In this article, we will explain to you how you can set up a complex program in WeGuide. We will explain the different steps, functionalities and will give you some tips.

For more information on what a Complex program is, including what Records and Participants are check this article Records and Participants explained.

How to set up a complex program

• Step 1: Creating your complex program 
• Step 2: Select Complex (and let the fun begin)
• Step 3: Setting up your record attributes
• Step 4: Adding your participant types
• Step 5: Save your program 

Within a complex program, you will be able to specify more details about your records and participants. If you want to learn more about what a record is and what a participant is, please check out this article -  Records and Participants explained.

Read the article underneath to get guidance on how to setup a complex program. You can also interact with our tutorial:

Step 1: Creating your complex program 

• Let's get started setting up your complex program. Click on the Edit programs button in your sidebar and click on + Add Program. This will take you to the page where you can start setting up your program.

Set up a new program by clicking on the + Add Program button on the programs overview page.

Step 2: Select Complex (and let the fun begin...)  

Once you've landed on the Program Builder page, select "Complex" to start setting up your complex program. By selecting Complex, two additional sections will show up as you can see underneath; Record Attributes & Participant Types. We will explain these in detail now.

Select Complex in the dropdown. This will reveal two new sections. 

Step 3: Setting up your record attributes

In this article, we have described what a record is. By default, a record is only a number, but in quite a few cases it is meaningful to add some additional record attributes to a record. If these have been set up, when a new record gets created, the clinician or researcher will have the opportunity to add these attributes to the record. 

Adding record attributes has two main use cases:

• Identification. By adding attributes to the record, you will be able to identify records easier. Records have a random ID, so by adding a record attribute such as name, patient ID or staff number you will be able later to identify who this record is or what the record is about. Also, when your participant starts collecting data about a record, they will be able to see for which record they are collecting data, but more about this later.
  
  
• Logic. Attributes that are date fields can be used to trigger engagement logic. So let's say your study is about monitoring newborns and you want to trigger an engagement 6 months after the newborn is born, by adding a Date of Birth field to the record, you will be able to schedule engagements based on this field.

When you add a record attribute (+ Add Record Attribute) you will be able to add a few details, as shown below. We will explain each of them in detail.

Overview of some record attributes that can be added. Attributes can be added and/or removed.

• Field type. This is the type of data field. We make a distinction between a normal text field (eg. for names) and a date field (eg. for date of birth).
• Field label. This is the name of the field. 
• Mandatory. If you toggle this on, then when a clinician adds a record to the program, they will need to fill in this record attribute otherwise, they can't save the record. This is helpful in case your program engagement is dependent on a date field or when you need to make sure you can identify a record in a good way, by means of a name for example.
• Record identifier. This can only be turned on on a single record attribute. The record identifier is the main attribute by which you want to differentiate records. This is important since when the participants would fill in a survey about the record, this data value can be displayed, as shown underneath. You don't need to add a record identifier, but it's helpful in case a participant belongs to multiple records (e.g. a parent collecting data about two newborns).

Example of how the record identifier will show in the app for the participant. As you can see above, the participant can now easily identify which survey belongs to which record. Under the Food intake survey for example, "Jimmie" is the Record identifier. 

Step 4: Adding your participant types

In a previous article, we have explained what a participant is. When you set up a complex study, you are able to add multiple participant types within a single program. This means that all these participant types are able to collect data about a single record. When you create your program schedule, you will be able to specify which engagement should go to which participant type after the condition is met.

In your program, you can decide which participants are mandatory. By making a participant mandatory, the record can't be created unless you add a participant to this participant type. If a participant type is optional, you can create the record without assigning a participant to this participant type. 

Add one or multiple participant types, which can collect data for the record.

Underneath you can find an example of how your program scheduling will work when you have multiple participant types. For each engagement, you will be able to specify to which participant type it should be sent. You can find more info about this in the Program Schedule article.

For each engagement, you can specify to which participant type(s) it should be sent. 

Step 5: Save your program 

Once you save the program, you won't be able to change the record attributes or participant types anymore.

Once you're happy with your record attributes and participant types, you can save your program and start adding forms to it. In order to make sure your data is not corrupted afterwards, it is not possible to edit the record attributes or participant types after you have saved the program for the first time. So make sure you check the details before saving. In case you have made an error, then you can delete the program and create a new one. 

Step 6: Add your forms.

• Once you have set up your program, go back to the "Edit programs" page and click on the form icon, which is shown in the image below:

Clicking on the forms icon will bring up the Forms Overview page.

• Now click on the Add form button and select the forms you want to add by selecting them in the input box. You can start typing to filter out the list. You are able to add multiple forms in 1 go.

Click on Add form to start adding your forms.

Start typing to bring up your created forms. Press save to add your form to the program.

• Once you've added your forms, your forms overview page will look like the image below.

Overview of your Forms Overview page after you've added forms to your program.

Step 7: Schedule your engagements (forms and messages) to the Program schedule.

Once you have your forms set up, you can now start adding your engagements. How this works is explain in the Program scheduling article.

Was the article missing some information or unclear? Please click on the thumbs down below and let us know how we can improve. Your feedback is always appreciated.