Building Questionnaires

Use the steps detailed on this page to build a questionnaire.

On this page

Task 1: Create the questionnaire

  1. From the menu bar, click Admin menu > Application Builder > Applications.
  2. Click Add New Add.

    Note: If you are on an existing questionnaire, you can also select Add New from the Applications menu.

  3. From the Type field, select Questionnaire. Enter a name, assign it to one or more solutions, and select a default language.

    4. Note: By default, the language is set to the language specified for the instance.

  4. In the Target Application field, select the target application that houses the objects of your assessment, and click OK.

    If the application that you selected is leveled, the Target Level field is displayed. Select a level from the list.

  5. To copy questions from the Question Library into the questionnaire, select Display Question Library selection page.
  6. Click Create Questionnaire.

Task 2: Define questionnaire properties

  1. In the Options section, enable the following options as needed.

    Option

    Description

    Enable task management

    This option allows users to easily track and manage open and completed tasks associated with records in this questionnaire. When enabled, a related records field is placed on the questionnaire layout, which lists both open and closed tasks. You can enter your own labels for the open and closed task lists.

    If you are using Advanced Workflow, you must enable task management.

    Enable notifications

    Users can receive notifications when content has been published or updated.

    Enable direct to edit

    This mode allows users with update rights to open a record directly in edit mode from the following areas:

    • Search Results list
    • Cross references
    • Related records
    • Record links in notifications
    • iViews (without having to display the report first)
    • Tasks & activities on the Task Driven Landing Screen
    • System reports that allow record drill-in

    Enable calculation optimization

    Optimize related calculations after bulk actions complete. For example, after updating a record with many rows, the calculation waits until you complete the update.

    This option may not be available if your administrator has disabled the option in the Archer Control Panel.

    Enable findings

    Enables automatic generation of findings when a user answers one or more questions incorrectly. These findings are prepopulated with specific information, which enables you to report on areas of non-compliance by target, questionnaire, question, authoritative source, and control standard. As you remediate findings, you also can monitor areas of improvement in your compliance posture.

    See Enabling Automatic Generation of Findings for more information.

    Language

    Select the language for your questionnaire.

    Enable Engage

    Enable this questionnaire to be used for Engage.

  2. In the Administration section, assign the following administrators:
    • Content administrators have unrestricted access to all record content in their questionnaires, including sub-form content.

      • Content administrators can:

      • Create, read, update, and delete records in the questionnaire, regardless of your assigned access roles or record permissions.
      • Access a questionnaire in a Workspace menu, assuming that you have rights to the workspace. You can create new records, search, run reports, and import data, but you cannot access schedules.
      • Inline edit (if enabled), bulk update/bulk create (if enabled), and delete.
      • Use the context menu (email, print, export, copy, edit, delete, related, recalculate, access).
      • Access the Workflow toolbar on the Record page. You can complete any actions, but you cannot accept or reject content unless you are also an assignee for that stage.
      • Access all Advanced Workflow transitions, even if you do not have access in the Advanced Workflow configuration.
      • See all records in the search results, regardless of record permissions.
      • Access all content displayed in global search for applications and questionnaires.
      • Receive notifications for all content that meets the filter requirements of their notification subscriptions.
      • Access all Voting Field details even if you are not assigned as a Voting Field administrator.
      • Read and update content in private fields.
      • Fully access the Attachment Download History link and drill into the history for any attachment field in any record.
    • Configuration administrators have full editing rights over their designated questionnaires, which means they can fully customize their properties. This includes adding and arranging fields in the questionnaire, enabling notifications, and configuring data driven events.
      • Edit all properties of a questionnaire, including the content, configuration, and report administrators, from the Manage Applications page, assuming that you have access to the page. You can also delete content if the questionnaire is retired.
      • Access a questionnaire from a Workspace menu, assuming that you have rights to the workspace. You can access search, reports, and schedules for the questionnaire, but you cannot create new records or import data.
      • Manage schedules for the questionnaire, including bulk and calculation schedules, regardless of task access or being assigned as the schedule owner. You can manage schedules through either the schedules button on the Search Results toolbar or the schedules icon in the Workspace menu.
      • Open the Report listing page for the questionnaire through the Search results page or through the icon.
      • Create, modify, and delete global reports associated with the questionnaire from the Report Listing page.
      • Edit or delete any mail merge templates for your questionnaire on the Manage Mail Merge Templates page.
      • Execute reports for your questionnaires, if you have access to the Application Builder Reports page.
      • Select specific fields in the questionnaire to be tracked in the History Log.
      • Access full CRUD rights to custom values lists, regardless of other permissions. You must get access to View/Edit page through a role or record permission.
    • Report administrators can configure global reports in a specific questionnaire.
      • Global reports can be shared with any user in the questionnaire, but only users with access to the questionnaire for which the report was created can see the contents of the report.
      • Users who do not have global report creation rights can only create personal reports, which cannot be shared with other users.

    Note: For a new questionnaire, the configuration administrator and report administrator default to the questionnaire creator. The content administrator is empty by default.

  3. In the Navigation Menu section, select which menu items you want to display for the questionnaire.
  4. In the Default Search section,
  5. In the Documentation section, click Add New to attach supporting documentation, such as design specifications, approval forms, or other documentation about your questionnaire.

    6. If you are using the Relationship Visualization feature and have created the visualization.xml file, attach this file to the application or questionnaire.

Task 3: Add fields

When you create a questionnaire, you can add questions by copying questions from the Question Library or by adding them manually.

In addition to the questions themselves, questionnaires contain several standard fields for collecting data on the assessment. Standard fields differ from questions in that they do not include question text or weighting, they cannot be filtered using question display rules, and they are not included in progress calculations for questionnaire records and campaigns. However, standard fields offer more variety for data collection than questions do, and you can control user access to fields, whereas all questions are inherently public.

See Adding Questions and Fields to a Questionnaire for more information.

Task 4: Define the layout

Once you add questions and fields to a questionnaire, you can arrange their layout from the Layout tab. You can also add tabs, sections, supporting text, and custom controls to create an intuitive interface for users as they add and edit records in the questionnaire. You can also organize page elements in multiple columns, which enables you to make effective use of larger monitors and greater screen resolution.

When adding questions, try to group your questions into sections, especially if you have a large number of questions. Sections help to visually organize a questionnaire for the benefit of the users. All fields moved on to the mobile layout are maintained in the sections to which they belong on the web layout.

In addition, the questionnaire already includes a variety of system-generated fields arranged in sections within the layout. These fields enable you to assign submitters and reviewers, to specify due dates, and to identify the year and quarter for all questionnaire records in an assessment campaign. Some of the system fields are read-only calculated fields that contain the status of a questionnaire record, the score of the completed record and links to findings that were generated for incorrect answers. System-generated fields are not available in a mobile-ready questionnaire.

See the Layouts section for more information.

Note: For information about mobile layouts for mobile ready questionnaires, see Creating Mobile Ready Questionnaires.

Task 5: Define a workflow

By default, questionnaires include two User/Group List fields: Submitter and Reviewer. These fields facilitate a two-stage workflow process. You can define the workflow process by doing the following:

  • Defining the users and groups available for selection in these fields.
  • Promoting the users and groups fields to Record Permissions fields if you want to use them to control access to questionnaire records.
  • Adding User/Groups List or Record Permissions fields to expand the content review process according to your risk management methodologies.

If you want to automate a more robust process within a questionnaire, you have a couple options.

  1. Data driven events (DDEs)

    2. DDEs allow you to automate a variety of actions based on values or conditions within individual questionnaire records. For example, you can apply a conditional layout, generate a notification, or set a date.

    When you create a questionnaire, a series of data driven events are generated by the system and added to your questionnaire. These data driven events help your organization automate some of the manual processes involved in submitting and reviewing questionnaire records.

    Each rule is described in the following table.

    Rule

    Action Type

    Description

    Hide Findings Grid

    Apply Conditional Layout

    This action hides the Findings section when no findings have been associated with the questionnaire record.

    Quantitative Summary Section Display

    Apply Conditional Layout

    This action provides the Quantitative Summary Section when all the questions displayed within the questionnaire record have been answered.

    Set Review Date

    Set Date

    This action sets the Review Date field within a questionnaire record to the current date when the value in the Review Status field changes to Approved or Rejected.

    Set Review Status Upon Re-Submission

    Set Values List Selection

    This action sets the Review Status field to Awaiting Review when the value in the Submission Status field changes to Re-Submitted.

    Set Submission Date

    Set Date

    This action sets the Submission Date field within a questionnaire record to the current date when the value in the Submission Status field changes to Submitted or Re-Submitted.

    Set Submission Status List Values

    Set Values List Selection

    Filter Values List Items

    These actions limit the values available for selection in the Submission Status field to In Process and Re-Submitted when the value of the Review Status field changes to Rejected.

    See the Data Driven Events section for more information and detailed steps for creating DDEs.

  2. Use an advanced workflow to do the following with your records:
    • Create complex non-linear workflow processes within applications, leveled applications, or questionnaires.
    • Send notifications to multiple users on-demand.
    • Enable automatic enrollment for new records, updated records, or user initiated options.
    • Visually depict the end-to-end advanced workflow process at the administrator level.
    • Designate a specific name for each node to easily identify the intent of each stage in your workflow process.
    • Create tasks that are linked to the task-driven landing screen of specified users.

Task 6: Configure display rules

Display rules allow you to use a single questionnaire for all targets of one type (such as all vendors), even if those targets vary in their individual attributes. Without display rules, you would have to create separate questionnaires for each variation of your target type. For example, you would have to create one questionnaire for vendors that have access to your confidential data and another questionnaire for vendors that do not.

See Configuring Display Rules for Questionnaires for more information.

Task 7: Create campaigns

Campaign enable you to automatically generate questionnaire records for specific assessment targets. For example, if the target of the questionnaire is a Devices application, the campaign can create questionnaire records for all devices in a production environment. Campaigns may be configured to populate questionnaire records with the year, quarter, and due date of the assessment, along with the assigned submitter and reviewer. Recurring campaigns can be launched, and multiple campaigns may be created for each questionnaire. In addition, you can create rules that determine which specific records in the target application require the creation of a questionnaire record. For example, you can define a rule that generates questionnaire records only for vendors with an active status.

See Creating Campaigns to Launch Questionnaires for more information.

Task 8: Set the execution order for multiple calculated fields

If you are working with a questionnaire that contains multiple calculated fields and the formula for one calculated field is dependent on the result of another calculated field, you must specify the order in which you want to compute the calculated fields.

See Setting the Execution Order for Multiple Calculated Fields for instructions.