This FAQ is to help explain the creation and use of Polls in a Plato web.

What are Polls for ?

Polls allow the designer to specify one or more options and a user to select his choice of those options.

How do I define a Poll ?

A Poll is defined in a similar way to other items, such as events or actions. It can have a title, description and have up to 4 attached documents. There is no choice of user-defined category or status.

How do I define the options ?

You have the choice between a simple "Yes/No/Abstain" set of options or you define them individually.

When can a user vote in a Poll ?

You define a start date for voting and either an end date or a number of days for the Poll to run. During this period the Poll is "current" and by default "activated" and can be voted on, but you can deactivate it, either temporarily or permanently.

When exactly does a poll start / end ?

Polls start at 00:01 UK local time on the Start date, and end at 23:59 US Pacific time on the Close date ( 07:59 UK local time next day)

Can the user change his vote ?

The Poll can be configured to allow or prevent that.

Can the current count of votes be seen ?

The Poll can be also configured to allow or prevent that.

What is the visibility?

See the general FAQ on visibility.

How do I define who can vote ?

The Polls can be configured to allow access to the usual visibility levels, or to a specific mailing list (which would of course need to be a subset of those able to access the selected visibility level).

Can I limit the votes to one per company/organization?

This has to be done by defining a voting list with the participants limited to one per company

Can I found out who has cast a vote?

Yes, if you are a member of the maintainers group for a Plato site then the page for an individual Poll will display who has voted.

Can I have public Polls ?

Voting is only possible if the user can be identified and authenticated. If the Poll is made visible at the public level, the description and current counts can be seen (if so configured), but the user cannot vote.

What appears on the home page ?

As usual, a maintainer can configure the number of Polls to appear on the home page. Only activated Polls are displayed, with their start/end dates and title.

What appears on the summary page ?

By default, only current Polls are displayed but past, future or all Polls can also be shown. For each, the start and end dates, options and votes are displayed (where configured). If the Poll is current it can be voted on from this page. Sorting is by default by start date, but the column headings are links that allow the data to be sorted on different fields.

What is the alert checkbox for?

Most items allow the creator/updater to send a preset e-mail alert to the list appropriate to the visibility level. It contains identification of the creator/updater and a URL to view the item.

Further information on Plato including troubleshooting tips is available here