Designer

The Designer is where you define the variables you want in your database, for example name, email address, company etc. The layout and functionality is very similar to the Authoring survey Survey tree - , but note that only the basic types of variables are available, and folders so you can organize the variables. Also, “standard” survey variables have a lot of functionality that is not applicable for a contact database, so unnecessary functionality has been removed from the contact database variables.

Figure 1 - The Contact Database Designer page

Define and set up the required variables in the same way as for a survey (go to Adding New Objects to the Survey Tree for more information).

Most of the properties available for the variables in the contact database are the same as for survey variables (go to Question Properties Overview for more information). However there is one property that is specific to variables in a contact database: Keep history - .

Figure 2 - The Keep History property

Keep history can be used to keep track of historic data for variables that may change over time, like for example region, income, marital status etc. If “Keep history” is set for a variable, the contact database will create a new “version” of a contact whenever there is a change in a contact’s value for that variable. The version will be given a timestamp that specifies for which period the value was valid.

The variables in the SurveyActivity > Core Fields folder are system-generated. These will contain data on the surveys that the various contacts in the database have been invited to respond to, and are used for reporting and contact frequency rules. You can edit some of the details in these variables, such as labels, but you cannot delete them or otherwise change them. These variables are as follows:

• SurveyId - The survey's project number.
• SurveyRespid - The respid of the contact's record in the survey database.
• ResponseStatusValue - The respondent's value for "status" in the survey.
• ResponseStatusCode - The respondent's status in the survey, coded into a single question with the following answer categories:
• NotStarted - 0
• Started - 1
• Completed - 2
• Screened - 3
• QuotaFull - 4
• Error - 5
• Other - 99
• UploadedDate - Timestamp for when the respondent was created ("CreatedDate" in the survey database).
• InvitationDate - Timestamp for the last invitation was sent.
• StartedDate - Timestamp for start of survey ("interview_start" in the survey database).
• CompletedDate - Timestamp for end of survey ("interview_end" in the survey database).
• OptOutCode - Emailing blocked by Flex email opt out extension:
• None - 0
• Company level blacklist - 1
• Panel level blacklist - 2
• Project level blacklist - 3
• Company level opt out - 4
• Panel level opt out - 5
• Project level opt out - 6
• Blacklisted domain on company level - 7
• Blacklisted domain on panel level - 8
• Blacklisted domain on project level - 9
• OptOutDate - Time blocked by Flex email opt out extension.
• SmtpStatusText - Email delivery status text.
• SmtpStatusCode - Email delivery status code.
• SmtpStatusDate - Time of update of email delivery status.
• FrequencyRuleStatusCode - Status from Contact Frequency Rules (CFR) applied on the project.
• Passed CFR filtering - 0
• Blocked by CFR filtering - 1
• FrequencyRuleStatusDate - Time CFR was applied and status set.
• FrequencyRuleSurveyId - Project id of the survey for which there was a previous survey invitation for the contact within the Contact Frequency Rule limit, which cause emailing to be blocked.

Designer Log

All actions executed on a database are recorded, and the Designer Log provides you with an overview of all the changes that have been made to the database. The system records the date and time when a change was made, the user who made the change, and provides a brief description of the change - .

You can undo any changes that have been made - click the Undo link towards the right side of the window for the relevant change. A confirmation message appears; click OK to confirm the operation.

Figure 3 - Example of a Designer log

Note that log entries are deleted automatically after 180 days.