Set up web form assignment

• Overview
• Web Form Assignment
• Forms Manager

Overview

Your library can automatically assign to individual librarians or administrators the questions submitted through its e-mail question form.

If your library does not automatically assign questions, they are unassigned when received in QuestionPoint. Then your library's administrators or librarians assign or claim them.

To automatically assign questions:

1. In the Administration module, your Institution administrator selects the librarians or administrators to whom a question may be automatically assigned and selects an Assignment Field ID (1–30) for each of them (Administration > Institution > Settings > Web Form Assignment). For instructions, see Web Form Assignment below.
2. Your library adds Assignment Field IDs to its e-mail question form. For instructions, see Forms Manager below.

Web Form Assignment

if you are an Institution administrator, do the following to select the librarians or administrators to whom a question may be automatically assigned and to select an Assignment Field ID (1–30) for each of them:

1. Under the Institution tab in the Administration module, click the Settings link and then click the Web Form Assignment.
2. For each Assignment Field ID that you want to use, select an account in the drop-down list.
3. Click the Save button.
   QuestionPoint displays a confirmation message.

Forms Manager

If your library uses the QuestionPoint Forms Manager to create its e-mail question form, your Institution administrator sets up the Assignment Selector field in the Forms Manager (Administration > Institution > Forms > Forms Manager > Create Question Form > Select the fields... > Assignment Selector Settings).

Examples:

• Example: Distribute questions among three departments
• Example: Assign all questions to a single account

Example: Distribute questions among three departments

A library has three departments. Each department wants to automatically assign all of its questions to one of its librarian accounts. To do this:

1. The Institution administrator uses Web Form Assignment to select an Assignment Field ID for the designated librarian account for each of the three departments.
2. The Institution administrator sets up the Assignment Selector when he or she creates the e-mail question form in the Forms Manager. In the Assignment Selector Settings, the administrator selects Assign based upon the values set under Institution - Settings - Web Form Assignment and clicks Save. The administrator notes the Assignment Field ID used in the Assign element of the sample Question Form URLs for each of the three accounts. For example: &assign=1, &assign=2, &assign=3
3. The Institution administrator completes the remaining steps to create the form and publish it.
4. The Institution administrator gives the URLs for the form and the Assignment Field IDs for the Assign element to the web site administrator.
5. The web site administrator adds to the library's web site separate question-form links for each of the three departments, adding the appropriate Assign element (&assign=1, &assign=2, &assign=3) to each link. For example, the link URL for one of the departments is:
   http://www.questionpoint.org/crs/servlet/
   org.oclc.admin.BuildForm?&institution=9999999
   &type=1&language=3&assign=3

When a patron clicks a link to an e-mail question form, QuestionPoint associates the Assignment Field ID from the link's Assign element with the form.

Then, when a patron submits a question on the form, QuestionPoint:

• Notes the Assignment Field ID associated with the form.
• Assigns the question to the librarian account specified for that ID.
• Adds the question to the librarian account's New Questions list and the library's New Questions list.
• Sends a notice of the new question to the librarian account's e-mail address.

Note: QuestionPoint leaves the question unassigned:

• If no Assignment Field ID was included in the link.
• Or, if no account is selected for the Assignment Field ID in Web Form Assignment.

Example: Assign all questions to a single account

A library wants to automatically assign all of its questions to one librarian, who will answer them or assign them to others as needed. To do this:

1. The Institution administrator uses Web Form Assignment to select an Assignment Field ID for the designated librarian.
2. The Institution administrator sets up the Assignment Selector when he or she creates the e-mail question form in the Forms Manager. In the Assignment Selector Settings, the administrator selects the Assign all questions that come in via this form to option, selects the librarian's authorization number, and clicks Save.
3. The Institution administrator completes the remaining steps to create the form and publish it.
4. The Institution administrator gives the URLs for the form to the web site administrator. (The Assignment Field ID is not needed because all questions will be assigned to a single account.)
5. The web site administrator adds links for the e-mail question form to the web site. For example, a link URL might be:
   http://www.questionpoint.org/crs/servlet/
   org.oclc.admin.BuildForm?&institution=9999999
   &type=1&language=3

When a patron submits a question on the form, QuestionPoint:

• Assigns the question to the librarian account specified in Forms Manager.
• Adds the question to the librarian account's New Questions list and the library's New Questions list.
• Sends a notice of the new question to the librarian account's e-mail address.