Question Branching

To add question branching to a form in GLM or SLM, first add the trigger questions that will determine when the branched group appears, then create a new question group with branching rules.

1. Add the questions to the form that will be used to build question branching rules.
   • An applicant's responses to these questions will determine whether or not they will see the branched group on their form.

   • In this example, the rules are built based on the 501c3, County Served, and Program Area questions, which have already been built on the form below.

      

2. Click Add Group to add a new question group.

   
    

3. Enter a Name, check the box for "Show this Group based on Question Branching Rules," and then click Save Group.

   
    

4. Click the pencil icon to edit the question group.

   
    

5. Click Add AND Rule.

   
    
6. Select a form question from the drop-down menu, select a comparator, enter or select a value, and then click Add Rule. 

   • In the example below, we selected the "Is your organization designated as a 501c3?" question, the "Equal To" comparator, and chose "Yes" as the value. An applicant must select "Yes" as their response to this question in order for the rule to be true. 

     
      
   • This branched group would now appear if the first rule is true.
   • There is an option to add question branching to a table based on the table aggregates. In the example below, the rule set in the Personal Essay group is an "And" rule, the form question is set to "Total Dollar Amount", which is the aggregate from the table, the comparator is set to "Less Than", and the amount is set to $1000. This means that if the total dollar amount of funding that an applicant fills out is less than $1000, they will be asked to fill out a personal essay. 
      
7. If this is the only rule needed to be build, click Save Group and move to the Final Steps section of instructions.
   • If additional rules need to be built, continue to the other sections of instructions.
     
      

To add multiple branching rules to a question group, use the Add AND Rule or Add OR Rule options to create complex conditional logic. These instructions continue from the Initial Steps and Add a Rule section. 

1. Click Add AND Rule to add another rule.

   
    

   • Now the first and second rules must be true in order for this branched group to appear. In the example below, an applicant must select Yes as their response to the 501c3 question and the Program Area has to be equal to Arts as their response to the Program Area question in order to see the branched group.

     
      

     • If only one rule needs to be true, click the pencil icon to edit the rule group.

       
        

     • Select OR as the operator, and then click Update Rule Group. In this example, this would mean that an applicant would see the branched group if either or both rules were true.

       
        
2. Continue adding additional rules as needed.

3. When all rules have been added, click Save Group, and then move to the Final Steps section of instructions.\ 

The Add a New Rule Group section of instructions steps through adding a subgroup of rules. Continue to that section for instructions on accounting for a rule with multiple acceptable values. 

To create a rule with multiple acceptable values in question branching, add a new rule group with OR logic that allows any of the specified values to trigger the branched group. These instructions continue from the Initial Steps and Add a Rule section.

If there are one or more stand-alone rules, and a rule with multiple acceptance values needs to be added, add a new rule group.

1. Click Add AND/OR Rule Group.

   
    

2. Enter a Rule Group Name, select the OR operator, and then click Add Rule Group.

   
    

3. Click Add OR Rule and add the first rule within the group.

   
    
4. Add as many additional rules to this group as needed by clicking Add OR Rule again.
   • The rules within this subgroup are considered together. 

     • In the example below, an applicant could select either Education or Arts as their response to the Program Area question in order for this rule to be true.

        
5. Click Save Group, and then continue to the Final Steps section of instructions.
    

To complete the question branching set up, add the questions that should appear when the branching rules are met and test the branching logic using the Preview feature.

1. Click Standard to add questions to the branched group.

   • If questions are marked required within this group, they will only be required for applicants who see this branched group on their form. 

     
     
      

2. Click Preview at the top of the page while editing the form to test the branching rules. 
    

   
   
    

• Fill out the questions used in the branching rules group in different combinations to make sure the rules function as expected.

  • The branched group should appear and disappear as expected according to the rules built.

    
    
     

  • If needed, click the Name of the form to edit the form.

    
    
     
    • Click the pencil icon next to the branched group to edit the rules.

      • If the branching icon is red, the question branching rules need to be edited. This could be because a form question was deleted and a new one needs to be selected.

        
        
         

Cascading branching logic in the question branching feature incorporates the rules of the prior branching rule sets to determine which branched groups open and close. Each rule group incorporates the rules of the prior groups in a sequential, dependent way. Using cascading branching logic with question branching ensures that branched question groups open and close correctly when responses to any of the prior launch questions change.

The only way to ensure the correct branched question groups open and close when using multiple levels of question branching is to use cascading branching logic.

In this example, Type of Request is the first branching question. If Program is selected, the Program Request question group will open. If Yes is selected for the Community Partnerships question, the group will open with the Community Partner Letter of Support question. If Yes is selected for the Community Partner Letter of Support question, the Gallatin County - Arts & Community group will open with an option to upload a Letter of Support. 

1. Navigate to the form where cascading branching logic will be added.
2. Add a question to a new or existing group that will be used as the first branching question.
   • In this example, a Type of Request drop-down question is added with 3 options including Program as an answer. Program is the answer that will make the first question branching logic true.
3. Click Add Group to create a new question group.
   • Alternatively, click the pencil icon next to an existing question group and skip to step 5.
      
4. Enter a name, check the Show this Group based on Question Branching Rules, and then click Save Group.
    
5. Click the pencil icon next to the group.
    
6. Click Add AND Rule.
    
7. Select a Form Question, the Comparator, and enter or select the Value, and then click Add Rule.
   • In this example, the Type of Request question, the Equal To comparator, and Program value are selected. An applicant must select Program as their response for this rule to be true.
      
8. Click Save Group.
    
9. Add the question that will need to be answered if the rules in the other group are true.
   • In this example, the Community Partnerships question will have to be answered with a Yes to make the question branching logic true.
      
10. Repeat steps 3-7. In step 4 change the new group name to the next level of question branching.
11. Add a second Add AND Rule with the criteria for the next level of question branching like in steps 6 and 7.
    • In this example, an applicant must select Program as their response for the Type of Program to be true and the Community Partnerships question has to be equal to Yes for the Community Partner group to show.
       
12. Click Save Group.
     
13. Add a question to the new group.
    • In this example, Community Partner Letter of Support will need to be set to Yes for the question branching logic to be true.
       
14. Add a new group like in step 3.
15. Enter a name, check the Show this Group based on Question Branching Rules, and click Save Group.
     
16. Click the pencil icon next to the group.
     
17. Click Add AND Rule.
     
18. Select a Form Question, the Comparator, and enter or select the Value, and then click Add Rule.
     
19. Add the same two other rules created in steps 7 and 11.
     
20. Click Save Group.
     

The cascading branching logic states that all the rules that apply to the Program Request question group and the Community Partner question group and the Letter of Support question group must be true for the Letter of Support question group to open. A different response to any of those branching launch questions will close the Letter of Support branched question group. 

• Test the cascading branching logic by clicking Preview in the top right corner.
   
• Select Applicants from the drop-down menu.
   
• Answer the questions with the "true" answers to each questions to make sure each branched group opens. 

Field of Study Question Branch 

For Scholarship Lifecycle Manager (SLM) users, a commonly used example for a question branching question is to branch off of a Field of Study to a Major question group. The applicant will select their field of study and if they choose Healthcare as their Field of Study, the branching group would contain a Major question with all healthcare list items (Nursing, Pediatrics, etc.).

• Trigger Question
   
• Branched Question
   
• Branching Rule
   

501c3 or Fiscal Sponsor Question Branch 

For Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM) users, a commonly used example for a question branching question is to branch off of a “Is your organization a 501c3 or Fiscal Sponsor?” question to a group that contains questions about the Fiscal Sponsor such as organization name, EIN, etc. If the applicant selects Fiscal Sponsor in the trigger question, they will be asked to answer the Fiscal Sponsor Additional Questions.

• Trigger Question
   
• Branched Questions
   
• Branching Rule
   

This video covers how to use question branching to create dynamic forms that show or hide groups of questions based on conditional logic.