Overview
Questions & answers allows users to raise questions from the home and site feeds, as well as in content. Users can vote on the questions/answers, and Site owners/managers can mark answers as approved or flag duplicate questions. This provides a way to fill in information gaps, crowdsource knowledge, and make sure employees can always find what they need on the intranet.
- Toggle Q&A on/off
- Ask a question in site feed
- Answer a question in site feed
- Questions in content feed
- Approve an answer
- Mark a question as duplicate
- Unpublish or delete a question
- Questions in search results
- Q&A notifications
- FAQ
Toggle Q&A on/off for app or site
Q&A can be enabled/disabled:
- At the app level by App managers by going to Manage > Application > Setup > General. This must be done before enabling the feature on any site.
- At the site level by Site owners/managers by going to Manage site > Setup > Questions and answers. Note, enabling the feature at the site level does not auto-include questions on every piece of content in that site. Instead, it opens the option to add questions to a new or existing piece of content.
- At the content level by going to the piece of content they want questions on and choosing the option. For new content, the option is added at the bottom before publishing; Allow questions. For existing content, you'll need to go to Edit > Allow questions.
Ask a question in site feed
To ask a question: go to:
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A site's Questions tab
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User menu > Questions global list
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Manage site > Questions tab
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No search results > click Ask a question
Users can:
- Ask a question, only in the sites that they have access to and for which Q&A is enabled at the site level.
- Add more description to their question.
- Attach files from their system or from intranet, to a question.
A submitted question gets auto-published in the site and will be visible to other users who have access to that site. Users can only edit questions that they've created and can't edit questions that have an approved answer.
Answer a question in site feed
To answer a question in site feed:
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Go to a site’s question tab or global list of questions.
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Click on the question you want to answer.
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In the question detail screen, click answer, then type your answer and submit.
Users can:
- Answer a question, only in the sites that they have access to.
- Attach files from their system or from intranet, to an answer.
A submitted answer gets auto-published in the site and will be visible to other users, who have access to that site. Users can further post more answers or vote on the existing ones.
Questions in content feed
Enable Q&A for content feed
With the Kita release, users can ask questions in the content feed. First, Q&A must be enabled for content feed. To enable Q&A for content feed:
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Go to Manage site.
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Under Content posts > Post & replies, select Enabled.
- Under Advanced options, check the boxes for Allow comments and Allow questions.
Content feed filters
When a content author allows questions and comments to be posted in the content feed, users will see three filter tabs in the content feed.
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The All tab shows all comments, polls, and questions posted in the content feed timeline.
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The Comments tab shows only posts and polls in the content feed timeline.
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The Question tab shows only questions posted in the content feed timeline.
If the content authors allows only questions to be posted in the content feed, the All and Comments tabs will be not visible.
Ask a question in content feed
Once Q&A is enabled for content feed, users who have access to the content can ask a question.
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Select the Question tab.
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Enter a question into the field. Add more details or attachments, then click Ask question.
Note:
Currently the Q&A feature is not supported with Simpplr's content moderation. However, this has been added to the product roadmap.Answer a question in content feed
Users who have access to the content can answer a question.
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Click on the question title or view question to go to the question's detail page.
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Post an answer or read and vote on existing answer.
The question's detail page also provides context on the content to which the question belongs.
Global question list
All questions asked in content feed can be found in the global question list as well as the question tab of the site where the question was asked. You can find the global question list in User menu > Questions.
Approve an answer
Site managers, admins, and Content managers can approve an answer by:
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Going to a site’s question tab or global question list.
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Clicking on a question.
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Going to an answer, clicking ... and selecting Mark as approved.
Users can still post more answers to the question with an approved answer.
Mark a question duplicate
App managers, Site owners/managers, and Content managers can mark a question as duplicate by:
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Going to a site’s question tab or Global list of questions.
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Clicking on a question.
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In the question detail screen, clicking on ... and selecting Mark as duplicate.
Duplicate questions cannot be answered. Users can still access the original question to post more answers.
Unpublish or delete a question
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Go to Site’s question tab or Global list of questions
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Click on the question in which you want to unpublish
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In the question detail screen, click on ‘3 ellipses’ and click ‘Unpublish’
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Only App managers, Site owners/managers s and Content managers can perform this action.
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Unpublished questions won’t come up in search results.
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Re-publish an unpublished question from manage site > questions’ tab.
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Delete option will permanently remove a question from the list.
Questions in search results
The Questions tab in search results lists questions relevant to the key word being searched. If the key word doesn’t show any results, users can ask a related question by clicking ask a question from the search results page.
Q&A notifications
You can receive email, browser, SMS, and push notifications, when:
- Someone mentions you in a question.
- Someone mentions you in an answer.
- Someone votes for your answer.
- Someone answers your question.
- Your question has been marked as duplicate.
- Your question has an approved answer.
- Your answer has been approved.
- Someone asks a question in the site you manage.
Customize notifications
- App managers can customize which notifications they receive by going to Manage > Application > Defaults > Questions.
- Users can customize which notifications they receive by going to their user menu > Profile & settings > Edit profile & settings > Notifications.
With the Kita release, a Questions on my content notification is added to the content notification group. When a user asks a question directly on content, the content's author/site manager/site content manager will be notified via following notifications:
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In-app
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Browser
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Email
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Push
FAQ
- Can questions be enabled/disabled at the site level?
Yes, Q&A can be enabled/disabled at the app level as well as at site level. Enabling Q&A at the app level will open up Questions for the home dashboard feed. Q&A must be enabled at the site level to see the Questions option on site feeds.
- Can the best/correct answer be flagged and moved to the top or showcased?
Yes, Site owners and managers can mark an answer as approved, and it stays on top.
- Can you sort Q&A by site?
In the global questions listing page, we can filter questions based on the sites a user follows.
- Does the Site manager get a notification when someone posts a question?
Yes, all site members get notified when a new question is posted in the site they are a member of.
- Does a user get notified when their question has been answered?
Yes, users are notified via in-app, email, browser and mobile notifications.
- Do questions have auto governance like Simpplr content does? This is useful because some answers may change over time.
Not at the moment but there has been an idea submitted as a future enhancement.
- Is there an option to have Q&A tiles?
Not at the moment but there has been an idea submitted as a future enhancement.
- Do the questions need to be approved?
No, questions asked by users get auto-published in the sites. Users who can access that question can post answers. Site owners and managers can then go and mark one answer as an approved answer.
- Will there be a permissions set for questions?
No, Q&A is independent of feed & timeline permissions, as questions asked are not posted on home/site feed.
- Will Search be able to direct results to these questions or answers?
Yes, there is a new tab ‘Questions’ in search results that will fetch questions related to the key word being searched.
12. Can non-site members see questions posted in private or unlisted sites?
No. If you are not a member of a Private or Unlisted site on the intranet, you won't be able to see/search for questions asked in those sites. You will only see questions posted in Public sites.
Comments
Where are moderator permissions managed?
I want to highlight to enable Q&A on content, you need to enable it on the content itself. For existing content click to edit it, then scroll to the bottom of the page and check the box to all content.
Is there a reporting aspect for questions? In other words, to show questions asked for a specific site and whether they were answered?
Hey Angela. Sure! If you head to the specific site you want to see, as long as Q&A is enabled on it, you'll see a Questions tab in the site header. You can sort and filter there.
Quick question. Is it possible to only enable Q&A for a specific site vs. the overall app?
Or, do you have to first enable it for the App overall before you can turn Q&A on for a specific site?
TY in advance.
Hey Angela, good question. So enabling Q&A at the app level needs to happen before any Site owners/managers can use the feature. However, enabling at the app level doesn't mean a question can be asked anywhere across the app. It just triggers the ability for site owners/managers to turn it on within their site. Does that help?
Thanks Matthew. Is there a way to disable Questions on the site homepage feed but still offer questions for specific sites?
Sure, you can leave Q&A off for one site but enable it on another, as long as you manage the site in question.
Thanks, Matthew. I was wondering if you can turn off the Q&A feature on the instance homepage feed? I saw that you could turn it off or on for specific sites but was curious how to control it on the intance homepage.:)
Yes, if you don't have the feature enabled in Manage > Application > Setup > General, it won't be present as an option on the home feed. It won't be present anywhere. If you're asking to have it enabled for sites, but NOT for the home feed/application wide, that's not possible. However, even when posting a question in the home feed, users are required to select a site to post their question to. There is no option to post a question that's going to be visible to every user in the company, unless that user is a member of every site. Does that help?
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