We’re excited to announce Socialsuite 4.0 with a raft of new changes to help your organization in its journey.
While a majority of the updates in 4.0 are running in the background, making Socialsuite faster and more reliable, we are laying the groundwork for a simpler and streamlined version of Socialsuite. Along with some interface changes, there are new features that we are proud to showcase.
Terminology Changes
After conducting some extensive research, we’ve found some of the language used in Socialsuite needed to be updated.
From now on,
“Socialsuite Tools” will now be known as Templates.
“Data Collection Plans” will now be known as Measurement Projects.
“Survey Templates” will now be known as Survey layouts.
New Features
Survey Reminder Emails
Sometimes improving submission rates can be challenging. Our new Survey Reminder Emails feature allows your organization to send an email specifically designed to remind your beneficiaries that they need to complete an evaluation.
All you need to do is when setting up your Measurement Project’s Survey delivery configuration, select how many days after the original evaluation you want to send the reminder email and then select the email template you wish to send.
Testing Mode & Test Beneficiaries
Testing mode helps avoid those “Oh no!” moments. Testing Mode helps create a safe environment where you can create test cohorts and utilize the new feature “Create Test Beneficiary” where you’ll be able to see how your Measurement Project operates against a test beneficiary.
With Testing mode and the new test beneficiary features, it’s much easier to make sure everything is in tip-top shape before you enroll beneficiaries for the real evaluation.
Add Multiple Beneficiaries into a Cohort
Now you can quickly add multiple beneficiaries directly into your active cohort, from within your cohort page!
You can quickly copy and paste contact data from a spreadsheet and add up to 100 contacts to be enrolled as beneficiaries into your active cohort to help speed up enrollment.
Skip Logic
Socialsuite has updated our survey collection abilities by allowing for Skip Logic. Skip logic allows Socialsuite users to create conditional-based answers that effectively allow users to create a path of questions based on beneficiary responses.
If the beneficiary selects one response to a question, the subsequent question will be based on their answer, much like a question tree!
Dynamic Survey Layouts
We’ve made improvements to the capabilities of your surveys to better work with mobile devices and improve the interface. We have kept the surveys you have set up and designed the same but you now have the option to update to “Dynamic Surveys” which provides you more visual options. All new Measurement Projects will default to Dynamic survey layouts.
Highlights
- Compatibility with the Salesforce Spring 20 Security Updates
Update Details
Socialsuite 3.1 includes important security updates that enable the public-facing pages we provide (such as the Survey page and Registration page) to continue working with the new Salesforce security features that are rolling out in March 2020.
The new setting “Secure guest user record access” will apply a number of restrictions to Site guest user accounts which control the functionality available to public-facing pages in Force.com sites and also public Community pages:
- Org-wide defaults set to Private for all objects, including objects not listed on the Sharing Settings page. This access level can’t be changed.
- Can’t be added to queues or public groups.
- Can’t be given access to records through manual sharing or Apex managed sharing.
- Can be granted Read Only access to records through guest user sharing rules. Guest user sharing rules are a special type of criteria-based sharing rule.
Updates have been made to both the survey and registration pages, to ensure that the new sharing rule limits and Private sharing settings do not prevent these pages from retrieving and updating the records necessary for them to operate as normal.
Please note that customers wishing to configure additional custom configuration elements such as Process Builder flows or triggers may need to take these new restrictions into account – for further details see the information available here: https://www.learncommunitycloud.com/s/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-securing-public-sites-20Y1U000000UkRSUA0
FAQs
- Do I need to make any changes or up-skill staff.
No, The update does not include any user Interface changes. The Academy content will not be changing for this release. If you use Salesforce in other areas of your organisation that deals with Public facing pages or site guest users the Salesforce security release may affect these areas. Please discuss this with your Salesforce Administrator or Salesforce partner.
- Will this affect the security of my Socialsuite instance
No, the security update is adding more flexibility around what guest users (survey beneficiaries) are able to interact with. The Socialsuite 3.1 update will not change the security settings for your Socialsuite instance.
Highlights
- New Library Element
- New Data Collection Plan Builder
- Redesigned Cohort page
- Redesigned Contact page
FAQs
Do I have to use the Library to create Outcomes?
No, but if you want to reuse Outcomes across Programs and Activities, you now need to create a Tool in the Library.
Why use Tools to reuse Outcomes?
In the past, if you change an Outcome, you could unintentionally change all Data Collection Plans that use that Outcome. Using Tools enables you to distinguish between reused Outcomes and Activity-specific Outcomes.
Why do I get a pop-up warning when I try to change my data collection plan?
The alert informs you about how the change will affect the data you have already collected and alternative actions you can take.
What are the differences between 2.9 and 3.0?
Click here to see the differences matrix.
Feature Overview
Library
The Library is a new Socialsuite feature.
It enables you to store Tools and use them across Programs, Activities, and Data Collection Plans.
In future, you may be able to:
- Store and use other Library items e.g. dashboard templates
Tools
Tools are reusable sets of:
- Outcomes, Indicators, Questions, and Answers
- Survey Templates
You can:
- Create your own Tools
- Turn Outcomes from a Data Collection Plan into a Tool
- Categorise Tools
- Revise Tools
- Track changes to Tools
Actions
If you use a Tool in a Data Collection Plan, you must publish the Tool before you can publish the Data Collection Plan.
If you revise a published Tool:
- A new version of the Tool will be created
- Data collected using the old version of the Tool will not be affected when you edit the new version of the Tool.
Archive a Tool if:
- You don’t need it any more
- You would like to store it separately from other Tools
- You don’t want it to be available when setting up Data Collection Plans in future
Data collection plan builder
The Data collection plan builder takes you through a step by step process to setup your activities Data collection plan
See how to use the Data collection plan Builder here
Contact page
A person’s Contact page shows:
- The Programs, Activities, and Cohorts the person is enrolled in as a Beneficiary
- The Beneficiary’s:
- Data Collection Start Date
- Status
- Surveys
- Attendance Records
- Reviewers and Reviewer Surveys
- Alerts if there are errors in the data collection schedule
What you can do using the Contact page:
- Edit the Beneficiary’s Data Collection Start Date (only if they are enrolled in an Individual Activity and have not started their first Survey)
- Change the Beneficiary’s Status
- Manage Beneficiary and Reviewer Surveys
Click here to see how to manage Surveys within the Contact pag
Cohort page
New features on the Cohort page enable you to:
- Select multiple Beneficiaries and take bulk actions e.g. mark attendance or deactivate multiple Beneficiaries in one go.
- See which Reviewers are assigned to which Beneficiaries
- Assign Reviewers to Beneficiaries
- View the Survey schedule for each Beneficiary/Reviewer
Highlights
- Complete revamp of the Home Page
- Surveys page replaced with interactive Evaluation Manager
- Improved Data Collection Plan and Beneficiary Import Wizards
- Surveys & Participation now occurs on Cohort record
FAQ
What is a Cohort?
This is our new name for Locations. They are still a grouping of Beneficiaries.
How do I change the due date or expiry date of a survey?
You can do this by going to the Evaluation Manager, choosing the appropriate Cohort, and finding the appropriate survey.
How do I import my Data Collection Plan?
Click the Import Data button from the Activity record, which will take you to the new Data Import Wizard.
How do I enrol Contacts in Programs en masse?
If they’re not in the system yet, you can use the Beneficiary Import Wizard to import the Contacts and enrol them.
Details
Socialsuite 2.9 comes with a slew of improvements around using Socialsuite and managing evaluations day-to-day.
Home
In previous versions of Socialsuite, the Home Page acted as a place to record participation, complete surveys, access help tasks and, if desired, show a Wave dashboard. In Socialsuite 2.9 we have upgraded the help area and replaced the Surveys & Participation area with an overview of what is happening within Socialsuite for your organisation. You can now record participation and complete surveys through the Cohort record.
Program Select
Choosing a Program, Activity or Cohort in this area will apply them as a filter to the Statistics and Reminders area.
Statistics
This area provides the following information:
- # of Programs (if All Programs selected), OR
- # of Activities within selected Program (if one Program selected), OR
- # of Cohorts within the selected Activity (if one Program and one Activity selected)
- # of Beneficiaries within the selection
- Attendees This Month: # of participation records this calendar month within the selection
- Open Evaluations: # of open surveys within the selection
- Submission Rate: % of surveys with a Submitted Completion State out of all surveys that are Submitted, Expired, or currently Open. (This means surveys closed by users aren’t counted as they weren’t available to the reviewers to complete)
- Completion: % of answered questions out of all available questions to complete on Submitted Surveys
Optional Wave Dashboard
You may provide a Dashboard ID, height (in pixels) and filter in the Lightning App Builder.
Reminders
This section provides information that may require actions by you. You may filter the information by the date period (either 7, 14 or 30 days).
- Evaluations Due: # of surveys that will be open at some point of the next X days (including those not yet open)
- Evaluations Expiring Soon: # of surveys that will be expiring at some point in the next X days (including those not open)
- Expired Evaluations: # of surveys that expired within the last X days
- Tasks Due: # of tasks that are due within the next X days (excluding tasks due prior to today)
- Response Rates:
- % Opened: % of surveys that were opened of those that were available to Open within the last X days
- % Submitted: % of surveys that were submitted of those that were available to Open within the last X days
- Emails:
- To Be Sent: # of emails to be sent of the next X days (Pending and On Hold)
- On Hold: # of emails On Hold
- Automatically sent emails = To Be Sent – On Hold
Recommended & Help Areas
The Recommended Image Slider contains information and links to the Import Tool and the Evaluation Manager.
The Help area provides links to our documentation.
Evaluation Manager
The Evaluation Manager replaces the Surveys Page from 2.8 and provides an interactive method of managing survey due dates, expiry dates, statuses and durations.
On the first page, choose the Program, Activity and Cohort to manage. The Tips and Tricks area displays gifs of common actions to give an idea of what the page is for.
Once you have made your selection and clicked Submit, you will be taken to the Evaluation Manager page.
Filters
You can apply filters to the Evaluation Manager to make the number of surveys displayed more manageable or to pinpoint a specific survey you wish to edit. Click the Question Mark in the filter sidebar for a description of each.
Date Preview Area
The preview area displays a graph of the surveys from the data source, and is unaffected by filters. The blue range represents what the currently displayed view on the timeline – to expand and condense the view, drag the edges of the blue range. Alternatively, clicking Zoom In or Out will alter the zoom by 30% either way.
Timeline
The timeline displays the filtered surveys for the visible time period (as indicated in the Preview Area). The red line indicates today’s date. Surveys are grouped by reviewer and display the Completion State (icon) and Status (colour). To select a survey or surveys, click it. To deselect, click anywhere else. To select all surveys for a Reviewer, click the checkbox next to them. You can either drag the surveys or the right end of them to alter duration, or use the Action buttons.
You will see the number of selected evaluations out of all available ones (selectable by clicking on the survey itself). If you have selected surveys that aren’t visible on the timeline, a message will display.
NB. Submitted surveys are locked by default and appear with a grey background, but can be turned off.
Action Buttons:
- Survey changes (requires at least one selected):
- Move: Moves due date of surveys (duration stays constant) to date or by days
- Duration: Alters expiry date of survey and thus duration (due date stays constant) to date or by days
- Status: Choose new status (Future, Open or Closed); surveys already on new status or unable to be set (e.g. Setting a survey in the past to be Open), will remain unchanged. A summary of what will and won’t be changed will be in the modal
- Discard: Revert back to previous save point or when data was loaded (whichever was later); pop-up will ask you to confirm
- Save: Displays preview with changes made since last save and allows you to save them
Data Collection Plan (DCP) Import Wizard
The DCP Import Wizard has been revamped in Socialsuite 2.9. You will still access the Wizard through the Import Data button on the Activity Page.
You can use a CSV or Excel file (although with the latter, the Data Collection Plan must be on the first sheet in the workbook). Click to upload or drag the file onto the box.
In uploading the file, the Wizard will assume the first row is the header, and remove any blank rows or invalid characters. Unfilled cells will be blank. The continue button will enable when your file is valid (otherwise, an error will display).
The fields from your file are automatically mapped to the appropriate fields within Socialsuite. Do double-check that the mapping is correct.
Any fields that you aren’t currently mapping will appear in the Available Fields box in the top left. If they are mandatory, they will display in the Errors box in the top right.
Anything in the Errors box must be changed before continuing. Any cells with specific errors will appear with a red highlight around them; you can then update these during this step without needing to re-upload your file. Examples of errors include:
- Fields that are too long
- Invalid date formats
- Unmapped mandatory fields
- Cells missing information
- Invalid values for cells
If you get stuck, you can click the Help button. For Columns that require particular values (e.g. Reviewer type), you can hover over the question mark next to it and the available values will appear.
After continuing to the next step you can review your data. The Reviewer Type denotes who you are currently viewing the DCP for (e.g. Beneficiary, Teacher). To look at the available answers for a question, click the down arrow next to it. If you wish to select or deselect certain questions for a specific survey point, tick or untick the box corresponding to that question within the desired survey point.
Clicking Save will import the DCP for all reviewer types.
Beneficiary Import Wizard
The standard Salesforce Contact import has been replaced with a streamlined Beneficiary Import Wizard which allows you to not only import your list of Contacts, but enrol and create Beneficiary records for them. You can access the Beneficiary Import Wizard by clicking the Import button on the top tabs bar.
Uploading your file works the same way as the Data Import Wizard.
Once you have uploaded your file and clicked Continue, you will have the option to create Beneficiaries. Select a Program, Activity and Cohort if you wish to do this. If you wish to import Contacts into different Cohorts at once, you can leave Cohort blank and map a Cohort column inside the mapping stage.
If you just want to import Contacts without enrolling them, skip this step and click Continue.
The mapping stage works much the same way as the Data Import Wizard. Fields in your file will be automatically mapped to the Contact field. Available fields and errors will be displayed in the top boxes, and affected cells will be highlighted red. You can also click the Help button if you get stuck.
Click Continue once you have amended any errors.
The Preview and Import page displays a preview of the data to be inserted. You can filter which Cohort you are currently previewing, or view All.
You can merge any duplicates by choosing the criteria to match Contacts with; new information provided in the import will overwrite existing information if the field is set. If this occurs, a warning will appear in the Errors column.
Any errors will be displayed in the far left column, next to each row with the error.
Clicking Save will attempt to import. This is done in batches. Once complete, any rows with errors will remain on-screen to allow you to view them. From here, you can change the Merge Duplicates By option, or go back to the Map Fields page to rectify the errors.
New Fields
- Platform (on Survey object): filled based on whether the survey was completed by a site user (Email), or on Salesforce (Salesforce)
- Total, Answered and Unanswered Questions (on Survey object): filled on update based on number of questions in survey template
- Tags (on Program object): multi-picklist with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
Other Minor New Features
- For users in Amplitude, track feature usage and errors
- Add a Google Analytics account to survey and registration pages
- Set up registration pages with a URL parameter instead of creating a new page
Resolved issues
- Multi-picklist with long text options no longer causing errors on survey submit
- Revisit on survey template now working correctly
- Fix for permissions for updating schedulable actions on survey submit
- Adding correct namespaces to lightning components to fix errors with libraries not being found when loading
Replacements/ Redundancies
- Locations have been renamed Cohorts
- Surveys & Participation from Home Page gone, now stored on Cohort record
- Surveys Page replaced with Evaluation Manager
- As Response records are now generated on submission instead of Reviewer creation, Queued and Pending statuses have now been removed. Response records will be marked as Answered, Skipped, or Expired.
Highlights
- Simplification of the Evaluation Plan
- Surveys are now managed with a Survey object rather than by individual responses.
- Surveys are now controlled with Due Date and Status Only.
- Simplified status’ on Activities
- Location status, enabling Locations to be visible or invisible within the Mobile App.
- Beneficiary Status enables individuals to be paused during data collection.
- Survey naming has been improved to give context to the stage.
FAQ
How do I bulk add people to a location?
You can do this by selecting the contacts you want to add from a list of contacts and clicking the Add To Program button.
How do I delete or change the status of a beneficiary?
You can do this by opening the beneficiary record and clicking Delete, or toggling the Status (see below)
How do I bulk change when a survey will be due?
If you open the Surveys in a list view, you will be able to edit the Start/End Date fields, and this will update when the survey is due
Details
Socialsuite 2.8 comes with a slew of improvements around flexibility and stability. Evaluation plan creation has been greatly simplified, and the ability to manage what surveys are open when has been vastly improved.
In previous versions of Socialsuite, Response record status and dates were a key part of managing data collection, and tools like Program Ops were necessary to manage changes to the status of surveys and beneficiaries. From 2.8 onwards, the Survey will now be the main point of interaction, and contains a very simple structure.
Each survey has a status:
- Future: The survey will become open in the future
- Open: The survey is now available to be completed
- Closed: The survey is no longer available to be completed
If someone is not able to open a survey, check the status is Open. If you don’t want someone to be able to complete a survey, simply set the status to be Closed.
Each survey will also have it’s own Due Date and Expiry Date. The Due Date is the date the survey will become Open, and the Expiry Date is the date the survey will be Closed. You still have the option to allow someone to revisit a survey after they have submitted it (although for privacy they won’t be able to view/modify any previously entered responses). You are able to change any these fields whenever you like, so if you want to complete a survey that was originally meant to be completed in the future, simply change the Due Date and Status, and it will now be open.
We have also simplified the evaluation plan interface, making it easier to understand when a survey will be available to complete. The Survey Point Stage Name will now be calculated automatically for you, instead of having to be manually entered. Several conflicting fields have been removed, such as Allow Move, Pass Percentage, Expire Questions, Start Sessions, and Indefinitely Recurring Surveys. If you have existing evaluation plans relying on this functionality Socialsuite will be in touch with you before the migration to show alternate ways to achieve the same effects
We have added a Days Active fields, which allows you to specify how long a survey will remain active for. If you don’t set this then you must select ‘Active Forever’ which will result in the survey never expiring.
When you add someone to a Location all of their surveys will be created straight away, allowing you to individualise when someone will be able to complete them. The move to focus on Surveys has meant we’ve been able to deprecate some existing functionality, most notably the Program Ops page. Please visit the documentation for Program Ops replacement functionality.
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The Beneficiary Status now provides a way to quickly stop or pause someone in the middle of an Activity. Doing so will close any open or future surveys, cancel any emails, and stop them from appearing in Socialsuite mobile app, or in tools like the Participation Tool. If you wish to reactivate a beneficiary, you will be given to option to either leave the surveys at their original dates, or to move them forward based on how long the Beneficiary was inactive.
Beneficiary Record Page
Deactivation of beneficiary will disable all their surveys
Reactivation of beneficiary allows the survey dates to be moved forward by the length of time the person was inactive for
Resolved issues
- Issues around recurring Survey points and triggering of new surveys has now been fixed.
- Deep delete exposed on the Beneficairy record.
- Surveys and participation now displays surveys rather than reviewers.
- Survey Template Validation.
Replacements/ Redundancies
- Program Ops has been made redundant, the Surveys tab now enables management of surveys and survey stages
- Days Active have been moved from Activities to individual Survey points
- Survey Point Fields – Pass Percentage, Start Sessions, Allow move have been removed.
Highlights
- Activity Clone now available with Salesforce Flows
- If Questions are added to the Data Collection plan and the Survey Templates, these will be automatically added for existing beneficiaries for the current surveys on submission.
- The contact list page now contains ‘Add to Program’ enabling contacts to be added to locations within any activity or program in bulk.
- The ‘Contact Overview’ tool within the contact page has now been replaced with a streamlined ‘Add Contact to location’ wizard within the Related list.
- The Location now contains a status field enabling locations to be filtered based on whether they are active/ inactive.
- Matrix Answer options can now be displayed as Images, Text and Images or just text.
- Card survey components (within the Survey Builder) can now be formatted to enable inline images.
- Case Notes has been added as an available feature to the Contact page (please contact support if you would like this activated)
Resolved issues
- Making a multi-select survey component mandatory within the Survey builder tool will now force at least one option to be selected when submitting or continuing the survey.
- Fixed issue with recurring survey points not moving forward correctly when used with a cut-off date.
Replacements/ Redundancies
- Contact overview replaced with ‘Add Contact to location’ wizard
- Surveys & Participation homepage tool replaced with updated version.
Find out whats new in the latest Socialsuite release