Creating a Hotline Pro Poll Node

A Hotline Poll contains a question with a list of possible responses from which recipients can choose. These responses can bridge callers to a conference call and save numeric information entered by the recipient.

By default, Hotline Polls require identification. This is the minimum security setting. You can increase this security to identification and authentication by clicking the Security button on the Hotline Option Editor page and selecting the identification and authentication choice. For more information, see Security.

To set up a Hotline Pro Poll:

1. Access the Hotline you want to add the message node to by clicking Hotlines in the left menu bar, selecting the appropriate Hotline, and clicking Edit. The Hotline Editor appears.
2. Add a New Hotline Poll node to Hotline by dragging New Hotline Poll from the left column into the Hotline tree in the right column. The Hotline Poll Option Editor appears. Use this editor to set the options for this node.
3. In the Poll Name field, type the text you want the TTS engine to read when a caller accesses this node of the Hotline. Type the words that you want callers to hear immediately after the option number. For example, to build a node that says, “Press 1 to respond to the flu pandemic poll,” type to respond to the flu pandemic poll into the Poll Name field.
4. Enter a Description for this poll. The description is required. It is how you will find the poll results later in reports.
5. Click the Actions field name to bring up the Action Editor.
6. Set up action logging to capture information about callers accessing this node. See Capturing Node Actions for more information on gathering information on node actions.

7. In the Message section, you can:

• Type a message for the AlertFind TTS engine to be read.
• Click Call to Record and type the phone number AlertFind should call to obtain the message. Click Call Now to initiate the call process. The status of the call appears in the window so that you can track the progress of recording. When the message has been recorded, the WAV appears on the Hotline Option Editor page.
• Click Upload Audio to upload an audio file. The file you upload must be a WAV file in a supported format. See Supported Audio Files.

7. In the Responses section, provide the responses that callers can choose for this poll. For instructions on options available in the Response Editor, see Use the Response Editor.

8. Add scheduling options to the poll so that it is presented to callers only during certain time-frames or days. See Setting Poll Scheduling or Recurrence Options for more information.
9. Create email notifications to send poll results to specific recipients. See Emailing Poll Result Reports.
10. Click Save to save the poll.
11. Continue adding other nodes or options to the hotline until it is complete.

To activate your Hotline, see Activating Your Hotline. You can view the results of the poll by following the instructions under Viewing Hotline Poll Results.

Emailing Poll Result Reports

When you set up a poll, you can select to have the poll results mailed to specific recipients.

To protect private data, permissions are applied to emailed poll results:

• If you send poll results to one of your own email addresses, your permissions determine whether private data is visible in the report.
• If you send poll results to a different email address, AlertFind validates that email address against the list of active AlertFind user addresses. If the email address exists in AlertFind, the permissions associated with that email address determine whether private data is visible in the report. If the address cannot be validated, private data is not included in the report.

You can specify how long the poll will run before results are sent. This delay can be in hours and minutes with a minimum of ten minutes. The results are emailed based on the scheduled time of the Hotline Poll, or if the poll is not scheduled, they are sent to you based on the time the Hotline was activated.

To email poll results:

1. Double-click the poll node in the Hotline tree. The Hotline Poll Option Editor appears.
2. Click Email Results. The Email Results Editor appears.
3. Select Email to and type the email address to send results to.
4. For Send results after, enter a time in hours and minutes.
5. Click OK.

Setting Poll Scheduling or Recurrence Options

By default, the poll is presented to callers anytime they call the Hotline. You can add scheduling options to the poll so that it is presented to callers only during certain time-frames or days. To set scheduling and recurrence for a Hotline Poll:

1. Double-click the poll node in the Hotline tree. The Hotline Poll Option Editor appears.
2. Click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears.
3. To set date constraints to limit when the poll is presented, set a Start Time and End Time.
4. To add a recurrence pattern, select an option from the Recurrence Pattern drop-down list and provide specifics for the fields that appear.

5. Click Save. The Hotline Poll Option Editor page appears, and the Scheduling field displays your entry.

Viewing Hotline Poll Results

You can view Hotline Poll results for one specific Hotline or for all Hotlines. To view Hotline Poll Results:

1. Click Hotlines in the menu bar. The Hotlines page appears.
2. Click View Results on the Hotlines page menu and choose either:

• Poll Results for Selected Hotline
• Poll Results for All Hotlines

If you select Poll Results for Selected Hotline, the Hotline Polls page for the selected Hotline appears.

• You can search this list by subject or by state (All, Current, Completed, Future). The Current list includes expired and disabled polls. Future occurrences of recurring polls appear when you select Future. Past occurrences of recurring polls appear when you select Completed.
• To sort the list alphabetically (ascending or descending), click the Subject column heading.
• Click Download to download a summary report about this Hotline; click Download Detailed to download a detailed report about this Hotline.
• Click the plus sign to display the poll question and the Details button, which displays the Results page for this poll.
• The Results page displays the Responses, Time Summary, and Recipients tabs. It also displays Basic Info, Delivery Options, and Conference Calls Info.

If you select Poll Results for All Hotlines, the Hotline Polls page appears with a list of all Hotlines Polls on all Hotlines in this team context.

• You can search the list by subject.
• To sort the list alphabetically (ascending or descending), click the Subject column heading.
• To download a summary report or a detailed report for this set of Hotlines, click the appropriate download button.
• Click the plus sign to display the poll question and the Details button, which displays the Results page for this poll.
• The Results page displays the Responses, Time Summary, and Recipients tabs. It also displays Basic Info, Delivery Options, and Conference Calls Info.