Appendix A

The questionnaire builder shared across modules

One builder serves four different jobs across three modules. Learning it once is enough.

Every scored or structured form in Rostrum — abstract scoring, submitter questions, content review, session feedback — comes from the same builder. Each questionnaire is typed by the job it does, and that type is fixed once it is created, because it determines where the questionnaire can be used.

TypeUsed byAnswered by
Abstract scoringCall for AbstractsReviewers, about a submission
Abstract submissionCall for AbstractsSubmitters, as a step of submitting. Staff-only answers.
ReviewReview & ApprovalReviewers, about a finished presentation
Session feedbackSession FeedbackDelegates, about a session

Four question types

  • Rating scale — the only type that produces a numeric score. At least two options.
  • Multiple choice — reported as counts, never averaged into a score.
  • Yes / no — also reported as counts.
  • Free text — shown as written. The default for a new question.

Each question carries its text, an optional help line, and a required flag. Questions reorder freely.

How scores are combined

Only rating questions count toward a score, and each rating is converted to a percentage of its own maximum before averaging — so a criterion scored out of ten cannot outweigh one scored out of five. A questionnaire with no rating question at all is perfectly valid; abstract selection then ranks by reviewer recommendation instead and says so on the board.

Templates

Above the event sits a library of reusable templates belonging to your organization. Build your society's standard scoring form once, save it as a template, and start from it on every event afterwards. Rostrum also ships read-only starter templates for abstract scoring, review and session feedback, which you duplicate and adapt.

Templates are copied, never linked. Starting from one gives the event its own independent questionnaire, so editing it never disturbs the template or any other event that used it — a live event's scoring form should not change because somebody tidied the library.

The types in use

Four questionnaire types are wired into the platform today: abstract scoring, presentation review, poster review and session feedback. Build against those.

Read this in the full single-page document