Creating and Configuring Custom Questions in a Questionnaire

In the KCM GRC Vendor Risk Management module, you can create questionnaires to send to the vendors or third parties your organization works with. If the questionnaire templates we offer do not include the questions you would like to ask, you can create custom questions to add to your questionnaires.

You can create custom questions outside of a questionnaire, or you can create custom questions when you create the questionnaire. To create custom questions when you create the questionnaire, you can add the questions individually or you can import the questions with a CSV file.

For general information about custom questions and to learn how to create custom questions outside of a questionnaire, see the Creating Custom Questions section of our How to Use the Custom Questions Tab of Your Platform article.

To learn how to create and configure custom questions in a questionnaire and how to create a custom questionnaire template, see the sections below.

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Adding Individual Custom Questions

Importing Custom Questions

• Creating a CSV File
• Importing the CSV File
• Configuring Imported Questions

Configuring Questions by Answer Type

• Free Form
• Multiple Choice
• Checkbox
• Yes / No / N/A

Creating a Custom Questionnaire Template

Adding Individual Custom Questions

When you create a questionnaire, you can create individual custom questions for the questionnaire.

To create and configure individual custom questions in a questionnaire, follow the steps below:

1. Create a questionnaire. For instructions, see the Creating Questionnaires section of our How to Create and Configure Questionnaires article.
2. In the Add Questions From section of the page, click the plus button. When you click this button, a Create Question pop-up window will open.
   
3. Enter your question into the Type your question here... field. 
   Tip: You can format your questions on multiple lines by pressing the Return or Enter key on your keyboard.
4. Click the drop-down menu next to the field, then select the type of answer option you would like to use for the question. For information about each type of answer option, see the list below:
   Tip: You can include questions that are informational and do not need to be assigned points. Select the Informational check box to mark a question as informational.
   • Free Form Text: A blank field will display, and users can enter any answer.
   • Multiple Choice: Multiple options will display with radio buttons next to each option. Users can only select one option.
   • Checkbox: Multiple options will display with check boxes next to each option. Users can select one or more options.
   • Yes / No / N/A: Yes, No, and N/A options will display. Users can only select one option.
5. Configure and add each question. Depending on the type of answer option you selected in the step above, the process for configuring the question will vary. For more information, see the Configuring Questions by Answer Type section below.
   Note: The number of points that you assign to each question must be a positive, whole number.
6. Continue adding questions to the questionnaire by repeating step 2 through step 5 above.
7. When you are finished adding and configuring the questions, click the Mark as Configured button. When you click this button, your questionnaire will be in the Configured status.
   

As a final step before you can send your questionnaire to vendors, the questionnaire will need to be marked as Reviewed. For more information, see the Reviewing and Finalizing Questionnaires section of our How to Create and Configure Questionnaires article.

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Importing Custom Questions

When you create a questionnaire, you can import custom questions in bulk by uploading a CSV file. 

See the subsections below to learn how to format your CSV file, import the CSV file into a questionnaire, and configure the imported questions.

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Creating a CSV File

When you create the CSV file that contains your custom questions, make sure the CSV file meets the requirements listed below:

• The separator must be a comma.
• The CSV file must contain the following header line:
• question,type
  Note: The question and type headers are mandatory. You can also add an is_informational header by entering question,type,is_informational for the header line.
• The question fields have a character limit of 1,000 characters.
• The type fields must contain one of the entries listed below and must be in the italic format:
  Note: If the type input fields do not match one of the answer types listed below, the type of answer option that is selected for the question will default to Free Form Text.
  • free
  • checkbox
  • multi
  • boolean
• If you include the is_informational header, the fields under the header must contain either "0" for questions that are not informational or "1", for questions that are informational.

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Importing the CSV File

After you create your CSV file, you can import the CSV file into a questionnaire. 

To import the CSV file into a questionnaire, follow the steps below:

1. Create a questionnaire. For instructions, see the Creating Questionnaires section of our How to Create and Configure Questionnaires article.
2. In the Add Questions From section of the page, click the upload button. When you click this button, an Import Questions pop-up window will open.
3. Click the Click to Upload button.
4. Select your CSV file from your file manager.
5. Click the Add button to import the questions into your questionnaire.

Tip: To view the questions that you've imported, click the All drop-down menu. Then, select Custom Questions.

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Configuring Imported Questions

After you import custom questions into your questionnaire, you will need to configure points for each answer. When your vendors complete the questionnaire, the points that you assign to each question will be used to score their answers.

To configure points for answers to imported questions, follow the steps below:

1. From the navigation panel, navigate to Vendor Management > Questionnaires.
2. From the Name column, select the questionnaire that you would like to configure.
3. In the Questionnaire Versions section of the page, click the Configure button.
4. From the Questions section of the page, click the pencil icon button to edit and configure each question.  
   
5. Configure each question. The process for configuring questions will vary based on the answer type. For more information, see the Configuring Questions by Answer Type section below. 
   Tip: If you are setting the same point values for all questions, skip this step and click the Set For All button after all questions have been added (click to view).

   ×

   Set Points for All Questions

   

   Close
6. Repeat step 4 and step 5 above until you've configured all of the questions in the questionnaire.
7. Click the Mark as Configured button at the top-right corner of the page. When you click this button, your questionnaire will be in the Configured status.
   

As a final step before you can send your questionnaire to vendors, the questionnaire will need to be marked as Reviewed. For more information, see the Reviewing and Finalizing Questionnaires section of our How to Create and Configure Questionnaires article.

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Configuring Questions by Answer Type

When you configure questions in your questionnaire, the process will vary based on the answer type. To learn how to configure questions for each answer type, see the subsections below. 

Free Form

To configure free form questions, you'll only need to assign points to them.

To assign points, enter a number of points into the Points field. Because free-form questions don't have correct answers, KCM GRC won't give a vendor points for their answer to the question. When you review the questionnaire, you can enter the number of points that you would like to give the vendor for their answer.

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Multiple Choice

To configure multiple choice questions, you'll need to add answer options and assign points. 

For more information, see the steps below:

1. Under Answer Options, enter two answer options.
2. (Optional) Add additional answer options by clicking the + Add Option button.
3. Select a radio button under Correct to specify the correct answer.
4. In the Points field, enter the number of points to assign to the question.
   Tip: If you would like to assign the same number of points to all questions in the questionnaire, you can skip this step. After you've added all questions to the questionnaire, you can enter the point value into the Set For All field. Then, click the Set For All button (click to view).
5. Click the Add button to add the question to the questionnaire.

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Checkbox

To configure checkbox questions, you'll need to add answer options and assign points.

For more information, see the steps below:

1. Under Answer Options, enter two answer options.
2. (Optional) Add additional answer options by clicking the + Add Option button.
3. Click the Add button to add the question to the questionnaire.
4. Find the question in the Questions list.
5. Click the pencil icon to edit the question. 
6. In the Weight field, enter the weight to assign to each answer option. The total weight of the answer options will be the number of points assigned to the question.
   
   Tip: As a best practice, we recommend that you assign a weight of 0 to the undesirable answer options.
7. Click the check mark icon to finish configuring the question.

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Yes / No / N/A

To configure Yes / No / N/A questions, you'll need to select a correct answer and assign points.

For more information, see the steps below:

1. In the Correct column, select the radio button next to the correct answer. 
2. In the Points field, enter the number of points to assign to the question.
   Tip: If you would like to assign the same number of points to all questions in the questionnaire, you can skip this step. After you've added all questions to the questionnaire, you can enter the point value into the Set For All field. Then, click the Set For All button (click to view).
3. Click the Add button to add the question to the questionnaire.

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Creating a Custom Questionnaire Template

Once your questionnaire is in Reviewed status, you can save the questionnaire as a custom questionnaire template. Then, you will be able to reuse the custom questionnaire template to create new questionnaires. 

To create a custom questionnaire template, follow the steps below:

1. From the navigation panel, navigate to Vendor Management > Questionnaires.
2. From the Name column, select the questionnaire that you would like to create a questionnaire template from.
3. Click the Create Template button at the top-right corner of the page.
   
4. In the confirmation pop-up window that opens, click the Yes button.

After you complete the steps above, you can use the questionnaire template to create a new questionnaire. When you create a questionnaire, you can find your questionnaire template by clicking the list button in the Add Questions From section of the page.

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