You are currently viewing New SurveyCTO features: Experience more simplicity with an improved web form interface on mobile devices, a plug-in testing console, and more

As you get rolling on your new projects this year, we’re thrilled to introduce new and exciting SurveyCTO features to give you more simplicity, control, and an improved web surveying experience on mobile devices. These updates and features include a sleeker user interface for web forms on mobile devices, extended web form settings, a field plug-in testing console, new per-team submission limits for multi-team servers, a centralized interface to manage form attachments, and much more. Read on to learn about these new improvements to the platform and how they will enrich your data collection and survey management processes.

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Enjoy a sleeker web surveying interface on mobile devices and use new settings to control the experience 

SurveyCTO web forms on mobile devices.
SurveyCTO web forms on mobile devices.

SurveyCTO web forms have been an important part of the adaptation of data collection methods necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. To provide an even sleeker web surveying experience for enumerators and respondents, the latest platform update includes a redesigned web form interface for both larger screens and mobile devices. The new look features a more intuitive UI, a new background color, and an updated appearance for navigation buttons. For web forms on small screen devices such as mobile devices, the “go to” menu and other options have been neatly organized in a new sidebar for effortless navigation. 

Extended web form settings in the Collect tab of the server console
Extended web form settings in the Collect tab of the server console.

On the server console, you now have even more control over the web survey experience with the new web form settings that will ensure convenience for your enumerators and respondents. In addition to existing settings for configuring anonymous access and auto-detection for browser languages, now you can also configure non-linear navigation options, group name display options, and default width options. Additional configuration options include the “start over” button, login options, and swipe navigation. These new settings are available in the form settings panel for each form in the web data collection section of the Collect tab. To learn more about these settings, read this documentation.

Conveniently update and test plug-in code changes in the new field plug-in testing console

SurveyCTO’s new field plug-in console on the test view of the online form designer.
SurveyCTO’s new field plug-in console on the test view of the online form designer.

SurveyCTO’s field plug-in functionality provides a powerful way to transform and extend the way survey fields look and perform. To help you extensively test the field plug-ins you have on your forms, SurveyCTO introduces the new field plug-in console within the test view of the online form designer. The plug-in console enables you to view details about the plug-in, view current values, and preview changes to the code which can be quickly made in the three boxes corresponding to the HTML, CSS, and JS core files of each plug-in. The plug-in console is conveniently accessed by clicking the “</>” icon on the left of the test view for any field that uses a field plug-in. See this product documentation article to further explore the plug-in testing console.

Transparently control submissions for multi-teams

Setting per-team submission limits and adding team contacts in the Configure tab.
Setting per-team submission limits and adding team contacts in the Configure tab. 

SurveyCTO is making it easier to seamlessly manage each team’s usage by introducing a new option to set monthly, per-team submission limits. By default, each team gets 10,000 submissions a month which can be shared with other teams on a multi-team server, and now you can adjust each team’s submission allowance according to need. Through these per-team allowances, you can keep teams accountable and ensure that teams do not exceed their allocated submissions for auditing reasons, and closely track usage in SurveyCTO usage reports. This makes it more convenient to distribute submissions in line with budget and funding allocations. In addition to free submissions, any purchases of extra submission credits will now be easier to restrict to the appropriate teams. Global account administrators can also add team contacts that will be notified when their team nears the configured submission limits. Check out the product documentation and this new support article to learn more.  

Centrally manage form attachments with an improved interface

The manage attachments interface in form settings.

Form attachments such as plug-ins, images, audio files, and server datasets enrich the performance of surveys and the survey experience for enumerators and respondents. And now SurveyCTO is centralizing your form attachments in the online form designer with a new manage attachments interface. This update will simplify the process of adding and managing attachments when designing and updating your forms. The interface is accessible under form settings and it is from here that you will see all attachments for your form, as well as handily add or remove attachments all from this centralized location. Visit the product documentation to learn more. 

Explore more updates and improvements

In addition to these exciting highlights, the latest version of SurveyCTO also includes pagination in the manage cases page for lists containing more than 1,000 cases, new web form translation table terms for the manage cases screen, and a new server diagnostic information page (available at servername.surveycto.com/health.html) for quick server troubleshooting. To learn all about these updates, please see our now simplified release notes.  

Have any questions or feedback? Email us at info@surveycto.com, we’d love to hear from you. If you’re a SurveyCTO user and need any help, our support team is available 24×7. Go to the Support Center and click on the link to “Submit a support request.” No question is too small.

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Lindo Simelane

Digital Analytics Associate

Lindo is a part of the marketing team at Dobility, the company that powers SurveyCTO. He is responsible for all aspects of data management and analytics for SurveyCTO’s website, social media, and other marketing efforts.

Lindo has a passion for research to inform policy in international development and economics. He has extensive experience in the ICT4D space that includes research work, and a background in international business and finance.