SMDS Help Desk

With the SMDS system, each response must be tied to an ID, which can be either a Respondent if it is a person or a Location if it is a physical place (such as a building, block, etc.). That ID allows you to differentiate between responses, and is especially useful in data cleanup, data analysis, and is key to being able to do over-time analysis of change among a population or neighborhood.

There are several ways that a system user can attach an ID to a response when doing data collection:

• Through manual data entry. See Entering a Survey Response for further instructions. 
• SMDS users can import respondents along with their corresponding response and data into a specific evaluation. See Generating Templates and Importing Data for instructions.
• A system user can upload respondents with their email address when setting up a distribution to send out a survey link. See Sending Surveys by Distribution for instructions.
• An ID will be generated automatically when a response is submitted via a hyperlink or QR Code.

The system also allows you to import respondents into the system without any direct current connection to a specific evaluation, in anticipation of linking these respondents to a future evaluation. This can be useful, for instance, if you know that you will be surveying all program participants and want to import their demographic and other basic information prior to implementing the survey. These steps below will show you how to do that. Like the other importing processes, it uses a system-generated Excel template. 

See step-by-step video guidance here or follow the instructions below: 

• Place your cursor over the Administration tab 
• Navigate down the drop-down list that appears to hover over Respondents. 
• Then click on Import Respondents

NOTE: The Instructions and Field Values tabs can provide you with background information on what your options are for some demographics columns which are multiple choice.

• The required columns in the spreadsheet are: 

1. Columns A and B OR Column C -- you must provide either the first and last name of the respondent, or an Alternate ID for the respondent.

TIP: Column D allows you to indicate whether you want to have a new respondent created if the system identifies a duplicate exists.  This may be important if one of your respondents has a common name, such as Joe Smith or Jose Gomez. If you want the respondent on your spreadsheet to be created, then type Yes in the cell under column D.

NOTE: The answer options within the dropdown menus cannot be changed, so if you do not like the options that are there leave those columns blank.

Once you have entered the data you want to use into the appropriate columns, save the spreadsheet to your computer. Now you are ready to import the respondents into SMDS.

• Return to the Import Respondents page within SMDS.
• Click Browse to find and select the file needed on your computer.

• The system will review your spreadsheet for any errors and generate a view by row indicating whether the data is accurate or if there are errors in the data. Common errors are typically:
  1. Duplicates in email addresses (each respondent must have a unique email address).
  2. Duplicate respondent already exists within the system 

If there are any errors, go into your spreadsheet and make the necessary corrections and then upload the spreadsheet again.  

Once all errors have been resolved, you can either:

• Click the checkbox next to the individual respondents you want to upload OR
• Click the checkbox in the top blue row to accept all the respondents below, and a blue Import button will appear at the bottom.

To find these new respondents within SMDS:

• Place your cursor over the Administration tab,
• Navigate down the drop-down list that appears to hover over Respondents. 
• Then click on Manage Respondents

To find a specific respondent, use the search box.

NOTE: You will only be able to remove a respondent that has not yet been attached to response data in an evaluation. After a respondent has been attached to response data in an evaluation you can edit the respondent, but you cannot delete the respondent.