Archiving FAQ

This information is also available (edited as appropriate) in the Authoring User Guide. Below are some common questions regarding archiving, and the appropriate answers:

• What does archiving mean for you?

Surveys that have been inactive (no editing or respondent activity) for 60 days on the Forsta SaaS site will be archived. Survey creators will receive an email notification 30 days prior to the archiving procedure, and thus have the possibility to either set a new Archiving date (Expiry Date User) or set the survey to Never Expire on the Archiving page in Forsta Plus (Home > Archiving menu), which means that the survey will never be archived. Survey creators will also receive a confirmation email when the survey has been archived.

If you receive an Archiving email notification for a survey that you do not need to keep for the future, we suggest you delete the survey before it is archived.

If the survey creator is no longer employed in the company, to avoid notifications being missed there is a 'Recipients of Archiving notification e-mails' field in Forsta Plus. The address(es) specified in this field will receive all archive emails (both notification and archive success messages). Your company's Designated Support Contact(s) will be added to this field by us. Forsta Software Company Administrators can update this field with other email addresses.

Surveys that have been archived can easily be restored via a 'Restore' link on the Archiving page.

• What is included when my survey is archived?

The survey’s archive package includes survey definition and SQL database. Reports are not archived.

• Are reports ever archived?

No. The survey’s archive package includes survey definition and SQL database.

• What happens to a report when the survey (datasource) is archived?

Reports are not archived. The project’s archive package includes the survey definition and the SQL database. What happens to a report depends on whether the report has single or multiple datasources:

• If the Database Cleanup task is enabled, a report with a single datasource is soft-deleted X days (system setting: DaysToKeepSurveyDatabasesForDeletedProjects) after the survey is archived. Soft-deleted reports can be restored from the Home > Deleted Reports page in Reportal. If the cleanup task is not enabled then reports for archived projects will not be deleted.
• A report with multiple datasources will not be deleted.

Forsta recommends using the Export > Export Report Definition functionality in Reportal if you need to keep the Report Definition for a report connected to a project which is going to be archived.

• What if I no longer need the survey?

Delete surveys that do not need to be archived. You can do this from your Survey List. If you do not delete, the survey will still take up storage capacity even after it is archived.

• Why are so many emails sent?

Every survey will get one archiving notification email, and an email when it is archived. Upon activation of archiving, a number of emails will be sent at the same time. Thereafter you will only get email whenever a survey meets the criteria for archiving.

• Who receives Archiving notification emails?

The Survey creator, and email recipient(s) defined in Forsta Plus Company settings (“Recipients of Archiving notification e-mails” on the Other tab)

• When I receive an Archiving notification email, must I take any action?

Your surveys will not be archived if they are active, so in that case no action is required. “Active” is defined below.

• I don’t want my survey to be archived, what must I do?

Set your survey to “Never expire” in the Archiving section in Forsta Plus. Surveys with categories Template, Benchmark or Library will never be archived.

• Why did I get an Archiving notification for my active survey?

Your survey was marked for archiving as it did not have any activity (as defined below) within the last X days (Delay Days). The notification will be sent X days (Notification Days) before archiving.

• I just received an Archiving notification email. When will my survey be archived?

If your survey receives no further activity (survey responses) it will be archived X days (Notification Days) after you received the notification. Note that if activity is registered for a survey, the System Expiry date will be reset and moved forward by X days (Delay Days).

• What is an active survey?

Activity on a survey consists of respondent activity such as Completes, Incompletes and Screened within the last X days (Delay Days). Surveys with active reports (defined below) or that have had data imported through rules or custom applications within the last X days (Delay Days) are also considered active. Surveys with recurring tasks will be archived.

• What is an active Report?

An active report is a report that has been viewed in the last X days (Delay Days). The "last viewed" timestamp will be updated when the report is opened in view mode by any user. This includes surveys used in multi data-source reports.

• What happens when a panel-linked survey is archived?

A member of a panel will have a list of "surveys yet not taken" available to him from the survey overview page. When the survey is archived, the survey will be hidden from the survey overview page.

• How do I restore an Archived survey / un-archive a survey?

Go to the Archiving section in Forsta Plus, filter to show Archived surveys, find your Archived survey and click Restore.

• For how long can I restore my survey after it's been archived?

Archived surveys are retained on disk until permanently deleted by system administrators.

Note: Due to the practical challenges involved with testing new versions of Forsta Plus against old surveys, the Project Restore functionality is only supported for surveys that have been launched in one of the latest three versions of Forsta Plus. It will normally be possible to restore older surveys, but Forsta cannot guarantee this.