Utilities
Overview — What a Utility Is ?
A utility is an organization in NSCAT. Every user belongs to one, every activity belongs to one, and the utility decides two things that matter downstream:
· Which ISF its assessments are measured against — the Trait and Attribute hierarchy that questions, themes, and reports are organized by.
· The default rating scale new activities in that utility start with.
Utilities are managed from two entries under Administration → Utility in the sidebar: Add Utility and Manage Utility. Both open as dialogs, so you can reach them from any page.
|
Action |
COG Admin |
Utility Admin |
|
Add Utility |
Yes |
— |
|
Manage Utility — any utility |
Yes |
— |
|
Manage Utility — their own utility |
Yes |
Yes |
|
HEADS UP A utility must be given an ISF Name when it is created, so the ISF has to exist first. If you are setting up a new organization, build the ISF before you add the utility — see The ISF. |
Adding a Utility
Open Administration → Utility → Add Utility. Available to COG Admins only.
The Add Utility dialog.
The fields
|
Field |
What it does |
|
Short Name |
The abbreviation used throughout the app — in pickers, report headers, and column labels. Required. Keep it genuinely short. |
|
Long Name |
The organization's full name, for report title pages and formal output. Required. |
|
ISF Name |
The ISF this utility's assessments are measured against, chosen from the existing ISFs. Required. |
|
Default Rating Scale Configuration |
The scale new activities start with — 3-point or 7-point, with optional custom labels. See below. |
|
GOOD TO KNOW Short Name is more visible than it looks. It is what identifies the utility in every picker and on cross-activity reports, and it is what NSCAT compares when deciding whether a Utility Admin may edit a given activity's team. Choose it carefully — renaming it later changes labels on existing reports. |
|
PRO TIP The rating scale you set here is only a default for new activities. You do not have to get it perfect before creating the utility — but changing it later will not touch activities that already exist. |
When the form is valid, submit. The utility becomes available immediately as an Organization when registering users and as a home for new activities.
Managing a Utility
Open Administration → Utility → Manage Utility.
The dialog starts with a Utility to be updated picker. Choose a utility and its current values load into the form below, where the field labels change to New Short Name, New Long Name, and New ISF Name to make clear you are replacing existing values.
The Manage Utility dialog with a utility selected.
|
GOOD TO KNOW If you are a Utility Admin, the Utility to be updated picker is fixed to your own utility and cannot be changed. That is expected — you can edit your organization but not anyone else's. A COG Admin can select any utility. |
Changing the ISF
New ISF Name repoints the utility at a different ISF.
|
HEADS UP Changing a utility's ISF is a structural change, not a relabelling. Existing questions, themes, and reports are organized by the old ISF's Traits and Attributes. Repointing the utility mid-programme can leave reports grouped against a framework the utility no longer uses. Treat this as a set-up-time decision, and change it only when no assessment is in flight. |
Changing the names
New Short Name and New Long Name take effect everywhere immediately, including on reports already generated from past activities.
|
HEADS UP There is no history on the short name. If you rename it, a report run last year and re-opened today shows the new name. If your organization needs the old name preserved on past output, export those reports before renaming. |
Default Rating Scale Configuration
The Default Rating Scale Configuration panel sets the scale that new activities in this utility begin with. It appears in both the Add and Manage dialogs.
[
The Default Rating Scale Configuration panel, set to 7-point.
Choosing the scale
Two options, selected with the Rating Scale toggle:
|
Scale |
Positions |
Numeric values |
|
3-Point |
Negative, Neutral, Positive |
-1, 0, +1 |
|
7-Point |
Strongly Negative through Strongly Positive |
-3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3 |
The numeric values are fixed and cannot be edited — they are what report averages and trend lines are calculated from.
Customizing the labels
Expand Customize Rating Labels (Optional) to replace the wording respondents see. Each position shows its own field, numbered, with the default wording as the placeholder and a Numeric value: hint underneath so you can see exactly which value you are renaming.
The fields are colour-coded — red for negative positions, grey for neutral, green for positive.
|
GOOD TO KNOW Labels are optional. Leave a field empty and that position uses the standard wording shown in its placeholder — Slightly Positive (+1) and so on. You can rename some positions and leave others alone. |
|
PRO TIP The Preview: How ratings will appear to users panel underneath updates live as you type, and it lays the options out exactly as a respondent will see them — in a row for 3-point, in a column for 7-point. Check your wording there before saving. |
What the setting does and does not affect
|
HEADS UP This is a default for new activities only. Activities that already exist keep the rating scale they were created with — changing it here will not update them, and NSCAT tells you so in the dialog. To change a specific activity's scale, do it on that activity's Properties page, where restrictions apply once responses exist. See Rating Scales. |
When the panel is read-only
If you see "You have read-only access. Contact your administrator to modify rating scale settings.", you can view the configuration but not change it. You may edit the rating scale when:
· You are a COG Admin — for any utility, or
· You are a Utility Admin and the utility on screen is your own.
|
GOOD TO KNOW A Utility Admin viewing another utility gets the read-only notice on the scale panel even where other fields look editable. The check is specifically utility-against-utility, not role alone. |
Common Problems
|
What you see |
What it means |
|
Add Utility missing from the sidebar |
It is COG Admin only. Manage Utility shows for both roles. |
|
Utility to be updated picker is greyed out |
You are a Utility Admin — it is fixed to your own utility by design. |
|
No ISFs in the ISF Name list |
No ISF exists yet. A COG Admin must create one first. |
|
Read-only notice on the rating scale panel |
You are a Utility Admin viewing a utility that is not yours. |
|
Changed the default scale but an activity still uses the old one |
Expected. The default applies to new activities only. |
|
Save button stays disabled |
A required field is empty — Short Name, Long Name, or ISF Name. |
|
A renamed utility shows the new name on an old report |
Expected. The short name is not versioned. Export before renaming if you need the old name preserved. |
No comments to display
No comments to display