Create a New Mission
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NAVIGATION
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New Mission Builder
CONTENTS
What is a mission?
All GoSpotCheck (MarketX) functionality centers around missions. Missions are the medium through which your team collects field data. Unlike a traditional survey tool, missions are a grouping of various assignments, known as tasks, that were designed with field teams in mind.
This article will cover everything you need to know about creating a new mission.
Create a mission
To create a new GoSpotCheck (MarketX) mission:
- Navigate to the Missions tab in the web dashboard and select New Mission.
- Provide a title for your mission in the Mission name box. Keep in mind that the name will be visible to users in the field and should accurately describe the contents of the mission. This name can be edited prior to publishing the mission.
- If needed, provide a description in the Instructions (optional) box to help users understand their objective. Instructions can be edited prior to publishing the mission.
- Click Save
Build a mission
After creating a mission, you will be taken to the mission’s Build tab.
This is the canvas on which to create and configure your new mission. There are four navigation panels on the Build tab: Components, Structure, General, and Revisions.
Components:
Mission components are the building blocks of a mission. Tasks and sections are both listed in the Components panel. To begin building a mission, simply add components from the panel onto the mission builder canvas. There are three ways to add components:
- Click Add Component on a blank mission builder canvas.
- Drag and drop a component from the left-hand navigation panel onto the canvas.
- Click the + sign that appears above and below any existing task.
- Collapse the side panels to create more space on your canvas
Read more on the individual task types available in the components panel here.
Read more on sections here.
Structure:
The Structure panel displays the order in which tasks and sections appear within your mission. Mission components can be rearranged within this panel. There are three ways to reconfigure components in the Structure panel:
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- Reorder tasks: Drag and drop a task above or below another task to change its order.
- Add/edit conditional relationships: When you hover over a task in the Structure panel, a perimeter appears around each individual task. To make a task conditional on another task, simply drag the desired conditional task into an existing task’s perimeter. Likewise, a conditional task can be rearranged into a standalone task by dragging the task out of its parent task’s perimeter and into its own row. Read more on conditional tasks here.
- Reorder sections: To change the order of sections in the Structure panel, simply drag the section name to your desired location.
Tasks can also be reordered, copied, deleted, and configured in bulk. Read more about bulk task actions here.
General:
The General panel contains mission distribution assignments. You will be required to assign at least one team and place group to the mission before it can be deployed. A team is a group of users that will be able to access the mission. A place group is a group of places/accounts where the mission will be available. The General panel opens by default when creating a new mission and can also be assessed by clicking on the mission title within the mission builder.
Revisions:
Missions can be edited and revised as necessary. The Revisions panel displays each revision, including when the edit took place and if an edit is currently in progress. Each revision listed in the panel links to an overview of that version of the mission, allowing admins to review what changed and how mission responses compare between versions.
Read more on mission revisions here.
Mission settings
Before deploying a mission, review the mission settings on the Settings tab. Missions have four available settings:
- Enable user assigned places: This setting ensures users can only submit mission responses at places they have been assigned. Admins must assign places to users in advance of mission deployment, otherwise, no one will receive the mission.
- Allow users to add places: This setting allows users to add new places on the fly from the mobile device. These places will appear in your full account list on the Places tab and in a designated place group named ‘New Places’.
- Allow missions without a place: This setting gives the user the ability to submit a mission response without any association to a place. This is also known as an Anywhere mission.
- Enable Copy & Start Mission Responses: This setting allows users to copy a previously submitted mission response, retaining the answers from the original response. This can save a user time if most of their responses remain the same between place visits. This functionality excludes photo and signature task responses.
If you do not have these options in your mission settings tab, please go to your Company settings page and make updates as needed.
Schedule a mission
The Schedule tab allows admins to dictate when and for how long a mission is available. There are three scheduling options:
- Start this mission determines when a mission becomes available for users to submit responses. It can be set to Immediately or On a later date. If scheduled on a later date, the mission will automatically begin at 12:01 am (in your company timezone) on the start date specified.
- Select a schedule type dictates whether or not the mission is available anytime or on a designated recurring schedule. To set a schedule, click Recurring and customize the mission schedule as needed.
- Stop this mission controls when a mission will no longer be available to users. This can be set to Manually, indicating an admin must manually stop the mission. It can also be set to On, wherein an admin can prescribe a specific date on which the mission will automatically stop.
The Schedule tab also includes the ability to configure mission response limits. This will prevent users from submitting any additional responses to the mission once their prescribed limit has been met. Limits can be set by the total number of mission responses submitted at a place or by the total number of mission responses submitted by a user.
Read more on scheduling a mission here.
Mission notifications
The Settings tab allows push notifications to be turned on or off for a mission. If the Mobile notifications toggle is switched on, users will receive notifications on their mobile device that indicate when the mission is started, ending soon, stopped, or if the user has a mission response that is about to expire.
Learn more about mission notifications here.
Deploy a mission
After building and configuring your mission, click the Deploy Mission button in the top right-hand corner of the mission builder. If your mission is incomplete or missing the required information, you will receive error notifications that the mission cannot be started until the issues are resolved.
Once your mission is deployed, it will become available to users on the assigned team. You can make edits to the mission by creating a revision. Read more on editing a live mission here.
Stop a mission
To stop a mission that has been deployed:
- Navigate to the Missions tab and click X Stop on any started mission.
- OR navigate to a mission’s overview page and click Stop Mission in the upper right-hand corner.
Missions can be set to stop automatically on a specified date by using a mission schedule.
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Legacy Mission Builder
This article will cover the basics for creating and starting a mission. You will learn how to build and start a simple mission. The following topics will be covered in this article:
- Creating and Naming a New Mission
- Build Your Mission in the Mission Builder
- Assign Teams & Place Groups
- Add a Task to Your Mission
- Create Sections for your Mission
- Reorder Sections and Tasks
- Delete a Task or Section
- Copy a Task or Section
- Save Your Mission
- Deploy Your Mission
Create and Name a New Mission
- To create a new mission, click on the blue "+ New Mission" button on the right side of the main Missions page.
- Create a descriptive Mission Name. Keep in mind that what you name the Mission here is what will be displayed to your users.
- Optionally, in the Instructions field, you can provide additional details about the goal of the mission that your users will see when they start the Mission. Users will see these instructions in the mission on the start screen.
- Click Save.
Mission Builder
The Mission Builder screen will appear once you name and provide instructions for your mission. From here, you can Build, Schedule, and provide Notifications for your Mission.
Build Your Mission
- Begin building your Mission by navigating to Build tab > General.
- From here, you can create or edit Instructions for your users. This is optional.
- To further refine the distribution and availability of your Mission in the field (beyond the required Teams and Place Groups), click the optional Show Advanced Settings dropdown. Under the Advanced Settings dropdown, you can:
- Enable User Assigned Places—you must assign places to individual people, otherwise no one will receive your Mission.
- Allow Users to Add Places—allows users to add places that are not currently in your place database prior to completing the Mission. These places will appear in your New Place place group.
- Allow Missions Without a Place—allows users to complete the Mission without choosing a place.
Assign Teams & Place Groups
Continue building your Mission by assigning Teams and Place Groups for the mission under the Distribute area of the Mission Builder.
You can assign as many teams or place groups as you want to a mission. No need to worry about overlaps; a team member or location in multiple teams or place groups will not appear twice.
NOTE: You cannot launch a mission without assigning teams and place groups. Where a Mission is set to be available and who sees your Mission is dependent on how your teams and place group settings have been configured.
Add a Task to Your Mission
Continue creating your mission by building your task list.
- Click the Add Task button at the bottom of your screen.
- Select the task type that you want to create and it will be added to your task list. We offer 12 different task types:
Every task will have a space for a title and description as well as a button to make the task optional. Title is required for every task in your mission, but a description is always optional. We recommend reserving the description field to elaborate or provide additional task specific instructions for your users only if necessary. If you make a task optional, the users will be able to submit their mission response without answering the question.
TIP: You can create tasks that are conditional on the answers to preceding questions. For more on creating Conditional Tasks, click HERE.
TIP: After you have added tasks to your mission, you can collapse the tasks using the triangle button on the far left side of the task.
Create Sections for Your Mission
You can also create sections to group your tasks. This will help your users stay organized when completing a more complex mission.
- To add a new section, click the "New Section" button at the bottom of the page.
- Name your section.
- Optionally, provide Section Instructions for your user.
Reordering Sections and Tasks
Reorder sections or tasks using the button with up and down arrows in the button set located to the far right of each task and section. From here, you can also Delete or Copy a section or task. Please see the section on reordering tasks and sections for more information on moving information around within a mission.
- From reorder mode, select the task (or conditional task set) that you want to move by selecting its check box on the left. The same applies when reordering sections.
- Click the black arrows to reorder.
- Once selected, your selected tasks light up in green and you'll see a couple of new options. Black arrows will appear to the left and right, showing you where you can place your selected task(s), as demonstrated below.
- Select the black arrow where you'd like to drop the task or set of tasks. If the move is ambiguous (i.e. its new location could make it part of a conditional set or it could be a standalone task), you'll receive an additional prompt for clarity.
NOTE: You can also easily reorder conditional tasks by 'bumping' them left and right, changing the parent task they respond to. These 'bump' arrows are on the right-hand side of each task row. When you bump a conditional task to fall under a new parent task, you will need to select a new option from the 'Shown on...' dropdown to tell the task when it will appear. If you bump a conditional parent task, the supporting tasks that follow will also move with it in order to not change that work flow.
5. Click 'Finish and Save' when you're done adjusting the order.
Delete a Task or Section
Use the trash can button at the far right side of a task or section to delete it. The task or section will be deleted from your list.
WARNING: Although the deletion cannot be undone, you will be asked for confirmation prior to its deletion.
Copy a Task or Section
Use the icon with two documents at the far right side of a task or section to copy it. This shortcut is helpful if you have many similar tasks with different titles. You can simply copy the task or section and then edit any of the input fields.
Saving your Mission
Regardless of where you are in the building mission process, it is advisable to save your progress early and often. In the bottom right of the Mission creation page, you'll see a Save button.
NOTE: If you need to navigate away from the mission creation page and you have work in progress that has not yet been saved, you will be prompted with a warning that changes will be lost. You will then have the option to stay on the page to save your work.
Deploy your Mission
After completing the Build tab of the Mission Builder and have finalized the tasks that you want to include in your Mission, you are ready to deploy your Mission.
NOTE: You may want to Schedule or set Notifications for your Mission. To do this, click on the Schedule or Notify tabs of the Mission Builder.
- To start your mission, click the Deploy Mission button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
- If there are errors preventing the Mission from being deployed, a red error banner will appear at the top of your screen.
- If there are no errors, you'll have the option to either start your Mission immediately or set the Mission Schedule (the dates when the Mission will automatically start/stop).