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Note: Forsta AskMe is an add-on module; commercial conditions will apply.
AskMe is Forsta’s branded version of the Offline self-completion app. Both terms are used in this documentation.
One of the challenges many companies are now facing is survey apathy; keeping your respondents interested and making surveys engaging is not easy. Adding multimedia such as audio and video to surveys can make surveys more interesting, but increased file sizes mean downloading these files can take time, especially if the connection isn’t good. And this can result in buffering problems and associated frustration. In addition, participants need to be able to take part in surveys when and where it suits them - with mobile devices they could be walking around, sitting on a bus or train, or even on a plane.
AskMe provides a solution to both these challenges. AskMe is an app that allows respondents to complete Forsta Plus-created surveys whilst offline. Your respondents are therefore able to complete your surveys in areas with bad or non-existent Internet connectivity, and in addition it guarantees the respondent experience and is ideally suited to surveys displaying or capturing rich media content. AskMe downloads multimedia files during the initial download of the survey to the app, and respondents can then view those files offline. Buffering problems due to slow download or upload speeds are thereby avoided. Data is instantly captured offline, and then synchronized back to the survey when the mobile device is online again. So regardless of whether the respondents have good, patchy or no internet connection, your survey responses won’t be lost.
You create your survey using the Forsta Plus Authoring environment, where all of the power of the survey engine is available. A single survey link is sent to your participants via email or SMS, and the participant then chooses whether to open the survey online on their mobile or tablet, or whether they wish to download the app using Smart App Banner. If downloading is selected, AskMe then runs the survey offline, including any JavaScript customizations, and allows the participant to easily capture photos and GPS data.
Synchronization back to the server is performed only once the interview achieves a specific status, for example “Complete”; partial responses are not synchronized. If the survey has already been closed when the device synchronizes, you can instruct the survey to add the data to the database anyway or you can instruct it to ignore the data being uploaded. The data is then quietly deleted (go to Setting Up the Survey Using the AskMe App for more information). Note that quota checks are not performed in AskMe offline surveys; the qf() function will always return false when executed in AskMe (go to About Quotas for more information).
The AskMe app can be branded as your app, with your logo, look-and-feel, and under your company’s name (has commercial implications). It can then be registered in the app stores with your own app name, and survey participants can install the app on as many mobile devices as they wish at no cost. For this reason the AskMe app is also referred to as the Offline self-completion app in this documentation.
For more information on specific platform support available for AskMe, see System Requirements.
Important
Use of Forsta Apps may include the use of third party components (“TPC”s), including but not limited to the GoogleTM Firebase range of products. The continued operation of certain features of Forsta Apps may depend on the continued proper operation of those TPCs. Forsta explicitly disclaims any warranty for or on behalf of TPCs. Certain device information, such as but not limited to operating system and model, may be forwarded to the provider of the TPCs for ensuring proper and efficient wording of the App and in accordance with the TPC’s terms and conditions. For a full list of TPCs for your specific App, please contact privacy@confirmit.com.