In this article
Scope
This document is a user manual for Forsta Surveys API Data Integration. It contains all relevant information for this integration that has been implemented in the Forsta Visualizations system.
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of Forsta Surveys API Data Integration and how to use it in the Forsta Visualizations system.
Pre-Requirements
In order to use this API, you will need to have an account on the Forsta Surveys platform with the API feature enabled. This will allow you to create an API key. An API key is a mandatory parameter for this integration to Forsta Visualizations. Please refer to the Forsta Surveys documentation for details on how to generate a key. It should be 64 characters long and consist of the public and private key.
Important: Currently (Early 2021) the server must be configured on the install – if you enter a URL and key, however the scheduler does not load surveys, please contact support to ask for the Forsta Surveys server to be added to the list of supported URLs.
Using the System
Process Flow
Setup Integration
To setup the Forsta Surveys API data source adapter, you must complete the following tasks:
Task 1: Access Data Integration UI
To access the Data Integration UI in Forsta Visualizations, please follow these 4 steps:
Log into Forsta Visualizations
Select the Data tab from the main menu
Click on the arrow under Import data, then select Schedule imports from the dropdown menu
Then the Data Integration UI will be opened
Task 2: Create a Data Adapter
Your first Data Adapter is automatically created when you access Import Scheduler UI for the first time. This screen contains all of the setup controls for the new data adapter instance. Some of these parameters are mandatory, and some are optional.
When you access this screen for the first time, you need to enter the Schedule name and check the Active checkbox.
After the first Data Adapter has been created, then you can create another Data Adapter for the same project with different configurations. To create a new Data Adapter, just click the ‘Create new’ button on Import scheduler UI.
The import schedule configuration form will be cleared for new parameters and configurations. Also, if you need to delete a Data Adapter, simply select the Data Adapter you would like to delete from the Selected import schedule dropdown list and then click the ‘Delete selected’ button.
Task 3: Set Data Import Scheduler
Every Import Scheduler job can be scheduled to be triggered just once or to be repeated based on one of the following schedules:
Hourly
Weekly
Monthly
You can select the schedule type from the ‘Import type’ dropdown menu on the Import scheduler UI.
Note: When the ‘Run import on save’ checkbox is selected, then the import job will be triggered immediately after the Save button has been clicked. Scheduled jobs will also be saved for the time that you select.
Task 4: Choose Data Source
To select a Data Source for your Data Adapter, use the Data source dropdown menu. This dropdown list contains all data sources that users have access to.
By default, the data source is set to the FTP Server, but this should be changed to Forsta Surveys. When Forsta Surveys is selected as the data source, then the configuration form will be loaded.
Task 5: Set up Data Source
To set up the Forsta Surveys data source, you need to create an API key parameter. To learn how to do this, see Pre-Requirements of this manual (subject to change by the Vendor)
To setup Forsta Surveys data source, follow these steps:
Enter your API key from Forsta Surveys
Set the base URL.
Click the ‘Load survey list’ button.
The survey list will be populated with all surveys from Forsta Surveys that are linked to the provided API key
Select the desired survey, and the Survey path field will be populated.
Use end point time zone should be selected to use the Forsta Surveys servers time rather than the Forsta Visualizations servers time zone. Only applicable when the servers are in different time zones.
Keep zero values, selected when variables with answers with 0 values should be preserved.
Survey layout, choose which layout template to use
Choose the time period for the selected survey's data. Select this from the Time period dropdown. If nothing is selected, then the system will load data from all respondents. If a specific date range is needed, then select the ‘Static’ option from time period dropdown.
The Start and End date controls will appear. Simply check the Start and End date check boxes and choose the specific dates from the calendars.
After completing this, the Forsta Surveys Data Adapter will be configured ready to use. The last step is to click ‘Save’ at the end of the Import scheduler UI.
Response status filter
Forsta Surveys API support several response statuses:
Terminated
Over Quota
Qualified
Partial
By default Qualified option is only selected. To select different response status, please use Response status dropdown.
Supported Controls
Forsta Visualizations currently supports controls from following categories:
1. All controls from Standard category
2. All controls from Rating Specific category
3. All controls from Open-Ends category
4. All controls from Dynamic category
5. All controls from Special Method category