Schedule activities guide
This scheduling activities guide provides step-by-step instructions to schedule the availablity and notifications for MindLogger activities for use in the mobile app. To learn how to build an applet in the MindLogger platform, please see the admin guide. To learn how to install, register for, and use the MindLogger mobile app, please see the user guide.
All activities are by default available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to all respondents. Schedules can be created for each activity within an applet for specific dates and times, multiple times within a day, or on a recurring basis.
Each activity can have a general schedule for all respondents or individual schedules that differ between respondents. If a schedule is set for a specific individual, then that respondent will no longer see the general schedule. Schedules are localized to the respondent’s time zone and updated as the respondent moves to different time zones.
Contents
Schedule an Activity with Notifications
Schedule Multiple Activities with Notifications
Schedule an Activity with Notifications
How do I schedule an activity?
To set a schedule for an activity, log in to your admin panel (admin.mindlogger.org), select the applet containing the activity, and tap the calendar icon at the top:
This will take you to the Calendar view for the applet. Tap the “+” button in the lower right to add a new schedule to the calendar:
Select the activity you want to schedule at the top of the popup shown in the screenshot below, and configure scheduling options in the ACTIVITY START TIMES tab:
If you turn off the “Always Available” option (turned on in the screenshot above), the activity will only show up for the shedule you create and will no longer show up every day, 24 hours a day.
The movie below demonstrates how to set a general schedule and notifications for an activity, in this example an “Anxiety” activity. Notice that at the beginning of the (looping) movie you only see the Depression activity on the calendar, but by the end you also see the Anxiety activity on the calendar after selecting the activity and setting its schedule:
What options do I have for scheduling an activity?
| One-time completion | Set activity for one-time use. If the respondents completes the activity, then the activity will no longer be available to that respondents. | |
| Timer | Set the amount of time the respondent will have to complete the activity after the respondent starts the activity. The time will continue to count down even if the respondent navigates away from the app. If the respondent does not complete the activity, any data that has been recorded will be stored. | |
| Idle timer | Set the amount of time the respondent can be idle before they complete the activity after the respondent starts the activity. If the respondent does not complete the activity, any data that has been recorded will be stored. | |
| Access begins at/ends at | Set the start time and end time when respondents can access the activity. When set, the applet will show the activity on the scheduled day and display the time that the respondent has access to the activity. | |
| Repeats | Set the activity to repeat on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. | |
| … |
How do I schedule notifications for an activity?
Notifications can also be scheduled for each activity using the NOTIFICATIONS tab. Notifications are localized to the device’s time zone and can be scheduled at specific times or at random times within a time window. MindLogger will then send a notification at the specific time or within the time window:
How do I schedule an activity for a specific person?
Here is a video demonstrating some of the features when setting up a schedule for a specific person:
Schedule Multiple Activities with Notifications
How do I schedule multiple activities in one go?
In the above tutorials, you learned how to set a general schedule with notifications for all applet respondents, or a schedule with notifications for each respondent. You also have the option to upload a formatted table that contains all the information MindLogger needs to flexibly set all schedules and notifications for an applet, with each row scheduling a time window when an activity is available, an optional notification time within that time window, whether they are repeated and with what frequency, and for whom (all respondents, or specific respondents). The tutorial below walks you through this process.
You start in your admin panel’s list of applets, and select the calendar icon for the applet you wish to schedule:
Tap the IMPORT SCHEDULE button on the left side of the applet’s general calendar:
Tap YES in the popup, to indicate that you understand that a new schedule will replace the current schedule, if any:
MindLogger will present you with a template schedule. You can download the template and replace the information with your desired scheduling information.
NOTE regarding formatting the table:
- Standard text editors are less prone than Excel or other spreadsheet software to reformatting in unintended ways (ex: changing 4-digit years to 2-digit years), but they aren’t as easy to read and review, since they don’t align column entries, for example. If you do use a program like Excel, just be sure that you check the resulting file to make sure that it does not change the formatting.
- All values in the csv table should be in “double quotes” and separated by a comma and space (except for the last entry in a row). Empty double quotes (“”) are required if you don’t enter any value.
- When you enter more than one ID to any row in the Secret User ID column of the table, separate the IDs with a comma and space (ex: “MRN1, MRN2”).
Below is an example table with different activities and respondents for each row:
Description of the above table:
- Any activity that isn’t listed in the table is always available to all respondents (assuming it isn’t configured to be hidden or for one-time use).
- The “EMA introduction” activity in row 1 is available from 9am to 5pm (respondent’s local time) on August 5th, 2022, has no notifications, and is for all respondents of the applet.
- The “EMA (morning)” activity in row 2 is available from 9am to 12pm every weekday starting August 8th, delivers a notification at 9am, and is only for the respondent with the secret user ID “user11875”.
- The “EMA (afternoon)” activity in row 3 is available from 12pm to 5pm every weekday starting August 8th, delivers a notification at 12pm, and is for two respondents.
- The “EMA (evening)” activity in row 4 is available from 5pm to 9pm every weekday starting August 8th, delivers a notification at 5pm, and is for three respondents, two of which are shared with row 3.
When you have finished formatting the comma-delimited (csv) table, tap the IMPORT button and select your table file:
If the file imports without error and is visible on the screen, you may then tap the SUBMIT button to set (or reset) the general calendar’s schedule for that applet:
Select YES to indicate that you understand that your imported schedule will replace the current schedule, if any:
You will then have to tap the SAVE button at the bottom of the screen, and respondents will need to refresh their MindLogger app home screens for the new schedule to take effect. If at any point you wish to erase the general schedule, tap the CLEAR button at the bottom of the screen:
How do I view schedules for a group of people?
You can view schedules shared by all respondents in the general calendar, but if you want to see schedules shared by specific respondents, select the respondents under the USERS tab for the applet:
When you select the calendar icon at the top of the page, you will see the (shared as well as individual) schedules for just the selected respondents on the calendar:
How do I view a single person’s schedule?
If you were to select a single respondent under the USERS tab for the applet:
Then after selecting the calendar icon at the top of the page, you will see only the schedule for the single respondent on the calendar:
