Surveys

OnBoard allows you the ability to create a wide range of Survey questions to distribute to the board or committee members. Survey participants can then submit their answers, which are automatically recorded in the survey results. These results can then be exported in a number of different ways, making record keeping easier for your organization.

Creating a New Survey

Begin by clicking the Actions icon within the main menu, switching over to the Surveys tab at the top, then click the Add in the right corner of the page.

Once you have clicked the Add Button, you can then begin filling in the details of your new Survey. Start with the Survey’s Name, Open/Close dates, and Description.

Your Survey will stay in draft status until you open the Survey to the participants. You may edit the Survey as needed up until it becomes live. The Survey will AUTOMATICALLY transition into the OPEN status when the Start Date rolls around. Alternatively, use the Status dropdown menu (shown below), to transition the survey manually. 

The Survey Status Bar

Surveys have a status dropdown menu that is used to navigate from one status to the next.  This menu not only shows you the progress of the Survey, but you also click on each phase in order to advance the Survey through its lifecycle.

Creating Survey Questions

After the details of the Survey have been typed in, you can now begin creating the list of questions and answer choices. Begin by clicking the Add New Question button, which will create the new question, and immediately take you that question's Edit screen where you can begin fleshing out the details of your question.

Question Types

You can choose from a few different Question Types by using the dropdown menu. Some of the question types will have a default set of answers that will prepopulate for you.

• NPS Score – This is an index ranging from zero to ten that measures the willingness to recommend a company’s product or service to others. When selecting this type of question, the zero through ten answer choices will be populated for you automatically, and they cannot be edited.
• Check Boxes – This type of question will be used when you wish to display multiple different answer choices, and allow the survey participant to be able to select more than one
• Radio Buttons – This type of question will be used when you wish to display multiple different answer choices, and allow the survey participant to be able to select only one.
• Likert Scale – Likert Scales are used to gauge the participant’s attitude or opinion of the question. With questions of this type, participants will need to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree. Selecting this option will populate a few answer options automatically, but they can be edited to your liking.
• Essay / Long Answer – This type will elicit a more verbose and detailed response from the survey participant. When using this question type, participants will need to key in their own text as an answer.

After you’ve selected a question type, enter the question text you would like to ask within the textbox provided. The Require This Question checkbox can be enabled if this question must be answered before the survey can be submitted.

Creating Answer Choice Options

You must now configure the different answer choices for this particular question. To do so, just click either the Add Option button, or the Add Write-In button.  Add Option will create a blank space for you to type in a selectable answer choice. Clicking Add Write-In will generate a space where the survey participants will be able to fill in their own selectable answer when it comes time to fill out the survey.

Setting Results Display

When creating each question for your survey, you have a few different options for displaying results. You must select one or both of the “Graphical, or “Roll Call” options to be able to see the results in any fashion. By choosing either "Results Visible to Voters," or “Results Visible to Admin” will restrict the results to one permission or the other.  Keep in mind that the Roll Call option will display every participant’s name and the answer they choose.

Reordering and Deleting Questions

Setting the question’s Results Display is the last step you’ll need to complete for each individual question. This entire question-creation process can be repeated to add several more questions to your Survey. Once a list of questions has been generated, you may wish to reorder them. Click the Edit Button located near the list of questions. You can click and drag questions around to reorder them within the list. The red delete icon that will appear next to each question can be used to remove this particular question from the list.

Adding Voters to a Survey

The last step of creating your Survey is to add your participants. Adding users can be done by "group" or individual. Like with the other permissions within OnBoard, the individual user permission will override the group permission.  Click “Edit Permissions” near the bottom of the Survey Details screen. Click the + icon next to any user or group you wish to give the Respondent permission, which can be further altered by clicking that blue permission button and selecting an alternate one. Respondents will receive an email notification that the Survey is ready for them once it has been marked as Opened.  You can find a description of each permission in the Master OnBoard Permissions List section of this guide. 

You may add voters to the Survey at any time before it "closes," however, voters added after it opens will not receive an email notification and will need to be notified personally.

Opening a Survey

Once all of the Survey’s details have been locked in, the Survey is ready to be opened for voting. This can be done two different ways. If you wish to open the survey immediately, so that the voters may begin answering questions right away, simply click the Open Survey button located in the Status dropdown menu at the top of this page.

Alternatively, you can set a Survey to open automatically by entering a value into the Start Date field. Once the date and time entered into this field become current, the Survey will automatically open, alert the voters, and begin capturing the answer results.

Responding to a Survey as an Administrator

If you are the admin and a voter, you can switch your view to a voter perspective and then back to the admin view to access the admin tools as needed.

Closing a Survey

Once all of the question’s answers have been recorded, you will need to close the Survey.  Click on the "Close Survey," button in the Status dropdown menu. Alternatively, you may wait for the Survey’s “End Date” to come and go, if one has been filled out in the details of this particular Survey. It is at this point that the Survey becomes locked and participants will no longer be able to submit answers.

Viewing and Exporting Survey Results

Once the Survey is closed, you can review each question’s results by clicking on the question in the Survey Questions list, then clicking View Results in the upper right corner of the screen.

The Downloads icon on the Survey Details page can be used to export a copy of the results of the entire survey. When clicking the button, you’re presented with an option of either Microsoft Word format, Microsoft Excel format. Selecting either of these options will download the respective file to your computer, with the result details of this particular Survey.

Survey Results can also be exported from the Actions Menu. On this screen, click the Edit button, then select the checkbox for any Survey you’d like to export, and click the Export button at the top. You’ll see the same options of either Microsoft Word or Excel formats from this location.

Copying a Survey

Sometimes, it may be necessary to reuse the questions of a Survey over and over again. The Board Assessment Survey, for example, is one that can happen every year. You do not have to recreate the questions and answers every time you need to create this survey. You can simply copy it!  This can be done very easily by clicking the options menu next to any survey’s name, then click Copy.