Assessment Settings: Cohort Tab (Settings, Roles, Iterations)

The Cohort tab appears when Cohort Initiations is enabled in Site Settings. It contains three sub-tabs for configuring cohort behavior for your assessment.

Cohort Settings

You can read more about the Cohorts process here - Cohorts Help Article.

Select the Cohort Settings tab to set up Cohort Initiations for the assessment.

1. Cohort Tabs. Select one of the three tabs.
2. Cohort Type. The available options are:
   • Group. The main effect is the subject is one field, assumed to be a group name.
   • Single Respondent. The subject is First and Last name, and automated reassessment is invoked.
   • 360. The subject is the First and Last name of the person being rated.
3. Default Days to Completion. This is used to create the recommended requested completion date in the Cohort Initiation. It can be overridden. This date is used in the emails to tell everyone asked to respond the date they must complete their response by. On that night the system will automatically produce the report, providing the minimum number of responses have been received.
4. Default Minimum Responses. Set the default minimum responses if required, this can be left blank if you wish to set the minimum number of responses by role (if you specify minimum number of responses by role, the number specified here is ignored). The external initiation page will allow the user to set a minimum number of responses, based on this default unless it is hidden using the Hide Cohort Min Number of Responses (12, below).

5. Maximum Responses. Set the maximum number of respondents allowed. The system will not allow cohorts larger than this number. If this field is left blank, there is no restriction.

6. Enable Iterative Feedback.

   This checkbox normally only applies to single respondent Cohort types but can be used for "groups of one" where you specify a group name as the subject rather than a person's name, which separates the First and Last name. In either case there is still only one response, so the report can be produced as an immediate feedback report.

   When this checkbox is selected:

   • The system will automatically create Cohort Initiations when you invite an individual (or a "group of one") to complete a response (using Add Response, CSV Upload, API, or a Shareable link)
   • The system will use the email address to match the response with previous iterations and link them
   • If a response hasn't been completed for the period specified in the Cohort Iterations Setup, it will be automatically initiated by the system
   • In the Feedback report Setup, you can specify report templates to use on the different Iterations (Iteration 1 will normally be a little different from subsequent Iterations)

The below setting options only appear if External Cohort Initiation is selected:

7. External Cohort. Usually used with Groups or 360's, select this checkbox if you want users to be able to automatically create cohorts. Users will be taken to a screen where they create the cohort, then specify the raters that will contribute to the report.
8. Cohort ExternalID. It is a unique identifier for this assessment that is specified as part of the URL to launch a cohort Initiation. You cannot have the same external ID for more than one assessment. The external ID cannot have spaces in it, dashes and underscores are allowed.
   • You can copy the URL to your Clipboard using the Copy URL link.
9. Default BCC. This is the blind copy destination for the report. This will be overridden if the URL specifies an organization that has a BCC specified.
10. Hide Business Name. If selected, the External Cohort Initiation process does not show the Business Name as an input field.
11. Hide Cohort Completion Date. If selected, the External Cohort Initiation process does not show the Cohort Completion Date as an input field.
12. Hide Cohort Min Number of Responses. If selected, the External Cohort Initiation process does not show the Minimum number of Responses as an input field.
13. Hide Cohort PDF Password. If selected, the External Cohort Initiation process does not show the PDF Password as an input field.
14. Use Contact Email as BCC. Select this to set the BCC email address if you would like to set it to the contact's email address.
15. Contact Email Address. If selected, the External Cohort Initiation process uses this as a contact email address for purchasing additional responses (only applicable when Per Person charges are being made).
16. Respondents Selection. There are three options as to how the respondents may be specified by the user:
    • Details Input: the user is prompted to enter the email address, name, and role for each respondent.
    • Email Address Input: the user can copy and paste a list of email addresses from their email system for each role. If the name is present it will be stored, but it is not required.
    • Support Anonymous Respondents: URLs are supplied for each role, so that invitations can be sent outside the system. No personally-identifying information is required.
17. Save / Save and Close / Save and go to Assessment Builder.

Cohort Roles

Roles are used to specify one of the available groupings for respondents in the cohort report. For example, in a 360 you may have Manager, Peers, Subordinates, and Self; in a company report, you may have Board, Executive, Management, and Staff. You must have at least one role to use Cohort Initiations.

A table of existing Cohort Roles is displayed. You can Add to or Edit these roles from this screen.

1. Add Role. Screen displays enabling cohort roles to be added, see below for more detail.
2. Role. Displays the current available roles set up for this cohort.
3. Customer Type. Displays the customer types against each role.
4. Order. The order the roles will appear in charts split by role.
5. Edit. Allows for editing of each role.

Add/Edit Role Screen

1. Role. This is used as the identifier for responses from this role. It is automatically transferred to the Report Identifier field in Response Settings when the responses are created (by the Send Invitations function), for later use in the Cohort Report.
2. Customer Type. These can be associated with the role, and this will be copied into the Response when it is created. Customer Types are used to differentiate the emails to be sent, asking the respondent to complete a response. Typically you would want two customer types for this - one for the email to the subject ("Self") and one for all of the other raters - just so you can word it appropriately. (Read more about Customer Types)
3. Minimum Number of Respondents Invited. This is the number of respondents required for the system to send invitations. If the minimum number of respondents are not met, you cannot send invitations to the cohort.
4. Minimum Number of Respondents Completed. This is the number of completed responses required for the automatic production of the cohort report (after Completion Date). All roles for the assessment must have their minimum number. It is valid to have zero if there is no requirement for responses from that role. It does not affect the production of the report through the Cohort Report Manager.
5. Numerical Order. The order the roles will appear in charts split by role.
6. Is Subject. This checkbox applies to 360 Reports and ensures that the subject of the report is, by default, invited to assess themselves (as well as other people they specify). It can also be used to automatically add the contact (for team reports) or the individual (for Individual cohorts).

Cohort Iterations

Cohort Iterations are only required if you want a cohort (or an individual) to be reassessed over time. Iterations can be totally automated, creating a new Cohort Initiation record and emailing invitations to either the contact (to reinvite the respondents) or to the respondents themselves. Optionally their previous response can be copied, so they can just review and update that.

Add Cohort Iteration / Edit Screen

Selecting Add Cohort Iteration or Edit displays a screen to enter a new cohort iteration or make edits to an existing iteration. The screens are mostly the same.

1. Iteration Name. Is the internal name for the iteration type.
2. Iteration Label. Is the reporting name for the iteration. It can include a date (by including date parameters in the text denoted by curly brackets) or the Iteration number (by including {IterationNumber}). For example, "Certification {IterationNumber} {MMM yy}" would be labeled "Certification 1 Aug 22" in the reporting where the chart is split by Iteration. The date is based on the completion date for the Iteration. The available parameters are:
   • dd = day of the month as a number with a leading zero 01 to 31
   • MM = month as a number with a leading zero 01 to 12
   • MMM = the abbreviated name of the Month (Jan, Feb, Mar etc)
   • MMMM = the full name of the month (January, February etc)
   • yy = year as a number with a leading zero 01 to 99 (e.g. 21)
   • yyyy = year as a number (e.g. 2021)
   • MMM yy = combination of three-character month and two-digit year
   • dd MMM yy = combination of the day of the month, a three-character month and two-digit year
   • yyyyMMdd = reverse order, all numeric date e.g. 20240121

3. Iteration Order. Specifies the order of the iterations. If the Iteration is recurring (for example you want a reassessment every 6 months) you can select Repeating as an option.
4. Days From Previous Iteration. Specifies the number of days after Previous Iteration Creation Date or Completion (depending on the Date Rule selection) that the new Initiation will be automatically created (and related emails sent) - this can be set to any number of days up to 9999.
5. Date Rule. Options are Previous Iteration Creation Date or Completion date (this is the Requested Completion date in the General tab of the Cohort Details page).
6. Respondent Generation Option. The options are:
   • New Initiation - The contact or Subject is sent an email (using a Cohort Initiation email type) inviting them to specify the respondents again from scratch and send the invitations. If the Cohort is managed by you as an Administrator you have the option of having your own email address on the original Initiation or not having a Cohort Initiation email template. (This applies to all of the following options.)
   • Respondents Copied - The Contact or Subject is sent an email (using a Cohort Initiation email type) with a link to an initiation where the respondents have been copied from the last Iteration. The contact/subject can add and delete respondents and then send the invitations.
   • Respondents Copied and Invited - The respondents invited to respond in the last Iteration will automatically be invited again, i.e., responses automatically created. Response Welcome emails will be sent. These can be specifically worded for the Iteration.
   • Previous Responses Copied for Updating - A copy of each previous response will be made (except the completion date and Status will be null) so that the respondents can just update their previous answers. Response Welcome emails will be sent. These can be specifically worded for the Iteration.
7. Default Days to Completion. Is used to calculate the completion date for this iteration.
8. Cohort Report. The Cohort report to be selected for this Iteration. It may use the same template for all iterations or different ones. (Commonly the first Iteration template will be different as there will be no previous data for comparisons.)
9. Credit Card Payment Required. Select if payment is required for the Iteration. This is only applicable if the cohorts are user contact managed, and the Respondent Generation Option is New Initiation or Respondents Copied.

The following fields only appear if Credit Card Payment Required is selected.

10. Is Price Per Person. Select to specify prices by respondent count.

11. Currency. The currency of the charge or Price Per Person.

    Charge (not shown in screenshot) - The amount to charge if pricing is not Per Person.

    Phase (not shown in screenshot) - If Credit Card Processing is selected for a phased assessment you can select the phase (1 or 2) that the credit card processing applies to.

12. From / To / Price. Only applicable for Cohorts set up process and appears if Price Per Person Selected.
    • Enter price per person based on ranges of respondent counts. You can have multiple prices based on ranges of people counts.
    • The respondent charges are specified on the Assessment Role (you can have roles that are not charged for).
    • If a count (number) does not appear in any range, it cannot be selected. For example you may have a minimum or maximum number for a cohort.
    • The price charged will be calculated by multiplying the number of respondents of Roles that are charged for by the rate on that respondent count range (i.e. it is not cumulative).
13. Results Dashboard. If a Results Dashboard is specified here for this Cohort Iteration, a tab is added to the Cohort Details screen, displaying this dashboard.
14. Save / Delete / Cancel.