Answering a question

This is a specialist page for developing answers to questions. It also gives access to some very useful workflow types that provide specialist workflows used in answering the question, Including ways to correspond with the client during this process.

You can use this screen as many times as you need in order to answer a question – the work you do in this screen is saved in the history file and is built upon each time you use this screen.

When your answer is complete, this is also the place from which the answer can be sent to the client and a decision made about inclusion in the knowledge database.

A special version of this screen is also used to amend questions and answers in the knowledge database.

When you attempt to Answer a question that has already been closed, the system will advise that the question is closed and offer the option to reopen for client contact and a note that other reopen options like KB review and QA review are provided from the Actions menu item.

Tabbed layout of this screen
For reference purposes, a summary of the current question is provided above the tabs of this screen so it can be seen no matter what tab you are using. The summary provides a Request group symbol to quickly identify the type of question, the first parameter 3.5 lines (hard returns) of the question text with a [more] link to see more of the text if there is more, an Item summary if the question relates to an item (in italics), the Request form used to enter the question, the current status of the question, and, if the question is allocated to a staff, member, the name of that staff member.

This screen is displayed with up to three tabs: Answer, Workflow notes and Details.
– The Answer tab is used to develop the Answer, to send it to the client, to communicate with the client in other ways, and to make notes about developing the answer. It is the active tab – the other two tabs provide information only.
– The Workflow notes tab provides information about notes that have been made during the development of the answer to this question, and if no notes have been saved then this tab does not appear. It provides a quick way to familiarise yourself with the history of the question, and if it appears, is a good indication that it should be looked at before trying to work on a question that you have not worked on before.
– The Details tab provides exactly the same information as provided by the Details link on the Question action bar – all the known facts about this question. It is provided here in the Answer screen so that the full details of the question can be referred to without having to go out of the Answer screen.

Users of this screen can move around the tabs without losing work entered in to the Answer tab, but don’t forget that the information you enter in the Answer tab is not saved until you click on the Save/send button in that tab. The Answer tab will be addressed first and the Workflow notes and Details tabs will be addressed further down this page.

Using this screen to develop answers to questions
The Answer tab of this screen provides an answer scratch pad that is used to develop and improve a response for the client as investigation of the question proceeds. Enter components of your answer as you obtain them. Correspond with your client, and record the details of how you obtained the answer, using the Workflow notes field. Use Workflow types such as Query to client to progress the answering of the question – see below for how to use the screen for these different workflow types.

Click on a progress status in the How complete drop down box, then Save/send to save any partial work that you have done, or chose Close question, when you are happy with the answer you have created (but don’t forget to double check its right first!).

The Draft answer and Workflow notes fields of the Answer screen are QuickText enabled fields which means that your system administrator may have created context sensitive standard text that can be inserted in these fields by simply double clicking in them, then double clicking on the appropriate text from the QuickText subwindow. Your system administrator may even have set some standard text to appear automatically in the workflow notes fields, to which you need to add the details of the step you are undertaking.

General notes applying to all uses of this screen-
1. You can enter web site addresses as part of your Draft answer or Workflow note. Once saved to the database they will be recognised as web addresses and the web site URL that you have entered will be accessible as a hyperlink whenever it is displayed outside a data entry box. Click her for details of how you can control the display of URL’s in RefTracker.
2. You can use the editing functions provided in this box to format your response.
3. Attachments can be included as part of your Draft answer or note.
 Click on this symbol or its [Manage attachments] description to add, or remove attachments. Note that you must have a Draft answer or Note text in the associated text box, e.g. “See information provided in the attachment.”, before you can use the Manage attachments function.
If there are any attachments at this point, the names of the attached files will be displayed below the paper-clip symbol. Click on the file name to see the contents of that attachment.
Click here to see important information about the different sorts of Attachments that can be made.
If information is available as a URL available to the Internet, it is preferable to quote the URL in your answer or note rather than using an attachment, as quoting a URL in your answer involves less overhead and ensures associated files are accessible.
4. Note that notes and answers cannot be saved unless at least some text is provided in the associated notes or draft answer box.
5. If you are developing a long answer, it is a good idea to save it every so often, to prevent loss of work due to computer or network failure (though RefTracker does provide a keylogging function that will offer to restore unsaved text in some scenarios.

Using this screen

Question summary:  At the top of each Answering screen a question summary provides helpful information about this question.
It shows the Request group (and Type as a tooltip), a question summary, the status of the question and the allocated staff member, if there is one.

The question summary is the same question summary that shows in the Open questions screen, and although customisable by your system administrator, will normally show the question text, any question attachments, the latest update to that question if there has been an update, and the Item summary if there is one.

Request type: The current Request type for this question is shown here with the option to change it if it needs to be changed, by selecting a different value from the drop down list.  For some question types it will display as [select option] and need to be changed the first type you work on the question.

Draft Answer: Use this field to build up the answer that you want to send to the client. You can make changes to this field at any time that you use this screen. It is a QuickText enabled field.
Some libraries have particular policies about the amount of information or the format of information that should be included in this box for each question – the free format layout of this box facilitates unstructured responses, but a QuickText entry can be used to provide the framework for a structured response if your library wishes to use one.
When you are happy that your answer is ready to send to the client, the text that is currently showing in this box is the text that will be sent to the client as the answer. This field has a maximum length of 2,000,000 characters but long responses will impact on screen display times. For longer answers, you should develop the answer in a supporting file using a product like Word for Windows, and attach the file to your answer by clicking on 

Attachments: Click on the paper clip symbol or the Manage attachments description to bring up the Attach documents subwindow for adding, viewing or removing attachments.
You can also view attachments directly from this Answer screen by simply clicking on the Attachment’s name. Use an attachment for very long answers, or wherever you need to attach other information to the answer e.g. sound files, image files, movie files, word processing documents, .pdf’s etc.

Client contact: The client contact information for this question is summarised in this line. The client’s name will always be shown first, if that information is available, followed by the primary contact information for their preferred contact method and an asterisk to highlight this information. If the primary contact information is email, both the client email address/es and any cc: Answer addresses will be shown.
If other contact information is available a “click to show other contact details will appear”, that when clicked shows all other client contact details. You can also view the client’s full contact information, in the Details tab.

Note that for Probation users and above, some electronic contact methods are hyperlinked in the additional contact details information. A ll contact by email is able to be achieved though functionality built into the normal RefTracker workflows. When you click on a hyperlinked service in this additional contact information area, like Instant Messaging, the electronic service will be brought up in a separate window. You should use the service as you normally would, to correspond with the client, but on completion of the correspondence session you should insert the result of the conversation into the RefTracker workflow notes field. You will have noticed that as you clicked on the electronic service, the workflow type automatically went to “Conversation”. You can cut and paste information from the window in which your electronic session with the client occurred (e.g. your chat window), or your system administrator may have provided QuickText to simplify recording the results of your conversation. When you have typed your notes in the workflow notes box, select a “How complete” status and then click on Send/Save. If you need to record that you are waiting on a response from the client, you should choose a progress status that indicates that, or go back into the Answer screen and use the Query to client workflow (without sending an email) to ensure the system indicates that a response from the client is still required.

If the Contact Method for this question is None, just the word “None” will appear on this line – it may indicate that an answer is not required for this question.

Queries to Client: Only if the you have requested a clarification from the client as a result of a Query to client workflow, and that query has not yet been responded to, an open Query to client hyperlink will appear. It advises how many Queries to the client remain unanswered, and provides a link to the client interface page that the client would have used themselves to answer these queries. In this way, staff can enter answers to queries if the client happens to respond by phone or at the desk. The full text of the Query to client will also be appearing in the Question notes history at the bottom of the page.

Workflow options:

Select workflow type: If you are going to enter text in the Workflow note field you must select a workflow type first. Workflow types provide specific workflows that you can use in responding to this question, such as the ability to obtain clarifications from the client.

Click here for more information about these very useful Workflow types. There are workflows for specific functions, and workflows to correspond with the client who asked the question and these two types of workflows are clearly distinguished in this drop down box.

Workflow Note: This is the text that will be sent to the client, or saved to the database according to the Workflow type that you have chosen. You cannot enter text into this field unless you have first chosen a Workflow type.
This is a QuickText enabled field.
This field has a maximum length of 2,000,000 characters however for longer notes, you should develop the answer in a supporting file using a product like Word for Windows, and attach the file to your note by clicking on 

Confirmation: Only if the workflow that you have chosen requires contact with the client, the details of the client contact action will appear here – confirmation of the email to be sent by RefTracker or the contact that you need to make outside of RefTracker. Check the radio button that indicates the action that will be taken.
The client contact information that will be used to send the email, or that you should use to contact the client is also shown in this section..
If an email is being sent a [Preview email message] link is provided. When you click on this link you will see a copy of the email that will be sent to the client as a result of this action – a handy way of double checking the quality of your response! Note that the email is as the client will see it so any URL’s that you provided in the answer will appear as the client will see them (as tiny URL’s if they were long). If this preview is not displaying for you, check for a popup warning and use it to allow popup’s for your RefTracker site.

Closing and saving:

Time used: This field will only appear if your library obtains statistics about time used, or bills for time used. If the field appears please ensure that any time that you spent on researching and entering this step is recorded (as minutes e.g. 90 = 90 minutes, or hours and minutes in the form of hh:mm e.g. 1:30 = 90 minutes, or hours and a decimal fraction of an hour in the format hh.n e.g. 1.5 = 90 minutes).  Only Supervisors and Administrators can enter negative amounts of time.
Your System administrator may have set a default value in this field – please enter a more accurate figure if the default amount of time is not accurate for this question. Your system administrator may also have set this field to mandatory to ensure that a value is entered.  If the field is presented with a coloured highlight bar to the left of it, the field is mandatory and needs to be reviewed, even if a value has already been defaulted into that field.

A timer function  works with the “Time used” field as an optional aid to measuring the time used in answering a question. Click on the clock image and it starts the timer with the time in minutes (rounded up or down) showing in the Time used box as it accumulates. Click the clock image again to stop the timer. You can adjust the time showing in the “Time used” field at any time, even when the timer is running in order to ensure that the total logged time will be correct. You can even restart the timer if you need to do more work in the screen. If you click on Save/Send in order to save the contents of the Answer screen, when the timer is still running, the timer will be stopped and the time then showing in the Time used field will be used as the actual time used.

If there are any costs associated with the work you have just performed, you can enter them using the Actions>Record costs screen.

How complete: You must review, and update if appropriate, the How complete drop down box EVERY time that you use this screen.  It is highlighted with a coloured bar immediately to its left to indicate that it must be reviewed even though a value will always be showing in this field.

If the answer is not complete, choose a How complete value that most accurately reflects how much work still needs to be done on the question. You can come back and work on the question again at any time. The importance of choosing a How complete progress status is that this status is displayed whenever staff are shown an update on the status of this question (e.g. from My questions or the Open questions screen). Your system administrator will have created appropriate How complete values for the client to see – so that if you choose a status like “Request denied”, the client may see something like “Progressing” so that you can manage how the client is advised of this sort of status change.

If the answer is complete, click on Close question, and this will bring up the appropriate fields for closing the question:-

KB status: Questions should only be included in the knowledge base if you want the users of your knowledge base (usually your clients) to be able to access the Question and Answer information you are currently closing.
Reference users whose work does not have to be reviewed and who have KB new permission can put questions in the knowledge base according to their choice here. Others simply provide a recommendation through their choice on this line.
If you do not want to include this Question and its Answer in the knowledge base, click on the “Exclude from KB” radio button. When you click on Save/Send, the Answer will be sent (if that was selected in the “Confirmation” section above) and you will be returned to your home page.
When you want to recommend that this Question and its Answer should be included in the knowledge base, click on the “Recommend for KB inclusion” radio button.
If you do not have permission to put questions in the KB, the question will be marked as in “KB review” status so that someone with the ability to add questions to the KB can check it at another time, and you will be returned to your home screen.
If you have permission to add questions to the Knowledge base, you will then be presented with the KB review screen that allows the Question and Answer to be reviewed – you should correct any typo’s, make the question generic enough for inclusion in the KB by removing any private information, and then click on Save. Not until then is the question included in the KB.
The default value (i.e. recommend inclusion, or not) is controlled by parameter 8.5.

Closing status (or Status recommendation for General and Probation users): For statistical purposes choose the closing status most appropriate for this question from the drop down box provided. The value you choose will be used for statistical purposes.

Expertise (or a library defined name for this function): This field has been provided to allow information to be collected about the staff expertise used in answering the Question (or difficult of the question). It can be important to your library in order to generate statistics about the most effective type of staffing for your reference service. However, your library many have renamed the field and may be using it for a different purpose.
No matter the purpose, this field allows one value from a drop down box to be selected and recorded in the question table.
Your system administrator will have set the values that appear in this drop down box using the Expertise code table. If they have changed the name of this code table, the name they have specified will appear in this screen.
Your system administrator may have disabled the Expertise Code table, in which case, this field will not appear.

Category (or a library defined name for this function): This field has been provided to allow information to be collected about the subject of the Question. It can be important to your library in order to apply standard searching terms and to obtain statistics about the subject of questions. However, your library many have renamed the field and may be using it for a different purpose.
No matter the purpose, this field allows any number of values from a box to be selected and recorded with the question – simply tick each of the categories that you want associated with this question.
Your system administrator will have set the values that appear in this drop down box using the Category code table. If they have changed the name of this code table, the name they have specified will appear in this screen.
Your system administrator may have disabled this field by setting Category Code table to Disabled, in which case, this field will not appear.

Confirmation: The details of the answer delivery action will appear here – confirmation of the email to be sent by RefTracker or the contact that you need to make outside of RefTracker. If you have permission to change the client response delivery, you can change the radio button to the one hat indicates the action that you want taken. If an email is being sent to the client, double check the text in the “Draft answer” box as that is the text that will be sent to the client in an appropriately formatted email.
The asterisk indicates the client contact information that will be used, as indicated by the asterisk on the “Client contact” line.
This confirmation section will not appear if the request form and selections for this question have resulted in a response method of “No response required”.

Review period: Only appears when KB using the KB edit version of this screen. When a question is being included in the knowledge base the staff member uses this field to choose the period after which this entry should be reviewed for continued relevancy to the knowledge base. The value chosen here by clicking on the Review in drop down box and choosing an appropriate length of time, will determine the value stored in this record about when the record should be reviewed. The purpose of this value is to ensure that knowledge base entries do not become dated and irrelevant. The Review period code table allows system administrators to change the values in this drop down box and to set the default value.

Note that if a question is included in the knowledge database in error it can be removed by using the Answer function from the Question action bar to reopen it, and then the Remove from KB option in that screen.

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Save/Send: Don’t forget to record Resource usage before clicking Save/Send, if your library collects statistics about Resource usage in your library.

Double check you entries on this page before clicking Save/Send as all of the following will occur when you click on Save/Send:
– the updated contents of the answer scratch pad will be recorded as the current status of the answer,
– any workflow action you have documented will be performed (e.g. a Query to client email sent), or note recorded.
– the progression status, and time used if appropriate, that you have indicated will be recorded
– only if the question is being closed, nay answer email will be sent, any Category and Expertise selections will be recorded, the Closing status will be recorded, and the question will be closed.
– and if you were given the option to include the question in the KB, and you decided to excluded it you will be returned to the home page. If you decide to include it KB review status will be added to the closed question, and you will be presented with the KB review page so that the Questions and Answer can be checked for privacy issues before it is included in the KB.

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Resources: If your library wants statistics on the effectiveness of your resources in answering questions, this section will appear and you will need to record usage of resources each time you work in this screen (parameter 7.21 can be used to configure out this section if it is not required in your library). The Resources showing in this section have been set up by your system administrator using the Resource Code table, so contact your system administrator if the resource you require has not been catered for.
You can simply check the small box under a resource name which will indicate its use, or in the larger box, you can enter textual details of the resource used (maximum 1000 characters), such as the specific online database or web site used.

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The Correspondence notes tab
The Correspondence tab shows previous work has occurred on this question. If you are taking over this question from someone else or simply need to remind yourself of the status of this question, the presence of the Workflow notes tab is a good indicator that it should be looked at. Not every detail of what has happened with this question is recorded here so if you need more details you can see a full audit trail by clicking on History in the main header bar – but don’t forget to go back to the Answer tab and use Save/send to save any information you may have already entered there, before moving away to another screen.

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The Details tab
The Details tabs shows the same information as is provided by clicking on Details in the Question Action bar (all the known facts about this question), but by providing it as a tab in this screen, the details can be viewed without having to first save any information that you may have already entered into the Answer tab – but don’t forget to go back to the Answer tab and use Save/send in that tab to save any information you’ve entered there.