View, moderate, and export participation tool submissions

View participation tool submissions details and export them in a XLSX. format.

When public users fill in a survey, a poll or make any other submission to a consultation, District Engage records their responses in a specific tab, accessible from your admin interface.

To view participation tool submissions

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects. This will show you all projects you currently have access to.
2. Click on a project to open it.
3. In the project sub-menu, under Participation, click on the tool type for the submissions you want to review. This will bring up a list of all participation tools available within this tool type.
4. Click on the participation tool to open it. This default screen is your participation tool dashboard.
5. Scroll down to view the list of submissions.

To navigate to the detail of an individual submission

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects. This will show you all projects you currently have access to.
2. Click on a project to open it.
3. In the project sub-menu, under Participation, click on the tool type for the submissions you want to review. This will bring up a list with all participation tools available within this tool type.
4. Click on the participation tool to open it. This default screen is your participation tool dashboard.
5. Scroll down to the list of submissions.
6. Select a submission by clicking on the View button. This will open a page with details of the submission, where you can view the user fields, moderate, track past revisions, and delete. 

Moderation Options

Automatic Moderation 

Automatic moderation is to streamline the review process for public submissions. Ensure that you have the appropriate permissions to set moderation options on participation tools.

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects to view the projects you have access to.

2. Click on a project to open it.

3. In the project sub-menu, under Participation, click on the tool type for the submissions you want to review.

4. Select the participation tool and set it to Requires Approval for automatic moderation.

5. When a user submits content, it will automatically enter the moderation process, as shown in the workflow diagram below:

   • If the submission passes moderation, it is automatically Published.

   • If it fails, it will be Rejected.

Manual Moderation 

Ensure you have the appropriate permissions to moderate submissions. Check your user role permissions to verify if you have moderation access of participation tools.

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects. This will show you all projects you currently have access to.
2. Click on a project to open it.
3. In the project sub-menu, under Participation, click on the tool type for the submissions you want to review. This will bring up a list of all participation tools available within this tool type.
4. Click on the participation tool to open it and ensure your participation tool is set to Manual Moderation 
5. Scroll down to the list of submissions.
6. Select a submission by clicking on the View button. This will open a page with details of the submission.
7. For tools with submissions that are visible to the public, such as idea boards and map feedback, there is an option to set the moderation to Requires Approval. In that situation, our automatic moderation service can review the submission to ensure it meets community guidelines before being published.
8. To manually moderate a submission, select from the list of submissions, and click view.  From here, Publish or Reject the submission, and leave a revision message. 

Publish Immediately 

For tools where submissions do not require a review process, you can set submissions to be Publish Immediately. This setting ensures that submissions are made public as soon as they are submitted, bypassing any moderation or approval steps.

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects to view your accessible projects.
2. Click on a project to open it.
3. In the project sub-menu, under Participation, select the tool type for the submissions you want to configure.
4. Open the specific participation tool and set it to Publish Immediately. This will make submissions visible to the public as soon as they are submitted.

Site Default:

Any of these moderation options as your site-wide default in Settings. This means that when you create a new tool, the moderation setting will be pre-configured according to your default choice.

Dashboard elements

The participation tool dashboard consists of two main sections:

• A submission graph that shows the tool submissions overtime (this is a downloadable image)
• A list overview of all the tool submissions.

To export the submission data from a participation tool

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects. This will show you all projects you currently have access to.
2. Click on a project to open it.
3. From the project sub-menu, under Participation, select a tool type.
4. Select a participation tool from the list. Click on the ellipsis on the right hand side of the listing.
5. Select Export Submissions.
6. The Excel download will automatically start. A confirmation message on the bottom of the screen will appear. You will receive an in-app notification when your download is ready.

To download submission attachments

1. In the left-hand menu bar, click Projects. This will show you all projects you currently have access to.
2. Click on a project to open it.
3. From the project sub-menu, under Participation, select a tool type.
4. Select a participation tool from the list. Click on the ellipsis on the right-hand side of the listing.
5. Select Download attachments.
6. If there are any attachments associated with the submissions for the selected tool, they will be downloaded as a zip file containing all the relevant attachments.