FAQ Manual

Application Status

• Recent FAQ Changes
• FAQ Import Status
• FAQ Rollout Plan
• FAQ System User Test
• General Questions

Heureka

Basic Functionality

System for entering, editing, validating, and retrieving the most frequently asked questions across Extension nationwide.

1. Public facing Internet: Allows eXtension customers to search a database base of questions and answers across areas served by CoPs. Displays the most asked for information within each CoP as the default view. (Perhaps a view like Googles zeitgeist would be a better approach than just listing the top questions.) Interfaces with the Ask An Expert system for the collection of initial questions. Uses a wiki mechanism to generate and validate FAQs, and to supply the metadata needed to properly catalog each question and answer.
2. Intranet: Same functionality as above without the validation section. Allows for the creation of an internal collection of FAQs by informally organized CoPs for use by state and county educators. (I think the decision now is to use the same application to manage and develop both the internal and externally available FAQs. A Q&A won't be available on the public facing internet unless it has been through review and has an associated CoP, but the validation/review capabilities will be available for both forms. KevinGamble 14:08, 9 Oct 2005 (EDT))

Will be named ask.extension.org

Internal FAQ Review, Editing, Publishing and Archiving Processes

We have asked for input from the CoP leadership group on the process they would like for Internal FAQs as far as the review process, editing process, publishing etc. Here’s what we have come up with:

1. FAQ and Answer (will call both simply FAQ from now on) in Draft Status – anyone with an eXtension ID can make changes, add discussion etc
2. Each CoP designates content reviewers for FAQs – these are the only people who can give a “thumbs up” to publish.
3. Each CoP FAQs must have three content review to publish. FAQ status shows Content Review in Progress 1/3 etc (number of reviews complete out of number required)
4. Once the appropriate number of reviews are complete, FAQ status becomes “Content Review Complete”
   1. Others may still add discussion, but no changes
   2. Only CoP members with permission to publish for that CoP and Copy Editors designated can make actual changes to the FAQ
5. Copy editors can do there work on all FAQ that have status “Content Review Complete”. When FAQ edited is complete, editor changes status of FAQ to “Ready to Publish”
   1. Others may still add discussion, not no changes
6. CoP Members with permissions to publish are the only ones who can change the FAQ at this point and can change status of FAQ to “Published”
   1. Others may still add discussion, but no changes
7. FAQ and Answer then becomes part of the public FAQ system
8. Once a FAQ is published, only those CoP members with permission to publish can move a question back to a previous status (any one….draft, content review in progress, content review complete, ready to publish or archive).
   1. Others may still add discussion, but no changes.
9. Only designated CoP members can archive a question in any status (i.e. those with publish permissions are the only ones who can archive a published question, those with review permissions are the only ones who can archive FAQs that are “content review complete” or “content review in progress”; any CoP member can archive a draft FAQ). General eXtension internal user cannot archive any question.

Several also mentioned that they would like people directed to our resources for writing good FAQs and answers. Source to point them to is:

How to Develop a FAQin the CoP Guidebook.

We suggest this be added to the opening page of the internal FAQ system.

Below is a comment that many of the CoP leaders agreed with:

“I would support only folks identified with a CoP be able to edit, but anyone could be able to comment or add discussion. If we go with the current policy, that anyone with eXtension ID can make changes, I would suggest that before folks are invited to make lots of changes, they be directed to become active with an existing CoP to learn and contribute to the CoP's philosophies for FAQ development.”

So perhaps we should also have a link for users to join a CoP on the opening page as well (as so as we get the user registration page allow individuals to join a CoP).

Elements of the Public FAQ System with Administrative Functions

Public Interface

Ask a question

1. Require user to search the knowledge base prior to being able to ask question. Advanced search features: State
2. Presented with categories and subcategories for that product/subject area in which to choose from to the best of their ability.
3. Place to enter email address and state if not registered, or provide registration ability at that time or modified registration of email address and state. (Don't think we want to accept questions from non-registered users. Could have people entering wrong email addresses, addresses for lists, etc. KevinGamble 03:38, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT))
4. Once submitted provide questions that are similar to what the user asked. If their question is not in the list then they can complete the submission process. Let the user know that they have to click another button to complete the submission process. Then generate a screen that indicates the question was submitted and they should receive an answer with a given time frame based on workflow rules. (Is this not redundant to step #1 above? Didn't we already require them to search and determine that their answer was not in the database? KevinGamble 03:38, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT))
5. Tab for Search feature or Ask an Expert on the same screen as 4 above.
6. Allow for interface to the answer database from other devices using Google SMS as a model (http://www.google.com/sms/howtouse.html#qna)
7. Public access site will be named ask.extension.org

Administrative side of FAQ system

Basic system

1. Will need a product/subject area for broad categories, i.e. horse, horticulture, obesity, and financial security. (Would not the broad areas be captured by the CoP system that the questions were entered from?KevinGamble 10:02, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)) That could very well happen. --CraigWood 15:01, 28 Sep 2005 (EDT)
2. Will need ability to define categories and sub-categories under each product/subject, i.e. horse is subject categories would be nutrition, health, management, etc.
3. Will need a mechanism to create standard responses by CoPs. This will allow quick responses to questions that are similar, referred to others, or something that CoP doesn’t support.
4. Need to capture date and time of when question was asked.
5. Need to provide ability to capture an arbitrary number of images (figures, photos, etc.) alongside the text of the question, for instance, for diagnosis or identification purposes. (Added by CC from NMSU, 24-Oct-2005)
6. View profile of the person asking question. This will come from registration info. or the modified registration info. under Ask a question number 3. (from registration. KevinGamble 03:38, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT))
7. Cooperative Extension System access to this application will be called faq.extension.org

Staff Management of questions

1. Way to create profiles for the products and categories. Create new products and categories as needed and new categories within existing products.
2. Way to define groups. Categories and subcategories
3. Mechanism to create accounts for the CoP members that will be answering questions. This will allow the administrator to assign members to categories to answer questions. (Should be part of single sign-on. Should capture this at the time that Extension employees create accounts. Should be part of the account/profile management system. Would also be included as a part of the "Find an Expert" application where area of expertise would be captured. KevinGamble 03:38, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT))

Workflow Management

1. Escalation Rules – define time frame, how it is handled, who gets the notification, etc. Time frame; immediately, one hour, two hours, four hours, 8 hours, one day, two days.
2. Work Hours – so the system knows how to calculate escalation.
3. Holidays – So they are not included in the escalation count.
4. Mechanism to handle customized email message to administrator that a question has been escalated, to expert receiving the escalated question and end user based on workflow rules.
5. Question status for the system.

       6.   Answer Status for the system.
                  Private – answer sent to user, not to be included in the public knowledge base, but still maintained within the knowledge base.
                  Proposed – been answered and needs reviewing before being made public in the knowledge base.
                  Public – Moved and now resides in the public knowledge base.
                  Reviewed – but not moved to the public knowledge base.

I would propose that steps 2-4 be handled in the wiki and that wiki extensions be written to handle the inclusion of metadata and the review process. See: the_validation_tab at the top of this page as an example of how this might work from within Mediawiki. KevinGamble 03:58, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT) Sample form to build into the tab: Psu peer review form.jpg

Answer Process

1. Notification of question submitted to appropriate member of CoP.
2. Process for CoP member to answer question. Must include easy way to attach the appropriate metadata when answering the question.
3. XML editor that allows the inclusion of hyperlinks, graphics, streaming media, basic formatting of text, etc.
4. Storage for included media assets in addition to the text, with simple interface for uploading and management.
5. Way to pass question to another CoP member if initial member is not comfortable answering the questions and wants more input.
6. Answer automatically sent back to user and then stored as proposed in database.
7. Process for CoP member answering question to view information on person asking the question, if provide by individual.
8. Mechanism to include standard or default answers.
9. Sort feature. Sort based on Expert, Product, Category, could be others

Review process

1. Mechanism to call up all questions flagged as "proposed" so that they can be reviewed and moved to the public knowledge base.
2. XML editor that allows the inclusion of hyperlinks, graphics, streaming media, basic formatting of text, etc.
3. Application to see metadata attached, edit and add additional metadata information if deemed appropriate.
4. Sunset date and/or review date.
5. Example form from Penn State. Contains items for peer review process. Form has gone through extensive testing and evaluation at Penn State. Psu peer review form.jpg

Reporting Functions

Types of reports

1. Dashboard - A real-time snapshot of the system that compares yesterday and today with the last 30 days, this report would include question activity, response time, backlog, and average number of days a questions is left unanswered.
2. State report - (a) questions asked by people in state, (b) answers provided by experts in state
3. Expert Effectiveness - Displays the number of questions assigned, responded to, and answered per expert.
4. CoP Performance - Displays the total number of questions by group and the average time it took to respond to or close the question over a specified period of time.
5. CoP Activity - Displays the total number of questions that have been responded to or closed for a select group, content team or entire CoP over a specified time period.
6. Questions by Category - Displays all questions sorted by category for the specified time period. Would be nice if I could click on the category’s corresponding graph bar to view questions by sub-category (if defined).
7. Questions by CoP - Displays all of the questions submitted within a specified period of time sorted by CoP. Would be nice if I could click on the CoP’s corresponding graph bar to view questions within that CoP sorted by category.
8. Question Creation Rate - Displays statistics of questions per hour/day of week/day of year/or month of year.
9. Questions and Answers Viewed - Displays the total number of questions and answers over a specified time period. This report will be used to see which answers are the most searched on, and which ones are not being selected.
10. Questions and Answers Viewed by Category - Displays the total number of questions and answers grouped by category over a specified time period. Give option to display ascending or descending.
11. Questions and Answers Viewed by CoP - Displays the total number of questions and answers grouped by CoP over a specified time period.
12. Keyword Searches - Displays the keywords used in searches over a specified time period. Show keyword number searches, and number of questions available to meet that search from search results.
13. End User Session Tracking - Displays session length in terms of time and pages, page transitions, and starting and ending points for sessions. This report tracks and records the activity of end-user sessions.
14. Custom - Allow a function for creating custom reports that would be of value to a CoP.

Reporting parameters for reports

1. Designate product/subject area
2. Designate time and date parameters
3. Within date parameters designate day, week, month, year, quarter
4. Designate state, CoP, Member of CoP
5. Type of report, i.e. text vs graph
6. Types of graphs

       7.    View these on the screen as well as a print function. (Print should be handled by the browser. KevinGamble 03:38, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT))

Survey Module
Built in survey mechanism that automatically gives the user the chance to rate the answer to a viewed or asked question.

Built in survey mechanism that sends surveys to users about the FAQ system and its usefulness. Customize survey function to target categories/subject area to submit to a targeted audience to assess success of using the answers to the questions in that category.

Format could be radio buttons, multiple choice, fill blank.

Web Service
FAQs, surveys, reports, etc. should be able to be accessed through a SOAP interface or other web service protocol so that the functionality of the FAQ system can be extended with local applications at other universities. For instance, on a faculty member bio page at his or her parent institution's web site, we should be able to query the FAQ's that faculty member has written, and link to them on the eXtension FAQ site. (Added by CC from NMSU, 24-Oct-2005)

Frequently Asked Questions Authoring Application