The Polls app is divided up into three sections, for respectively; currently running polls, drafts and closed polls. When you open the app, you will always first see the currently running polls, if there are any, presented as voting cards.

Casting a vote

Casting a vote can be done from the Polls app, from the polls portlet (if present on your installation) or from the activity stream on the dashboard. From wherever you vote, voting always works the same and you can always vote only ones. Your vote is anonymous. Even the system administrator cannot retrieve what you have voted for.

Before you cast your vote, you might want to read some background information on the topic at hand. You can reach this information (if available) by clicking on the button ‘More information’.

A poll always consists of a question (or a statement) and a set of answers. The question is alwasy in text, but the answers might be either text, or a set of icons, such as smileys.

Also on the more information page you can cast your vote in exactly the same way as you can do on the voting card. It goes as follows.

Click on the answer or icon that represents your opinion the best. Next, click on ‘Vote!’. Only after clicking on ‘Vote!’ your vote will be final and irrevocable.

Depending on the settings of the Poll, you may get one of the following possible feedback options:

• The intermediate result.
• The date on which the results will become public.
• Just a “Thank your voting”. The creator of the poll may or may not communicate the results through a different channel.

Creating a poll

Creating a poll is only possible if you belong to a user group that has access to this feature. If creating polls is enabled for you, then a plus-icon appear on the main screen of the Polls app. Contact your system administrator if you don’t see this icon, but you think that this option should be available to you.

After you clicked on the plus-icon, you’ll be presented with a form that offers various fields for all aspects of the poll.

After you’ve filled out the form and clicked on ‘Save’, the poll will be stored as a draft. Drafts are only visible to users who have the possiblity to create polls. Drafts are filed under the the tab ‘Drafts’ on the main screen of the Polls app.

After you’ve saved the Poll you can either make corrections at any time by clicking on ‘edit’ or start the poll and make it visible to other users by clicking on the ‘Start poll’ button in the top right hand corner.

The voting will terminate automatically on this poll’s closing date, which you filled out on the poll creation form.

Permission levels