AskiaFace for iOS: first steps
Installation
Before starting to use AskiaFace on iPads, you will need to install the latest available version of the application from the App Store. For more detailed installation assistance, please read the dedicated installation guide.
Launching the app
Once you have installed the app, hit the AskiaFace icon to launch it.
Signing in
When starting the application for the first time, the Sign in screen is displayed. It allows you to either:
- Connect to a demo account: hit the Use demo account button.
- Connect to a specific account.
For the latter, you will need to enter correct information for all three required fields:
- User name: this is the Agent's user name set on the AskiaField server.
- Password: this is the Agent's password as set on the AskiaField server.
- Askiafield URL: the public address (or IP address) of your AskiaField server.
Once you have entered the above information, press the Sign in button to proceed.
List of available surveys
AskiaFace then displays the list of available surveys. These depend of the surveys that were assigned to the Agent in AskiaField.
Interviewing
To access a specific survey, press the @Survey@ list element in order to expand its contents:
- New interview
- Modify interview
- View quotas
Press the New interview button to start interviewing for the selected survey.
When in Interview mode, use the built-in survey controls (response radio buttons, checkboxes, text and numeric inputs) as well as the Back and Next buttons in order to navigate throughout the questionnaire.
Abandoning an interview
During interviewing, you can abandon the in-progress interview by pressing the surveys Back button (located at the top left-hand side of the interview screen).
Once you've pressed that button, an alert is displayed giving you one of three options:
- Abandon: the in-progress interview will be abandoned and all collected data for this interview will be deleted from the iPad.
- Save: the in-progress interview will be pause and all collected data for this interview will be saved on the iPad until it is either completed or deleted.
- Cancel: resumes the in-progress interview.
Completing an interview
Once you answer the last question of a survey, you will be prompted with the above alert giving you the possibility to:
- Immediately begin a New interview.
- Cancel that request and return to the list of available surveys.
Modifying an interview
If you have previously saved (see above) an in-progress interview, you will have the possibility to access that saved interview in order to modify it, complete it or simply delete it. In the list of available surveys, expand the survey for which you have saved at least one in-progress interview and press the Modify interviews button to proceed.
As you can see in the above screen shot, there are two types of interviews that can be saved on the iPad:
- Complete interviews: labelled intvw_xx.xml.
- Incomplete interviews: labelled incpl_xx.xml.
The list of locally saved interviews also displays the date & time the interview was last modified.
Select the incomplete interview you want to modify in order to access the in-progress interview on the question on which the interview was previously abandoned.
Now you have returned to the in-progress interview, you will notice a Delete icon located at the bottom right-hand side corner of the view that will allow you to permanently delete this interview.
Viewing quotas
Surveys for which quota targets have been set in AskiaField, will display an active View quotas button in the survey expander. Press this button to access the list of quota targets that have been assigned for your survey.
The Quotas view displays all quota variables (both simple or crossed quotas) in a data grid that details:
- Questions/responses: displays the labels of the questions / response items
- Todo: displays the amount of completed interview to do in order to reach the Target (Todo=Target-Observed).
- Target: displays the amount of completed interviews that was set for each quota variable.
- Observed: displays the amount of interviews that were completed for each quota variable.
Miscellaneous
Collapsing the sidebar
In Landscape mode, the AskiaFace sidebar can be collapsed and expanded by means of the Collapse sidebar button; this is generally useful to increase the available screen real estate during interview (note: the sidebar is collapsed by default in portrait mode and cannot be expanded).
Synchronising data
AskiaFace for iOS synchronises the user account(s) each time you run the application but you can also start the syncing process manually by pressing the Synchronise button located in the sidebar. Synchronisation will update any of the following elements:
- Available surveys: if the user has been assigned to a new survey or removed from a previously assigned survey, syncing the application will update the user's available surveys.
- Updated surveys: if an available survey has been modified on the AskiaField server, syncing the application will update the local copy of the survey.
- Complete interview data: all complete interview data that has been stored on the iPad will be transferred back to the AskiaField server thus updating the amount of completed interview and therefore the amount of Observed & Todo for all concerned quota variables.
- Quota: if the quotas for an available survey have been modified (Targets, new quota variables, etc.) the local set of quotas will be updated.
- Resources: if any attached survey resource has been updated / modified / added or removed, syncing the app will apply to those concerned resources.
When the application has finished syncing, it will display the date & time of the last synchronisation.
Managing your connections
Press the Settings tab in the sidebar in order to access your user accounts. To create a new user account, press the Add icon (located at the bottom right-hand side of the application.
The app will then display the Add new connection view that will allow you to provide all required credentials in order to set a new user account:
- Login: corresponds to the Agent's user name as set on the AskiaField server.
- Password: corresponds to the Agent's password as set on the AskiaField server.
- Synchronise automatically at launch: allows you to set this user account to sync with the AskiaField server each time the application is launched.
- Askiafield connection name: text label that is used to in the list of available surveys.
- Askiafield URL: the public address (or IP address) of your AskiaField server.
- Port (80): specify the port used to connect to the AskiaField server.
- Encrypted port (80): specify the encrypted port used to connect to the AskiaField server.
Managing your iPad surveys, quotas and agents
For more information on how to manage your AskiaFace for iOS surveys, quotas, agents and groups, please refer to the AskiaField Assistant.