How to set up an OVS

OVS Process Phase 2: Activate – Survey Launch

In this phase, you will prepare and launch the survey itself using the information collected in Phase 1, and then following the plan and timing you defined with your client.

How to Set Up and Activate a OVS Project

The following describes how to set up and launch a Organizational Vital Signs (OVS) project. For a full description of the framework, process, and debriefing of the OVS, explore the other pages in this section of the knowledge base. 

A. Survey Setup

1. Go to the Six Seconds Tools Intranet –

https://tools.6seconds.org/ – and log in. Check that you have at least 750 credits for the smallest organization size (your balance is in the top-right corner under your name. If needed, click "credits" to order more).

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2. Click the OVS icon on the home page (or the VS tab at the top):

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3. Click the Add new project button:

4. Fill in the project setup form:

"Name": only visible to you on your TVS projects list

"Official name": appears on the questionnaire and report

"Description": just for you, only visible inside the project settings page

"Items languages": language of the questionnaire, you can select as many languages as you want

"Compilations expiry date": test taker won't be able to submit new questionnaires after this date, the format is MM/DD/YYYY

"Number of employees": specify the size of the team from the dropdown

“Consultant logo” & “Company logo”: optionally, you may upload a logo for the client (company), and if you are an outside consultant, you may include your logo as well (consultant). Use a clear or white background on the logos.

“Instructions”: These instructions appear before the survey.

Personal Data Definition

You can add up to 10 demographic questions with up to 54 value options for each questions. It is recommended to not use too many options to be able to clearly interpret comparison graphs.
Also try to keep the value option label as short as possible to increase readability in the graphs.

The demographic questions could be about "Years on the team" or "Work Location" or “Team” or “Department”.

Next you will see the: Fixed Items

 
While it may appear that you can change these, you cannot do so yourself. If there is a need to customize one of these questions, for example, if a term just does not apply in your context, you can click the support button at the bottom of the page and ask the VS support desk to change it for you.

Free items

It is possible to have up to 18 free text questions, including the 4 default free text questions already present in every questionnaire.

You can also add up to 24 drop down questions, which can have up to 6 value options.

If you wish, you may delete a Free Item – but only before someone answers the questionnaire. If you hold your mouse over the item, the (Delete item) link appears:

Finally, select the Norm (comparison group) and report language, and click Save.

A confirmation will appear; click OK, then click "Back to list":

Your project is now set up. The next step is to invite participants – instructions follow on the next page.
 

Note on previewing:
You may wish to just invite one participant at first, such as the contact person inside the organization, to preview the questionnaire. Simply follow the instructions on the next page, but instead of inviting all the participants, invite just the person who will preview and approve the questionnaire and then proceed to invite the others.

B. Get the Link or Add Participants

You have two choices for sending the link to participants:

• Public link: You will email this URL to all participants; they all use the same one (but they can't see one another's data or answers). Most respondents perceive this as more anonymous than the next method, but you have less control.

• Private link: You will add each participant to the project (either manually, or by uploading an .xls sheet). Then, the system will email each. The benefit is that you can see exactly who has responded (but no one can see their actual responses; the system ONLY records if they submitted a survey or not; their name and email are not linked to their responses). The downsides are potential perception of non-anonymity, and a slight risk that the system-generated email could be blocked as spam.

Public Link

To use the Public link method, click the "chain" icon to the right of the project name, and then copy the URL. Paste it into an email to the participants (see below for recommendations).

To access private mode click on “Change mode”.
 

In the Private link method, you need to add participants. For a small number, type each person's first (given) name, then surname, and email – then click Add person:

Optionally you can also upload an Excel (.xls) file. Clicking “Sample file” will download an Excel spreadsheet that will give you the format, which is like this:

After you have added people (manually or via upload) you will see the list of people in your project. In this example, you can see that no one has been invited (Invited column icons are all red). "Jack Sample" has completed the questionnaire (the icon in "Taken" is green – in this case, it was completed manually by clicking that "chain" icon). You can get any person's individual, unique link by clicking the "chain" icon in the Quest.access column:

You will have the opportunity to customize the system-generated email before it sends.
 

If you are using the system to send the invitation email (which is only available in the Private link option), you will see this form to customize the email – you can edit the subject, the start of the email, and the end of the email.
 

In the middle, the system will automatically create the unique URL for each participant (so you could send to 20 people at one time, and each would get his/her unique link).