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On Tuesday, 20 June, we will release a new version of Nfield. This update includes a new feature: survey level data retention policy, upcoming changes to Nfield script checking, a major update to the Nfield public API, and a new CAPI app.
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Survey level data retention policy
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We are happy to announce a new feature: survey level data retention policy. This feature has been designed to simplify your experience with long-running trackers (waves).
The survey level data retention policy offers automatic cleanup of older data after a specified number of days. This ensures that your long-running tracker remains focused on a single survey without becoming cluttered by outdated information. It helps you maintain an organized and up-to-date survey by removing old data automatically.
With this new feature, you no longer need to worry about managing multiple monthly-based surveys within your long-running trackers or waves. This eliminates the need for duplicate surveys, and as result, your long-running tracker can remain dedicated to a single survey throughout its duration.
This new Retention option is available in Nfield Manager in the Setup Survey/Retention tab as shown below:
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Click to enlarge
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This option is configurable per survey.
Below are the available options for this setting:
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never (default): The data in the Nfield Manager remains untouched and will not be deleted automatically from the survey.
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30 days: Will automatically delete any data that is older than 30 days from the survey.
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60 days: Will automatically delete any data that is older than 60 days from the survey.
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90 days: Will automatically delete any data that is older than 90 days from the survey.
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Who can select a retention period?
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Any user with the roles "Domain Administrator | Power User | Regular User | Limited User | Operations User" can select / modify a retention period.
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Which data is removed automatically with this new feature based on the selection of retention period?
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Interview data (.dat, o-file, paradata, audit log, etc.) that has not changed for the specified number of days.
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Sample data for this interview data - untouched sample data are not deleted.
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Survey packages (script, media files, settings) that have been superseded by a newer package more than the specified number of days ago (the latest package is never deleted).
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Quota frames that have been superseded by a newer quota frame more than the specified number of days ago.
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Note:
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1.
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Please note that by default, your data will NOT be removed unless you specifically select a retention period, and the current behavior (data will not be cleaned from the survey) will continue. This ensures that you have full control over your data and can customize the retention settings according to your specific requirements.
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2.
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Please remember that once the data is removed then it is deleted permanently including its associated artifacts (scripts, data, quotas, media files, etc.) and cannot be restored.
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3.
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Currently this feature is available for Online surveys only.
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Useful sources of Nfield information
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Upcoming changes in Nfield script check
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Over the past months we have updated our script parser and started adding warnings about unsupported commands used in scripts. From the start of July onwards, these warnings will become errors (with the exception of *NOTBACK, which will remain a warning). These errors will prevent your script from being used for fieldwork. All the commands that will produce errors of this kind can be safely removed from your script, as they do nothing to begin with.
If you really need to get your script into field and can't find the time to make the required changes, we offer the option to upload the script with the option to "use the legacy parser", which will produce warnings instead of errors, and allow you to get the script into field as is. This option will be available in the Nfield Manager and in our API. More information about this option will be provided in the next DA email.
Please consider using the legacy parser only as a last resort and do amend your scripts accordingly ASAP if you plan to re-use them. NIPO plans to remove the legacy parser option by the end of 2023.
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Changes to the Nfield public API - new endpoints, deprecated endpoints, obsolete endpoints
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As part of the modernization of Nfield, NIPO is working on a completely new version of the Nfield public API: v2. With this release of Nfield, the first batch of v2 endpoints are released. These are all endpoints that are used for Nfield domain configuration -- not for configuration of specific surveys within a domain, even though domain configuration can affect individual surveys.
Examples of new v2 endpoints are: DomainEmailSettings, DomainLanguageTranslations, DomainPasswordSettings, …
With the introduction of these new v2 endpoints, the old matching v1 endpoints have become deprecated, as is clearly indicated in the Nfield API help page. This means that, while these endpoints can still be used and are still supported, you should start using the new replacement endpoints in your code that calls the Nfield public API. We understand that these changes are not something that you can implement overnight, especially since some of the new v2 endpoints have request body formats and response formats slightly different from the formats in the v1 endpoints. There will be ample time before the endpoints will be declared obsolete, which is when NIPO will stop supporting the old endpoints. We expect to have the full Nfield public API migrated to v2 sometime in the first half of 2024.
At the same time, some v1 endpoints have been replaced by other v1 endpoints over time and some endpoints have become redundant. Specifically, the following endpoints are affected:
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The Interviewers endpoints, which have been replaced by the CAPIInterviewers and CATIInterviewers endpoints.
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The Quota endpoints, which have been replaced by the SurveyQuotaFrame endpoints.
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The 'Owner' endpoints on SurveyGeneralSettings, where you can now get the Owner directly from the GeneralSettings.
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The BackgroundTasks endpoints, which have been replaced by the BackgroundActivity endpoint. If you need to 'poll' the status of a background task in Nfield, the BackgroundActivity endpoint is the only useful endpoint. The BackgroundTasks endpoints should not be used in your code, as Nfield has no way of starting a background task through the public API and the BackgroundTasks endpoints shall thus always return an empty list.
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All four categories of endpoints mentioned above will be removed from Nfield over the coming months. This has been announced for some time already, but despite that, we notice that a significant number of Nfield users continue to access these outdated endpoints instead of the new ones. We would like to remind you that these deprecated endpoints are guaranteed to be functioning only till July 1, 2023, and will be removed completely without further notice after that date.
We kindly request that you update your tools and scripts to use the most recent (v1) endpoints at the earliest convenience. Please be advised that your automated tools and scripts will stop functioning if you continue to use deprecated or obsolete endpoints.
To find out which endpoints are to be removed, please visit the Nfield API help page and search for "Obsolete". Do notice that while the BackgroundTasks endpoints are currently not marked as obsolete, they should be regarded as such since they have lost their purpose. Please adjust your tools to only use the latest endpoints ASAP.
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Nfield CAPI app v2.31.1
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A new version of the Nfield CAPI app will be available later this week. This app fixes an issue in the new quota screen that was introduced in the v2.31 Nfield CAPI app.
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Last reminder - Nfield CAPI minimum app version from 1 July 2023
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The current minimum version of the Nfield CAPI app that can be used for fieldwork is 2.11. From 1 July onwards the minimum version will be 2.13. Interviewing devices that are running a version of the app that is lower than 2.13 will no longer be able to synchronize with Nfield from 1 July 2023.
As a Domain Administrator it is important to share this news within your organization so it gets the attention of the people that should act. If you are working with the older Nfield CAPI app versions that will stop being supported, now is the time to ensure business continuity by keeping your CAPI devices updated with at least the required minimum app version (and preferably upgrading them to the latest CAPI app version).
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As always, please share this information with all relevant people in your organization.
Kind regards,
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www.nipo.com
NIPO, Amsteldijk 166
1079 LH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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