Respondent Data

When the Source Type (go to Source Types for more information) is set to Respondent Data in the General tab (go to General Overview for more information), the Target tab will be as shown in the figure below here.

Figure 1 - The Target tab when Respondent Data is selected

Note: The number of variables that can be copied is limited by the maximum size of the Respondent table (it can contain no more than 1024 columns).

• Project ID – type in here or select the project ID of the target.
• CATI scheduling - respondent data being loaded into a CATI-enabled project can have one of the following scheduling modes applied:
• Simple scheduling – this will by default create a call without an assignment with a time to call of now. The following respondent data can adjust the call created:
• CatiInterviewerID – will assign the call to the specified group/interviewer ID, a blank (or invalid) value will result in no explicit assignment being made.
• CatiCallTime – will assign the date and time to call based on the respondent timezone or the local company timezone if no timezone is specified, defaulting to the company local timezone, a blank (or invalid) value will result in the time to call to be set to now. An example value could be: 2001-03-14 13:30
• CatiExtendedStatus – will assign the extended status to that value, a blank (or invalid) value will result in the extended status being set to be Fresh Sample (16). Values other than 16 will not have a call created for them.
• DialMode – will assign the call to be dialed with the given dial mode. (e.g. 2 for Preview).
• Full scheduling – this will run all respondent data through the full scheduling engine and adhere to all calling rules. This mode should be used if advanced scheduling is required at the respondent loading time. Note that the DP rule’s specified Execution Mode (see below the blue Note for descriptions) determines which scheduling rule(s) within the target survey’s scheduling script are run.
• When Update Data is selected, only scheduling rule(s) that do have a Description ‘UpdateSample’ will be run.
• When Append Data is selected, all scheduling rules that don’t have a Description ‘UpdateSample’ will be run.
• When Merge Data is selected, both of the above are run. So if an individual record in the upload file is updated to the survey then only scheduling rule(s) with ‘UpdateSample’ will be executed, and if the record is appended then non-UpdateSample scheduling rules will be executed.

Note: The functionality will only create new CATI calls in the target project based on the sample variables being pulled across from the source. That is, it will not copy across existing CATI calls from source to target. Also, Call History values will not be pulled across because loops are not supported in the respondent db.

• Execution Mode - this property is available except when the Source is set to either Respondent Data or Survey Database and the same project is selected as both Source and Target. When the property is available you can choose between three modes, listed below. In all the modes the user will be asked to provide a key (see Key field below).

• Update Data - records from the source will update any matching records in the target database. The selected key field will be used to match records from the source to records in the target database. Any records in the source database that do not match the selected key fields in the target will be ignored.
• Append Data - the records from the source will be added to any data that already exists in the target database. If a key field is selected, and there is a match in the key field between data in the source and the target, that data will not be added again. If there is no key field selected, the records of the source database will be appended each time to the target database.
• Merge data - a combination of updating and appending of records will be executed. The selected key field will be used to match records from the source to records in the target database. Records from the source database will update matching records in the target, and any records not matching the selected key field will be appended.
• Key field - appears when Execution Mode is available. The key field must exist in the source and the target, and is used as a unique identifier to indicate which records are to be updated and which are to be appended. You may choose as the key field any survey variable that has a unique value for each respondent. Typical key fields can be an email address or a customer number, though if a field "Email" exists in the Source and Target this will be set as default.

When updating respondents in the target database, the key “Source Project ID\Resp ID” can be used. If you have already transferred response data, then you are recommended to use the Source Project ID\Resp ID as the system will already have stored the source keys in the target database and will use those keys when mapping respondents. Note that if you wish to update respondents and you do not have a usable key field available, then the Source Project ID\Resp ID option must be used.

• Map Fields - use this to map fields/columns with different names in source and target, from the source to the Forsta Survey Database (go to Mapping Fields for more information).

Note that the Map Fields overlay layout is different when Target Respondent > Toggle Key Field does not exist and is not required, since in this scenario the key field specified in the drop-down list in the Target tab of a Data Processing rule will be automatically set as key field