{"id":10563,"date":"2023-01-13T14:53:45","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T14:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/m-path.io\/manual\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=10563"},"modified":"2025-11-27T11:24:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T11:24:30","slug":"apply-protocol","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/app-manual-wp-001-atfsdabuggg7fzdq.germanywestcentral-01.azurewebsites.net\/knowledge-base\/apply-protocol\/","title":{"rendered":"Apply Protocol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Protocols<\/a> (formerly known as client templates) are useful tools to enrol multiple people into the same survey schedule. Usually, you would set up your m-Path platform to automatically enrol anyone who joins your population into a standard protocol, or manually assign protocols afterwards. However, if you have various protocols for different cases that you want to automatically assign, the Apply Protocol module provides the additional control you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Apply Protocol module<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Apply Protocol module has just one field, named Protocol. This field generates a dropdown menu containing all your active protocols. Select the one you want to enroll this user in, and as soon as the user finishes the questionnaire containing this item, they will be enrolled in the selected protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the specific protocol in apply protocol was already scheduled for the participant, the old protocol is removed. However, if another protocol was already scheduled, nothing happens to the old protocol and the new protocol is added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
General settings for all questions<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Specific<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This specific settings are currently only available starting from dashboard version 15b. If you cannot find this module and are sure you need it, contact us at contact@m-path.io<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start relative to<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The default is ‘Current day<\/strong>‘. This means that the protocol is applied, starting on the current day. The other option is ‘Custom date<\/strong>‘. In this case the protocol is shifted to the specific date reference date<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shift time (seconds or label)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here it is possible to shift the protocol with a certain amount of seconds. It is possible to input a number. For example 3600 will shift the protocol with 1 hour. It is also possible to shift the protocol with a specific label. It is for example possible to set a specific label to a number in a computation item<\/a> such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

toShift=7200<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
 Subsequently, toShift <\/em>can be filled in the field Shift time (seconds or label)<\/strong>. In this case, the protocol would be shifted with 2 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Clear this protocol and don’t reschedule<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
If this is enabled, the specific protocol is cleared. All scheduled interactions from this protocol are removed for the participant or client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Clear all existing notifications<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
All scheduled interactions are cleared. It is possible to add a new protocol in the same apply protocol. In this case, first everything is cleared and subsequently the new protocol is added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to personalize a schedule. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Using Apply Protocol, it is possible to personalize a schedule for a specific participant. Here we propose an example on how to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First<\/strong>, create a protocol <\/a>where the daily schedule starts at the earliest possible time for all participants (for example 06:00 in the morning). We call this protocol defaultProtocol<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Protocol called defaultProtocol where every day the questionnaires start at 06:00<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Second<\/strong>, in the intake <\/a>questionnaire (the questionnaire that is presented to the participant immediately when the participants adds your research), the question is asked when the participant wakes up. Here, a multiple choice question is used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
A multiple choice question where the participant is asked when she\/he wakes op<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Third<\/strong>, conditionally <\/a>on this multiple choice question we apply the protocol with a specific shift. For example, when the participant indicates she\/he wakes up at 08:00, we shift the protocol that starts at 06:00 with two hours or 7200 seconds. This is shown in the following picture. The protocol with name defaultProtocol<\/strong> will now start everyday at 08:00 for this participant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The protocol is shifted with 7200 seconds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
How to make a protocol start on a certain day of the week<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Case:<\/strong> Your EMA study needs to start on a specific weekday (e.g., Monday) regardless of when the intake questionnaire is completed. Default behaviour schedules the protocol relative to the intake completion date, which can shift the study days. So if you always want to start your protocol on the same day of the week, we got an example to show you how to do so, you can achieve it in 2 simple steps!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help you out, we made an example intake questionnaire, you can find it in the library under the name:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Example intake questionnaire \u201cStart on certain day of the week\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Calculate the shift in days<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Add a Computation item<\/a>, to make the calculation for the shift in days relative to the current weekday. In this example, we made a computation to calculate the shift of time until the next Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
This is the code you can copy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
# 1. determine the current day\ncurrentDay = as.weekday(Sys.time)\n\n# 2. calculate days to Monday\ndaysToMonday = ((1 - currentDay + 7 ) %% 7)\n\n# 3. calculate how many days the apply protocol should be shifted \n# (reuse this variable in Apply protocol)\nshiftDays = daysToMonday * 24 * 60 * 60<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A little more explanation for part two of the calculation because this is the part you need to alter when you want it to start on a different day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
daysToMonday = ((1 - currentDay + 7 ) %% 7)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n