TIM Tools 7.5 Administration Guide

Creating a New Internal Survey

A new internal survey can be built from scratch or you can start with an existing survey from the included survey library and edit it to meet your needs. Only members of your TIM Tools instance may respond to an internal survey. This page describes how to begin creating an internal survey from scratch. If you’d like to begin with a survey from the Survey Library, please see Customizing a Library Survey. To create a public survey, please see the next page, Creating a New Public Survey.

To begin from the Main TIM Tools menu select Survey Tool, then Internal Survey Builder.

1. Title

To create a new survey, simply enter a title for the survey and select “Create New Survey.” Your new survey will be added to the list of internal surveys. Select the Edit Survey button next to your new survey to begin editing.

Figure 1. The Internal Survey Builder menu showing existing surveys and the box to enter the title of a new survey.

2. Settings Panel

Figure 2. Settings Panel.

When you select the “Edit Survey” button, the Settings panel for that survey will open. Here you can enter a short description for your survey, make the survey live, select notifications, and choose respondents.

Short Description. The Short Description will appear next to your survey title in the Available Surveys list. It can be used to explain the differences between surveys with similar-sounding names or explain the purpose or benefits of the survey.

Live Survey. Changing the Live Survey setting to Yes will make it available to the indicated respondents. When set to No, it will be available only for editing purposes.

Notifications. The Notifications box allows you to add one or more email addresses when you want alerts to be sent at the time of each submission. You probably wouldn’t want to receive notification every time someone submits a general survey, but you might want to use this feature when creating a form such as a help request or bullying report.

Respondents. You can set Respondents to any internal role or combination of roles by making multiple selections. The survey will be visible only to those roles you select. Any survey taken by a member will be tagged with their TIM Tools ID.

If your role also includes permission to create public surveys, you’ll also see two public options, which will be explained on the following page of this manual. If you do choose to create a public survey using the Internal Survey Builder, you will find that it saves to the Public Survey Builder app. This prevents editing or downloading of data by those who have only internal survey creating permission.

Once you have selected at least one internal role in the Respondents selector, an additional option for Targets will appear below.

Targets. When the Targets option appears, you can select whatever combination of schools or zones where you want the members to respond to the survey. If you have set up zones in your instance, the schools will be arranged alphabetically within each zone. If you have only the one default zone, the schools will appear as a single alphabetical list.

Figure 3. Two high schools selected as targets for the survey.

When you have completed this panel, click the Save Changes to Settings button to save your work and then select Introduction and Closing Statement in the from the Survey Editor menu.

3. Survey Introduction and Closing Statement

Clicking the Introduction and Closing Statements tab right under the Settings tab will take you to the next panel.

The first screen participants will see is the Introduction screen. You will probably want to use the text field to welcome participants and explain the purpose of the survey and how their responses will be used. The closing statement is usually a thank you for participating. You can use standard HTML to mark up the text with heading, bold, italics, etc.

Figure 4. Two text fields to enter both the Introduction and Closing Statements.

You can also add any image that you’ve uploaded to the Web by using standard HTML code: <IMG SRC=”YourURL”>. We’ve already uploaded a collection of welcome, thank-you, and prompt images you can use in survey construction. View these images at https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/project/survey-parts-and-pieces

Figure 5. Collage of sample survey graphics.

A Note about Roles and the Internal Survey Builder

By default, all District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and School Leaders have full access to the Internal Survey Builder, including the ability to download results, edit, and even delete internal surveys. If any or all of these groups do not actually need Internal Survey Builder access, the Super Administrator can turn off access for specific roles in the Define Member Roles panel. You can fine-tune role permissions to your exact needs. If, for example, you have 100 school principals and only three need access to the Internal Survey Builder, clone the School Leader role. Name it “School Leader + Surveys.” Then uncheck the Internal Survey Builder permission for the original School Leader role and assign the new role of “School Leader + Surveys” only the three principals who need actually need access.

With the Survey settings and statements complete, you are now ready to jump ahead to Adding Questions to Your Survey.