PanelVoice, a new add-on to GRADEpro, has just been launched. As a facilitator for panel management we recommend the use of PanelVoice by groups, organisations, universities and other institutions to make their guideline development or systematic review process more efficient. PanelVoice expands the possibilities of the standard GRADEpro software by adding new ways of interaction between the panel leader (methodologist) and panel members in the decision making process.
To get full access to this functionality, please contact us: sales@gradeapps.com. We will set the rules of use based on your needs and scope of projects.
How does PanelVoice work?
PanelVoice is an additional to the basic GRADEpro functionality. Any account owner who wants to use this added feature has to purchase the module. Please note, that it is not necessary to purchase the expansion for every panel member, just for people who are administering the process and are interested in having access to the collected data.The system is based on iEtD recommendation forms which are sent to the panel by email. Panel members enter an attached private link and provide their feedback on the decided scope in the web forms. Finally they are able to submit their answers and all the information is delivered live to the methodologist. Results are aggregated and presented on the iEtD recommendations panel for easy access and analysis.
How to start PanelVoice?
Upon purchase, the new PanelVoice module can be found in the left menu. It allows users to administrate the process according to their group's needs. The final results will be accessible directly in the recommendation panel.
The very first screen of the module is used to manage the process. The panel can receive forms pre-filled with proposed answers, or a group can be asked to provide their judgments based on the full scale of choices. There is also the possibility to send a mix of proposed and full scale judgments to decide on.Depending on the internal process a group can receive only the assessment section to vote on the judgments in the first place or assessment and type of recommendation. It is also possible to send the whole EtD document pre-filled in a single step.
Before sending the forms, the methodologist is able to customize the message the panel members will receive, set a deadline for the answer and provide a contact email in case of any questions. It is also possible to attach a file from the hard drive of the computer to the message sent to a panel.
The forms
Panel members receive email notifications right after the methodologist sends them directly from the module. The message contains customized text and a link to access personal forms. The forms are opened in the default web browser on the users' computers.
There are different forms for each step of the process. Based on the decision made by the methodologist at the beginning of the process, panel members may provide their feedback on the full scale of possible choices for each criterion or (like shown above) agree or disagree to the proposed judgement.Panel members are also able to access the dedicated Panelist application, which helps them to keep track of all the forms in the projects they are taking part in.
The results
After the methodologist sends forms for a particular step in the PanelVoice module, the iEtD recommendations view changes to present the collected data. Feedback is constantly updated to represent the current state of information received.
The results screen can be used as a work board for a group during face-to-face meetings, to identify possible disagreement sources and discuss them. The final document view can be prepared in the voting results tab and later the final consensus can be printed out or exported in one of the popular formats (docx, pdf, html).We are convinced that our new PanelVoice expansion to GRADEpro will greatly benefit your work within the guideline panel. In case of any questions please contact us: support@gradeapps.com