BOS logo

The team behind Bristol Online Surveys have been working on the new and enhanced version of BOS which will be released later this year. BOS is the University supported survey tool which is easy to use and allows you to create, deploy and analyse surveys.

BOS featuresThe new version will look and feel different, with many features which will enhance the functionality within the survey design, completion and analysis.

BOS will also be mobile friendly which makes it easier for participants to complete surveys on their mobile phones or tablets – hopefully this will increase your returns!  You can even allow sharing of surveys via Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

So, what do I need to do in preparation?

 If you already have some surveys in your BOS account, please review them and close or delete any that you no longer need. This will greatly help to reduce the migration time.

We have also been advised that any unlaunched surveys with a close date set at over 2 years ago will not be migrated. If you need to keep a survey that this applies to, please ensure you modify the close date.

The Upgrade Process

The upgrade will happen towards the end of October this year. During this time, we will experience some downtime (estimated to be a day) on our University BOS account and all active surveys will be temporarily unavailable. The participants will see the message advising them to come back shortly.

Once the migration has been completed, you and your respondents will see the new updated interface.  The link to your survey will remain the same.

For more information about the upgrade date and a sneak peek into the new features and enhancements to BOS, keep checking this blog.

If you would like any further information or if you have questions regarding this, please contact us via the email at [email protected] or call us on 01695 650754.

 NB: Surveys containing personal information

It is worth noting that if you are collecting personal information about individuals, there are a number of legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998. Principle 5 of the Data Protection Act is particularly pertinent here: “Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.” If you don’t have any specific reasons to hold on to the data, then it should be deleted. For more information about your data protection responsibilities see the ICO’s Guide to Data Protection.

nina_unsworth

 

Nina Unsworth

Learning Technology Development Operations Coordinator