Distribution Role

Distribution Role

Distributing questions is not a mandatory step in every Q&A, but where an automatic, uncontrolled assignment of questions based on preselected index points is not sufficient, and a manual selection of the most suitable answer teams is required, we recommend to set up one or more distribution levels and teams. As member of one or more distribution teams you can:
  1. filter, search, and review the questions you are responsible for
  2. reject questions, i.e., return them either to the question-side, or a preceding distribution team, as configured
  3. forward questions to another distribution team or answer team
  4. export the questions you have been working on
Notes
You can have several different roles in a Q&A process at the same time. This article describes the functionalities and appearance for role 'Distribution'. If you have other roles, too, further functionalities related to other roles will be available to you, too, and we recommend to read the corresponding help articles as well.
Reviewing pending tasks
  1. After signing in to Drooms, select the desired project, and click on the Q&A button in the main navigation menu to open the Q&A dashboard.
  1. The Q&A dashboard consists of a top tool bar, a filter bar underneath, a left-hand panel with two tabs 'Your tasks' and 'Questions' listing in the first tab the questions requiring your attention, and in the second tab the questions your team has already been working upon, and a right-hand overview for either showing your role(s) and team memberships in the Q&A and basic functionalities related to your role(s), or the question thread with all details concerning the question and answer selected on the left.
  1. Optionally a third tab 'FAQ' will show the questions and answers, which have been shared by succeeding answer-side teams with all teams, if this option has been configured in the Q&A.
  1. Via the top tool bar you can enter some question id or specific text in the search text entry field to search the questions and answers for matches, and with a click on the blue filter icon right next to he search entry field open a filter dialog box with following filters:
  1. Last modified (today, yesterday, last week, +3 days, since last login, custom)
  2. Teams (question teams, whose questions have passed your distribution team, including deleted teams)
  3. Category (in case this feature is being used in a Q&A)
  4. Status (read, unread, drafts, open, closed)
  5. Priority (none, low, medium, high)
    1. With the filter bar you can filter the questions displayed on the left for
      1. questions 'to distribute'
      2. your 'drafts', i.e., questions with comments you have saved as drafts for further editing
      3. questions pending review for '+3 days'
    1. Below the top tool bar and the filter bar, on the left the questions are listed:
      1. tab 'Your tasks' lists all questions pending review
      2. tab 'Questions' lists all questions your team has already reviewed, i.e., either distributed, or rejected
      3. a red dot in the tab headers indicates newly arrived questions pending review
      4. each question is listed with its question ID, the ID of the team it raised, or optionally the question team name, the beginning of the question, the reference folder or index point to which the question is related, the date of last action (either having received, distributed, or rejected a question) and its current status, either 'To distribute', or 'Distributed'
      5. via 'Sort by' in the tab row questions can be sorted either by ascending question ID, or by descending date of last action
    1. When you click on any question, its question thread will be displayed on the right, with all details and the full question text for you to review and take action, if you selected a question in tab 'Your tasks'. You can reject questions, adding optionally a comment for the preceding question or distribution team, save a question with a draft comment, and distribute questions, i.e., forward them to the next answer-side team of your choice, either belonging to a next distribution level, or the answer teams, depending on the specific Q&A configuration.
    Distributing and rejecting questions
    1. After signing in to Drooms, select the desired project, and click on the Q&A button in the main navigation menu to open the Q&A dashboard, and select the question you want to review in tab 'Your tasks'.
    1. On the right, the question thread will display the question with the selected reference document, priority, category, as well as the question team id, or optionally the question team name, and optionally the questioner name.
    1. Below the question text and the other selected parameter, the question thread offers an action selection button with options 'Distribute', and 'Reject':
      1. Switch the action button selection to 'Reject', if the question is not appropriate:
    1. enter a comment for the preceding question or distribution team explaining the reason for rejecting the question
    2. save your comment as draft for further editing by clicking outside of the question thread display
    3. when ready, click on 'Reject'
    4. the question will be moved back to the preceding team with your entered comment.
    5. the question will appear in tab 'Questions' with all related information, the status display 'to' distribute', if moved back to a preceding distribution team, or 'rejected', if rejected to the question-side, and a timestamp
    1. Switch the action button selection to 'Distribute', if needed:
    1. select one of the teams offered to you for distribution
    2. enter optionally an internal comment for the next team
    3. save your comment as draft for further editing by clicking outside of the question thread display
    4. when ready, click on 'Distribute'.
    5. the question will be forwarded to the next responsible team of your choice.
    6. the question will appear in tab 'Questions' with all related information, the status display 'to distribute', if forwarded to a distribution team, or 'to answer', if forwarded to an answer team, and a timestamp
    Info
    Alternatively, and especially, if you want to review the reference document, you can click on the link to the reference document to jump to the data room document viewer showing the particular document's page and the perhaps highlighted area, and then continue your work in the Q&A tab. There you can just as well distribute, or reject the question in the same ways as described above.
    Exporting questions and answers
    1. Access the Q&A Dashboard:
      1. After signing in, select your project and click the Q&A button.
      2. Use the filter and search options in the top toolbar to refine the questions and answers if needed.
    1. Initiate Export:
      1. Click 'Export Q&A' in the top toolbar.
      2. Choose whether to export all or only the filtered questions and answers.
    1. Select File Format:
      1. PDF Export:
        1. Generates a detailed document with each question and answer on separate pages.
        2. Includes all relevant information, actions, and steps taken by the answer-side teams up to your level of access.
      2. Excel Export:
        1. Provides an overview of the current Q&A status (e.g., submitted, distributed, answered, approved).
        2. Does not include historical details of the answer process.
    1. Download the Export file:
        1. Click 'Create export' and open the 'My downloads' drop-down menu.
        2. Once the file is ready, download it.

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