Easier access to application packet for evaluators
Currently, in order for an evaluator (board or staff) to access the application packet they must go their dashboard, click "review" next to a given name, scroll down the evaluation form to a link to "Application form," click that link, and then finally click "Print Packet." That is a lot of clicking to get to the document you want to review.
Our reviewers are currently being assigned 150-200 applications they must review in 5-6 weeks. They were dissapointed that the quick link on the evaluator dashboard prints a packet for the evaluator document, which is something no one in our process uses (they only provide a rating of 1-10 with no requirement to add comments). It would be most helpful were the dashboard to also included a quick link to download the related applicaition packet. Or, the link could be included on the review form. The added step of having to navigate to the application form starts to get old after the first 50 :) I realize this necessitates one form needing to be related to another form, and then extracting information from that application, which I can only imagine is a programmatic nightmare. However, it would make our job so much easier.
Thanks,
Greg Nielsen
Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
posted March 5, 2012 by Greg Nielsen, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
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Chris Dahl commented
I'm going to close this item as it's been addressed. In terms of the discussion for improving evaluator user experience - which I think is important - please comment under the https://community.foundant.com/foundant/topics/make_evaluating_applications_easier .
Thanks,
-chris -
Chris Dahl commented
Hi all,
First, in terms of Greg's suggestion - it will be coming in the next week or so in our 4.0 release (it is already in our Demo environment).
Second, we recognize that the evaulator experience can use some work. It's been a topic of internal dialogue and was a focus area of our 2013 user conference a few weeks ago. One of the biggest challenges is that while wanting it to be "better" is something we can all agree on, there haven't been a lot of concrete suggestions for us to act on in terms of improving the evaluator user experience. Another challenge is that a lot of users have different expectations for the evaulator user experience. I know it can be challenging to identify some changes that would improve it, but that effort from all of you would go a long way toward helping us make changes that we would all benefit from.
I'll probably be closing this thread out after we release 4.0 (since it includes the suggestion Greg made), but I want to continue the discussion around improving evaluator user experience.
Thanks,
-chris -
Ideas commented
I completely agree. Unfortunately, we are resorting to Print Packets and emailing PDF's and in terrible cases, printing off the applications because the online review is so clunky. Hugely disappointing!
posted Yesterday by Emily Bronson, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
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Ideas commented
I also agree with Gretchen that the number of open tabs is difficult for the less tech savvy reviewers (about half of our volunteers). The more tabs and documents they have to open, the less likely they are to do a thorough review... I would love to see evaluation questions added in between application questions... as partially discussed in another post, Make evaluating applications easier.
posted September 13, 2013 by Mary Giraulo, United Arts of Central Florida
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Ideas commented
Actually - I don't think Greg's suggestion (a way to access the application packet from the evaluation summary screen) has been addressed yet... (am I missing something??) and I support his idea. In fact, I think the print icon should be the application packet, instead of the evaluation packet.
I also agree on the lack of usability of the "Evaluation Packet," whether from the Evaluation Summary screen or within the evaluation itself. I can't imagine a situation in which a reviewer might use this...
Further, I wish the project summary was NOT linked on the evaluation summary page, or that the project name linked to the evaluation form rather than the project summary. In my tests of the evaluation form I frequently made the mistake of clicking on the project name instead of the review icon, which necessitates backing up. Since the review documents and comments are accessible from within the evaluation form, I see no reason for reviewers (at least Staff Evaluators) to have access to the project summary page at all.
posted September 13, 2013 by Mary Giraulo, United Arts of Central Florida
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Ideas commented
Thanks for your post, Greg. While the issue you've mentioned has been tackled by now, I have a similar comment for the current Foundant design.
Our Board member evaluators are all across the board when it comes to computer literacy. We found that the process for evaluating had many hurtles mainly due to the amount of clicks and screens they had to go through in order to accomplish their evaluations.
The overall feedback was:
- Evaluation summary page was not helpful, other than to provide access to all of the forms relevant to that applicant
- If possible, reduce the amount of new tabs/windows that open. With a process that includes LOI-evaluation-Application-evaluation, this can mean a lot of windows to navigate, especially when you add print packets along the way. (Throw in the added challenge of using tablets and it got messy sometimes.)
I'm not offering a solution, but I do think the steps from A-Z could be compressed with a modified layout.
Happy to discuss if you have questions!
Gretchen Ellis
Community Foundation Santa Cruz County
posted June 24, 2013 by Gretchen Ellis, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County