Comparion has several ways to invite participants to an anytime evaluation -- both for unregistered participants as well as those already registered in the model.
Responsive or Non-responsive Evaluation pages
AnyTime evaluation pages can be Responsive or Non-responsive.
In general, responsive Evaluation allows you to automatically adjust the content and layout of the page to accommodate a variety of devices and window or screen size.
To generate responsive invitation links, simply check the 
checkbox.
By design, responsive links simply add "r-" on the non-responsive links.
For example, if the invite link for non-responsive is: https://comparion.expertchoice.com?hash=abcde, then the responsive invitation link would be https://r-comparion.expertchoice.com?hash=abcde
Learn more on Responsive vs Non-responsive pages
There are four tabs for inviting participants, each with a different purpose.
Send Email(s)
This option is used to select one or more participants already registered in the model, and then to have Comparion or your Local email client send an email to each of the selected participants.
General Link
The General Link tab provides a hyperlink and/or invite instructions that can be used both by registered and unregistered participants.
Learn more on Invite Participants using General Links.
Participant Specific Links
The Participant Specific Links tab provides a (unique) link and email address generated for every registered participant in the model. The Project Manager can use these links in any way that they desire.
Group-Specific Links
The Group-Specific Links tab provides a link that will assign both registered and unregistered participants to a specific group.
AnyTime evaluation pages can be Responsive or Non-responsive.
In general, Responsive Evaluation allows you to automatically adjust the content and layout of the page to accommodate a variety of devices and window or screen size.
To generate responsive invitation links, simply check the on the AnyTime Send Invitation screen.
See below for more comparisons between Responsive and Non-responsive evaluation:
Non-Responsive Page | Responsive Page |
|---|---|
| Works flawlessly for desktop or big screen devices. For smaller devices, some browsers have a built-in way to show non-responsive pages as "mobile view," but it still requires scrolling and zooming. | Designed to render the page content based on the user's screen size. Responsive layouts automatically adjust and adapt to any device screen size, whether it is a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile phone. |
Features only available on non-responsive evaluation:
| Features only available on responsive evaluation:
|
| Support anonymous and signing up user evaluation for models with insight questions that can change the evaluation steps (e.g., Alternatives/Objectives checklist, Questions linked to participants' attributes) | Does not support |
The Send Email(s) tab is one of the send invitation options for AnyTime Evaluation. It displays a participants list table as shown below where the Project Manager will select the participant/s that will receive the AnyTime invitation. You can add participants in the Define Model > Participants page by navigating through the menus or by simply clicking the Add Participants button below the table.
A template for the email is also provided which can be edited to explain the purpose of the evaluation and provide any other information or hyperlinks that you want to convey to the evaluators.
You can edit the email Subject by typing on the Subject Field.
Clicking the Edit Invite button will open a rich text editor where you can edit the body of the invitation. You can add variables that Comparion will replace with the appropriate information as desired. After returning from editing you can then view what the email will look like.
Click the Reset button to reset the invitation to the default.
The Send Invite button is disabled until you select at least one participant from the left. You can select some or all of the participants to receive the email. You can also re-invite or remind participants if they are not making progress. You can select all participants without judgments or sort by the Evaluation Progress column and select those with a small percentage of judgments to re-invite or remind.
By default, the invitation email is being sent by Comparion; you can choose to send the invitation using your local mail client (e.g Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) by selecting "Use Your Local Mail Client" under the "From:" field.
Note that using this option, you can only send invitations to one selected participant at a time. If you want to send to multiple participants at once using your local mail client, you can use the Mail Merge option.
Simply select the participants you want to send the invitation to and then click the Download MS-MailMerge button at the bottom.
A .zip file will be downloaded; extracting the zip file will uncompress the ff:
- Your_Model_Name.docx - the MS mail merge file
- Your_Model_Name.mdb - MS database
- README.docx
Read the README.docx for the instructions.
The General Link tab provides a hyperlink and/or invitation instructions that can be used both by registered and unregistered participants.
The General Link page is divided into three sections:
- General Link type - Anonymous, Sign in and Evaluate, and Log in. These are explained in detail below.
- Options - Options can be enabled or disabled as applicable to the selected General Link type.
- Invitation Link and Invitation Instruction - where the invitation link and instructions based on the general link type and options specified are displayed. The Project Manager can copy and send the link/instruction via email, post it to a website, or transmit it via a chat window or any other communications mode. You can also see hint text below the invitation instruction explaining briefly how the link works.
There are three options for General Links:
1. Link for Anonymous Evaluation
Generates a link that, when used, will allow the respondent to enter judgments anonymously. If they exit the evaluation and execute the link at a subsequent time, they will be returned to the same point at which they left off.
The options available for Anonymous Evaluation invitation are as follows:
(These options are also available for the Signing Up and Evaluation tab)
- Group Assignment - assigns the invited users to a specific participant group when executing the link.
By default, "No group" is selected, meaning they will not be assigned to any group. You can select a group, if available, by clicking on the drop-down. You can click the Manage Groups 
icon to redirect you to the Add Participants screen and open the Manage Groups dialog box where you can add groups.
TIP: The invitation/instruction link section at the bottom has a generated link that is based on the currently selected group on the drop-down. If you want to get the links for all the existing groups at once, go to the fourth tab, Group-Specific Links tab lists, where you can copy/download the links.
- Permission Assignment - assign permission (Evaluator, Viewer, Evaluator/Viewer, and Project Manager) to non-registered participants when executing the link.
2. Link for Signing In and Evaluation
The Link for Signing In and Evaluation is applicable for registered and non-registered users. Executing the link will redirect the users to a page with two forms, where they can either sign up or log in:
In addition to the two options (Group and Permission Assignment) available for the Anonymous Evaluation described above, more options are available for Link for Signing In and Evaluation:
- Sign-up form fields and required fields - select the fields (E-mail, Name, Phone number, Password) to display for the non-registered users form when the link is executed and indicate if responses are required or not. At least one of the fields must be selected (checked) to appear.
Note: You cannot specify a required password unless the email is required. If all selected fields are designated as optional (not required) and the user chooses to not enter any information, then the link functions the same as the anonymous evaluation.
- Assign a Project Manager permission to the registered user - if this option is checked, a registered user that has a Project Organizer Workgroup Permission will be a Project Manager of the model. (Note: A Workgroup Manager will always be a Project Manager of a model.)
- Specify the signup page title and message - this is the (1) heading and (2) custom message that will appear at the top of the signing up/login page.
3. Link for going to normal Comparion login screen
When executing the link generated from this option, the user will be taken to the normal Comparion login screen with an access code for this model. The registered user needs to provide his/her email and password, and click Log in.
The Participant Specific Links tab provides a (unique) link and email address generated for every registered participant in the model. The Project Manager can distribute these links to participants.
The Project Manager can copy the links and emails using the Copy button or download them to an Excel file.
The Group-Specific Links tab provides a link that will assign both registered and unregistered participants to a specific group.
In the General Link tab, you can only select a group and copy the invitation link one at a time. Here in the Groups-specific tab, we take into account the currently selected options from the General links tab (e.g., general link type, permission, etc.) and generate a link with those definitions for each existing participants group.
For example:
The invitation link details are indicated in the first line as shown above. "Signing In and Evaluation" invite links with sign-up form fields: Email*, Name, and Password*, users will be assigned to an "Evaluator" permission.
Three invite links were generated. When a user executed the first link, s/he will be redirected to the "Signing in and Evaluation" page and will be not be assigned to any group after he/she signed up or logged in.
The second link will assign the users to the "Risk Experts" group, and the third to the "C-Level Executives" group.
Participants Groups can be added on DEFINE MODEL > DEFINE PARTICIPANTS & ROLES > Participants groups page. Each group has a unique link as shown below.
