Sample Management allows you to manage prospective participants in a survey.

Information about prospective participants is held in records in a SQL Server database. These records are referred to collectively as the Sample, and each record is known as a Sample record.

There are two types of Sample Management: inbound, where participants connect to your web site and click a link to run the survey, and outbound (telephone), where interviewers contact participants by telephone and conduct the interviews verbally.

For inbound calls, UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server displays an authentication page that asks the caller to enter some personal or other pre-agreed details, such as a user ID, so that it can select the caller's record from the Sample database. For outbound calls, UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server selects a Sample record for each interviewer and displays the telephone number and other information from the Sample record on the interviewer's screen. The interviewer dials the number and, if the respondent agrees to be interviewed, starts the interview.

At the end of each inbound or outbound call, the Sample record is returned to the Sample Management system with an outcome code representing the outcome of the call and/or interview. Sample Management files the Sample records in Queues according to their call outcomes. For example, all records that have resulted in successfully completed interviews might be filed in a COMPLETED queue so that they cannot be used again on this project.

The key part of each project's Sample Management system is the Sample Management script. This defines how all aspects of Sample Management work for that project. UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server includes some Sample Management scripts that can be used without any intervention on your part. Alternatively, you can customize these scripts, or even write your own.

This documentation describes the components and requirements of a Sample Management system, and introduces an example project that you can run to try out Sample Management.