BlueDolphin allows creating relationship questionnaires for a relationship assigned to a pair of objects. The relationship itself carries very limited information, such as a source and a target object, a type of the relationship, a lifecycle state, and a free text label. Presenting any additional information requires another means, which is available through relationship questionnaires.
By using this feature, you can provide rich information about the details of a relationship for a specific object combination. The attributes, questions, or fields are unique for a combination of objects and not for any of the individual objects within a relationship. Adding this type of questionnaire leads to the creation of models loaded with valuable data and better decision-making based on such models.
Currently, the relationship questionnaire feature supports the ArchiMate category of objects.
To access the configuration and management area for relationship questionnaires, go to the Admin area and select Relationship questionnaires.
Create a new relationship questionnaire
1. To create a new questionnaire, click the Add questionnaire button .
2 Type in a name for the new questionnaire and click OK.
3. Now you can add fields or questions to your questionnaire. Click Add field.
4. Fill in the required information for a new field.
The table below explains various options available in the questionnaire field section.
Option | Description |
Field name | Enter the name of the field. This is shown in BlueDolphin on the left side of the questionnaire view. |
Description | Enter a description that provides other BlueDolphin users with additional information about the field. |
Type | The type determines what kind of answers (values) are allowed in the field.
|
Standard value | Enter the initial (or default) value that will be used for the field. |
Mandatory | Here you can specify whether the field should be mandatory. NOTE: The field is mandatory only if a standard/default value is not set from the possible values |
Read only | Here you can enable or disable editing of the field. |
Once you have selected a certain type of field, several additional options are shown, depending on the type.
Below you can find an overview of specific options per field type.
Field type | Field option | Description |
Checkbox | None |
|
Date | None | The date format depends on your browser's language settings. For example, if the browser language is set to Dutch, the date is displayed in dd-mm-yyyy format.
If the language is set to English (United States), the date is displayed in mm/dd/yyyy format. |
Dropdown or radio | Possible values | Here you can specify possible options that the user can choose from. |
Hyperlink | Open in new window | Here you can specify if a hyperlink should open in a new window. |
Dropdown or radio | Possible values |
|
Hyperlink | None |
|
Multiple text lines | None | Maximum length of a text field |
Number | Number of decimals | Here you can specify the number of decimal places displayed for numbers. |
Text | Maximum length | Maximum number of characters allowed in the response (including spaces) |
Formatted text | Amount of lines | Specify the number of lines to set the default size of the response field that is displayed to users. |
Currency | Currency | Here you can select the currency symbol. |
| Number of decimals | Here you can specify the number of decimal places displayed for numbers. |
5. Click OK and click the Save icon to save your changes. The field will be added to the questionnaire.
Note: There is a limit of one questionnaire per each object combination.
Edit a relationship questionnaire
1. To edit a new or existing questionnaire, click on the questionnaire in the list. A new window opens where you can see the name of the questionnaire and all the fields/questions that it contains.
2. To edit any of the fields, click on the name of the field and make necessary changes.
3. Click OK and then click the Save icon to confirm the action.
Delete a relationship questionnaire
To remove a field from the questionnaire, click the trash can next to it and then click the Save icon.
1. To delete a whole questionnaire, you need to find it in the list first.
2. Click on the name of the questionnaire and then click the trash can in the top-right corner of the window.
3. Click Delete to confirm the action.
Add a relationship questionnaire to an object combination
You can add relationship questionnaires only to enabled object combinations. To add one of the questionnaires that you have previously created in the Admin area, follow the steps below:
Go to the Admin > Object definitions.
Select an object from Enabled and click on its Object combinations tab.
Select an object combination in the list and hover over on the right-hand side of the bar. The three-dot menu appears.
Click the three-dot menu and select Add relationship questionnaire.
Select a questionnaire from the list.
Click Save.
If a questionnaire is already added to a combination, additional options to replace or remove it become available in the drop-down menu. If a combination already has a questionnaire linked to it, this will be indicated by the additional (dark blue) color and the questionnaire name below the relationship type.
In case you need to disable a combination that contains a relationship questionnaire, it is regarded as best practice to remove the relationship questionnaire first and only then disable the combination.
Please note that removing and replacing relationship questionnaires removes the data contained as well.
Permissions
Permissions for relationship questionnaires are handled at the object level. To be able to edit data, it is required that your user is granted the role that allows read and write for either object's 'Relations & Diagram'. Otherwise, you will only be able to view a questionnaire and its data.
Please note, however, that you can never edit fields set to read-only.
More on managing roles and permissions in BlueDolphin can be found here.