Introduction

Flex is the product name given to Forsta Plus' inbuilt extensions functionality.

An extension is a computer program designed to be incorporated into and run by another "parent" application to provide additional functionality for the parent application - effectively a type of add-on. Extensions can be used to modify the behavior of existing features within Forsta Plus or add entirely new features.

Important
The Geolocation, Email Opt Out and SMS Surveys extensions are Add-Ons; commercial terms will apply.

For the Geolocation extension there is a fallback mechanism in place such that the IP checking will be skipped and the respondent will be allowed into the survey regardless of IP/location in the event the extension becomes unresponsive. For the Email Opt Out extension, the batch emailing task will abort without sending any emails if the extension becomes unresponsive.

The Geolocation extension will store some project level settings (“Anonymous Proxy Access” (Allow/Flag/Block), “Satellite Provider Access” (Allow/Flag/Block), “Violator Access” (Flag/Block), “Custom Block Page” text, Countries to be Blocked/Flagged, Last Timestamp and some aggregated statistics (Total Allowed/Flagged/Blocked for each respondent country)), as well as some respondent level data (IP Address, Country Code, Timestamp, Forsta Plus Project Id, Access (Allowed/Flagged/Blocked) and Forsta Respondent Id), but no personally identifiable information.

The Geolocation extension includes reporting options in Google Earth or Google Maps that interoperate with Google services. Those parts of the Add-On depend on the continuing reasonable availability of the Google API and program.

The Email Opt Out extension will store the email address of blacklisted respondents, Company Id, and potentially Project Id or Panel Id (for survey or panel-level blacklists) and the unsubscribe confirmation text.

Forsta Plus refers to and runs an extension when it is called by one of several extension points. The change-over between Forsta Plus and the extension is seamless in both directions and the user or respondent will not know that the extension is running as an extension - it appears to be just another part of the Forsta Plus functionality.

Note: The extensions themselves are separate pieces of software which will be accessible from and listed in Forsta Plus where applicable.

In many cases the extension has an interface page such that you can set up the extension to function as required for your current survey. When such an interface is available for an extension and that extension has been selected for a survey, then an additional tab will be displayed in the Survey Management > Overview page for that survey. Click on this tab to open the interface page for the extension. Note that the setup you specify here will apply only to the current survey or panel; you can specify different setups for the same extension for any number of surveys.

The extension programs currently available within Forsta PlusFlex are created by Forsta engineers. However the intention is to allow customers or third-party developers to create their own extensions as required - all the customer will require is the interface API from Forsta. The extensions that are currently available include:

• Email Opt Out - allows the company, survey and/or panel administrator to add email addresses to black-lists such that particular respondents do not receive survey emails, and allows respondents to opt out of receiving emails for particular surveys, panels or companies (go to Introduction for more information).
• Geolocation - allows you to block or flag respondents suspected of providing fraudulent response data. Various methods and "degrees" of detection are available (go to Introduction for more information).
• SMS Surveys - enables respondents to receive and reply to surveys using the SMS functionality on their mobile telephones (go to Introduction for more information).
• Confirmit Question Extensions - extensions allow you to add several special types of questions to your survey. When the functionality is activated, an additional toolbox appears in the Questionnaire Tree providing access to the extensions you have licensed.
• CRM Connect for Salesforce - allows you to setup and manage data integrations with Forsta Plus and Salesforce through a simple graphical UI. The documentation for CRM Connect is available in the Data Processing documentation.
• Video Rating - allows you to create and present video-rating questions to your respondents.