Seeking app/platform for something like surveys

March 20, 2019 11:01 AM

Need more robust platform with workflow and somewhat advanced tracking capabilities.

Hi all. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I need to distribute something to one coworker or another around 150 times a year, then have them return it to me. I've only explored Survey Monkey and Microsoft's Forms so far. Neither seemed a good fit, due to some of the specifics of my situation:

-- The survey is identical every time, but each one covers a different deal. I'll need to send one to the same person multiple times a year, one for each deal. So I'm sending this thing out to a coworker 150 times a year, to maybe 40 coworkers in total; one person might get it eight times, because they have eight deals, and another only once.

-- I would like to have semi-robust tracking capabilities. I would like something like a dashboard that showed me things like 1) how many had been sent out, 2) how many had been sent to this person or that person, 3) how many had been sent to people in this office or that location, 4) how many had been received back, and 5) how long it had been since this one or that one had been sent. And then I'll want to be able to see the specifics on the one I sent for this deal or that one; that's why I say things like 'something like surveys' -- I won't want to see how many people answered Yes to question 3, just the answer to question 3 on any given survey, plus data like what I just enumerated.

-- I would like the capability to attach files, though since we all work at the same place, we could work around this, by say using links to network folders/etc.

-- I would like an approval workflow. I would like to be able to send the thing to, say, three or four people on the same deal; ideally, there'd be a stage where junior people were confirming whatever, and then a stage where the senior person would sign off on the thing. Then another stage where I confirm in the application that this survey is resolved/accepted.

-- It would be great if there were some capacity for automation. I'm thinking mostly of an instance where I send the thing and, a month later, if I haven't received it back, the system could kick out a reminder email. It would be great if these could be personalized, mail merge style; I send it to Fred, Janie, and Jerry, and if it hasn't been sent back a month later, the platform emails them all a reminder.

-- It would be preferable if the surveys/emails didn't have a lot of branding all over them, since we're using this internally. I can't be the first person to shudder at the thought of asking someone whether they got the email from Survey Weasel. :)

Thanks again for any input; I can accept the likelihood that nothing will do all of those things, but any potential solutions would be much appreciated.

troy

posted by troywestfield to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Best answer: You might be able to accomplish this with a free Qualtrics account.
posted by mefireader at 12:06 PM on March 20, 2019

Best answer: You might want to look into Microsoft Flow. It's a workflow tool that links up to all sorts of other apps and programs. You can connect it to your Forms, have it automatically send reminder emails, then write all answers back to a Sharepoint table or an Excel doc so you can create your dashboards off of that. If you want to get fancy, you can create a custom form with PowerApps as well, which would give you the ability to accommodate attachments.
posted by little king trashmouth at 2:05 PM on March 20, 2019

Response by poster: Thank you both very much for the recommendations. I explored both, and both seem viable. Inclined to go with Qualtrics; I might not have the bandwidth to construct the solution through Microsoft, and my firm's paying. Really appreciate the time from both of you.
posted by troywestfield at 12:45 PM on March 22, 2019