Each time a Placeholder or a new attribute for a Condition is created in the Template, it will generate a question in the Questionnaire, which is accessible from the left-hand bar, by selecting the icon marked in red below.
Questionnaire icon:
Choosing a question and hint
Questions are fully customisable, click on the text box to edit the text for the question. For instance, you might write the question “Please provide the name of the company”.
You will note below the question box you have an option to include “hint” text that will guide users when they are completing the questionnaire.
Choosing the question type
You have multiple question types to choose from when customising each question:
Type | Explanation |
Text | Used for simple questions where an answer is sought in prose |
Number | Used to capture numbers only |
Date | Used render a date picker in the questionnaire |
Currency | Used to display a list of currencies in the questionnaire. The currency (including the symbol) chosen will populate the document. |
Tickbox | Used to display a tickbox in the questionnaire. Note that the output of a tickbox will be “yes” or “no” – this must match the relevant Condition in the Condition Builder
E.g. If you created a Condition called “Security equals yes”, then a tickbox could be used to capture the “yes” value |
Radio buttons | Similar to a tickbox, in that it is used to extract “yes” and “no” values from the questionnaire, often to trigger a condition. This function will render a radio button in the questionnaire, providing the user with two options to choose from. It is possible to customise what label appears next to each radio button |
Multi-Select | This allows the user to select any number of options from a list, with the option to integrate the auto-list feature when it is inserted into the document. For example, if the default separator is a comma, the penultimate separator is an ‘and’ and the end separator is a full stop it would create a list like “Canada, United Kingdom, France and Italy.” if the user selected Canada, United Kingdom, France, and Italy from the options. |
Select | Used to present the user with a finite list of values in the questionnaire. To use, simply separate each value with a “;”
E.g. If you created a Condition called “Employee Type equals Director” and another called “Employee Type equals Manager” you could use the select field to separate the values “Director;Manager” so that the user would be presented with the choice of Director and Manager in drop-down form |
Open Select | Identical function to Select, save for that the user is presented with an additional free text box if they do not want to choose from the list of pre-determined options and wish to type their own |
Metadata | A function that allows you to modify the document’s metadata properties through the template questionnaire. Users will be able to draw upon the list of properties that have been imported from the document to set up a questionnaire item that will modify the relevant property. |
File upload | This allows you to let users upload one DOCX, PDF and XSLX file for each question. The uploaded file will appear under the Attachment tab in the document’s left toolbar and it cannot be deleted from this tab unlike documents uploaded directly to the Attachment tab. It can be deleted only if the user returns to the questionnaire to do so.
A file upload question is not based on an attribute. Instead, you can insert it by hovering your mouse just under the middle of the question card of any question in your template’s questionnaire editor and clicking on the + sign which appears. This inserts an explanatory text card. Click the dropdown menu in the top-right corner of the card and scroll all the way down to select the “File upload” question type. |
Datasheet | After creating a datasheet, users can click on the “Datasheet” option in the question card to create a Datasheet question. Users can then select a datasheet that the question will draw potential answers from. |
Note that there are additional types: “Select lists”, "Metadata" and “Dependent lists”, which are not the subject of this article.
Dynamic Select
Dynamic Select is a feature that revolutionizes the functionality of drop-down menus in questionnaires, offering users powerful capabilities to enhance their data collection processes. By leveraging this feature, users can collect and repurpose previously entered answers, pre-defined values, or data from external sources such as APIs.
The feature provides three distinct options that cater to different requirements.
Static list of pre-defined options: The first option allows users to manually define and set the desired option values within the questionnaire itself. This proves invaluable when conditional dropdown options are needed based on other attributes. Previously, creating such options required intricate templates with numerous attributes and visibility conditions. However, with Dynamic Select, visibility conditions can now be directly applied to each option.
Static list of pre-defined options or dynamically collected from responses to other questionnaire items: This option combines a static list of pre-defined options with the capability to dynamically collect responses from other questions. Users can effortlessly populate drop-down options with values derived from the questionnaire itself. Instead of manually inputting each option, users can conveniently select attributes directly from the template. This feature is particularly useful for scenarios involving looped attributes and multi-select attributes, where multiple options can be automatically generated based on corresponding attribute values. Furthermore, users can leverage operations to collect options, further expanding the flexibility and functionality of the Dynamic Select feature.
API-updateable list of options: The third option empowers users to retrieve option values from an external database or system through Avvoka's API. By selecting this option, users can tap into advanced use cases where option values need to be dynamically updated. This seamless integration with external data sources enables users to keep their option values up-to-date and aligned with their evolving requirements. Detailed instructions and guidance on utilizing Avvoka's API are available in the comprehensive API documentation.
In addition to the above options, Dynamic Select offers flexibility in defining visibility conditions for options. Users can control the visibility of options based on specific conditions by utilizing the eye icon positioned next to each option. This feature allows for customization of the questionnaire's behaviour, ensuring that options dynamically adapt based on the respondent's input or other relevant factors.
Furthermore, Dynamic Select enables label customization in questionnaires. Users can present custom labels to end users that do not necessarily need to match the values displayed in the final document. For example, a regulation like the eIDAS Regulation can be displayed as “eIDAS Regulation” in the questionnaire for end users while storing the full name, “Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS Regulation)” internally so it will be displayed in the final document if that option is selected.
Additional information about the questionnaire:
Visibility conditions
Visibility conditions appear below the “question type” box and are used to show/hide the question. You can either choose the suggested visibility condition which is created based on the conditionality found in your template or create a custom visibility type.
Choosing which Party answers the question
You will see there is a tick box that allows you to change which party has to answer the question. You can either select all questions by selecting the tick box at the top and then pressing change party and selecting which party should answer, or selecting the individual questions.
Choosing which Role in your Party answer the question
In addition to specifying which Party answers a question, you are also able to assign questions to an individual role in your Party. For example, if you’d like the person acting in the Legal role to answer one question and HR to answer different questions, you are now able to do this.
Under a question in the questionnaire, you will be able to see a new option for “Choose which users can see this attribute”. By default, “All users in this party” will be selected. You then have the option to select one of the roles, such as “Trainee” or “Partner” that you had previously set up by adding a participant in a workflow or editing the details of your first role.
Once you select the role that the question has been assigned to, you will now see the role appear on the top bar when editing the questionnaire.
When the user is prompted to answer the questionnaire on Avvoka, either when they are added to their role as part of a Workflow or when they create a new document, they’ll be able to filter by questions that have been assigned to their role (“Trainee” in this example) or “All” which contains the questions assigned to their role as well as “All users in this party”.
Note that if you don’t assign any questions to “All users in the party”, they will just be able to see those questions assigned to their role.
Mandatory validation
You have the option to make specific questions mandatory for users to answer. You can accomplish this in two ways: either by selecting the tick box at the top to choose all questions and then clicking "Apply mandatory validation to selected questions" to specify which questions should be mandatory, or by individually selecting the questions. If you decide to make certain questions non-mandatory, you can use the same method by clicking "Remove mandatory validation from selected questions".
Explanatory text
You can add explanatory text throughout the questionnaire to aid users. You can add this by hovering over a question and selecting the blue + symbol below the question. You have the option to assign it a visibility condition (so it only displays in certain scenarios) and can allocate a Party to it.
Informatory Text
When formatting your question, you have the option to add Informatory text by toggling the relevant button activating which will reveal a field where you can input Informatory text relevant to the question, providing additional instructions to assist users in better understanding the question. Furthermore, you can opt to enable 'Open on focus', which will automatically display the Informatory text when the question is accessed.
Collapse Text
The "Show collapsed" toggle feature in the questionnaire allows users to streamline their view by condensing lengthy questions, which can be expanded with clicking the question for full visibility. This enhances the form's navigability and reduces visual clutter, making it more user-friendly.
Sections
In the same way that you add an explanatory text, you can use the same dropdown menu and select “Section” instead to create a new section.
When a user answers the questionnaire they will see the name of each section in a table of contents on the left hand side, and can navigate between sections by selecting “next” and “back” or by clicking on the section name on the left hand side.
All the questions listed under the specific section when building the questionnaire will be included in the specific section. You will be able to see the sections that you have created on the side of the questionnaire.
When a section is created, the person answering the questionnaire will be able to answer all the questions in the specific section and will be prompted to click “next” to access the following section, in this way the questionnaire is divided into several parts.
Required fields
Questions can be made mandatory by clicking the “Required” box below the question type box.
Default values
Insert default values in any input text fields within the questionnaire. A default value will be dropped into the document if a user leaves the relevant text field blank when answering the questionnaire
Reordering the questionnaire
Questions can be easily reordered by pressing the Compress toggle button and dragging each question using the left-hand bar next to each attribute in the questionnaire.
To re-arrange a group of questions in the questionnaire select the tick boxes of the relevant questions and then you can drag and drop them as necessary.
