BBIS Surveys – simple to set up and they might be just what you’re looking for

If you’re a BBIS (Blackbaud Internet Solutions™) user and haven’t discovered the Survey part yet, I would encourage you to take a look – let your imagination wander and think outside the box – they lend themselves to being used for a variety of data collection tasks, not just what we commonly think of when someone mentions the word “survey”.

They could be used as an Event RSVP tool for example. While they don’t accept money, the survey could help you collect information as to attendance and preferences. Or perhaps you’re thinking of running in-house training sessions, you could use a BBIS survey to collect class registration data. Or how about using one to collect the list of email communications your readers want to receive? Surveys don’t have to be long, they can be as simple as 1 or 2 questions. BBIS collects the survey answers in a spreadsheet or pdf format; information wouldn’t drop directly into your event, but if all you need is a head count, or answers to questions, the survey tool may work for you.

Surveys are built from Survey Parts, so you’ll find them in the Site explorer area.

There are a few admin items you need to work through to get started with the design work, like entering a Title and Subtitle, deciding if you want to make changes to the text that appears on the buttons (Submit, Next and Previous), and also adding a message for the survey respondent confirming the submission of the form. And then you can get on with creating questions.

To add survey questions, click the New question button, and then choose the Type of question you wish to work with. As you can see from the screenshot there’s a varied selection of question types for you to choose from. Once you’ve made your selection the question window will change its format to match the question type you choose, all of which gives us an easy structure to work with, and the flexibility to produce a robust multi-format questionnaire.

In the example above, an Open-Ended question was selected. The Question text has been entered, and the Answer required check box has been checked.

Once you’ve added the finishing touches to your survey, like editing and re-ordering questions, it’s time to take the part and place it on a page. This will give you a URL you can send to respondents, and then you sit back and watch the answers roll in. When responses arrive, they are easily viewed on screen, exported to a csv file, or viewed and printed as a pdf file, from both the webpage and the survey part.

To actually bring the survey responses into CRM, the user must have been logged into the system when they answered the survey. If you’ve sent the survey to respondents who can do that, navigate to the Web functional area, and click the Manage web transactions button. On the left explorer bar click Download survey responses; the survey data will drop into the survey tab within the individual’s constituent record.

Incidentally, if you’re reading this but are not a BBIS client, if you perhaps use a different software for your survey needs, you might be interested to know that the BrightVine Dataloader will soon be able to import external survey results into CRM – it’s upcoming release functionality that we’re very excited about.

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to check out the survey tool – it’s simple to set up and may be just what you’re looking for. If you are interested in learning more about BBIS tools, please contact us.