Pulse 2020 Quarter 1 Release Notes

Despite all of the craziness of the last few weeks, there is still a lot of work being done and progress being made to help vulnerable individuals give valuable feedback to those that serve them.

We wanted to make sure we’re highlighting all of the new features to make sure that everyone knows how to make the most of their Pulse kiosks.

Automated support emails

We always hope that nothing goes wrong with our kiosks but occasionally something happens that takes your kiosk offline. In the past, after a few days of your kiosk being offline, you would get a friendly email from one of us mentioning to you that we were seeing some disruptions and with an offer to help you fix it.

From now on these emails are automated inside of the system. You will get a reminder the first day after your kiosk has issues followed by reminders on the fourth day, the eleventh day and once a week after that.

Along with the notifications, you will also get instructions on how to help get your kiosk back up and running in no time.

Even with this automation if you have any issues remember you can still always reach out for help.

User management

Previously in the application, you had to submit a request to add or remove users from a given dashboard. Now you are able to add or remove users yourself as well as change permissions for those users right inside your dashboard.

The process to add a new user to your system was also updated. You may now invite a user by just adding them to the dashboard. If the user does not have an account in the system and account will automatically be created for them and they will be guided through the process of setting up a new password.

Guided access mode setup instructions/reminder

One of the most common mistakes to make when setting up a pulse kiosk is forgetting to put it into guided access mode. This task is easily forgotten. As such we've added features to try and help you remember to put the kiosk into guided access mode upon the resetting of the survey.

Upon the resetting the survey you will get a detailed set of instructions on how to put the kiosk into guided access mode including a video that demonstrates how to do it easily. We hope that this will help eliminate any confusion that might be caused by the guided access mode.

Notification management screen

With the ability to receive new email notifications in the system we need a way for you to be able to manage the notification settings for yourself. As a user, you will be able to unsubscribe from both the weekly email updates and also the off-line emails.

Clicking on the bell icon at the top right-hand corner of the dashboard screen will launch a modal that gives you the option to turn on and off the various notifications that the system will send now and in the future.

Enhanced conditional questions

Pulse surveys have allowed for a conditional follow up question, based on the answers to the previous question, for quite some time. The ability to have multiple follow up questions however was something that was often asked for as it adds a deeper level of customization.

You can now add multiple question paths based on the answers to previous questions. These paths can consist of multiple questions. So, for example, if an individual answers a question: How safe do you feel? With two stars I can now ask a series of follow-up questions (for instance “Is there something that makes you feel unsafe” and “Is there an area you feel unsafe in”) instead of just a single follow up.

API

Our partners have always had the ability to export data via a CSV however a more robust ability to share data via a JSON API has been on our roadmap for a while. We were happy to add the ability for an organization that would like to do some of their own reporting to access the data via a modern access point.

For direction on how to access the API please contact the Pulse team and we’ll help you get connected.

Automated Tests

While not something that is easily visible, we’ve spent time covering our application with automated tests that improve the quality and stability of the application.

These tests check to make sure that the basic functionality of the application run well no matter what changes are made.