Publishing Electronic Results
August 2003
Introduction
Gone are the days of sending paper-based reports by post. Clients and colleagues want and expect to see professionally published, up-to-date results immediately no matter where they are in the world.
Snap has responded to the needs of this new, fast-moving, paperless breed by offering a number of different methods for publishing results electronically. In this article we begin by reviewing the many benefits of publishing results electronically. We then describe the various methods available for doing so directly from Snap.
Benefits
The key benefits of publishing results electronically are that it is faster, cheaper and easier to share information than the alternative of using traditional paper reports. The only real downside is that, of course, those intending to view the publications must have access to an appropriate computer. But in the modern office, and increasingly, home environment, that is not a handicap at all.
Fast response to changing results
Have you ever wanted to send fast, regular and cost-effective updates to clients/colleagues?
Whenever new responses are either imported or input into the survey, the results will change. Many clients wish to have regular result updates throughout the duration of the project, which will enable them to make decisions regarding the number and type of responses required for valid and reliable analysis.
It would be very costly and time-consuming to produce a paper report every time the client requires an update of the survey results. Using any of the methods in Snap for electronic publishing, clients can see the most up-to-date results at the click of the button regularly throughout the project.
Lower costs involved when producing large volumes
When working on a research project is there often more than one contact on the client side?
Keeping the whole team up-to-date on the projects progress can prove to be a very complicated process if you are sending letters and paper reports to each member of that team, that may not be in the same office or even country.
Publishing electronic results through any of the methods in Snap is a very simple process and costs virtually nothing when comparing this to multiple hard copies.
Concurrent viewing
When using Snap's electronic publishing methods there is also the convenience of concurrent viewing. If electronic results are published clients and colleagues can view them at the same time from different locations around the world. If one person is viewing the results it doesn't impede another's viewing. Paper reports allow one person to view at any given time. A solution to this is to print multiple reports, which in turn increases the costs.
Lower costs involved when working with global clients
Electronic results can be sent around the world by e-mail for virtually nothing, compared to posting large reports overseas.
Results are easier to navigate
How many times have you had to flick through pages and pages of a paper report to find the section that you are interested in?
Properly indexed electronic results produced using Snap can be easier to navigate than paper equivalents. Electronic results enable you to jump to the section of your choice at the click of a button - no more time wasted wading through pages.
Methods of publishing results electronically
In this section we consider the methods available within Snap to publish results electronically. Each method we discuss has particular strengths and it is essential to reflect on these before making a choice for any particular application.
Snap E-Results Viewer
The E-Results Viewer is a new feature within Snap 7 that makes the sharing of information possible. Along with the new Analysis Notes option, they enable you to prepare charts and tables with annotated notes and e-mail the results as an electronic file to clients or colleagues.
All that needs to be done is to create a batch run of the results required. Each table or chart in the batch can have rich-text notes attached. The notes could be used for giving an explanation of the results to a client, or they could be used for comments or questions for colleagues. As with elements of questionnaire design, the notes field can be fully formatted and can include embedded images and fields substituted from the corresponding table or chart.
Once a batch is set up and the notes have been written, it is ready for execution. In addition to existing options for output to printer or export, there is a new option of output as E-Results The E-Results can be saved to a specified location and viewed immediately after execution. In order to view the E-Results, users need the E-Results program. It is incorporated into Snap 7 and may be freely distributed to colleagues and clients.
The E-Results Viewer has an index on the left-hand side that identifies the charts and tables that are included in the open file. The main body of the window is the chart/table with the optional notes at the bottom.
There are many different ways of viewing the E-Results Viewer window. One option is as a slideshow, as in PowerPoint with the Notes window being optional. The arrows in the tool bar enable you to go forward and back.
The tables and charts in the E-Results Viewer are completely compatible with all Microsoft Office software.
To download the E-Results Viewer click here
HTML files
Using html files allows results to be viewed directly on an Internet or intranet website. The publication process is very similar to that used to produce E-Results output: a batch is created of the results required and when executed, output is directed to export in HTML format.
There are speciality html style templates already set up in Snap that make the selection of designs and layouts simple. As an alternative, specialized table and chart styles may be created to compliment company colours.
By setting the batch indexing option to 'on', Snap will automatically generate an extra contents page which includes hyper-links to the appropriate individual table and charts. Viewers of the output are thus able to navigate quickly to the results they want to see. As with publication of E-Results, the rich-text notes field can be completed for each table or chart in the batch with commentary or general notes for the viewer.
When you come to executing the batch, the Export option is chosen in the Output window. Batch Tailoring enables you to choose the web format (html) option in the Export file type drop down box. Clicking on the File details button enables you to specify where the html pages are to be saved. Once the batch has been executed the html pages are saved in the designated folder. These can then be sent to clients/colleagues for viewing as they are or uploaded onto an Internet or intranet website. Viewers can then be informed of their whereabouts and view the results as and when they wish.
John Simmonds from Deloitte & Touche, one of the worlds leading professional services organization, with assistance from our Research team, set up an online survey with the aim of helping clients understand how much it cost them to manage their company's pension schemes and to compare to one-another. The results were published as html files for a number of reasons:
- To save time and money by cutting back on administration
- To save issuing reams of paper
- To enable participants to download and manipulate data for their own purposes
- To enable the survey results to be shared widely to participating companies, without producing multiple hard copies
Participating companies were sent an e-mail or letter with the weblink for the html pages of results to view at their own leisure. www.deloitte.com
PDF format
When printing results in PDF you require an Adobe Acrobat reader which is free from www.adobe.com. A PDF printer driver is also needed which typically costs from $49.95 (£31.40) and is available from www.pdfwizard.com
The printer driver behaves as if it were a physical printer. The only difference is that it actually generates files as output, not a stack of paper. So for preparing a PDF of an analysis report, simply set up an appropriate batch run (as with the other methods) but direct the output to the Printer and select the installed PDF driver as the printer to use.
Checking the Contact Sheet option allows for the specification of the number of tables or charts to be presented on each page. Other page configuration options will work exactly as if the output was going to paper from a printer. For example, the options to insert images, survey fields and date/time fields and other texts into the headers and footers of the document are all available through this method of publication. All of the header/footer texts can be tailored individually in terms of font size and style.
A particular benefit of using a PDF printer driver is that it can be used to publish any of Snap's reports electronically. So it is possible to send draft images of paper questionnaires to colleagues and clients. Producing a copy of the questionnaire showing counts as numbers or percents couldn't be easier - simply open the questionnaire window in the normal way, click on the 'data mode' button, select the appropriate analysis required and then print the resultant questionnaire. With the option to filter cases in this mode as well the questionnaire analysis report can be a very effective way of presenting topline results electronically.
Text files
Publishing text files is a quick and simple method of sending results to clients or colleagues when they may not have Snap.
Once again a batch is set up as normal of the tables required. Notes can be applied to each instruction within the batch in the form of rich text, either as analysis or comments for clients/colleagues to read. Again there is the option of inserting images, survey fields, html fields and analysis fields.
Set the output to be directed to Export and choose the appropriate format for the files required. For example, to produce text files suitable for importing into Excel, choose the CSV format. Finally, identify a folder location for the output.
Conclusion
This article has given some insight into the reasons behind the move towards publishing results electronically. We have briefly described each of the simple and quick methods available in Snap for communicating results electronically with clients and colleagues around the globe.
As the field develops and new techniques become available, you can be sure that future versions of Snap software will incorporate those advances such that they become a natural extension of current ways of working