Survey123: Combine Multiple Surveys

[AnninaRupe1]

Hey all! I'd appreciate any input you have! 

I have a project where I have three surveys (1 spatial, 2 non-spatial) that need to be connected. I've created a simplified diagram of what I need--see the attached screenshot. Let me explain; I'll start with the spatial survey, but the workflow doesn't necessarily need to start there:

My field techs will be filling out a survey when talking to landowners about a specific piece of property (orange square in the screenshot). The techs will either place a point or polygon on a map, enter landowner contact information, and answer other questions about the property. I would like to create the capability for landowner name lookup, so if we've talked with this landowner before we 1) don't have duplicate contact information and 2) can automatically fill in the survey with the contact information. So, this would mean that we need a non-spatial list of landowner names and contact information (blue circle in the screenshot). If, while filling out the spatial survey the tech finds that the landowner hasn't been in contact with us before, the tech fills in the information in the spatial survey, but the landowner information also gets added to the landowner list. In addition, we need the capability of adding landowner information to this list without submitting a spatial survey (this will happen infrequently). Lastly, we need to keep track of all the times we talk to a landowner (green hexagon in the screenshot). We need to have another non-spatial survey that allows the techs to submit a survey when they talk to or meet with a landowner (similar to a call log). This survey needs to have a record completed along with the spatial survey, if a spatial survey is completed. It also needs to be connected to the first non-spatial landowner contact list and have the contact information automatically complete if it's in the list or add the landowner contact information to the landowner list if it's not included already.

My plan is to use ExB to create a webpage that have links to the appropriate survey, depending on the situation. So, if a tech is talking to a new landowner about a specific piece of property, they will click on the link to the spatial survey. But if the tech is following up with a landowner who has questions, they will click on the link to fill out the survey for tracking outreach. We need to have this as streamlined and easy as possible because if it's not, it won't be used. I've been doing a lot of research and talking to my colleagues, and we think it's doable, but now need to start building. However, I don't know where I should begin (or even if this is completely doable!). My plans are to use Survey123 Connect and build the tool as though the user will always have internet connectivity. I also have a much more detailed workflow diagram and have created spreadsheets of survey questions, in which I have made sure those questions that are connected have the same properties so they can be referenced across surveys. Any help is much appreciated. Let me know if you need more information or clarification!

[rwrenner_esri]

Sounds like this workflow could benefit from using a single feature service containing a related table (repeats) for the outreach tracking piece (one child related record for each new interaction, related to the parent record containing the land owner's info). Each interaction type (initial info, additional interaction) could be separated into collapsible groups to streamline the workflow for the end user, while including all relevant info in one place.

For the landowner name lookup, unless there's a specific reason this needs to be a separate table, this could be accomplished by querying the existing feature service from within the survey to see if the name already appears in the feature service. To do this, you'd use the method pulldata("@layer") explained in depth here. This is also how you can pull in additional info that's been entered before for the associated land owner, if there's an existing match. 

While it's also possible to use separate surveys either with related tables or separate layers, both admins and mobile workers could benefit from a more concise data structure leading to fewer items to manage and a single place to "go" to see all information and complete whichever sections are needed.

Hope this helps.

-Rylee

[AnninaRupe1]

Rylee, thanks for your response! Unfortunately, the three layers/tables need to stay separate as they may not always relate to each other. For example, records in the Outreach Tracking table may not relate to a record in the spatial survey. The purpose of this table is for us to be able to summarize how much/what kind of outreach was done every month. Currently, techs are completing a spreadsheet that contains who they talked to, what kind of outreach it was (phone call, in-person meeting, workshop, etc.), contact information, among other things. Records in this table often aren't referencing a specific piece of land like the spatial survey is, although they can. In the case of the workshop outreach situation, we need to have the record added to the outreach table and also we'd need to add contact information directly to the Landowner Contact table (when the landowner attends the workshop they check in with the tech and the tech adds their information to the contact list). This way, if we end up talking specifically to that landowner about a piece of property late, when we start the landowner survey, the contact information is available and doesn't need to be added again.

I've started to play around with the pulldata("@layer") and the link you provided hopefully will help me out--I hadn't found that page before.

Let me know if I can expand on more of my workflow or needs; I know it's complicated and I'm not doing a great job of explaining. It's just that there's not one starting point!

Annina