Monthly Archives: March 2019

Version 19.03

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New Features

  1. Including data from linked surveys into a PDF
  2. New XLSX report on the task management page that will list all tasks in all task groups. Exports to XLSX for tasks in the current task groups are still available.
  3. Manage a password policy for fieldTask.
  4. Add support for the ODK setting “guidance_hint” when loading xlsForms
  5. Add support for the ODK setting “body::intent” when loading xlsForms
  6. Add a tasks API to return tasks in geojson format
  7. Add an audit API to return geoJson data on location and duration of each question asked in the survey
  8. Add the user identifier as a valid value for use in an advanced filter
  9. Record the PDF template for a survey in the surveys change log so that previous versions can be referenced
  10. Add ability to delete meta questions in the online editor as well as add the pdf_no appearance to them so that they are not included in PDF exports

Including data from linked surveys in PDFs

Smap allows you to combine Surveys to make “Systems“, where data in one survey can be linked to data in another. For example a survey recording the delivery of aid may include the identifier of the beneficiary. You can analyse this data taking account of the links between them by extracting the data into external tools like Power BI. However inside Smap itself we haven’t provided any capabilities to join data from different surveys during analysis. This new feature is the first step on that path.

When you create a PDF containing data from a single survey submission you can optionally specify:

  • Include reference data
  • Only include data from surveys launched from the current survey

The first option requires you to have specified a child subform as being launched from the survey you are exporting. You also need to specify a key question in the child survey.

If you include the second option you don’t need to specify a key question but only data collected by launching the child survey on the phone will be included.

Password Policy settings for FieldTask

FieldTask Version 6.02 has a logon page.  By default this is shown when the app is first run so the user can set the server, username and password without having to go to the settings menu.   After successful logon it is not shown again.  This corresponds to the default password policy of “Never show logon page”.  In the tab for fieldTask options on the usermanagement page you can also specify a policy of “Always show logon page” which will require the user to enter their password every time they start the app;  and “Periodically show logon page” which will require the user to enter their password again a specified number of days after their last successful logon.

Bugs Fixed

  1. Large API exports were causing out of memory errors. These data exports using /api/v1/data are now streamed so there should not be any size limits.

Monitoring and making an immediate impact

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Lets face it, collecting data can get a bit dull and there is often not an obvious connection between the data collected and any subsequent actions. However it is possible to take a more active approach to monitoring, to move beyond mobile data collection as a passive tool and start using it to have an immediate impact while still getting the data you need to assess performance.

Monitoring is an excellent application for mobile data collection tools which make it more timely, affordable and effective.   One way of collecting monitoring data is to embed the data collection into a delivery process so that when you do something, you also document what you have done.  In other words monitoring your own actions. This can be a useful alternative to more conventional longitudinal surveys.

You can put the emphasis on data collection but depending on the answers you are getting the tool can also prompt you to provide immediate advice to the interviewee or to deliver a service and then record that service delivery.  This approach can be called “Push Surveys” as you are doing a survey but are happy to change the state of what you are surveying.

Alternatively you may be focussed mainly on service delivery but incidentally recording data during that process.   For this you need a “Management System” such as Asset Management, Accountability or a Patient Management System. 

Smap has the following capabilities to support both “Push Survey” and “Management System” approaches to monitoring.

Push survey Capabilities

  1. Expert Systems.  You can use “relevance” in forms to create expert rules that can identify advice or further action to take.
  2. Artificial Intelligence.  From fieldTask you can call AI services in the cloud to answer more complex questions that might also involve the analysis of images, video or audio in order to identify required actions.  (Not available offline)
  3. Graphs.  FieldTask can present collected information in graphs to help in providing immediate feedback to an interviewee or community. (Works offline)
  4. Reference data.  Lookup data previously collected in the same survey or other surveys and use that in identifying the action or feedback to provide. (Works offline)

Management Systems

  1. Keys.  A unique “key” can be associated with each survey.  This key could be a beneficiary id or a part number for a piece of equipment.  Along with the key you can specify a “key policy” such as “merge”.    If you have a key policy of “merge” and you submit a survey with the same key as an existing record then the new data will be merged with the existing record.
  2. Reference Data.  These enable an identifier from another survey such as a beneficiary id to be added when completing a different survey, perhaps one that records delivery of aid.
  3. Managed Forms.  Allow you to review and modify data collected from the field.  One use of this is to transcribe audio recordings into text.
  4. Grouped Forms.  By grouping forms which share the same data you can present multiple views of a single data set.
  5. Launch a form from within a survey.  When completing a survey in the field it may be necessary to launch another Form and link the data between these forms.
  6. Tasks.  Assign a task to a user.
  7. Notifications.   Automatically email PDFs and tasks to people.