Each survey assigned to a client is one instance. From the Surveys tab you can edit it, record that it was skipped, dismiss it, reset it, or restore it — the available actions depend on your access level and the instance's current status.
How to read survey instance labels
Automated instances carry a short label that tells you where they sit in the episode. The prefix is A for admit-phase surveys and D for discharge-phase. The suffix depends on the series's label format:
| Format | Examples | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Days | A0, A7, A30, D0, D30 | Days from admit (A) or discharge (D). |
| Weeks | AW0, AW4, DW0, DW12 | Weeks from admit or discharge. |
| Months | AM0, AM3, DM6, DM12 | Months from admit or discharge. |
| Years | AY0, AY1 | Years from admit or discharge. |
On-demand instances (triggered manually from the On-Demand view) use the same prefix plus a daily sequence: A5-1 is the first on-demand survey on day 5 of the admit phase, A5-2 would be a second one the same day.
Labels are driven by how the series is configured, so you'll see different formats in different accounts.
Where the instance actions live
Clicking an instance row on the Surveys tab opens the Edit Instance modal. The footer keeps only Update and Cancel; every other action — Copy Link, Reminder, Reset, Dismiss, Skipped, and Restore — is grouped under the actions menu button at the bottom left of the modal. Only the actions your access level and the instance's current status allow appear there, and if none apply the button is hidden entirely.
How to copy a survey link (Level 2+)
Copy Link puts a direct link to that one survey on your clipboard, ready to paste into an email, a chat message, or a note. Opening the link takes the person the survey is assigned to straight to it in the client portal.
There are two places to copy it:
- On the pending survey list — the client's Surveys tab or the account-level Surveys list — rows whose Administer by method is Link show a copy button beside the method name. Rows administered any other way do not, and neither do rows whose expiry date has passed.
- In the Edit Instance modal (level 3+, the level needed to open it), Copy Link is the first item in the actions menu. It appears for any pending instance the respondent can open themselves — Link, Kiosk, Email, and Alt. Email — and not for the staff-administered methods Staff (paper), Staff (interview), and Staff (phone), nor for an instance that is already completed, expired, skipped, dismissed, or past its expiry date. Surveys assigned to a staff member rather than to the client or a related contact have no copyable link either, whatever their method.
A confirmation appears once the link is on your clipboard. If your browser blocks the automatic copy, a Survey Link window opens with the link selected so you can copy it by hand.
The link needs no login. Anyone holding it can open and answer the recipient's pending surveys in the portal, so send it only to the person the survey is assigned to. It stops working once those surveys have expired.
How to edit a survey instance (Level 3+)
On a pending instance you can change the delivery method, due (active) date, and expire date. On a completed instance the modal lets you adjust the completion date instead. For a pending email instance, the actions menu also offers Reminder.
- On the Surveys tab, click the instance row to open the Edit Instance modal.
- Change the fields you need.
- Click Update.
Skipped and dismissed instances are read-only. Both are finished outcomes, so their delivery method and dates can no longer be changed — the modal shows them as plain text, is titled Instance Details, and offers no Update button. Restore the instance first if you need to change it.
How to mark a survey skipped (Level 3+)
Use Skipped when a survey was due but was not administered, and you know why: the client declined, the client was unavailable or off the unit, the survey wasn't clinically appropriate that day, or a medical, cognitive, or language barrier got in the way.
A skip is a real clinical outcome, so it stays in your numbers. The survey still counts as assigned-but-not-completed in the client's engagement score, in the Surveys Completed percentage on their summary, and in the completion rate in reports. That is the whole point of recording it rather than letting it expire unexplained.
- Open the pending instance and choose Skipped from the actions menu.
- Pick a Reason. This is required — it comes from a fixed list so skips can be counted and compared, which free text could never support.
- Optionally add a Note describing the circumstance. This is free text and is limited to 2,000 characters.
- Click Mark Skipped.
The reasons you can choose from:
| Reason | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Client declined | The client was asked and refused. |
| Client unavailable / absent | The client was off the unit, asleep, in another appointment, or otherwise not reachable. |
| Clinically inappropriate at this time | Clinical judgement that administering it that day would not have been appropriate. |
| Medical or cognitive barrier | A medical or cognitive condition prevented the client from completing it. |
| Language or literacy barrier | The survey was not available in a language the client could complete. |
| Other | Anything the list doesn't cover — use the note to explain. |
Only a pending instance can be marked skipped. Once it is, the client can no longer open or answer it, even from a link they already have.
Skipping clears just that one occurrence. If the survey came from a series, the automation will not put that occurrence back, but the series keeps running and later due dates still generate as normal — a skip is not an opt-out.
Skipped or Dismissed — which one?
They look similar in the list but mean opposite things for your reporting, so the choice matters.
| Skipped | Dismissed | |
|---|---|---|
| Use it when | The survey genuinely went unanswered, and you know why. | The survey should never have gone out — a duplicate, an error, or a period the client was away. |
| Records a reason | Yes — required, from a fixed list, plus an optional note. | No. |
| Counts in completion metrics | Yes — as assigned but not completed. | No — removed from the statistics entirely, as though never assigned. |
| Access level | 3+ | 3+ |
Dismissing a genuine non-completion hides exactly the signal your reports need. If the client simply didn't answer, mark it Skipped — reach for Dismiss only when the assignment itself was wrong.
How to dismiss a survey instance (Level 3+)
Dismissing removes a pending instance from the active list and from your completion statistics — use it when the survey should not have been assigned at all. If the client simply didn't answer, mark it Skipped instead — see the comparison above. Only pending instances can be dismissed; a completed one must be reset first. Open the instance, choose Dismiss from the actions menu, and confirm.
This works for automated (series-generated) instances as well as ad-hoc ones. Dismissing a series instance clears that one occurrence: the automation will not put it back, but the underlying series keeps running, so later due dates still generate as normal and the series rule is left untouched.
How to reset a completed instance (Level 4+)
Resetting an already-completed instance marks it back to incomplete so the respondent can continue or redo it. Existing responses are kept. Use this for accidental submissions or when the wrong person answered. Choose Reset from the actions menu; it is available only for completed instances and requires level 4 access or higher.
How to restore a skipped or dismissed instance (Level 4+)
Skipped and dismissed instances hide from the active list by default. Open the filter, check Show Skipped or Show Dismissed, find the row, then choose Restore from the actions menu. One Restore reverses either status; on a skipped instance it also clears the skip reason and note. Restore requires level 4 access or higher, and works for series-generated instances as well as ad-hoc ones.
Restoring brings back the same instance rather than creating a new one. If its expire date has not passed it becomes pending again and the client can answer it. If that date has already passed it returns as Expired instead — and because nothing is holding the occurrence any more, automation may generate a fresh copy of the survey on its next run. Restoring an overdue instance reopens it rather than simply undoing the skip or dismissal.
How to see skipped, dismissed, and expired instances
None of the three is waiting on an answer, so all three are hidden from the client's Surveys tab by default. Open the filter dropdown while the pending view is active and use the checkboxes:
- Show Recently Expired — instances that passed their expire date with no completion.
- Show Dismissed — instances removed from the statistics.
- Show Skipped — instances recorded as not administered. This is a separate checkbox from Show Dismissed on purpose: the two statuses count in opposite directions, so they are never bundled into one toggle.
- Show Upcoming — series surveys not yet due.
Each checked option adds a chip to the toolbar so you can see at a glance what the list is including. Skipped and dismissed rows are shown greyed out with a coloured bar down the left edge; a skipped row also shows its reason when you open it.
Survey instance statuses at a glance
The last column is the one that matters for reporting: whether the instance still counts as assigned when a completion rate is worked out.
| Status | Meaning | Counts in completion metrics? |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | Assigned; waiting for the respondent to complete. | Yes |
| Completed | Submitted and scored. May have triggered an alert. | Yes |
| Expired | Passed the expire date with no completion, and no one recorded why. | Yes |
| Skipped | Recorded as not administered, with a reason and an optional note. | Yes |
| Dismissed | Explicitly removed from the statistics — treated as though it was never assigned. | No |
If you know why a survey went unanswered, marking it Skipped with a reason is worth more than letting it expire: it carries the same weight in the numbers, but it also explains itself.
Reporting on skipped surveys
Because the reason is a fixed list rather than free text, skips can be counted and compared in reports and exports. On the Surveys data source you can:
- Filter on Survey Status — Skipped is one of the values, alongside Active / Pending, Completed, Expired, and Dismissed.
- Filter or group by Skip Reason to see why surveys go unanswered, not just that they did.
- Add Skip Note as a column when you need the free-text circumstance.
By default the Surveys data source reports on completed surveys only; adding a Survey Status filter is what opens a section up to pending, expired, skipped, and dismissed instances.