Panel Setup Overview

The Panel Setup menu contains the menu commands required by the user while designing and editing the Panel Portals database.

Note: The design and creation of a Panel Portal database is essentially the same as for a “normal” questionnaire database. This document therefore describes only the differences between a Panel Portal database and a questionnaire database, and the additional procedures required. For further information on designing and creating a database, refer to the separate Professional Authoring documentation.

Figure 1 - The Panel Setup menu commands

The menu commands are as follows:

• Designer – the database definition page (go to Designer Overview for more information).
• Doc2Panel - is an authoring mode that allows panel designers to quickly and easily create panels from documents. It enables you to copy a Word document into a scratch-pad-like browser. From here you can then select the texts you wish to use for questions, answers etc. and convert them directly into a Forsta Plus panel.
• Database Generation – generates and updates the database.
• Professional Panel Definition Export – export the database definition to another server (go to Exporting a Panel Definition for more information).
• Designer Log – a “read-only” log of the main events occurring in the panel.
• Active Languages – select the languages to be used.
• Legacy Jobs Import - allows company administrators to import legacy jobs into the Forsta Plus panel from other systems.

Database Generation

This menu command activates the database generation function. The Panel database is used to administrate the panelists. If changes are made to the database, then it must be re-generated for those changes to be incorporated.

This menu command only generates the database or regenerates it after changes have been made. To create or edit the database, go to Panel Setup > Designer (go to Designer Overview for more information).

1. Go to the Panel Setup > Database Generation menu command.

The page shown below is displayed.



Figure 2 - The Generate database Options tab

2. Select whether you wish to generate a new database or update the existing database (if the database has not been generated previously then the “Update existing database” option will not be available).

Note: If you select Update Existing Database, the database and the new data are checked before the update commences. In the event an error is found, then the process is stopped before any changes are made. If no errors are found then the new data will be added to the existing database – no existing data will be deleted.

Note: If a database already exists for the project and you select Create New Database, the old database will be overwritten and any data in the old database will be deleted.

3. Click Generate Database.

The database is created/updated. A Task pane opens, containing a progress bar and a task status list. When the database has been generated, the text Task Completed will be displayed at the bottom of the task status list.

In the event you have deleted questions from the database during editing, see also Database Cleanup.

Note: Only the database is created; there is no web interview. Note also that in Professional Panels there is no Test database available.

Designer Log

The system records actions executed on a project basis. The Designer Log provides an overview of all changes that have been made on the project since it was first created. The system records the exact time when changes are made, the user who makes the changes, and specifies details of the change - .

This page is for information only - no changes can be made to the information.

Figure 3 - Example of the Designer Log page

Active Languages

This menu command opens the Active Languages page - . This page lists the languages selected for the Portal on the General tab (go to General for more information).

In the General tab you can select as many languages as required for the Portal, but while you are working in Professional Panels, to keep the pages to a manageable size, a maximum of five languages can be displayed at one time. This limit applies anywhere where the languages are listed, such as in the database question details pages. Note that the maximum of five languages only refers to what you see whilst working in Forsta Plus; the panelists will see their selected language.

In the Active Languages page, check the boxes for the (up to five) languages you wish to show then click Save. To hide a language, click again in the box to remove the tick, and save.

Figure 3 - Example of the Active Languages pane

Legacy Jobs Import

If you are the Panel Administrator (you created the panel or have been given Administrator permission for it) and in addition have the SYSTEM_COMPANY_ADMINISTRATOR permission, then the Panel Setup menu will also include the Legacy Jobs Import item. This functionality is intended for new Professional Panel clients who have previously used a different panel-management product, and allows you to import legacy jobs into the panel from the other system. The imported legacy jobs can then be used for exclusion purposes.

Note: The legacy jobs imported must be in XML format, and the job number must match the survey history data existing in the panel.

Contact Forsta Support for further details.