Products
Contact Support Additional Learning Monthly Product Updates
Menu

Forsta CATI Support

All the topics, resources needed for Forsta CATI.

Restricting Call Attempts with Scheduling Parameters

  • Last updated:

Articles in this section

In this article

    You may wish to limit the number of call attempts. The CATI system has a built-in function “CallAttemptCount” to record the number of call attempts to a number. You can add a rule to the survey schedule so that the number of attempts is limited, thereby preventing further call attempts being scheduled. This could simply be hard coded in the scheduling rule as:

    GetRespondentValue('CallAttemptCount') >=5

    Or it could be parametrized so that a CATI Supervisor can control the number of call attempts allowed by adjusting the parameter without the need to edit the actual schedule. In this case it is recommended to use the GetParamNumeric function; this will provide an integer number defining a threshold value that can be used to limit call attempts.

    An example of the GetParamNumeric function usage:

    GetRespondentValue('CallAttemptCount') >= GetParamNumeric('MaxCall')

    To achieve this:

    1. Go to Resources > Extended Status Codes and choose a suitable spare status that can be relabeled.

      2. Tip:
      By modifying the ‘Default group’ this custom status could become a new default status for all surveys (assuming all surveys will stick with the Default group or a duplicate of it).

      For example, here we have chosen the Custom1 status and renamed it to ‘Too many tries’…

      Figure 1 - Extended status codes

    2. Go to the Scheduling tab and choose the schedule you wish to modify.

      3. Tip:
      The AllHours schedule is the default schedule applied to all surveys, so if this change is added to AllHours then it can be used in all surveys (assuming all surveys will stick with the default schedule or a duplicate of it). 

    3. Create a new sub-rule, ticking Filter enabled, and then insert the following filter expression:

      4. GetRespondentValue('CallAttemptCount') >= GetParamNumeric('MaxCall')

    4. Set the Extended Status to Any and then move the new rule up to the top of the rule list.

      5. Figure 2 - Creating the sub-rule

    5. Add an action to the sub-rule to set the extended status to 31 (or whatever status code was chosen in step 1), and another action to suspend the interview, making sure that both actions have the ‘Action enabled’ and ‘Filter enabled’ options enabled.

      6. Figure 3 - Adding the actions

    6. Declare the parameter ‘MaxCall’. To do this switch to the Parameters tab and then click on the button to add a new parameter. Set the name to ‘MaxCalls’ (as used in this example) and enter a description that will make it obvious to the Supervisor what the parameter is for (for example Maximum number of attempts).

      Set the type to numeric and enter a default value. This will be the default limit for call attempts in all surveys working from this schedule, unless overridden by the Supervisor.

      7. Figure 4 - Setting up the parameter

    7. Click Add to add the parameter to the sub-rule.
    8. Launch the scheduling script. This will automatically save the changes and put them live.

    Note: The call attempt restriction can now be adjusted (overridden) for any survey using the modified scheduling rules via the survey specific ‘Scheduling Parameters’ tab.

    Figure 5 - The Parameters tab with the new parameter