GideonSoft 16.1

[Final Production version 3.161.5]

The biggest change in GideonSoft v16.1 is the brand new shiny mobile app for iOS and Android. We’ve also created a new kind of interactive report called the Report Band, which lets you more easily make selection decisions. Behind the scenes, we’ve added many stability improvements and bug fixes, and we’ve integrated a new analytics engine so we can stay on top of mobile and Web app use. Lastly, we have added a new permission set (data entry), a data API, and improved management of statistics.

Redesigned Mobile App

Speed. Ease-of-use. Efficiency. Beauty. These were the goals for this latest version of the GideonSoft mobile app. Every aspect has been carefully redesigned to work with how you work and without interfering with your day-to-day tasks. This is the fastest, easiest, and most powerful human data collection tool that we have ever released. Let us know what you think by submitting a review!

• The GideonSoft mobile app works in parallel with the enterprise GideonSoft Web application to provide a comprehensive data collection and visualization system. Here are some of the highlights:
• Not only can you use GideonSoft on your iPad or Android Tablet, but now you can use GideonSoft on your mobile phone or iPod Touch.
  Depending on your organization’s security settings, you can now stay signed-in to the app so you can quickly collect data without having to sign-in every time.
• You can quickly switch between Instances on the fly so you will always have access to every team, group, and class.
• Every screen was redesigned, and all major tasks require significantly less taps to complete.
• We’ve added a person-view tab that lets you quickly access all the people on whom you can collect data.
• Smile for the camera! You can now take or attach photos to Behavioral Observations.
• Every survey question type has been redesigned to work seamlessly within the smaller real estate of a mobile phone. This includes gesture-based navigation and larger buttons, and some clever tricks to reduce rater fatigue and enhance efficiency.
• By popular request, we have included an interactive table-of-contents for each survey so you can quickly see which questions you have answered, and even tap on a question to jump anywhere within the survey.
• A new and improved offline mode lets you easily collect data, even when you don’t have access to the Internet.
• And last but not least, we have made many server-side improvements, bug fixes, and stability enhancements.

Report Band

You know your data better than anyone else. That’s why we built the Report Band to be the first in a new series of interactive reports that let you take control of the data you collected. Using a simple three-step process, the Report Band will help you make better selection or recruiting decisions.

Step One: Data Ranges

In Step One, you can select all the data points that are meaningful to you for your selection decision. For each data point, you can set ranges that divide the people into green, gray, and red bands. Everyone in the Green Band is considered someone you would select. Everyone in the Gray Band is considered someone worth investigating a little deeper, and everyone in the Red Band is considered a non-select. Because you can set the bands on each data point, you will be able to paint a much higher-fidelity picture of each person under consideration.

Step Two: Subjective Tweaking

In Step Two, you can visualize where everyone falls within the three bands based on the objective insight you provided to each data point in the first step. Additionally, you can drill down into each person to view a more detailed report of how they scored or were rated.
But visualizing where people get placed based on data is just the beginning of the story. We realize that you have observed, and are able to pick up on, things that may not have been collected in the more structured data collection process. That’s why in this step you are able to subjectively move people out of the bands in which they were originally placed. Every time you do this, you are prompted to provide a justification.

Step Three: Final List

In Step Three, you will be able to see an easy-to-read list of where everyone placed. This list provides indications for people that were moved from their original bands as well as the justification for the move. So by first starting with objective data and then tweaking it with your subjective input, you can be rest assured that you will have the most accurate selection list possible.

Advanced Features

These features are mostly behind the scenes, but for those of you more advanced users, feel free to follow along!

Administrative Controls

New administrative controls have been added on the Instance settings page to track incoming mobile results and user activity. Administrators can now view recent activity, get email notifications for errant mobile activity, and adjust failing tasks.

Analytics Engine

A brand new user analytics engine has been integrated with the mobile and Web app. This engine lets administrators view user activity and will be integral in locating problems areas within the app. Admins can pull usage data (e.g. from servers that are offline or cannot access the analytics server) and upload the data on a network that does have access to the analytics server.

Data API

Giving GideonSoft an API allows non-humans (i.e. software from other companies) to interact with our data. One possibility includes allowing SAS to pull our data without having to manually carry data files around.

Currently, administrators can request/revoke an access token, pull evaluations, descriptives, and scores. Most of the data is collected through our new Views, which will be accessible to our reports team in GideonSoft 16.2. Administrators can interact with the Data API using any HTTP post client.