Citizen Space Release Notes
Release Notes: Citizen Space v1.16.1 - released 12th March 2014
Jess Henderson - May 16, 2019 11:28
This latest release of Citizen Space includes lots of small but useful improvements in response to customer requests. It's always exciting shipping big features such as Skip Logic (released January 2014), but some of our happiest customer feedback comes in response to seemingly small additions, like the option to edit previously hard-coded pieces of text, or the ability to preview consultations without having a Citizen Space login. So in keeping with that theme, here's what we have for you in Citizen Space 1.16.1.
Editable Fact Bank Headings
Fact banks are areas of content in an online survey that are collapsed (hidden from view) by default, but can be expanded by the respondent to show more information, images and embedded content. The heading of the Fact Bank remains visible when the rest of the content is collapsed, and in the past this was hard-coded to say 'Related Information'. It's now possible to customise this text so that you can be more specific about what's contained within the Fact Bank, for example 'View the proposed site plan' or 'Read page 4 of the consultation document'. For more information, check out our Knowledge Base article about Fact Banks.
Editable Call To Action text
In November 2013 we made it possible for administrators to edit the 'Online Survey' link in the main 'Call To Action' box on the consultation overview page. As an extension of that work, we've now made it possible to edit the 'Give Us Your Views' heading as well. This makes it easier to present your consultation in the best way for your audience. Our Knowledge Base article explains how to edit the Call To Action text.
Screenshot of the 'Call To Action' box on the consultation overview page
New mapping component
For the past few months, some of our customers have been pioneering our exciting new mapping component. This component allows respondents to place items on a map or image as part of their online survey response and it's now available to all customers. If you would like to give mapping a try please contact your Account Manager and we will help you get it up and running. You can check out a demo of the mapping component at https://www.citizenspace.com/demo/planning/example_mapping_consultation.
Additions to CSV Exports and RSS Feeds
When exporting a list of consultations as a CSV file (from either the Manage Consultations or front-end Find Consultations pages) the CSV file now includes the name of the consultation's department.
Similarly, the RSS feed of consultations now contains the department name as its own <category> tag. Other fields in the RSS feed are unchanged.
Simpler Response Filtering
Online surveys include several administrator pages where you can narrow down the responses shown based on answers to questions. These include the 'Responses by Respondent' and 'Responses by Question' pages. We have improved the filtering controls on these pages so that they are easier to use and cleaner in appearance. Specifically:
Filters are now added by selecting a whole question from a dropdown list rather than a specific answer component.
Pressing Enter when adding a filter no longer clears the existing filters.
The dropdown list now uses the standard browser form control so its look and feel is more familiar to users.
Performance Improvements to Responses By Question page
In the past the front page of 'Responses By Question' has been slow to load for consultations with large numbers of responses (in the range of 10,000 or more). We have made a number of optimisations to this page and it should now load a lot more quickly.
We also fixed a few small issues that have been reported by you or found by us:
Admin navigation was being shown when viewing consultations in Preview mode, causing confusion. This has now been removed.
Unpredictable ordering of uploaded files in the Results section of the consultation overview page. Results files are now listed chronologically by upload date.
The 'Required' label was missing on some answer components in admin views.
Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group have been asking stakeholders to register their interest in joining their patient panel via Citizen Space. Using an online survey and our recently-released editable Call To Action text (see above), Stockport CCG can clearly ask residents to "apply to join the patient panel".
The registration form is also a featured consultation on Stockport CCG's Citizen Space, which lets them highlight the opportunity to interested patients. Stockport, we salute you!
Citizen Space training
We recently ran a consultation for customers who have received Citizen Space training, and were delighted that 98.5% of respondents would recommend our training to others. In response to the feedback we received, we now have three training courses available that cover everything from managing consultations to best practice consultation design. Here's some more information about our new training programmes.
We can also provide tailored support and training for specific features via conference calls.
Budget Simulator
We know that many of you will be planning your budget consultations soon, so we thought that now would be a good time to draw your attention to one of our other apps. Budget Simulator helps illustrate the difficult decisions that need to be made when allocating spending, and gives insight into citizens' priorities for the upcoming budget period.
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