Completing a questionnaire assessment

As a respondent, you can complete a questionnaire assessment that the enterprise risk team sent you.

You can choose to copy answers, comments, and attachments from an existing questionnaire assessment to save time. For example, you might want to copy answers if you receive an annual questionnaire and some of your answers from last year are still the same. OpenPages uses an internal ID to match the questions from last year's assessment with questions in the questionnaire you are completing. By matching the IDs, OpenPages ensures that answers, comments, and attachments are copied to the same or similar questions.

You can copy answers into a questionnaire assessment as many times as you want. Each time that you copy answers, you can choose to copy from the same questionnaire assessment or a different one.

About this task

Questions can be in the following formats:

  • Single Choice

    You can choose only one answer from a list that you provide. You can make other questions dependent on the chosen answer.

  • Multiple Choice

    You can choose one or more answers from a list that you provide. You can make other questions dependent on the chosen answers.

  • Short Text

    You can enter up to 252 characters of text. Short text questions have no answer score and are excluded from scoring.

  • Long Text

    You can enter up to 2048 characters of text. Long text questions have no answer score and are excluded from scoring.

  • Table

    You can add up to 30 rows to the table and write up to 50 characters per cell. Table answer questions have no answer score and are excluded from scoring.

If a question is dependent, it is displayed or hidden based on your answer to a previous controlling question. For example, if you answer a controlling question with the answer Yes, the questionnaire displays three more dependent questions about that topic. But if you answer No, the system hides the dependent questions.

Your progress percentage, Compliance Score, and Risk Score are displayed on the Questionnaire Assessment Grid View. These values are continually updated as you work on the questionnaire assessment. The compliance score is the normalized score result of all the questions that you answered so far. A compliance score of 0 means noncompliance and 100 means full compliance. The risk score is the score result. The risk score is not normalized. Risk score is defined by the user and can be, for example, 0 - 100, where 0 means no risk and 100 means high risk, or 0 - 500, where 0 means no risk and 500 means high risk. The reviewer can also see this information.

Anyone who can access a questionnaire assessment can also work on it. More than one respondent can work on one questionnaire assessment.

Procedure

  1. You can open a questionnaire assessment in one of the following ways:
    • Open the email and click the URL. The system opens the questionnaire assessment in a new window. Click Open questionnaire.
    • If email is not configured, click Assessments > Questionnaire assessments. The system displays a list of questionnaire assessments. Click the questionnaire assessment that you want to complete and click the Questionnaire tab.
  2. Optional: If you want to copy answers from another questionnaire assessment, click Copy answers in the left pane.
    1. Optional: If you want to copy attachments or comments, click Select copy options. Select the options that you want.
    2. Optional: If you want to overwrite the existing answers with the copied answers, select Replace existing answers.
    3. Select a questionnaire assessment to copy answers from.
    4. Click Done.
    Each time that you copy answers from another questionnaire assessment, a comment is added to each question with a copied answer. The comment shows when an answer was copied and the name of the questionnaire assessment that it was copied from.
  3. Begin answering questions:
    • You can start in any section or subsection.
    • Work sequentially through questions in a subsection. Questions can be shown or hidden based on your answers.
    • You can change your answers as often as needed until you submit.
    • You can either click Save draft or let the assessment be saved automatically.
    • You can stop and start again as often as needed.
    • You might be able to leave questions unanswered, it depends on how the questionnaire template was defined.
    • You can use the question filter in the navigation panel to control the questions that are displayed. You can choose View all questions, View completed questions, View incomplete questions, or View flagged questions. Starting with version 8.3.0.2, you can also choose View required questions.
    • Click Clear to discard an answer or text you entered and set the question back to its initial state.
    • Click Activity to see who last answered a question and when.
  4. If a question already has an answer, it was copied from the same question on a previous questionnaire assessment for the asset. You can retain the answer or change it. Click Comment to display comments or Attachment to display attachments. You can retain, delete, or change them. The name of the source questionnaire assessment might also be displayed. Whether comments, attachments, and source information are displayed depends on settings when the program was launched.
  5. If comments are enabled for a question, click Comment to add additional information to an answer.
    All questions can have comments and each question can have multiple comments. A comment can be an optional or mandatory part of an answer. If it is mandatory, your answer is marked as incomplete until you add a comment.

    In version 8.3.0.1, the maximum length of a comment is 252 characters. Starting in version 8.3.0.2, the maximum length of a comment is 1000 characters.

    You can copy and paste text into a comment. If you copy the text from another source, it must be in one line without paragraph breaks. Comments cannot be deleted.

  6. If attachments are enabled for a question, click Attachment to add supporting documentation to your answer. All questions can have attachments. An attachment can be an optional or mandatory part of an answer. If it is mandatory, your answer is marked as incomplete and not scored until you add an attachment. You can add a description to an attachment; maximum length is 100 characters. Attachments can be deleted.
  7. When you are finished answering questions, verify that you finished all the questions and that they are complete. You can change your answers. Verify that you added comments and attachments to questions that require them. You can delete attachments and add new ones. If the Questions completed progress indicator shows that there are some questions that you haven't answered, select View incomplete questions in the question filter to display the unanswered questions. Starting with version 8.3.0.2, you can also select View required questions in the question filter to display the required questions.
  8. When the questionnaire assessment is complete, the next steps you take depend on the interface you are using.
    • If you are answering the questionnaire after clicking a link in an email you received, click Submit for Review or Submit and Close. The workflow determines which icon is displayed.

      When you are prompted to confirm the action, click Submit.

    • If you are answering the questionnaire on the Questionnaire tab, click Action. Select the action, either Submit and Close for a 1 Stage questionnaire assessment or Submit for Review for a 2 or 3 Stage questionnaire assessment. When you are prompted to confirm the action, click Submit.
    The system changes the stage to closed for a two-stage lifecycle or to review for a three-stage or four-stage lifecycle. You can still access it but you can no longer edit it.

Results

After you submit a question assessment, what happens next is determined by its workflow. The question assessment can either be closed or move through a review process. If it moves through a review process, a reviewer receives an email (if configured) and reviews it. If they reject it, it is returned to you and you receive an email. Look in the section list for messages about rejected answers. Open the section and find the rejected answers. The reviewer added comments or reasons that explain why your answer was rejected. Make the corrections and resubmit it.