Notes (Standard Implementation)

Description

Using the standard Notes functionality in the Assessment Framework you can attach Questions, Actions, and Information notes to specific questions in an assessment. Other users can reply and the system creates an ongoing forum-like cascade of replies until a user closes the original note. Notes are color coded based on type and status, and closed conversations drop to the bottom of the user interface. Users can easily see notes associated with a particular question or be taken to the question to which that a specific note relates.

Use

The Notes function is a useful tool for collecting feedback and additional information on all aspects of the Assessment Framework application. In the simple implementation, users can see and work on all comments. Notes are stored at the company level and stay with the test application through the publishing process, which supports a multi-stage review and audit process. With the addition of a simple logicnet, you can also limit the visibility of notes to users based on user name, version, or other variables.

Standard Configuration Features

Notes Types

New Note

There are several ways users can create a new note:

1. Create new general notes by clicking NEW. These notes are not associated with any particular aspect of the application.
2. First CTRL+click on the relevant question block(s) in the observation panel, and then click New and enter the comments
   Note that the CTRL+click creates a thin red border around each selection. Users can select one more blocks prior to clicking New 

Dynamic Link between Notes and Question Blocks

When a user reselects a note, the system displays a red border around any associated element.
See the screenshot below where Q4 is showing the thin red border when the user clicks the Q4 note, and the same with Q2 where the user is taken to the question on Tab 1.



Reply to Note

Users can create multiple replies to an initial note by clicking on the Reply button and entering text. The system hides replies by default for inactive notes; the red Action note above is an example. Clicking on the note expands and displays all replies in time order. The system updates the original note timestamp to the latest reply timestamp so users can identify which, if any, notes have new replies.

Close Note

Close notes by clicking the Close button. The system shades closed notes in dark gold/brown and moves them to the bottom of the list of notes. You cannot reopen a closed note.

Advanced Setting: Limiting Visibility to Notes (Simple Configuration)

The standard notes configuration puts all notes in a common database accessible by the Designer running the project in TEST, as well as any published versions of the project. It is possible to limit the visibility of Notes by setting a Notes group identifier. For example, setting the group identifier to v2 for the v2 published version of an application means that any Notes added by users running the v1 published version will not be shown.

You can also to specify the identifier in the onstart folder with a set data object part. The identifier path is data.meta.comments_group_id.

Useful Tip for Editorial vs Production

Additionally, you could establish a rule in the onstart folder that checks for the condition  _current.is_test = 1. If true then set the identifier to TEST, otherwise set to PROD. This will ensure that any Notes added during development or testing are not visible in the production runtime versions.

 

It is also possible to add a radio-list question in the model that is populated by all unique values of the group identifier. You could use this approach to allow the runtime user to narrow down Notes to specific other users; for example, if there is a supervising administrator who needs to review information, questions, and actions by author.

If you look at the notes_local table in the example project you will see other variables you might use in creating more sophisticated rules around Notes; for instance, when looking at multiple versions (pkg_version) and/or multiple assessment applications (pkg_category).

Example Project

Download the Notes Example (Standard).zip project here.

The notes tables are visible in the resources/data folder to show you how Notes work. For standard installations, the Notes database is at the company level and works across versions and applications. Suggestions:

• Run the project in TEST and add some notes/replies.
• Publish the project and note that TEST notes are not visible in the production version.
• Decide whether the standard Notes functionality and customization described here is sufficient for your purposes.