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Managing observation checklists

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Introduction

Observation checklists are a simple, built-in, and quick-to-configure tool that allows you to observe and document how learners and team members perform their tasks.

This article explains how to configure an observation checklist when creating a new one or editing an existing one. For details on how to create a checklist, see the article Creating observation checklists.

To reach the configuration page, choose one of the following ways: 

  • Create a new checklist. You will be taken to the configuration page automatically after clicking Create and edit.
  • On the checklists management page, click the ellipsis menu at the end of the checklist’s row and select Edit. 

The configuration process includes five tabs: 

  • Properties 
  • Items 
  • Preview
  • Schedules 
  • Courses

Configure the checklist as detailed in the following chapters. Remember to click Save changes after making updates on each tab to ensure they are reflected in your checklist preview.

 

Setting the checklist properties

Configure the general settings

Details section

Enter or update the code, name, and description of the observation checklist. The Name field is mandatory.

Options section

Configure the following options:

  • Add a notes area: Include a free-text field at the end of each checklist item for additional comments.
  • Allow file or video uploads: When the checklist is scheduled to be completed by other observers, and they access it from the My checklist area, they can upload a file, photo, or video as visual evidence of their answers (one file, photo, or video per item). 
  • Add an acceptance review: Require observers to review the checklist responses before closing it. Observers must select Thumbs up to accept the responses or Thumbs down to reject them. The checklist is considered completed in either case. 
  • Enable question validation: For single-choice and multiple-choice items, define one or more answers as correct and customize the labels for a correct answer and a wrong answer. This allows you to use checklists for knowledge checks, procedural validation, and compliance-oriented evaluations. The question validation option will be displayed for all the single-choice and multiple-choice items.

Please note the following requirements for file and video upload: 

For files and photos:

  • Maximum file size  for every item: 40MB.
  • Allowed file types: BMP, CSV, DOC, DOCX, EPUB, GIF, ICO, JPEG, JPG, MP3, OGG, PDF, PNG, PPSX, PPT, PPTX, SRT, TXT, VTT, XLS, XLSX, ZIP

For videos:

  • Allowed video formats: MP4, MOV
  • Maximum video size for every item: 250 MB
  • Maximum video duration: 10 minutes 

Adding items to an observation checklist

On the Items tab of your checklist, you can add items and groups of items. Use groups to organize items by theme, subject or time (before, during or after an activity for example). 

Adding a group of items

To add a group of items, click the New group of items plus icon. In the right panel, enter the group name  and its description. The group name is required to create the group, but you can hide it from users by selecting Do not show the group name in the checklist. 

Please note! The group name never shows on the mobile app, regardless of the settings.

When finished, click Create to add the group of items. Repeat this process as needed to build your checklist.

Once you have added a group of items, you can click the ellipsis menu at the end of the group’s row to edit, duplicate or delete it. Deleting a group of items will also delete the items it contains.

Adding items

Once a group is created, you can populate it with items. Click the New item plus icon in the group area. Enter the item name (required) and select  the response type (short answer, paragraph, single choice, multiple choice, dropdown, date picker or time picker).

 

Click the ellipsis menu at the right of the item’s row to duplicate or delete it.

To reorder groups and items, hover over the far-left side until the drag icon appears, then drag and drop them.

Please note! If you edit checklist items after the start date, a new version of the checklist is automatically created. For recurring checklists, users and managers will see the new version of the checklist the next time they complete it. On the Observation checklist page, only the latest version is displayed.

Viewing your observation checklist’s preview

The Preview tab displays the checklist exactly as it will appear to the user or manager completing it. If you want to experience the checklist from their perspective, you can complete it directly in the Preview tab. Any changes made and saved in the Properties and Items tabs will be reflected in the preview.

 

Scheduling the checklist

Checklists that have already been scheduled will be listed on this page.

To schedule your checklist, follow the instructions in the article Scheduling observation checklists.

Viewing the checklist associations with courses

All the courses where the checklist has been imported as training material are listed in the Courses tab. 

The table displays

  • The name of the course associated to the checklist
  • The association date
  • The checklist observers
  • The checklist approver (if any)
  • The completion option set in the association process

By clicking the name of a course in the table, you will be redirected to the course page in the Course management.

Notifications

If you want your users and managers to immediately know when they have a checklist to be completed or approved, make sure that the Notifications app is active in your platform, and that you have correctly created and configured the following notifications:

For checklist completion:

  • New manager observation checklists to complete (sent if you selected the Other observers > Manager option in the second step of the checklist configuration).
  • New self observation checklists to complete (sent if you selected the Self observer option).
  • New peer observation checklists to complete (sent if you selected the Other observers > Custom user option).

For checklist approval:

  • New observation checklist to approve
  • Observation checklist approved
  • Observation checklist rejected

When you configure an observation checklist that should be completed or approved by a manager or by a user, the managers or the users involved will receive a notification informing them that they have to complete or approve a new observation checklist.

Please note! Users and managers will only receive notifications about their checklists if the Notification feature is active in the platform and if you have properly set up the notifications listed above.

Analyzing the observation checklist data

You can view and analyze the observation checklists data using two tools: