If Q&A is desired on a project, it must be enabled and configured by a Project Admin using the Q&A Setup feature.

To open Q&A Setup

1. Access the Q&A tab.
2. Click Setup Q&A.

Upon accessing Q&A Settings, the project admin is presented with an 'Overview' page. Watch the 'Q&A Setup Overview' for a brief presentation detailing the steps for Q&A configuration.

 

• To view the video in a larger format, click the 'Fullscreen' icon located in the lower right corner of the video pane.
• To return from Fullscreen, press the Esc (Escape) button on your keyboard.

 

The Q&A tab becomes visible to reviewers (Question Team members) upon completion of the Q&A setup process.

 

The setup process requires configuration/execution of each of the four components below. Click into Q&A Teams on the overview page to begin. Use the Next button to proceed through the setup sequence, or access each individual component at any time from the overview page when making edits or updates. Edits to the existing configuration are auto-saved.

 

• Q&A Teams
• Categories
• Workflow
• Launch Q&A

 

Note: Don't forget the last step above. Once configured, Q&A must be launched before it displays to your question teams. After initial setup, the Q&A configuration area can be updated at any time.

 

From within any Q&A screen, click Q&A Settings located to the upper right.

Q&A Teams

Q&A Teams are created to establish groups of users who can ask and answer questions. Teams consist of a single Answer Team, and as many Question Teams as are desired.

 

Answer Team

In this step, admins select the team of users responsible for answering questions. This team will likely consist of Project Admins, but any user from the project can be chosen.

 

• Team members can be selected and deselected by clicking the checkbox associated with each team member.
• Only one answer team can be created.
• The 'Role' column options are All, Project Admin, and a list of reviewer roles previously created in the Permissions tab. Note: Only populated roles display; roles with no users are not shown.
• Answer team members, except for Project Admins, can be restricted to View Only. They are only able to observe and can't affect the Q&A process.

To add or remove Answer Team members

1. Select Answer Team.
2. Click Add/Remove Team Members.
3. Select or deselect team members as desired via checkbox.
4. Scroll down and Save.

Alternately, remove a team member by hovering over a team member. Click the minus icon that appears and confirm by clicking Remove.

Question Teams

Here admins create question teams. Reviewers or admins can be chosen.

 

• A default Question Team is created.
• As many question teams as desired can be added. New teams can be created by clicking Create new question team.
• Question team members are chosen by clicking the checkbox associated with the desired team members within the Add/remove Team Members area.
• The 'Role' column options are 'All', and a list of reviewer roles previously created in the Permissions tab. Note: Only populated roles display; roles with no users are not shown.
• Question teams can only see questions within their own team.
• A single reviewer or admin may only occupy one Question Team at a time.
• Question limits are set at 100 per team by default, but this number can be changed by entering a new number into the associated field. Priority question submissions allowed can also be set; priority question values count against the number of total questions allowed.
• The question limit is visible to Question Team members. Once the limit has been reached, questions can be saved, but not submitted.
• Select Off under Question Submission to allow a team maintain access to their Q&A history, but remove the ability to submit additional questions to the Answer Team.
• Delete a team to remove all access to Q&A. The tab will no longer appear for team members.

Categories

 

Categories help organize questions submitted. They can be created and deleted within the Categories tab.

 

• Default categories include Finance, General, HR, IT, Legal, and Tax.
• To create additional categories, enter them in the Add new categories field and click Create Categories. Use commas or line breaks to separate categories. Multi-word names are supported.
• To rename a category, select the category and enter the new name.
• To delete a category, click the trash icon associated with the question category.

Categories are important for the final step of creating your workflow(s). They can be used to route questions to the proper subject matter experts. Example categories might include HR, Legal, Accounting, General, Real Estate, etc.

 

Categories can be changed at any time as long as the question answer thread is still open, using the 'Category' dropdown menu at the upper left of a question dialog box.

Workflow

Understanding Workflow

In the Workflow tab, you create Workflow Groups. Each group is comprised of team members relevant to a specific portion of the question-answering process. Individual Answer team members can be assigned to as many Workflow Groups as desired.

 

Each Workflow Group acts as a step or 'gate' in the answer process. Once the answer has passed through each 'gate' the answer is submitted back to the Question Team.

 

• Answer team members assigned to all workflow groups within a workflow can submit answers to the Question team at any point in the process, without the need to pass through all workflow gates.
• Members assigned to one, or some (but not all) workflow groups in a workflow, can submit questions to the next workflow level only.

For example, a basic set of Workflow Groups might consist of the following:

 

• Answer Team - Comprised of all Answer team members.
• Approval Team - Comprised of one or two Answer team members responsible for final answer review and submission back to Question Teams.

 

In the scenario above, a submitted question can be first addressed by anyone on the Answer Team. The answer is then submitted to a smaller Approval Team for final review.

 

• Unlimited Workflow Groups can be created as needed.
• Workflow Groups assigned to a workflow are often chosen based on the Categories designated for the workflow.

To create a workflow group

 

1. Click New Workflow Group located at the bottom of the Workflow Groups sidebar.
2. Enter a Workflow Group Name.
3. Select desired group members via checkbox.
4. Click Save.

Answer Team Workflow

Select the Answer Team button on the left to designate workflow for the team.

 

A default workflow appears. All available Categories are initially assigned to your default Workflow.

 

This workflow can be changed by:

 

1. Moving your cursor into the panel and selecting the Edit option that appears.
2. Adding or removing Workflow Groups:

• • To remove a group, hover over the associated group card and click the 'X' that appears.
  • To add a group, click the '+' icon in the empty pane furthest right and select from available options.

3. Click Done.

 

Available Categories cannot be altered unless assigned to a Custom Workflow.

 

Custom Workflows

You can create as many workflows as you'd like based on the Categories available using Custom Workflows. Custom Workflows can assist in targeting specific subject matter experts, or funneling sensitive questions to a designated answer group. For example, if you have a 'Human Resources' Category, you might want to create a workflow to specifically address HR questions.

 

To create a custom workflow

1. Select +New Custom Workflow.
2. Name your custom workflow. This name can be changed at any time by clicking the associated Edit button.
3. Select one or more Categories. Note that an individual Category can belong to one workflow only. Creating Custom Workflows removes Categories from your default workflow.
4. Select Workflow Groups.
5. Click Done.

Question Team Workflows

 

Don't forget to also set up your Question Team workflows.

 

Select the desired Question Team on the left to begin. Question Team standard and custom workflows are created following the same process you used to configure Answer Team workflows - default and custom - shown above.

Launch Q&A

Once Q&A is configured as desired, your last step is to make the tool available for interaction from your question teams by launching Q&A. To do this:

 

1. Go to the Q&A tab.
2. Click Setup Q&A.
3. Click the green Launch Q&A button.

That's it! Your Q&A interface is now available for use.