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A scheduling script is a set of rules which contain instructions. They describe what the CATI Supervisor module is to do with a specific call and under which conditions.
You can create and add a number of scheduling scripts to the CATI Supervisor module. All these scripts will be available company-wide, and they can be used with any survey that is conducted by the company. One scheduling script can be used with a number of surveys, but each survey can use only one scheduling script.
A scheduling script will normally be selected as a survey property. This is done after the survey is launched in the CATI mode and then added to the Survey list in the CATI Supervisor (go to Viewing and Modifying General Properties for more information). The default scheduling script is set automatically when the survey is added to the CATI system. You can choose another scheduling script any time later when you modify the survey properties.
A Scheduling Script is made up of a number of rules which are applied to all calls that are created for a survey. Scheduling scripts use a number of parameters, some of which are predefined, and some can be configured, saved and reused in any scheduling script.
Interviews are run through the survey’s assigned scheduling script only in the following situations:
- A call ends in the CATI Interviewer Console.
- A call is rescheduled in the CATI Supervisor’s Call Management.
- A sample is added via the Respondent Upload (in Professional Authoring) in the ‘Full Scheduling’ mode.
- A Data Processing Rule is executed on the survey’s Respondent Data with the ‘Full Scheduling’ mode enabled. If the DP Rule executes in the Update Data mode then it will only execute a scheduling rule with the ‘Only execute during sample update’ setting enabled – see the Data Processing documentation for more information).
A scheduling script can include rules, sub-rules and actions. Any rule in a scheduling script acts like a container which groups a number of sub-rules. This helps to maintain the order in which rules and sub-rules are executed, and makes sub-rule management more convenient. A sub-rule in its turn specifies conditions, and lists actions that are to be performed when these conditions are satisfied. A scheduling script consists of:
- Shift types - types of shifts used in the scheduling scripts.
- Shifts – describe interviewing hours during a week (based on the shift type).
- Rules – a list of sub-rules.
- Sub-rules – describe filters (conditions) and actions which should be performed when a condition is satisfied.
- Actions - describe actions which are to be performed for a call, and contain a set of filters (conditions) defining which call this action can be applied to.
- Time Zones – a set of time zones that are used in the scheduling script.
- Custom script (optional) – custom script can be used to perform specific actions not available via the user interface.
Scheduling scripts are saved to a database and stored as XML descriptions. Saved scripts can be edited or deleted at any time, and can be exported and imported in XML format.