously created in our Project module. To appear in the list, the project must have been set to Active. Only projects of the type Personalized Survey are available for Guides. The E-Mail templates tab is used to select the relevant mail templates that will be used in the guide workflow. You can select templates for the invitation, reminder, and result e-mails.

Settings

Under the Settings tab, you can set the participation period for which the guide will remain active for respondents along with the minimum number of participants for the guide. The minimum number of participants setting allows you to maintain confidentiality and only make results available once a minimum number of people have responded to the guide. In this area, you also define which portal role is allowed to start the guide whether a reminder e-mail should be sent, and when. You define whether the e-mails should always be sent to all participants or whether participants who have already completed the survey will not receive any further reminder e-mails. Therefore you deactivate the option “Send reminder mails to all participants” by setting the slide switch to OFF. The manager participation setting controls whether the sender of the guide should be allowed to also respond, and a further setting controls whether the initiator of the guide should be able to send to respondents by simply entering an email address. Lastly, there are settings to determine whether a results e-mail should be sent, and where this results e-mail should direct the recipient to. You will see additional settings whereby you can specify a particular page within the portal and can select a MySight project, a workbook, and a view. These settings can direct people to a different dashboard than the one associated with the guide.

Once you have finished configuring your guide, you can make the guide available via your portal by publishing it.

Guides in the exterior view

After all necessary settings have been made in the CMS area of portals, the new guides module can be accessed in the exterior view. The guide page module will provide a guide overview where all published guides are listed and can be initiated. The information that has been entered under the Additional Information tab can be accessed by clicking the More Details link. You click on Start guide to start the guide setup, which is divided into three steps:

• Questions
• Invitations
• Confirmation

In the first Questions, you will be presented with an overview of the questions that will be asked to the individuals the guide will be sent to. Clicking Show questions will present the full list of guide questions. In addition, you will see the topics for this guide (that you had previously created under the Topics tab under the configuration of the portal). After this overview, which informs you about the key areas of the questionnaire, the second invitation step follows.

From the invitations screen, it is possible to send the guide to an existing group of people or create a new group from scratch. When deciding who to send the guide to, you can use the search facility to search for individual panelists by name or e-mail address, or you can search for existing groups. If creating a new group from scratch this will be created as a personal managed public group. If you wish to send the guide to people not already registered in the system, you can simply type in their email address and the respondent will automatically be created as a panelist. Please note that when creating a new group from individual panelists and/or unregistered people, this cannot at this time be combined with existing groups.

Finally, during the Confirmation step, you will receive an overview confirming the number of questions included in the guide, along with which group it will be sent to. From this screen, it is also possible to write a short personal message to the recipients of the guide. Once you confirm your selection the invitation emails will be sent.

After starting a guide

To find out more information about the status of your guide, click on the View status button. In the overview page, you can see which group was invited to take the survey, along with the current status of the survey (completed/running), and how many people have answered the survey. You also have the option to remind the group to participate, i.e. to send a reminder email, and to end the survey manually. Once the survey is complete, click the Results button to switch to the results dashboard. When a survey is complete, you can invite the group to conduct the survey again if desired.

FAQ

How do I make a survey featured in the Cards module?

To make a survey featured, navigate to Projects → [selected project] → Project properties → Portal settings. Edit the portal settings and mark the desired surveys as featured. These surveys will be highlighted with a golden star in the portal’s exterior view.

Can I combine existing groups with new individuals when sending a guide?

Currently, when creating a new group from individual panelists and/or unregistered people for a guide, this cannot be combined with existing groups. You must choose either to send the guide to an existing group or create a new group from scratch.

How can I ensure the confidentiality of guide results?

In the Guides settings, you can set a minimum number of participants for the guide. This ensures that results are only made available once a minimum number of people have responded to the guide, maintaining confidentiality.