SMDS Help Desk

The Success Measures Data System (SMDS) allows you to create completely new questions when you are building a tool, and it also allows you to select and insert into your draft tool any question that exists in any tool on your SMDS site. All existing questions from any tool in your tool set are kept in a question bank, and available for you to insert into your draft tool.

• Place cursor over the Data Collection Tools tab.
• Click Manage Tools from the dropdown list.

Here, you will see a list of every tool in your SMDS account. 

• To find the tool you are customizing, select the tool directly from your tool list under the Display Name column, or search for the tool by name in the search box. 
• Click the name of the tool to open it in Tool Builder.

• Click the blue Insert button where you would like your question to go, between the existing lines of text.

• Click the Question button.

• A new window will open labeled Insert Question(s), which will provide an alphabetical list of every question in your question bank.

NOTE: To find an existing question in your question bank you click the Question button. 

If you click the New Question button the system will assume you intend to create a new question to add to the tool. It will then prompt you to build the question format and answer set options for each question added. 

For each question on the list, you can see what languages are offered and what tool uses that question. 

To view the answer format for any question, click the plus (+) icon to the right of the question.

• You can scroll the list to find your desired question, or search for a question by typing words into the search box and clicking the magnifying glass.

• When you have found the question you want to add to your tool, click the checkbox next to the question. Then click the +Insert button at the bottom of the page and the system will add it to your tool.

The selected question(s) will now appear in your draft tool, and the questions in your tool are automatically renumbered to accommodate the addition.

• When you have finished making changes to your tool, review your tool in Word format and in Preview mode by using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Once you have made all the modifications you want to your draft tool, you need to publish it. Only published tools can be inserted into an Evaluation.

• Click the Publish button.

The system will tell you that your tool is successfully published.

The system will tell you if the tool cannot be published because of a problem such as a conflict in the other languages.

To find and fix the tool in other languages, go to the top right of the screen, and click on the language you want to work in. 

The system will indicate where the problem is. Click on the link to make the edit needed.

NOTE: To learn more about working in multiple languages, see the Working with More than One Language guide.