Admin guide

This admin guide provides step-by-step instructions to create and administer MindLogger applets for use in the mobile app. To learn how to install, register for, and use the MindLogger mobile app, please see the user guide.

Getting started

How do I create an admin account?

Creating an admin account is exactly the same as creating any user account in MindLogger. If you already have an account, skip this step.

Tap on the “CREATE ACCOUNT” button on the MindLogger admin website (admin.mindlogger.org), then fill in your login information:

The movie below demonstrates how the different buttons will allow you to create a new account, log in, change languages, and replace a forgotten password:

Your next step is to create an applet (explained below). Once the applet has been added to your admin page, you are the owner of that applet, and it is time to invite others to use or help administer your applet.

Where do I find existing applets?

MindLogger’s applet library (library.mindlogger.org) is an App Store-like place to find existing MindLogger applets. It is at an early stage of development, and will soon be populated with hundreds of (mental health-related) applets. You can search and select applets, activities, or individual items (screens), place them in your cart, and export them to a new applet in your own account. They will then be accessible on your admin website, and you will be the owner of this new applet. You must, however, respect any copyright and licensing of the source material for this new applet.

Creating Applets

How do I create an applet?

The applet builder was developed for you to create your own MindLogger applets without the need for any coding or design experience.

The first movie below demonstrates how to build your own applet with multiple activities, and the second movie shows the resulting applet on a phone.

In the example, we build a Mood applet with an Anxiety and a Depression questionnaire, complete with scoring and conditional logic. This is a simple example that does not include many possible configurable settings, such as scheduling, notifications, linking activities together, generating reports automatically, etc.

Building the applet

Below the first movie is a list of start times indicating when different events happen in the movie.

Time		Event

0:00-		Enter a name and description for the applet.

0:21-		Enter a name and description for the first activity (questionnaire) in the applet.

0:38-		Add the first item (screen with question and response options) for this activity. Assign a score value to each response.

1:30-		Switch the response type from radio buttons to slider bar and add labels for the minimum and maximum score values of the slider.

1:50-		Add a second question with a required text response.

2:40-		Add different colors behind the response options (alternatively, we could simply choose one of a set of color palettes).

3:10-		Duplicate the previous item and edit the question, response options, and their score values.

3:50-		Conditional logic: Add a final question that is only seen if the answer to the prior question was “Yes”.

5:04-		Add a second activity (questionnaire).

7:15-		Add a question that, depending on how it is answered, will trigger an alert to the manager of the applet.

8:22-		Add subscale scoring for the second questionnaire.

8:45-		Reorder the activities (questionnaires) in the applet, create an applet password, and then upload the applet. As soon as the applet has successfully uploaded, an end user (respondent) can refresh the applet list screen or activity list screen in their MindLogger app, and see the new applet.
	…

The resulting applet

At the end of the movie below, notice that when the third question of the Anxiety activity (“Has your anxiety fluctuated an the past week?”) is answered “Yes”, a final text entry screen is displayed, but backing up and answering the same question “No” skips this final screen – this is a demonstration of conditional logic:

How do I manage, edit, or transfer an existing applet?

The home page for the admin website contains a list of applets that you have access to:

When you mouse over a row to the right of an applet, as above, a set of icons appears that give you options for managing that applet:

These options are, from left to right:

View applet users
View applet calendar
Edit applet
Duplicate applet
Delete applet
Transfer applet ownership
Share applet with library

How do I include information about the applet?

Using the “About Page Edit”, enter information about the applet for the respondent to learn more about the applet, its purpose, and any other relevant information.

How do I use conditional logic?

The default screen order presented to respondents follows the order of the list of items that you create.

Conditional logic is when the respondent’s selection of one or more response options of an item skips to another item that is not the next item in the list. Once the order of your items have been entered into the builder, start adding the conditional logic you need.

For a demonstration of how to set up conditional logic within an activity, see 3:50 to 5:03 in the first movie of How do I create an applet?. For a demonstration of conditional logic in the resulting activity on a phone, see the movie just below it and read its description.

How do I save/deploy an applet?

Once your applet has been created the way you want, tap on the “Save” icon at the top of the screen. Depending on the size of the applet, it may take a few minutes to build, but you will receive an email when it is complete.

See below for information on administering your applet to others.

Administering Applets

How do I invite users (respondents) to my applet?

An applet respondent is a person you want to have use your applet and from whom you want to collect data.

There are three ways to invite respondents to your applet:

Send each an invitation to access your applet in their MindLogger mobile app.
Share a private link to access your applet in MindLogger’s browser-based web app.
- This requires respondents to have a MindLogger account.
Share a public link for anonymous responses to your applet via the MindLogger web app.
- This does not require respondents to have a MindLogger account.

Since the web app is under active development to bring it to parity with the mobile app by the end of 2022, we will focus below on #1, inviting respondents to an applet on their mobile app.

The movie below demonstrates how to create and send an invitation for your applet from within the admin website:

Below is a static view of the “Create Invitation” form:

All data collected from an applet is de-identified (kept separate from any personal information), so when entering the new respondent’s personal information, you will also need to enter a secret ID. The secret ID will be the only way to identify which data belongs to a respondent; it is therefore essential to enter something for the secret ID you can cross-reference. MindLogger also generates a signup link that you can share with respondents, who would then sign up for a MindLogger account to access your applet.

[Every MindLogger user has administrative privileges to create their own applets and invite their own users and administrators to the applets they create.]

How do I invite other administrators to my applet?

Other administrators can collaborate with you on administering your applet. You can invite administrators in the same way as you would invite new respondents (above) and assign them to one or more of the following roles: manager, coordinator, editor, or reviewer (there is only one owner per applet).

With MindLogger, an editor can create an applet with voice, pictures, videos, writing, drawing, and survey response options (left), the applet can be administered to an intended population of respondents (middle), and reviewers can view and export data collected from the respondents (right):

As an owner of an applet, when you create a group of applet administrators for the first time, you will need to name your organization. Your administrators will need to switch their admin panel view to your organization using this icon at the top right of the header:

The organization’s name will be used to differentiate which account your administrators are on. Each applet has its own permissions group that is not shared with the other applets you own.

A new user must be invited to your mobile applet using the invitation form. After entering their information and administrator role, select Submit. The new administrator for your applet will receive an invitation email. After the new administrator has accepted the email invitation, they will be able to access the applet in the administrator role you selected.

How do I schedule activities for respondents?

Please see the Schedule Activities Guide, a separate guide devoted to scheduling the availability and notifications for MindLogger activities in the mobile app.

FAQs

Are my data secure?

MindLogger is end-to-end encrypted, which means that only the creator/owner of a given applet can authorize access to any data. MindLogger stores all data in access-controlled, AES 256-bit-encrypted MongoDB document stores, which are hosted on a HIPAA-compliant instance on Amazon Web Services, and served with HTTPS protocols. Response data and personal information are stored and encrypted separately.

Below is a summary provided by a computer security firm we hired to conduct a security audit of the MindLogger platform:

How Does MindLogger Protect Data?

MindLogger makes extensive use of encryption to protect your data to the fullest extent possible while still providing users and applet owners access to required data. As with all secure Internet services, this protection starts with the use of SSL/TLS providing encrypted connections between users and the MindLogger server.

All user personal information is encrypted. To protect user privacy, the use of email addresses is limited in the application. These are encrypted using the one-way SSH224 hash algorithm. Personally identifiable information such as names are encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption. Only after being encrypted is any of this data stored in the MongoDB database. AES encryption keys are stored separate from the database, ensuring any potential database compromise will not reveal unencrypted personal information.

Applet response data is held to an even higher standard. This data is end-to-end encrypted, meaning it is encrypted before it leaves the user’s device, and remains encrypted until it is decrypted on the device of the user or applet owner. Interaction with the applet fields is done fully inside the user’s app or browser without sending any information to MindLogger systems. Only when a user submits the applet responses is their data encrypted within their device using AES 256-bit encryption and then sent to the MindLogger service to be stored in the secure MongoDB database. This architecture helps ensure that even an attacker that could see the data passed through the MindLogger systems or databases would only view encrypted data.

This end-to-end encryption is achieved using public-key encryption. Every user has a unique AES 256-bit encryption key for each applet. This is derived based on the user’s password and the applet password created by the applet owner, so the encrypted data can only be decrypted using one of these passwords. These are never transmitted outside of the user’s device and are not known to MindLogger. This is why MindLogger cannot retrieve data if an applet password is lost, and it is up to you to use a strong password to ensure your data is protected.

What is an applet, activity, item,…?

Term		Description
“Applet”		Collection of one or more activities containing items that the respondent will view or respond to.
“Activity”		Collection of one or more items that the respondent will view or respond to.
“Item”		Component within an activity presented on a screen for a respondent to respond to:
		- Radio button
		- Checkbox
		- Text box
		- Slider
		- Text box
		- Time range selector
		- Date selector
		- Slider
		- Photo capture
		- Video capture
		- Draw on canvas/picture
		- Audio play
		- Audio record
		- Geolocation button
“Applet name”		Name for an applet, displayed on the admin panel and app.
“Applet description”		Description of an applet for the respondent.
“Activity name”		Name for an activity.
“Activity description”		Description of an activity for the respondent.
“Preamble”		Information about an applet presented on the first screen of the applet.

What features are supported by MindLogger?

Each screen in a MindLogger activity can include informational text, picture, or audio and one of the following:

Question and response options
Slider bar
Text entry
Table entry (text/numbers)
Audio record
Photo/video capture
Draw/tap
GPS button
Simple cognitive task

Each screen can also have a delay, a timer, as well as conditional logic to determine where to go next.

As for sensors on a phone, MindLogger currently makes use of the touchscreen, camera, and microphone, and only actively, ie, when you use the app. Some activities may also present a special button for recording GPS at the moment you press that button.

What permissions do people have in MindLogger?

Below are the different roles and the access each has to your applet:

What can I do if I lose my applet password?

In order for MindLogger to keep your response data completely secure, we have designed the security around the respondent’s response data to be impenetrable, but that means that you cannot change or reset the applet password. If you have lost your applet password, you have lost all previously collected response data from your respondents.

You can duplicate your applet and create a new password to retain the applet content and begin to collect new respondent data, however. We suggest that all applet passwords be stored in a central location outside of MindLogger with tools like LastPass or 1password.

In order to access response data, you need to have the right role and applet password. If you grant access to an individual with a manager or reviewer role, that individual will also need the applet password to see any respondent data. Once that individual’s role is removed from the applet, that individual can no longer access respondent data.