Communicating through IntelliBuilder

As IntelliBuilder is designed to allow for collaboration between Project Managers (PMs) and Survey Creators (SCs), it is important to be able to communicate programming needs, suggested changes, questions about how to use IntelliBuilder, and other issues that arise. To facilitate this collaboration, IntelliBuilder offers users the ability to leave comments for each other on each survey element which can be used to provide feedback/input or act as action items. 

If you need additional assistance, reach out to an IntelliSurvey team member for your project, contact a Support agent via our chatbot by clicking the icon in the blue toolbar, or email help@intellisurvey.com.

Comments

Comments are a useful tool for survey design and editing that can be used for a variety of tasks such as:

• Providing suggestions for edits to collaborators.
• Posing questions to collaborators about how an element should look or function.
• Asking for assistance from PMs with tasks that you are unable to complete on your own.
• Creating action items that can be marked for resolution.
• Providing a historical context of discussions on changes to survey elements.

Each comment displays the author and a time stamp of when it was posted/last edited. Replies to comments are indented to differentiate them from their parent/originating comments. Any comments that are highlighted in yellow are considered "unread." Clicking on an unread comment will remove the highlighting.

Individual survey elements can include multiple comments or multiple replies to a single comment. Comments can only be edited or deleted by their authors, though any user can mark a comment as Unresolved or Resolved. Once a comment has been replied to, it cannot be deleted.

Like other survey elements, comments can be collapsed via the arrow icon. Collapsing the first comment in a thread will collapse the entire thread.

Creating comments

To create a comment, click the comment bubble icon to the right of the survey element. A text box will appear, allowing the user to input a message. If the message needs to be directed to a specific user, they can be at-mentioned by including an @ symbol before their name. Inputting the @ symbol will bring up a menu of users currently given access to the survey. Users cannot be at-mentioned unless they have been previously added to the survey.

Once the message is complete, click Submit (or Enter) to add the message. Shift+Enter can be used to perform a carriage return (start a new line) in a comment.

At-mentioned users will receive an email with the comment's content, and a link to return to the survey. The original survey creator will also receive an email for any comments left in the survey, regardless of whether it is addressed to them.

After a message has been submitted, it may be responded to via the Reply button. Replies are indented each time to denote the hierarchy of comments in relation to each other. Users can also leave additional comments that are not replies by clicking the message icon instead.

Comments can be made into action items by clicking the Mark for resolution button. Once clicked, it will be marked as Unresolved. To resolve the item, click it again, and it will be marked as Resolved. The comment's text will change to a lighter gray once resolved.

If the comment was resolved accidentally, clicking the resolution button again will re-mark it as Unresolved.

Showing and hiding comments 

The Show/Hide Comments action item allows users to toggle the display of the Comments column. By default the column is shown to all users with access to the survey. To hide the Comments column, click Actions > Show/Hide Comments.

While the Comments column is hidden, any survey element that has been commented upon will display a black outlined comment icon; those without comments will display the icon with a line through it. Hovering over the icon will cause a pop-up to appear, showing a portion of the comment(s) left on that element. To view the full comment or comment thread, or reply to a comment, click the Show/Hide Comments action item, which will restore the Comments column.

Deleting all survey comments 

Expert users have an extra Actions menu option to Delete All Comments. This option is designed for situations where PMs or other expert Survey Creators (SCs) need to reassign question and table IDs. If the comments are not deleted beforehand, they will be associated with the "new" versions of those questions and tables, and could lead to confusion for other users.

Before deleting the comments, SCs may want to use the Comment Center to export the comments first in case there are any comments that were not yet resolved. Exporting the comments first also allows SCs to have a snapshot of conversations regarding changes to the survey. For additional information on exporting comments, see below. 

Once the comments have been exported, click Actions > Delete All Comments. A modal will appear, asking for confirmation since the removal of the comments is permanent. Click Yes to continue.

After the comments are deleted, a dialog will appear, letting the user know that "All comments successfully deleted."

Comment center 

The Comment Center allows users to filter or export comments from a survey. To access the Comment Center, click Actions > Comments Center. 

The Comments Center provides a series of filters that can be combined depending on which comments require viewing, defaulting to displaying all comments. Users may search by commenter in the Author dropdown menu, or by how recent the comment was made in the Period dropdown menu. They also may elect to view comments based on their resolution status – All (default), Resolved, or Unresolved – or by their read status – All (default), Read, or Unread. 

Searching comments

Users can apply the Comment Center filters in various combinations needed to search through the survey's comments. When the filters are applied, only the elements to which they apply will be displayed, and a banner will appear across the top of the survey, letting the viewer know that currently only filter-matching survey elements are being shown.

Filters must be reset individually. To clear the Author or Period menu selections, click the X next to the selection. The resolution and read statuses can be cleared by clicking the All buttons in those sections.

To exit the Comment Center, click the X to the right of the Export Comments button. 

Exporting comments 

The Export Comments button allows users to download an Excel spreadsheet of all comments attached to the survey. Comments are listed in order by date. Each comment's author (Username), element ID (Widget), and the full text are listed as well.