Last week DataDyne, represented by me,  and JSI (Ethiopia team) got to work together in a project in Ethiopia. The purpose for DataDyne visit was:

• Support JSI during their current project.
• DataDyne to have a fill of what actually happens in a field survey and learn from the experience.
• Take note of any problems/issues experienced while using EpiSurveyor

From the visit, we were able to experience some of the problems that users experience on the field. Some of the major problems were:

• Problems connecting to server due to unreliable network connectivity (GPRS) in some regions
• Problems with Send To Data To Memory, where managing text files was a problem from the field.
• Problems with uploading text files where duplicates might occur.
• On the website, with many questions, it was hard to track which questions while making edits.
• On export form specification to Word or text file, the skips are not included.

As a result, we have come up with solutions to this problems:

• Connection problems, we are working on a feature where, data will be sent using SMS if no Internet connection(GPRS) is obtained. This should be hopefully ready in 2 months.
• We also added "Upload local Forms" - where you can export Xforms from the website and transfer them to phone, where they can then be imported into EpiSurveyor mobile app. This supplements the option of downloading Forms online.
• With problems with management of text files, we added the Time the form was exported to the Text file name, therefore having text file name as "FormName_Date_Time.txt" this will help manage the text files from field.
• Also records thats have been previously exported will not be exported again, thus removing duplicate records on different text files.
• We also be adding record_ID to each records, this will ensure records uploaded will not be uploaded twice. This should be ready in a month or two.
• For the problem of tracking the question while editing on design page, we have added numbering to the questions.
• For form specification, will will add skips on the Form specification document.

The features highlighted as fixed will be ready next week deploy the new release for website and new phone application release.

Thanks to JSI team for funding the trip. It was great working with them.