Panel management (r9)

The Panels applet helps Survey Creators+ handle various administrative duties related to panel management. This applet brings common tasks such as adding panels to a survey, quickly finding invite links, and editing panel redirects, all in one location.

To access the Panels applet, go to Field > Audiences > Panels in the left navigation menu.

Overview

The Panels applet features an action toolbar for adding panels, adding parameters, copying all links, and downloading all links. Each panel row includes specific action items relevant to that panel, and if applicable, similar action items are available for each country and language link created.

If the survey has multiple countries or languages added in the survey's configuration, each panel will have a primary invite link as well as a set of related links for each country and language version needed. 

Here's a breakdown of the key components within the Panels applet table:

• Panel — The name of the assigned panel. An info icon appears next to the panel if there is a programming note. If there are related links, the country and language code combination is shown and is editable.
• Display As — An editable field used to create an alias for the panel. The text displayed here is visible to all users who can access quotas and reports.
• Entry Link — The invite link for the panel. If there are related links, the country-language codes are automatically included in the links. These fields are editable.
• Actions — The general actions available include copying links, viewing and editing global redirects, downloading panel-specific respondent data, updating users, and deleting one or all panel links.

Adding panels

To add a panel to your survey, the panel must already exist in the Add New Panel dropdown. Click the down arrow to view the available panels, or type in the search field to keyword match existing panel groups.

To add a panel that does not exist in the dropdown, partner with the Survey Programmer (SP) to create a local panel sheet as described in Adding panels via SPL.

Display As

Once a panel has been added, the displayed panel name can be edited by clicking the text in the Display As column. The Panels applet itself is not visible to anyone other than Survey Creators; however, this displayed panel name will drive what is shown in the data and in the Quota Manager (visible to all). Therefore, we highly recommend "masking" a panel's name.

Entry links

The Entry Link column reflects what we have "on file" in our system panel sheet at the time of adding the panel. The primary and related country and language invite links can be used as-is or can be edited. Any edits made to the links are local changes and do not affect our system panel sheet or other surveys in any way.

Adding parameters

Use the Add Parameter button to append a parameter to the end of a panel's entry links. To add a new parameter, enter an ampersand ('&'), followed by the parameter name, an equal sign ('='), and the parameter value.

For additional information formatting invite links and redirects, see Invite links and redirects.

Redirect links

Any one-time changes to a redirect can be applied by clicking the Global Redirects button in the Actions column. Redirects are adjusted for the primary survey link only. Edits to the redirect links are considered "local changes" and do not affect the redirect system or other surveys.

Downloading panel responses

An Excel file can be downloaded to pull all IDs and the most relevant fields for a specific panel by clicking Download in the primary panel link's action menu (three dots). The file will contain all IDs (all statuses) that entered the survey for that panel, along with the panel-related variables used in our redirect system. Additional variables can be added to the report on an ad-hoc basis by applying the chapter: panel_data tag to the variable in the source code. 

Updating users

There are specific survey roles related to field management. The Panels applet is used for adding or removing Panel Field Managers (PFMs). All other survey roles must be managed via the Survey Users applet.

To add PFMs for a panel organization, click on Update Users in the primary panel link's action menu. Next, add or remove email addresses as needed in the box presented on screen. Then, click Save Changes. Repeat this for each panel as needed.

For additional assistance, please reach out to Support.

Deleting a panel

To delete a panel, go to the primary invite link's action menu, and click Delete.

Important notes:

• Deleting a panel removes its redirects, but the invite link remains valid for survey entry. To block respondents from entering the survey, use the Quota Manager to "cap" quotas as needed.
• If a panel is deleted and re-added, you will need to redo any edits to the panel's displayed name, invite link(s), or final redirects.
• When a panel is deleted, it also removes the panel name, but not the data, from quotas, reports, and exports.