CommCare Sense

Users
1

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

··· ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nick Amland Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM Subject: CommCare Sense To: dodoma Cc: Derek Treatman

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the deployment
for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms. I've
heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In Moz,
I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm imagining a
scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this case, a CHW
could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure and the CC
sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned that upon a
single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently supported in HQ)
will not try to resend the form for an hour. When submission failure may be
frequent, this could gradually end up with a large queue of forms waiting to
be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not know
that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially alert
someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity". Two,
we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict the
number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

2

Hi Nick,

I think that we should put the "Send all Unsent" option back in to the main
menu of CommCare-Sense (which currently doesn't show this as data is sent
automatically). Many of our users here in India are unsure if their data is
being submitted or not and adding "Send all Unsent" back in to the list
would give them something concrete to look at. We can keep the automatic
submission feature. I think low-literate users could learn quickly to
recognize "Send all Unsent" as pertaining to their data. Also many
low-literate users are familiar with numbers, so having "Send all Unsent
Items (5)" would probably be useful information across the board.

Best,
Derek

··· On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Nick Amland wrote:

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com
Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: CommCare Sense
To: dodoma dodoma@dimagi.com
Cc: Derek Treatman dtreatman@dimagi.com

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the deployment
for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms. I've
heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In Moz,
I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm imagining a
scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this case, a CHW
could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure and the CC
sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned that upon a
single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently supported in HQ)
will not try to resend the form for an hour. When submission failure may be
frequent, this could gradually end up with a large queue of forms waiting to
be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not know
that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially alert
someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity". Two,
we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict the
number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

3

I do agree that it will help to have the 'Send all Unsent Items' visible to
end users back at the main menu. This helps the user and field implementer
to realize in case there is a problem of not being able to send at all. For
example, in Tanzania we had some incidence where by somehow the GPRS
settings for the phone change. And you may find more than 10 forms are
unsent because the GPRS is not correct. The findings will be easily found if
the unsent forms are piling up. By seeing this it will give an idea to the
end users to raise an alarm and complain to the implementers that her/his
phone can't submit.

Another feature that could be of a big help is to have a pop up message as
soon as it submits successful from the background that will say, "You have
transmitted # forms from CommCare". To make my suggestion point clear, this
pop up msg should not disappear until the user says, OK. Because if it
disappears it may not be seen by end user.

Gayo

··· From: commcare-users@googlegroups.com [mailto:commcare-users@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Derek Treatman Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 7:45 AM To: commcare-users@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: CommCare Sense

Hi Nick,

I think that we should put the "Send all Unsent" option back in to the main
menu of CommCare-Sense (which currently doesn't show this as data is sent
automatically). Many of our users here in India are unsure if their data is
being submitted or not and adding "Send all Unsent" back in to the list
would give them something concrete to look at. We can keep the automatic
submission feature. I think low-literate users could learn quickly to
recognize "Send all Unsent" as pertaining to their data. Also many
low-literate users are familiar with numbers, so having "Send all Unsent
Items (5)" would probably be useful information across the board.

Best,

Derek

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com mailto:namland08@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com
Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: CommCare Sense
To: dodoma dodoma@dimagi.com
Cc: Derek Treatman dtreatman@dimagi.com

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the deployment
for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms. I've
heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In Moz,
I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm imagining a
scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this case, a CHW
could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure and the CC
sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned that upon a
single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently supported in HQ)
will not try to resend the form for an hour. When submission failure may be
frequent, this could gradually end up with a large queue of forms waiting to
be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not know
that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially alert
someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity". Two,
we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict the
number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996 tel:%2B255%20762%20740%20996
Email: namland@dimagi.com mailto:namland08@gmail.com

4

Hey,

Thanks for the responses!

I also think that having the CHW see a number represent the forms they fill
out will help solidify the concept that there are filling out a form that is
"saved" or that they've created something tangible (at least digitally).

When I first enabled CC sense (and wasn't familiar with the automatic upload
feature), I was taken aback and slightly confused by what happened when I
completed the form. I see how a CHW could be confused by what happens.
They answer a question (they may not know is the last question, in the
beginning) and then they are immediately thrown back into the Main Menu.
This could be interpreted as losing the data or not completing the form.
When "automatic data submission" feature is turned on, I think it could be
helpful for there to be a "You've completed this form, Thank You". I just
think that there should be something showing the user that they were
successful in filling out that form.

Anyways, I'm going to lobby for "manual" data submission mode to be
available while CommCare Sense is enabled because I think it has various
advantages for certain deployments and users including the idea that this
will help them understand that they are completing something and that I want
CHWs to know when there forms are not being submitted so they can either try
going to a location with known connectivity or alert someone (we have a
district coordinator who roams the villages and will be the contact man).

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

··· On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:12 AM, gayo wrote:

I do agree that it will help to have the 'Send all Unsent Items' visible to
end users back at the main menu. This helps the user and field implementer
to realize in case there is a problem of not being able to send at all. For
example, in Tanzania we had some incidence where by somehow the GPRS
settings for the phone change. And you may find more than 10 forms are
unsent because the GPRS is not correct. The findings will be easily found if
the unsent forms are piling up. By seeing this it will give an idea to the
end users to raise an alarm and complain to the implementers that her/his
phone can't submit.

Another feature that could be of a big help is to have a pop up message as
soon as it submits successful from the background that will say, "You have
transmitted # forms from CommCare". To make my suggestion point clear, this
pop up msg should not disappear until the user says, OK. Because if it
disappears it may not be seen by end user.

Gayo

From: commcare-users@googlegroups.com [mailto:
commcare-users@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Derek Treatman
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 7:45 AM
To: commcare-users@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: CommCare Sense

Hi Nick,

I think that we should put the "Send all Unsent" option back in to the main
menu of CommCare-Sense (which currently doesn't show this as data is sent
automatically). Many of our users here in India are unsure if their data is
being submitted or not and adding "Send all Unsent" back in to the list
would give them something concrete to look at. We can keep the automatic
submission feature. I think low-literate users could learn quickly to
recognize "Send all Unsent" as pertaining to their data. Also many
low-literate users are familiar with numbers, so having "Send all Unsent
Items (5)" would probably be useful information across the board.

Best,

Derek

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com
Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: CommCare Sense
To: dodoma dodoma@dimagi.com
Cc: Derek Treatman dtreatman@dimagi.com

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the deployment
for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms. I've
heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In Moz,
I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm imagining a
scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this case, a CHW
could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure and the CC
sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned that upon a
single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently supported in HQ)
will not try to resend the form for an hour. When submission failure may be
frequent, this could gradually end up with a large queue of forms waiting to
be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not know
that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially alert
someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity". Two,
we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict the
number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

5

Drew probably has some more input here from Afghanistan, but I'll throw in
my two cents as well.

First off, I definitely agree about the awkwardness of filling out a form
and having it immediately throw you back to the main menu. CommCare 1.2
corrects this, and has a popup screen which says "Form Complete, thank you!"
or something similar (translation string is available in the app resources,
so it can be customized).

The main goal of CommCare Sense is to not have any items anywhere which
aren't imperative or strictly necessary. The "Send All Unsent" option
currently provides two things to CC's users.

  1. An affordance for the number of forms they've sent, and a way to know
    that the data is getting to the server.
  2. A way to control when sending occurs in order to take advantage of good
    wireless signal and not waste time/money with the phone trying to send in
    bad places.

When we discussed this a while ago, the consensus was that #2 wasn't
something we'd be able to count on from the CC Sense target audience. If
that is the case, I don't think that putting the button back in is the right
workflow, since we can provide that information in a potentially better
format (like a set of counters or a single counter on the bottom of the main
screen which is not interactive).

-Clayton

··· On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:15 AM, Nick Amland wrote:

Hey,

Thanks for the responses!

I also think that having the CHW see a number represent the forms they fill
out will help solidify the concept that there are filling out a form that is
"saved" or that they've created something tangible (at least digitally).

When I first enabled CC sense (and wasn't familiar with the automatic
upload feature), I was taken aback and slightly confused by what happened
when I completed the form. I see how a CHW could be confused by what
happens. They answer a question (they may not know is the last question, in
the beginning) and then they are immediately thrown back into the Main
Menu. This could be interpreted as losing the data or not completing the
form. When "automatic data submission" feature is turned on, I think it
could be helpful for there to be a "You've completed this form, Thank You".
I just think that there should be something showing the user that they were
successful in filling out that form.

Anyways, I'm going to lobby for "manual" data submission mode to be
available while CommCare Sense is enabled because I think it has various
advantages for certain deployments and users including the idea that this
will help them understand that they are completing something and that I want
CHWs to know when there forms are not being submitted so they can either try
going to a location with known connectivity or alert someone (we have a
district coordinator who roams the villages and will be the contact man).

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:12 AM, gayo gayomhila@gmail.com wrote:

I do agree that it will help to have the 'Send all Unsent Items' visible
to end users back at the main menu. This helps the user and field
implementer to realize in case there is a problem of not being able to send
at all. For example, in Tanzania we had some incidence where by somehow the
GPRS settings for the phone change. And you may find more than 10 forms are
unsent because the GPRS is not correct. The findings will be easily found if
the unsent forms are piling up. By seeing this it will give an idea to the
end users to raise an alarm and complain to the implementers that her/his
phone can't submit.

Another feature that could be of a big help is to have a pop up message as
soon as it submits successful from the background that will say, "You have
transmitted # forms from CommCare". To make my suggestion point clear, this
pop up msg should not disappear until the user says, OK. Because if it
disappears it may not be seen by end user.

Gayo

From: commcare-users@googlegroups.com [mailto:
commcare-users@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Derek Treatman
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 7:45 AM
To: commcare-users@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: CommCare Sense

Hi Nick,

I think that we should put the "Send all Unsent" option back in to the
main menu of CommCare-Sense (which currently doesn't show this as data is
sent automatically). Many of our users here in India are unsure if their
data is being submitted or not and adding "Send all Unsent" back in to the
list would give them something concrete to look at. We can keep the
automatic submission feature. I think low-literate users could learn quickly
to recognize "Send all Unsent" as pertaining to their data. Also many
low-literate users are familiar with numbers, so having "Send all Unsent
Items (5)" would probably be useful information across the board.

Best,

Derek

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com
Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: CommCare Sense
To: dodoma dodoma@dimagi.com
Cc: Derek Treatman dtreatman@dimagi.com

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the deployment
for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms. I've
heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In Moz,
I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm imagining a
scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this case, a CHW
could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure and the CC
sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned that upon a
single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently supported in HQ)
will not try to resend the form for an hour. When submission failure may be
frequent, this could gradually end up with a large queue of forms waiting to
be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not know
that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially alert
someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity". Two,
we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict the
number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

6

isn't attempting to auto-send when the app starts just as good as having a
manual send button? if they are trained on a workflow of going to a place
with known good reception then trying to send, can't they just go to that
place and open commcare?

(this wouldn't work if the retry delay persists across app restarts, for
which an argument could be made that it should. currently it does not,
however).

i do think there should be some sort of indicator of how many unsent forms
there are on the phone. ideally one that decrements in real-time as forms
are sent. not sure it needs to be actionable, though.

(there is a 'force send' option on the admin menu)

··· On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Clayton Sims wrote:

Drew probably has some more input here from Afghanistan, but I'll throw in
my two cents as well.

First off, I definitely agree about the awkwardness of filling out a form
and having it immediately throw you back to the main menu. CommCare 1.2
corrects this, and has a popup screen which says "Form Complete, thank you!"
or something similar (translation string is available in the app resources,
so it can be customized).

The main goal of CommCare Sense is to not have any items anywhere which
aren't imperative or strictly necessary. The "Send All Unsent" option
currently provides two things to CC's users.

  1. An affordance for the number of forms they've sent, and a way to know
    that the data is getting to the server.
  2. A way to control when sending occurs in order to take advantage of good
    wireless signal and not waste time/money with the phone trying to send in
    bad places.

When we discussed this a while ago, the consensus was that #2 wasn't
something we'd be able to count on from the CC Sense target audience. If
that is the case, I don't think that putting the button back in is the right
workflow, since we can provide that information in a potentially better
format (like a set of counters or a single counter on the bottom of the main
screen which is not interactive).

-Clayton

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:15 AM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Hey,

Thanks for the responses!

I also think that having the CHW see a number represent the forms they
fill out will help solidify the concept that there are filling out a form
that is "saved" or that they've created something tangible (at least
digitally).

When I first enabled CC sense (and wasn't familiar with the automatic
upload feature), I was taken aback and slightly confused by what happened
when I completed the form. I see how a CHW could be confused by what
happens. They answer a question (they may not know is the last question, in
the beginning) and then they are immediately thrown back into the Main
Menu. This could be interpreted as losing the data or not completing the
form. When "automatic data submission" feature is turned on, I think it
could be helpful for there to be a "You've completed this form, Thank You".
I just think that there should be something showing the user that they were
successful in filling out that form.

Anyways, I'm going to lobby for "manual" data submission mode to be
available while CommCare Sense is enabled because I think it has various
advantages for certain deployments and users including the idea that this
will help them understand that they are completing something and that I want
CHWs to know when there forms are not being submitted so they can either try
going to a location with known connectivity or alert someone (we have a
district coordinator who roams the villages and will be the contact man).

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:12 AM, gayo gayomhila@gmail.com wrote:

I do agree that it will help to have the 'Send all Unsent Items' visible
to end users back at the main menu. This helps the user and field
implementer to realize in case there is a problem of not being able to send
at all. For example, in Tanzania we had some incidence where by somehow the
GPRS settings for the phone change. And you may find more than 10 forms are
unsent because the GPRS is not correct. The findings will be easily found if
the unsent forms are piling up. By seeing this it will give an idea to the
end users to raise an alarm and complain to the implementers that her/his
phone can't submit.

Another feature that could be of a big help is to have a pop up message
as soon as it submits successful from the background that will say, "You
have transmitted # forms from CommCare". To make my suggestion point clear,
this pop up msg should not disappear until the user says, OK. Because if it
disappears it may not be seen by end user.

Gayo

From: commcare-users@googlegroups.com [mailto:
commcare-users@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Derek Treatman
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 7:45 AM
To: commcare-users@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: CommCare Sense

Hi Nick,

I think that we should put the "Send all Unsent" option back in to the
main menu of CommCare-Sense (which currently doesn't show this as data is
sent automatically). Many of our users here in India are unsure if their
data is being submitted or not and adding "Send all Unsent" back in to the
list would give them something concrete to look at. We can keep the
automatic submission feature. I think low-literate users could learn quickly
to recognize "Send all Unsent" as pertaining to their data. Also many
low-literate users are familiar with numbers, so having "Send all Unsent
Items (5)" would probably be useful information across the board.

Best,

Derek

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com
Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: CommCare Sense
To: dodoma dodoma@dimagi.com
Cc: Derek Treatman dtreatman@dimagi.com

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the
deployment for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms. I've
heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In Moz,
I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm imagining a
scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this case, a CHW
could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure and the CC
sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned that upon a
single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently supported in HQ)
will not try to resend the form for an hour. When submission failure may be
frequent, this could gradually end up with a large queue of forms waiting to
be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not know
that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially alert
someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity". Two,
we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict the
number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

7

Hey,

Okay, agreed "auto-send" is worth it if there is a way to display the number
of "unsent forms" to the user.

Thanks,
nick
Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

··· On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Drew Roos wrote:

isn't attempting to auto-send when the app starts just as good as having a
manual send button? if they are trained on a workflow of going to a place
with known good reception then trying to send, can't they just go to that
place and open commcare?

(this wouldn't work if the retry delay persists across app restarts, for
which an argument could be made that it should. currently it does not,
however).

i do think there should be some sort of indicator of how many unsent forms
there are on the phone. ideally one that decrements in real-time as forms
are sent. not sure it needs to be actionable, though.

(there is a 'force send' option on the admin menu)

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Clayton Sims csims@dimagi.com wrote:

Drew probably has some more input here from Afghanistan, but I'll throw in
my two cents as well.

First off, I definitely agree about the awkwardness of filling out a form
and having it immediately throw you back to the main menu. CommCare 1.2
corrects this, and has a popup screen which says "Form Complete, thank you!"
or something similar (translation string is available in the app resources,
so it can be customized).

The main goal of CommCare Sense is to not have any items anywhere which
aren't imperative or strictly necessary. The "Send All Unsent" option
currently provides two things to CC's users.

  1. An affordance for the number of forms they've sent, and a way to know
    that the data is getting to the server.
  2. A way to control when sending occurs in order to take advantage of good
    wireless signal and not waste time/money with the phone trying to send in
    bad places.

When we discussed this a while ago, the consensus was that #2 wasn't
something we'd be able to count on from the CC Sense target audience. If
that is the case, I don't think that putting the button back in is the right
workflow, since we can provide that information in a potentially better
format (like a set of counters or a single counter on the bottom of the main
screen which is not interactive).

-Clayton

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:15 AM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Hey,

Thanks for the responses!

I also think that having the CHW see a number represent the forms they
fill out will help solidify the concept that there are filling out a form
that is "saved" or that they've created something tangible (at least
digitally).

When I first enabled CC sense (and wasn't familiar with the automatic
upload feature), I was taken aback and slightly confused by what happened
when I completed the form. I see how a CHW could be confused by what
happens. They answer a question (they may not know is the last question, in
the beginning) and then they are immediately thrown back into the Main
Menu. This could be interpreted as losing the data or not completing the
form. When "automatic data submission" feature is turned on, I think it
could be helpful for there to be a "You've completed this form, Thank You".
I just think that there should be something showing the user that they were
successful in filling out that form.

Anyways, I'm going to lobby for "manual" data submission mode to be
available while CommCare Sense is enabled because I think it has various
advantages for certain deployments and users including the idea that this
will help them understand that they are completing something and that I want
CHWs to know when there forms are not being submitted so they can either try
going to a location with known connectivity or alert someone (we have a
district coordinator who roams the villages and will be the contact man).

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow
Dimagi, Inc.
Dodoma, Tanzania
Google Voice: 253.642.7790
TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:12 AM, gayo gayomhila@gmail.com wrote:

I do agree that it will help to have the 'Send all Unsent Items' visible
to end users back at the main menu. This helps the user and field
implementer to realize in case there is a problem of not being able to send
at all. For example, in Tanzania we had some incidence where by somehow the
GPRS settings for the phone change. And you may find more than 10 forms are
unsent because the GPRS is not correct. The findings will be easily found if
the unsent forms are piling up. By seeing this it will give an idea to the
end users to raise an alarm and complain to the implementers that her/his
phone can't submit.

Another feature that could be of a big help is to have a pop up message
as soon as it submits successful from the background that will say, "You
have transmitted # forms from CommCare". To make my suggestion point clear,
this pop up msg should not disappear until the user says, OK. Because if it
disappears it may not be seen by end user.

Gayo

From: commcare-users@googlegroups.com [mailto:
commcare-users@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Derek Treatman
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 7:45 AM
To: commcare-users@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: CommCare Sense

Hi Nick,

I think that we should put the "Send all Unsent" option back in to the
main menu of CommCare-Sense (which currently doesn't show this as data is
sent automatically). Many of our users here in India are unsure if their
data is being submitted or not and adding "Send all Unsent" back in to the
list would give them something concrete to look at. We can keep the
automatic submission feature. I think low-literate users could learn quickly
to recognize "Send all Unsent" as pertaining to their data. Also many
low-literate users are familiar with numbers, so having "Send all Unsent
Items (5)" would probably be useful information across the board.

Best,

Derek

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com wrote:

Forwarding my question to CC users list.

Thanks,

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Amland namland@dimagi.com
Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: CommCare Sense
To: dodoma dodoma@dimagi.com
Cc: Derek Treatman dtreatman@dimagi.com

Hey,

I'm trying to figure out if we should use CommCare Sense in the
deployment for Moz.

My primary concern is the automatic and hidden submission of forms.
I've heard in India the GPRS coverage is pretty extensive and reliable. In
Moz, I'm not expecting that based on comments from others. So, I'm
imagining a scenario where the submission failure will be common. In this
case, a CHW could accrue many forms because of frequent submission failure
and the CC sense submission failure logic on CC mobile 1.1. Drew mentioned
that upon a single submission failure (in CC 1.1 which is currently
supported in HQ) will not try to resend the form for an hour. When
submission failure may be frequent, this could gradually end up with a large
queue of forms waiting to be sent by CC.

I'm scared of this scenario for two reasons . One, the CHW will not
know that her forms aren't being submitted and therefore won't potentially
alert someone or make sure to go somewhere with "network connectivity".
Two, we'll be able to monitor submissions, but it'll be difficult to predict
the number of form submissions expected. CHWs are only sending forms for
pregnancy follow-ups, not something more predictable like routine follow-up
visits.

I'm leaning towards CC sense anyways because simplicity is golden, but I
wanted to think this through. Any thoughts, comments, guidance?

Thanks!
Nick

Nick P. Amland

CommCare Field Fellow

Dimagi, Inc.

Dodoma, Tanzania

Google Voice: 253.642.7790

TZ Mobile: +255 762 740 996
Email: namland@dimagi.com namland08@gmail.com