You can easily build a basic Qualtrics survey and use it to collect applications. The instructions within this guide, however, are specific to building an application that requires an endorsement and/or review cycle. 

Accessing Qualtrics

Everyone with an HMS eCommons account can access Qualtrics. We have set up this guide assuming that program administrators will log into Qualtrics to administer their surveys, and applicants, endorsers, and reviewers will not log into Qualtrics. Please note that this is a shift; the Apply Hub application forms were behind login, so only those within the Harvard community had access.

1. Navigate to the eCommons website, https://ecommons.med.harvard.edu/default.asp, and log in.
2. Click Applications from the upper left, then click Qualtrics Survey Tool from the list.

Sharing Library Messages etc.

To collaborate with other people in your office or at HMS, we suggest that you create a Group. This will allow you to share projects, graphics, files, messages, and contact lists. Groups can include everyone in your organization, everyone in a specific Division, or only specific users that you manually select. Contact the HMS Qualtrics administrator, Tamara Will, at servicenow@hms.harvard.edu to have a Qualtrics group created.

Initial Survey Creation

Bill Murphy and Genoa Polumbo will create the first survey for you (if you are a part of Harvard Catalyst or an existing customer). We'll copy the finished survey and send it to you, then you will be the survey owner and you will be in control of any future edits. We won't have access to your surveys unless you grant us temporary access to help troubleshoot a problem. The next time you need to run that application cycle, you can copy from your previous surveys. We will be available to help, but the intention is that you own your surveys and can run them more or less on your own.

• Since custom messages don't copy from one survey to another, we won't create custom messages for you. 
  • Create custom inactive survey message, custom end of survey message, etc, in Survey Options as needed. Can be generic for use in multiple surveys, or specific. Will live in your messages library. You can also create messages by clicking Library from the upper right, then Messages Library, and click "+ New Message." 
• Create a new contact list with a name that matches your OC (including date, eg ECR2020). See "Edit the Contact List Trigger" on Copying from a Previous Application.
• We will add all of the questions in the application survey to the contact list so you can export the contact list to track endorsements. If you add/remove/rename questions to your surveys in the future, remember to update them in the contact list trigger (Tools → Triggers → Contact List Triggers → Click on existing trigger then click Edit).
• Verify that all links in the surveys open in a new tab. This will prevent data loss from the user having to leave the application. See "Verify that all links in survey open in new window" on Building an Application Survey.
• Verify that all dates are accurate in survey titles, emails, RFA, etc.

• Fill in the Survey Expiration dates for each survey (application, endorse, review) in Survey Options.

• Verify the RFA and FAQ links are the current version. See below if you need a new RFA link.

Harvard Catalyst Website Integration

If you have a page on the Harvard Catalyst website, you will still need to send in your content updates, including a link to your Qualtrics application survey, and optionally, your RFA and FAQs. Please send these to webupdates@catalyst.harvard.edu at least one week prior to your application cycle opening. Your RFA and FAQ documents can be stored on the HC website, and we can send you the link to them for inclusion in your application survey.

Qualtrics workflow - Application cycles with Post-Application Endorsements