Touch devices are great for mobile data collection for a number of reasons. However, they do present some interesting challenges. For instance, how do you transfer a survey with hundreds of questions into a process that is simple for end users on iPhone and Android devices? Recently, we launched a useful feature in the GoSpotCheck web application to address this exact issue.
Many of the missions our clients are setting up can be lengthy and complex. Some of them encompass hundreds of questions and significant logic for branching paths (i.e. if I say ‘yes’ to question one, follow up with these three additional questions).
In addition, end users in the field don’t always complete questions in the same order. For instance, products can be in different locations or aisles at every location. Therefore, allowing users to jump around and find the questions for a particular product or audit can be paramount for efficiency.
To help handle these situations, we’ve created sections within a mission. Here is a simple overview to help explain the functionality:
1) Instead of just adding tasks, you now have a button in the GoSpotCheck dashboard to add sections within a mission.
2) You can add as many sections as you want to each mission, creating groups of questions for ease of use.
3) Once you have created sections, users have a very clear path for completing questions after they have begun a mission.
Focusing on our customer’s needs has allowed us to take relatively complex requirements and simplify them into a useful, enjoyable user interface. More significant improvements will follow soon!
