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Activity chains are used when you require participants to complete activities in a specific order. Forsta Plus Digital Diaries supports two types of chains: forced sequential order and random order.
The default type of chain created is the forced sequential order: any activity added to that chain will display to the participants in the scheduled order. Participants must access each item in sequence. Once an activity is submitted, the next activity in the chain will unlock.
Random chains force users to complete the activities assigned within the chain in a random order. Users must complete each of the activities in the order presented to them. The random order is computer randomized.
1: Creating a Chain
To create a new activity chain, navigate to the Activities & Scheduling page and click New Activity Chain.
Next, configure the activity chain using the options available in the Chain Editor:
- Name: Name your chain. This name will not be seen by participants.
- Random activity order for participants: Check the box if you want the activities to be presented in random order.
- Assign this order to: Assign the order to an entire segment or select participants to choose a specific set of individuals.
Once created, you can assign activities to the chain using the activity schedule editor.
1.1: Assigning Activities
Access the editor by clicking an activity once it is placed on the calendar, or by dragging and dropping a new activity onto the calendar.
Inside the editor, assign the activity to the chain using the "Assign this activity to" drop-down menu.
At the bottom of the list, you will find the name of the chain you created.
Once you have assigned your activities to the chain, you can click "agenda" to see the schedule for your chain. For randomized chains, it allows you to see the order in which each participant will see the activities.
2: Additional Considerations
2.1: Launch Time
The system launches activity chains based on the time they are set to launch, NOT the order they appear in the scheduler. To ensure your activities launch in your preferred sequential order, time them incrementally. For example, if you have three activities launching on one day in a chain, you would launch activity 1 at 8:00 am, activity 2 at 8:01 am, and activity 3 at 8:02 am. Launch time is based on participant timezones.
2.2: Timing of Randomized Chains
While randomized chains will work for activities programmed across days, they can only randomize the activities that are available on any given day. So if you only have a single activity on a given day, there will be nothing for the system to randomize. For best results, be sure to have at least two activities scheduled per day when making a randomized chain.
2.3: Using Multiple Chains
Multiple chains cannot be linked together. Items assigned within a chain will be forced to appear in either sequential or random order. They cannot be forced to appear in correlation to another separate chain.