Inviting contributors to an assessment

Who this is for. The person convening an assessment: an Assessor or an administrator, the roles that hold the Assess edit permission.

Where you are standing. You have a framework loaded and ready, and several people who know the answers but who will not otherwise use Works.

What you arrived wanting. Each section answered by the person who owns it, without asking any of them to create an account or learn the product.

What done looks like. Each contributor has a link in their inbox; the assessment lists who owns which section; and the assessment page shows you, as scores arrive, who has not yet responded and who has finished.

For how the link behaves and what it allows, read how a contributor link works.

Before you start

• Your instance’s licence includes Assess, and at least one framework is ready to assess against. A framework with no scale or no sections is listed as not yet ready and cannot be chosen.
• Each contributor is already a person on the plan with an email address. If someone is missing, you can add them during step 3, but only if you hold the permission to manage people and access. Otherwise ask an administrator.
• Your instance can send email. Without an email provider the link is created but nothing reaches the contributor; see known limits.

Invite contributors

1. Open Assess, then Start an assessment. The page shows four steps: choose the framework, name the assessment, who answers what, send the invitations.

2. Choose the framework and select Continue.

3. Name the assessment. Give it a name you would be content to see quoted in a board paper, and set Assessed as at to the date the assessment is about. Under What a contributor can see, choose Only the sections assigned to them or The whole assessment. Select Create it and choose contributors.

   The assessment now exists, as a draft, before anyone has been invited.

4. Who answers what. Each section of the framework has a Who answers selector listing the people on the plan with their email addresses. Choose the owner of each section, or leave it at Nobody yet. A section nobody owns is shown as unowned, which is a different problem from one that has been left unanswered.

   If the person is not listed, use Somebody not on this list? to add them with a name and email address. This creates a person on the plan and not a login.

5. Select Save who answers what, and invite them. Assigning a section makes its owner a named contributor on the assessment in the same step, so there is no separate list to maintain. To invite nobody yet, use the skip button instead; you can return to the assessment later.

6. Send the invitations. One row appears for each person who owns at least one section, showing their sections and email address. Select Send the link against each person. The row then shows Invited and the address the link was sent to. A person with nothing assigned cannot be sent a link: the product asks you to assign at least one section first. The link can be opened again until the person presses I’m finished, and it lapses after 7 days unused.

7. Select Open the assessment to see the assessment itself.

What the contributor does

The contributor receives an email saying they have been asked to complete their sections of the named assessment. It tells them they can open the link again until they press I’m finished, that it closes after 7 days unused, and that it should not be forwarded.

1. They open the link. There is no sign-in and no password.
2. They land on My sections, which lists only the sections assigned to them (or the whole assessment, if you chose that visibility, with their own sections editable and the rest read-only).
3. For each section they choose Your score from the framework’s own scale and may add a sentence under Why (optional).
4. They select Save this one. Saved. confirms each score as it lands.

Each opening gives them one hour. They can close the page, come back to the same link on another day and carry on; their saved scores are kept.

When they have answered what they can, they select I’m finished under “Done for now?”. A confirmation, Finish this assessment?, says how many sections they have scored and lists any left blank. Selecting Finish and lock my scores locks their scores and ends their link. You and whoever sent the link are told in the product and by email. Blanks are allowed.

Following progress

Open the assessment and look at Progress. It shows how many assigned sections are scored, and a breakdown by owner. Who has not responded lists each assigned section that has no score yet, with the person or role who owns it. Unowned sections are not in that list; they appear instead as a count of nodes not yet owned by anyone.

Under Participants you can see who is named on the assessment, add or remove participants, and change Contributor visibility afterwards. Under Contributors each person with a link shows Working or Finished, with the date they finished or when they last opened their link, or “Link not opened yet”.

If a contributor needs to come back

While they are working, the same link keeps opening, so nothing needs doing. If it has lapsed (7 days unused) or been withdrawn:

1. Go to Admin, then Invitations.
2. Under Issue a link, set What the link is for to Complete assessment sections, choose the assessment and the person, and select Issue the link.

Issuing a new link withdraws the earlier one. Under Links issued you can see every link with its state (Outstanding, Finished, Withdrawn or Expired) and, while one is outstanding, Withdraw it.

If a contributor has finished and more is needed

On the assessment page, under Contributors, select Reopen and send a new link against the person. Their scores unlock and a new link is emailed. The product will not issue a link to a person who has finished until you reopen them. Reopening is available while the assessment is a draft or in review; once it is baselined, nobody can score it.

Scores already saved are kept; a new link continues where the contributor left off.

Known limits

• There are no automatic reminders. You see Last opened and who has not finished, and use Send again or Admin, Invitations.
• Baselining ends every outstanding link. A contributor who has not finished cannot score once the assessment is baselined; the finish records stay.
• The start flow says “Link sent” without checking. If your instance has no email provider configured, the link is created and the row still reads Invited, but nothing is delivered. Admin, Invitations states this before you issue anything; check it there first.
• The start flow only invites people assigned during the flow. Someone you assign later, from the assessment page, becomes a named contributor but is not emailed; use Admin, Invitations to send them a link.
• You cannot copy the link. This is by design; use Send again or issue a new link.
• A person without an email address cannot be invited. Add one to their record first. If you do not manage logins, the picker says “no email address” against such a person rather than showing an address.