FarmQA supports adding group questions to your scouting report templates. Group questions are an intuitive way of organizing your scouting template into sets of questions that relate to the same topic, like the wheat midge example given below. In this article, we'll demonstrate how group questions work by setting up a single versatile group question that can be used to input scouting information for any number of weeds that might be encountered in the field.
Setting up a group question to an existing scouting template
How Group Questions look in the FarmQA Scouting app
Setting up a group question to an existing scouting template
Available from the: WEB APP
Permissions: ENTERPRISE ADMIN, AGRONOMIST
- Click on the Scouting
icon.
- Under the Templates tab on the Scouting page, click on the scouting report template that you would like to add the group question to. In this case, we're adding our weed question to the Wheat template.
- Find the section you want to add a group question to (Grass Weeds in this case).
- Click the + Add a question button under the list of existing questions, then then select the Group option (pictured below).
- To maximize the functionality of this feature, check the Allow multiple answers box under the QUESTION DETAILS pane on the right-hand side of the screen (pictured below). Selecting this option will allow you to answer the same group question multiple times in the same scouting report. For example, after using the Weeds group question to fill out observations made for Canada Thistle, you can add another group question
- After giving your group question a Name (Weeds, in this case), click on the Plus Sign
on the right-hand side of the new Group Question bar to select a question to add to your group question. The type of questions you can add are as follows:
- Number
- Text
- Pick List
- Date
- In this scenario, we are adding four questions into our group question (pictured below):
- Weed: A Pick List question with the levels Canada Thistle, Kochia, Ragweed, Milkweed, Wild Oat, Foxtail, Persian Darnel, Barnyardgrass, and Other.
- Weed Severity: A Pick List question with the levels Very Low, Low, Medium, High, and Very High.
- Weed Height: A Numerical question with the range set from 0 to 100.
- Notes: A Text question that allows users to add any relevant comments to the scouting report.
- The final scouting report should look something like the one pictured below.
- When you're done, click the Save
icon at the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Filling out scouting reports with group questions
Available from the: MOBILE APP
Permissions: ENTERPRISE ADMIN, AGRONOMIST, TECHNICIAN+, TECHNICIAN
-
Select a field you want to add an observation to, click on the field, then select the Add observation option.
- Make sure that you're using a template with a Group Question setup in it.
- Find the section of the scouting template that has the Group Question in it, then fill out the form (pictured below.)
-
Once you've finished filling out your Group Question, click the Plus Sign
- NOTE: this can only be done if you selected the Allow multiple answers option while setting up the template.
- Submit the scouting report once you're done filling it out, then export the report as a PDF.
- Pictured below is an example of a scouting report that contains a group question.
- NOTE: if you have a text summary question setup for your group question, the summary text will be written under the group question observations in a scouting report exported as a PDF (pictured below). Observations needs to be set as columns for the scouting report in order for this to work.
Repeating Questions
Repeating questions can be setup for both Numeric and Group Questions within a template. In the example below, we'll walk-through how-to setup a new scouting template with a repeating group question.
- Click on the Scouting icon, then navigate to the Templates tab.
- Click the Add new scouting template button to add a new template.
- NOTE: repeating questions can also be added to existing scouting templates.
- Give your new template a Name and name the Section the repeating question will be in.
- Click the + Add a question button, then select the Group option. Give your Group question a name and add a question to the group question.
- In the QUESTION DETAILS pane, check the Allow multiple answers box (pictured below).
- Add your desired questions to the group question (in this case Aphid Count and Aphid Pressure) and click the Save button.
- Open the mobile app and select a field you want to scout using the repeating question template.
-
Complete the following steps to fill out your scouting report:
- Click on the repeating question.
- Fill out the questions within your repeating question. Click the Back arrow in the upper left-hand corner of the screen when you're done.
- Back on the template home page, click the Plus button to add another observation.
- Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until you have completed making observations.
- Your submitted scouting report will look something like the PDF pictured below.