Many organizations poll their customers, suppliers, contractors, and employees in an attempt to determine how well the organization might be performing from the viewpoint of these entities. For instance, many merchants poll their customer base in an attempt to determine how well the organization fills orders, meets delivery deadlines, competes in terms of price, etc. Similarly, organizations some times poll their suppliers and contractors in an attempt to determine how clear their instructions are, how streamlined their procedures are, how adequate their payment methods are, etc. Likewise, employers often poll their workforce in an attempt to determine how satisfied the employees are, how well the human resource policies are implemented, and the like.
In many of these cases, the polling is done in a continuous manner. To conduct a continuous poll (such as a customer satisfaction survey or an employee “360” review) an organization sends out a survey to a number of potential respondents at a pre-determined frequency. Commonly, the organization conducts the poll on a monthly or quarterly basis. After sending the survey out, the organization waits for some time for the responses to come in. Eventually, the organization closes the survey and compiles the results.