Note: This blog post references an early version of SurveyCTO Collect for Android which is now available from the Google Play Store. Please see this blog post to learn more and download the latest version here.
Since our last product roadmap update in January, much has changed. In March, we essentially chucked out our existing 2020 plans and refocused our efforts on helping users collect high-quality data in a world gripped by pandemic (read our full response to COVID-19 here). Initially, this meant:
- Rushing new flexibility into users’ hands, to help them adapt their work as effectively as possible (like plug-ins).
- Rushing new resources into users’ hands, to help them adapt their work as quickly as possible (like the CATI starter kit for phone surveys).
- Ramping up our daily engagement with users, to learn as rapidly as possible how else we can help.
From here, we plan to release a series of rolling updates, roughly every 1-3 weeks, to get new functionality and resources into users’ hands as quickly and efficiently as possible. These updates will be available to all users running our latest SurveyCTO release (2.70), though most will be initially focused on improvements in SurveyCTO Collect for Android. We will initially release new Android-side functionality in early releases, where users can opt-in by directly installing the early release version via a public URL. The latest early release version of SurveyCTO Collect for Android is available now for users to install. We will also periodically release updates to the production version in the Google Play Store, but we will do that less frequently.
Most of the improvements in our initial updates are meant to help projects adapting to changing needs, including switching to CATI. For now, this is how our roadmap has been shaping up:
- Improve audio and other forms of auditing to record both sides of calls and event logs of all call activity for CATI applications (in the early release version).
- Improve automatic download and installation for dataset and form updates, to smooth workflows for CATI and other case-management applications (also in the early release version).
- Improve options for security of the app and the data it houses (targeted specifically for remotely-managed and unmanaged devices).
- Improve options for getting devices quickly set up with the correct settings, datasets, and forms (targeted specifically for remotely-managed and unmanaged devices).
- Embed the full capabilities of a phone app within SurveyCTO Collect (making, receiving, and managing phone calls).
- Improve support for web surveys (in particular, making the full interface translatable into respondent languages).
- Improve options for remote training and accompaniment (e.g., making use of the new phone-app capabilities, embedding training materials in form designs, and potentially integrating Internet conferencing capabilities).
Although this is our roadmap today, we’re remaining as fluid and responsive to user needs as possible. We greatly appreciate all of the feedback we’ve been getting from users, and will continue to do our best to course-correct as we go. Thank you, in advance, for all of your feedback and support.
