# Welcome Welcome to the [Boardforms.com](https://boardforms.com/) manual. This guide provides comprehensive instructions on how to best utilize the platform. If there's anything you don't understand, or if you have suggestions for improvements, please don't hesitate to reach out to . To monitor site performance and check for any service issues, please visit our [status page](https://boardforms.statuspage.io/). ***


Setting up a company	Discover How to Set Up a Company on Boardforms, Including Adding Logos, Managing Admins, and More.	Quick start	pika-1705870758220-1x.png
Setting up a survey	Learn to Master the Boardforms Survey Tool and Create Effective, Engaging Questionnaires with Ease.	Creating a questionnaire	pika-1705870213405-1x.png
Setting up a report	Learn How to Create a Board-Ready Report, Including Adding Pages, Utilizing AI-Generated Text, and More.	Generating a report	pika-1705870945568-1x.png

# Quick start Get set up on Boardforms.com quickly and easily {% embed url="" %} ## Registration Registering an account on boardforms.com is completely free. Get started by visiting . {% hint style="success" %} Advisory Note: We recommend using your personal work email address for registration instead of an admin email address. Distribution emails sent from a personal address automatically include the user's name, which increases email open rates. {% endhint %} ## Creating a new company Creating a company on Boardforms.com requires either an activation code which you can get by contacting or a credit card payment. {% hint style="info" %} The activation code is case sensitive {% endhint %} # Creating a questionnaire You can create a questionnaire either from scratch or by using pre-prepared templates. To do so, you can click on either the 'Create Questionnaire' button or the 'Browse Templates' button.

## Questions To add a question, just type the question you want to ask in the "Add Question Text" box and then click "Add Question"

## Sections Sections are a very important element in Boardforms and allows you to organise your survey into distinct parts. Each section is visible to respondents and is a **mandatory field**. Use sections to group related questions, making your survey clearer and easier to navigate for participants, and to streamline data analysis. {% hint style="warning" %} Take care when entering section headings, if headings are inconsistent (eg a typo) that will trigger a new section. {% endhint %} ## Factors Factors provide an additional way to categorize your data, offering a more nuanced analysis of survey results based on specific criteria or attributes. This allows for comprehensive insights that transcend individual sections. Note: Factors are not visible to respondents and are used purely for data organization and analysis purposes.

## Force comments This allows you to force a comment on that specific quesiton. ## Reverse scales Apply this feature to align the wording of your question with a consistent response scale, where 5 always represents the most positive answer. Use it when the question's phrasing is negative (e.g., 'Did you have a bad day?'). Reversing the scale ensures that 5 **aligns with the most positive response,** maintaining consistency across your survey. Do not reverse for positively worded questions (e.g., 'Did you have a good day?'). ## Skip respondents If you prefer that a certain individual does not respond to a specific question (eg a Chair), you can utilize this option. This is particularly useful in scenarios where you have several questions about a specific person, and you wish to exclude them from these questions while still distributing a single questionnaire to all respondents. ## # Questionnaire best practices ## Questions Writing a good survey question is like crafting a clear and easy-to-follow recipe. Here's a simple guide to help you create effective survey questions: 1. **Be Clear and Specific**: Your question should be like a clear instruction in a recipe. Avoid vague words. Instead of asking "Do you think Board Meetings are good?" ask "How satisfied are you with the length of Board Meetings?" 2. **One Question at a Time**: Don't mix multiple ingredients in one step. Avoid double-barreled questions. For instance, don't ask, "How satisfied are you with the Board Meeting attendance and duration?" Split it into two questions: one about attendance and another about duration. 3. **Avoid Leading or Biased Questions**: Don't lead the respondent to a particular answer. For example, instead of asking, "Do you like our new Board pack format" ask "How do you rate the quality of our new Board pack format?" 4. **Offer Balanced Options**: If you're giving options (like in a multiple-choice question), cover the full range of possible responses. Include choices like 'Very Satisfied', 'Somewhat Satisfied', 'Neutral', 'Somewhat Unsatisfied', and 'Very Unsatisfied'. 5. **Make Sure Every Question Has a Purpose**: Each question should gather useful information providing helpful insight to the Board's performance. 6. **Consider Your Audience**: Tailor your questions to fit the people answering them. If you're surveying experts, more technical language might be appropriate. For a general audience, keep things more general. Remember, the goal of your survey question is to gather clear, honest, and useful responses. Think of yourself as a guide, helping your respondent through a conversation, one question at a time. ## Scales When choosing and aligning scales in a survey, it's like picking the right measuring tool and ensuring it matches what you're measuring. Here's a guide to help with scale selection and question alignment: 1. **Consistency in Scale Direction**: Use scales where higher numbers always represent more (e.g., greater agreement, satisfaction or positivity), and lower numbers represent less. 2. **Aligning Question Wording with Scale Direction**: Questions should correspond logically with the scale. For a scale where '5' means 'Very Good', the question should be framed such that a 'Very Good' response is coherent. Avoid mixing positive scales with negatively phrased questions. 3. **Understanding When to Use the Reverse Scale Option:** In standard scales, higher numbers generally indicate greater satisfaction or a positive viewpoint. For instance, in a typical scale, a higher number might signify 'Very Satisfied.' However, if your question is framed negatively, such as 'On a scale between 1 and 5 how bad was the last board meeting?', and you want the highest number to reflect the most negative perspective, you can employ the reverse scale option. The goal is to make responding intuitive and straightforward, avoiding confusion and ensuring accurate feedback. {% hint style="info" %} You can always send a questionnaire to yourself, try it out, and then delete your responses. {% endhint %} # Questionnaire settings {% hint style="warning" %} You can edit questionnaire settings at any time, however edits won't effect "sent" respones. {% endhint %} ## Survey Name This is the name of the Survey, please do not add the name of the company to it or the time period, because the system does this automatically. (See [Automated Email Look & Feel](/questionnaires/creating-a-questionnaire/distributing-a-questionnaire#automated-email-look-and-feel)) ## Survey Descripiton This field is designed to help you understand why you used it, it is not seen by anyone other than the administrator. ## Period Name This field is the Period Name of the survey you want to send out. Generally this would just be 2024 for example. However you can use text in this if you like, for example Q1. 2024. But keep it short!

## Survey Pin This is a 4 number pin, that should be changed from the default. The pin is included in the automated emails sent to the recipients. ## Board Meeting Date This field is purly cosmetic and can be changed at any time. It will appear on the final report document. ## Response Deadline Adding a deadline date to the survey increases online completion, it is purely cosmetic though so you don’t need to reset anything if anyone goes over this date. ## Survey Preamble The survey preamble appears on the first question of the questionnaire. It introduces the questionnaire.

# Distributing a questionnaire ## Automated email look and feel The Boardforms’s automated email is designed to combine ease of use and high levels of inbox acceptance. The following settings can be edited in the "Settings" popup box in the survey generation tool. 1. **Subject**: The subject combines the Company Name: + The Survey Name + the Time Period Name Ie. NewCo Limited: Investment Trust Chair Evaluation 2024. 2. **Email Body**: To increase delivery / read receipts we use the full name of the board member you are sending it to, and we also use the full name of the administrator who is sending the email 3. **Security Pin**: This is an access code for the survey, we recommend you change this from the default of 1234. 4. **Deadline**: Adding a deadline date to the survey increases online completion, it is purely cosmetic though so you don’t need to reset anything if anyone goes over this date.

Sending the questionnaire ## Sending a questionnaire Once you are happy with a set of questions, and have reviewed the settings. You are ready to send your questionnaire. To do this just click on the "Send Set-Up" icone at the bottom of the Questionnaire Generation Page

From here you will see a list of all the people involved in the company, just # Uploading questions To upload a set of pre-prepared questions to Boardforms, start with a blank canvas, ensuring no existing questions are present. This can be done by creating a new questionnaire from scratch or deleting all existing questions. Once you have prepared your blank canvas, please follow these steps: 1. Click the 'Upload Questions' button. 2. Download the upload template (CSV file). 3. Fill out the template. Ensure that question numbers, question text, and sections are completed, as these are mandatory fields. 4. Upload the completed file using the upload popup. 5. Add a scale that fits the majority of your questions. 6. For any questions not using the main scale, edit them individually to adjust their scale. {% embed url="" %} # Sharing questionnaires You can share any questionnaire you've created with any company registered on Boardforms. To share with a company you administer: 1. Click on the 'Share' button. 2. Select the desired company from your list of administered companies. To share with a company you do not administer: 1. Request the company’s Unique ID, available in the company's settings popup. 2. Copy and paste this ID into the 'Share Externally' field. {% hint style="info" %} To copy an existing questionnare into the same company just select the current company and it will create a carbon copy {% endhint %} {% embed url="" %} # Adding additional time periods To add a second, third, fourth (etc etc) time period to your set of questionnaires, simply click on the +/- Period button. Then give the new period a name ie. 2025 or Q2. 2024 and then click create. This will create a carbon copy of the existing questionnaire with a blank set of results ready for you to circulate. # Generating a report {% embed url="" %} # Filling out a questionnaire {% embed url="" %} # Admin Controls Flexible access controls for your company ### **Adding a Company Admin** 1. Click the "Add People" button to add the person you want add as a new company administrator. 2. Next to the "Add People" button, click the gear icon and select "Manage Admin Access." Toggle the person you want to add as an administrator. {% hint style="info" %} By default, the new company admin will have access to all items within the company. To limit their access to questionnaires, follow the [Limiting Questionnaire Access](#limiting-questionnaire-access) steps. {% endhint %} {% embed url=".." %} Adding a company Admin {% endembed %} ### Limiting Questionnaire Access 1. Go to the admin page for the specific questionnaire where you want to limit admin access. 2. On the questionnaire's admin page, scroll to the bottom and select the "Access" menu. This will allow you to manage and restrict the new admin's access to specific questionnaires.