queXS

queXS is an open source, platform-independent, free and web-based software written in PHP and designed from the ground up to act as a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system that integrates well with the Asterisk, queXML and LimeSurvey applications.

Features at a glance

Key features include the ability to easily create appointments with automatic time zone calculations, set quotas with auto-prioritisation, collect data using the powerful LimeSurvey survey software tool, generate PDF questionnaires using queXML, import of sample information from CSV files, and the ability to handle multiple phone numbers.

Additionally, the application can store case outcomes in the AAPOR Standard Definition format, exports LimeSurvey questionnaires to the queXML PDF format, queX, as well as to operate outbound telephone research centers. To operate on the client side, you only a supported web browser and a VoIP client.

Uses a "call outcome" model

In order to manage cases within a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system, queXS uses a "call outcome" model, instead of the outdate "case outcome" model. Using final and temporary AAPOR (American Association for Public Opinion Research) codes, the operator can record the outcome of each call. Then, the application automatically choose the best way to operate on a case, based on previous call outcomes.

Under the hood and supported OSes

The application has been engineered to support the PHP 5 or higher server-side programming language, as well as the award-winning MySQL 5 or later database engine. queXS is an OS independent web app that supports all GNU/Linux distributions, various BSD flavors, as well as the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Solaris operating systems. Both 32-bit and 64-bit hardware platforms are supported at this time.

Supported web browsers

queXS’s web-based interface has been successfully tested with all the mainstream web browsers on all the aforementioned operating systems. However, we strongly suggest you to use it with either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome/Chromium.

What is new in this release:

• queXS now supports time slots for cases. This allows for time slots to be defined, and the call scheduler will make sure cases are assigned to be called equally over all timeslots. System sorting has been improved to work on a questionnaire by questionnaire basis which reduces down time for interviewers while the system sorts. The default timezone is now defined in the administrative menu instead of from the configuration file.
• Many bugs have been fixed including quota completions now displaying above 100%, and VoIP integration correctly working in Asterisk 11.
• Translations have also been updated from Launchpad - Thank you for your contributions, especially for the complete Russian translation.

What is new in version 1.13.1:

• queXS now supports time slots for cases. This allows for time slots to be defined, and the call scheduler will make sure cases are assigned to be called equally over all timeslots. System sorting has been improved to work on a questionnaire by questionnaire basis which reduces down time for interviewers while the system sorts. The default timezone is now defined in the administrative menu instead of from the configuration file.
• Many bugs have been fixed including quota completions now displaying above 100%, and VoIP integration correctly working in Asterisk 11.
• Translations have also been updated from Launchpad - Thank you for your contributions, especially for the complete Russian translation.

What is new in version 1.12.0:

• queXS now supports time slots for cases. This allows for time slots to be defined, and the call scheduler will make sure cases are assigned to be called equally over all timeslots. System sorting has been improved to work on a questionnaire by questionnaire basis which reduces down time for interviewers while the system sorts. The default timezone is now defined in the administrative menu instead of from the configuration file.
• Many bugs have been fixed including quota completions now displaying above 100%, and VoIP integration correctly working in Asterisk 11.
• Translations have also been updated from Launchpad - Thank you for your contributions, especially for the complete Russian translation.

What is new in version 1.11.1:

• queXS now supports time slots for cases. This allows for time slots to be defined, and the call scheduler will make sure cases are assigned to be called equally over all timeslots. System sorting has been improved to work on a questionnaire by questionnaire basis which reduces down time for interviewers while the system sorts. The default timezone is now defined in the administrative menu instead of from the configuration file.
• Many bugs have been fixed including quota completions now displaying above 100%, and VoIP integration correctly working in Asterisk 11.
• Translations have also been updated from Launchpad - Thank you for your contributions, especially for the complete Russian translation.

What is new in version 1.11.0:

• queXS now supports time slots for cases. This allows for time slots to be defined, and the call scheduler will make sure cases are assigned to be called equally over all timeslots. System sorting has been improved to work on a questionnaire by questionnaire basis which reduces down time for interviewers while the system sorts. The default timezone is now defined in the administrative menu instead of from the configuration file.
• Many bugs have been fixed including quota completions now displaying above 100%, and VoIP integration correctly working in Asterisk 11.
• Translations have also been updated from Launchpad - Thank you for your contributions, especially for the complete Russian translation.

What is new in version 1.10.4:

• Fixed bug: Quota priority could get below 0
• Fixed bug: Process won't close itself if forced killed before it has a chance to close
• Fixed bug: lp:1338395 - Quotas being incremented in samples that have not yet been accessed
• Fixed bug: Download VoIP client script failing
• Translations: Updated from Launchpad. Thank you for contributing!

What is new in version 1.10.1:

• This is a single bugfix release.
• The queXS 1.10.0 database installation script would fail on a fresh installation.
• Please use queXS 1.10.1 for new installations.
• It is not essential for users of 1.10.0 to upgrade, although translations have been updated.

What is new in version 1.10.0:

• New Feature: Operators can choose extension (see: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/quexs/+spec/operatorextension) New Feature: Accept case referrals (see: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/quexs/+spec/referral)
• Fixed Bug: Timezone detection not choosing best number
• Database updates.

What is new in version 1.8.0:

• New features include the ability to limit operators to view particular sample fields (available when importing a sample and also when managing existing samples).
• Also new is the "case status and assignment" function which allows for viewing of when cases will be available to operators, and the ability to assign the cases to particular operators for accessing right away (useful when managing very small samples, or near the end of a sample).

What is new in version 1.7.6:

• New features include the addition of a new token, IS_INTERVIEWER, which allows you to program separate instructions or logic in Limesurvey depending on whether an interviewer is administering the questionnaire via telephone, or if it is being self completed.
• Assigned samples to questionnaires can now be edited for maximum number of calls, etc. without having to remove and re-assign the sample files.

What is new in version 1.7.5:

• Some more bugs related to respondent self completion have been fixed, including sending email messages in UTF-8, text focusing, and last completed page position resetting.
• Better description and error messages are provided when creating a new operator.
• Cases from questionnaires which have been disabled will not appear for interviewers, and the message about no available cases will reflect this.

What is new in version 1.7.4:

• This version includes bugfixes for questionnaire self completion.
• It will only auto advance in the questionnaire if an interviewer (not when self completing), and when emailing, and respects the limesurvey email settings including SSL.

What is new in version 1.7.3:

• This version adds more bugfixes, including removing the reliance on Javscript executing as PHP for CKeditor fields, fixing PHP strict notices, and fixes for some failures which occurred on IIS servers.

What is new in version 1.7.2:

• Some bugs have been fixed, including when running on IIS/MySQL.
• You can view the number of available cases at any time by looking in the questionnaire outcome administration page.
• A full Czech translation has been included.

What is new in version 1.7.1:

• This version fixes a bug where questionnaires could not be deleted.
• It also fixes a file permissions issue.

What is new in version 1.7.0:

• Interviewers can now email an invitation to respondents to complete the questionnaire online.
• This major change required some structural changes to the database for security reasons, and therefore requires a database update.
• Further new features include the ability to restrict appointments to the interviewer making them.
• Also, operator and sample details can be edited and questionnaires can be deleted to keep the administration pages clean. In the code itself, the PHP short tags have been replaced with full tags, which should improve compatibility on more systems and shared hosting.

What is new in version 1.6.1:

• Paradata/metadata can now be selected for exportation in data output.
• Paradata currently includes the number of call attempts and the number of answering machine messages left.
• Metadata currently includes all sample variables assigned to the case.
• Translations have been updated, and some untranslatable text on the sample import page has been made translatable.

What is new in version 1.6.0:

• This version includes a major update to Limesurvey 1.92.
• This includes the new Expression Manager feature which allows for complex conditions, tailoring, and expressions.
• It is possible to integrate sample variables in Expression Manager conditions, tailoring, and expressions, therefore complex logic and item display can be achieved with a combination of sample variables and questionnaire variables.
• The dependency on ADODB has been removed, as it is included with Limesurvey.

What is new in version 1.5.4:

• A new report breaks down outcomes by call attempt.
• Also added is a bulk appointment generator, which allows you to upload manually generated appointments via a CSV file.
• Some minor bugs have also been fixed including timezone assignment by telephone number prefix (in certain cases).

What is new in version 1.5.3:

• The quota system now includes "Sample only" quota records and has had some bugs fixed.
• You can download your sample file as a CSV with current outcome codes and case IDs attached during a running survey.
• The token table in Limesurvey is automatically created on survey activation to save an additional manual step.

What is new in version 1.5.2:

• Completed responses can be added to an active survey in queXS via XML RPC.
• This allows data collected simultaneously with paper forms using queXF to be uploaded to queXS to form a single dataset.

What is new in version 1.5.1:

• This version adds an alternate interface for non-VoIP operators and an update to the latest Limesurvey 1.91+.

What is new in version 1.4.0:

• queXS 1.4.0 contains a new case availability feature, which allows administrators to specify time slots that interviewers can use to restrict case availability (for example - only available on weekday evenings). Other minor features include being able to assign a case to appear next for a specific operator and an update to the latest queXMLPDF class. Bug fixes include correcting a hangup issue on SIP channels, and fixing the display of the respondent selection text editor in Chrome (thanks Grzesiek for the patch).

What is new in version 1.3.0:

• queXS 1.3.0 includes major performance improvements for larger installations using the system sort process, better handling of VoIP, integration with FreePBX for easy VoIP extension creation, improved questionnaire management and support for the Internet Explorer >= 6.0 browser.

What is new in version 1.2.0:

• It is now possible to produce a separate Limesurvey questionnaire to act as a respondent selection module.
• Limesurvey questionnaires can be directly exported to queXML PDF files, ready to import to queXF with banding XML information. Quota row prioritisation was added, including auto priority calculation.

What is new in version 1.1.0:

• Improved performance, some new minor features, and fixes for some small bugs.

What is new in version 0.9.6:

• New features: Lithuanian Translation (Thank you zimi) As many strings as possible made available for translation (see lang.inc.php) Quota management (stop calling a sample when a quota is reached) Quota row management (stop calling selected parts of a sample when a quota is reached) No login required for LimeSurvey (if permissions granted in queXS) Link from case management to modifying responses in LimeSurvey Display outcomes by sample within a questionnaire Display of appointments in supervisor mode Bugs fixed: Licence updates to comply with FSF Only return one record per sample record in samplesearch.php Fixed case not ending on time bug (reported by zimi) Fixed where 12pm showing up as 12am

What is new in version 0.9.5:

• There are translations to Dutch and Italian.
• The welcome screen in limesurvey is now skipped automatically.
• All database communications are handled within transactions.

What is new in version 0.9.4:

• queXS can now "watch" the Asterisk server from the browser, allowing for VoIP integration to be achieved without running anything from the command line.

What is new in version 0.9.3:

• When using an RDD sample with phone numbers only, a respondent will be automatically generated.
• Using LimeSurvey within queXS will remain within the admin frame.
• All days of the week are now available for creating shifts.
• Configuration of queXS is now easier, as only one file needs to be modified (config.inc.php).
• Creating a questionnaire in LimeSurvey will have queXS settings in by default.

What is new in version 0.9.2:

• admin/addshift.php now shows warning if timezone data not installed
• RecordCount method only applied when result set existence verified
• admin/new.php larger textboxes for entering respondent selection data
• admin/new.php removed creation from queXML - this should be done in LimeSurvey
• admin/index.php layout for links will overflow and are hierarchical *includes/LimeSurvey updated to export to queXML
• Added:
• admin/callrestrict.php: Modify call restrictions in database
• admin/shifttemplate.php: Modify default shift template
• admin/timezonetemplate.php: Modify default timezones