Add post about Bio-IT survey platform

content/posts/2021-10-19-bio-it-survey-platform.md

+---
+date: 2021-10-19
+description:
+featured_image: "/images/2021-10-19/we-hear-you-unsplash.jpg"
+tags: ["Renato Alves", "Bio-IT", "survey", "LimeSurvey", "infrastructure"]
+title: "Bio-IT forms & survey platform"
+omit_header_text: true
+---
+
+Back in early 2020 the Bio-IT project took another step towards ensuring data privacy.
+Coupled with learning that different groups at EMBL had multiple independent subscriptions to a broad range of survey platforms, the Bio-IT project **setup [LimeSurvey][survey] locally and gained another powerful and reliable service**.
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/landing.png)
+
+Since then, [this platform][survey] has been used to collect feedback from **hundreds of workshop attendees**, inquire [**EMBL's Python User Group (EPUG)**](https://bio-it.embl.de/embl-python-user-group/) and [**EMBL's R User Group**](https://bio-it.embl.de/emblr/) communities, and to run **several internal surveys**.
+
+With over a year of reliable service, this platform is accessible and **open to anyone at EMBL**.
+To use it simply head over to [survey.bio-it.embl.de][survey] and **login using your EMBL credentials**.
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/login.png)
+
+If you are not physically at EMBL, for **security reasons**, you will need to an **active VPN connection** to login to the management interface.
+Failure to do so will result in:
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/vpn-needed.png)
+
+Once logged in, you will be greeted by the familiar EMBL colors and the possiblity to create a new survey from scratch or use an existing survey as template.
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/dashboard.png)
+
+You will then be able to create your surveys using a **wide range of question formats**, including:
+
+* Text (short, long)
+* Single and multiple choice options
+* Drop-down selections
+* Scale, ranking and multi-dimentional arrays
+* [**and more, many more**](https://manual.limesurvey.org/Question_types)
+
+You can customize the type of question in the **big green button in the edit question** section:
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/survey-edit-question-edit.png)
+
+Need a survey with **questions that should only be shown when certain conditions are met**? We have your back!  
+The platform includes a powerful engine that allows creating **complex conditional workflows** hiding or showing individual or entire groups of questions.
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/survey-edit-conditional.png)
+
+Want to survey a **pre-defined list of participants**? We got you covered too.  
+In this case, announcement and reminder e-mails, user tokens and participation reports can be entirely managed through the platform.
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/survey-edit-participants.png)
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/survey-edit-email.png)
+
+What about **plots and statistics**? Hehe, you are funny!  
+There are multiple flavors, both **interactive**, in the survey results section, and in a **PDF report**.
+Check some of them in the blog entry about the [survey we ran in the EPUG community](../2021-10-18-epug-community-discussion/).
+
+Oh and if you are wondering what do participants see, have a look yourself at how **shiny the EMBL theme looks like**!
+
+![](../../images/2021-10-19/survey-final-question.png)
+
+In short, everything you can expect from a powerful survey platform is most certainly covered.
+
+All of these features and options do bring some complexity so take your time exploring and, if you find this platform useful, [let us know](mailto:bio-it@embl.de).
+We love to hear when our tools are making a difference and even more when you have suggestions about them!
+
+Banner image by [Jon Tyson @ Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/vVSleEYPSGY).
+
+[survey]: https://survey.bio-it.embl.de