Tivian - known for its survey software EFS, formerly Questback and before that GlobalPark - is a dedicated survey system in SurveyTester. A project set to Tivian (or to Automatic) recognises an EFS survey the moment the browser extension opens it: every page with its questions, answer options, matrix rows and text fields, and the end page. From there everything else in SurveyTester works as usual - Auto Answer, Auto Complete, SurveyBots, test cases, issues and the Pages & Routing overview.
What a Tivian survey looks like to a tester
EFS (Enterprise Feedback Suite) runs on Tivian's servers or on a company's own installation, often under the company's own domain. Every page is a classic web page: the respondent answers, clicks Next (in German surveys Weiter) and the server sends the next page. If an answer is missing or invalid, the same page comes back with an error box on top. SurveyTester recognises EFS by the survey page itself, not by its address, so own domains work as well.
Why this is hard to test without SurveyTester
- Long questionnaires, many paths. EFS surveys are often long and branch heavily. Walking every path by hand takes hours; SurveyBots do it in parallel and record every page.
- Matrices with mixed cells. An EFS matrix can hold radio buttons, drop-down lists, text or number fields in its cells. SurveyTester reads each cell type and answers it accordingly.
- Several widgets for the same answer. Rankings and sliders are drawn as interactive widgets on top of simple form fields. SurveyTester answers the form fields behind them, so the result is the same as a respondent's.
Supported question types
| Tivian question type | How SurveyTester records it |
|---|---|
| Single response list (vertical or horizontal) | One option is chosen. |
| Multiple response list | Several options are ticked. |
| Option with an "Other" text field | The option and its text field are recorded together. |
| Drop-down list | One entry of the list is chosen. |
| Text field (single row) and text area | A fitting text is entered. |
| Matrix with radio buttons | Every row is answered with one scale point. |
| Matrix with drop-down lists, text or number fields | Every row gets its list entry, its text or a number. |
| Ranking | Every item gets a rank from its list. |
| Slider | The slider is set to a point on its scale. |
| Text and information pages | Recorded as information without an answer. |
Errors and end page
- Error messages. When EFS refuses a page, the text of its error box is stored as the error of the page and shows up in the test run and in issues.
- End page. The final page - a page without Next and Back - is recorded as the last step of the run. Complete, screenout and quota outcomes are configured as for any other survey system, with survey end page identifiers on the project. See Survey end pages.
Step by step
- Create the project. Choose Tivian as the survey system, or leave it at Automatic - the survey is recognised either way. Paste the survey link.
- Start a test run from the project with the SurveyTester browser extension, or let SurveyBots run the survey. The SurveyTester bar appears above it, and the first page is recorded as step 1.
- Answer the survey by hand, or press Auto Answer and Auto Next to let SurveyTester fill the page and move on. Each page creates the next step.
- Check the result on the Pages & Routing page: every page appears with its questions, every question with its answer options, rows and scale points.
Good to know
- Names. Pages and questions are named after the internal ids EFS gives its questions, so they stay the same across runs and languages, even when the question text changes.
- Layouts. Support covers EFS's standard question types and layouts. Special question types, heavily customised layouts and surveys with their own JavaScript may not be read completely or answered automatically. If you find a page that SurveyTester does not read correctly, please send it to us.