There are several best practices to keep in mind when creating an assessment. The video will walk you through the mechanics of building an assessment and the below article will provide you with brief explanations of best practices.







The length of an assessment will vary based on the target audience.

  • External audience / customers: 3-5 topic areas
  • Internal audience / employees: 5-8 topic areas
  • Deep-dive diagnostic: 15 topic areas.


Creating an Assessment

To build an assessment, navigate to the Libraries>Interviews (Interview library) page and click Create. 

This will take you to the Interview Builder. Enter the assessment name at the top of the page.


 Remember to hit "SAVE" at the Top of the Interview Designer. Clicking "Save" on a topic will also save the assessment. Clicking "Save" in the Interview Builder will save any changes to the Information, Content and Translations tab.  If you are stepping away from your computer, ensure your changes are saved before the platform times out. (Please refer to the image below)

Creating a Topic

Clicking the Content button at the left side of the interview builder page will open the page where you will build each individual topic area. 

      We recommend selecting the Use 9Lenses Recommended option with pre-loaded modules. Regardless of the method used, there are several key elements that every topic area must have. 


The elements of a topic area are: 

  1. Title (mandatory)
  2. Description (Optional, recommended based on Assessment type)
  3. Different Modules dependent on assessment type
  4. I Will Respond/Not Applicable buttons (optional - allow user to skip a topic or can allow them to respond based on preference)
  5. Skip Logic Configuration


Mandatory Elements of a Topic




1. Every topic area needs a Title. Generally, this is a word or phrase to label the contents of the topic area. This is what will display most frequently in the Analytics platform, so the more descriptive the title, the better.


2. The Description orients participants to what the topic area will cover. While this is not a required element for a topic area, 9Lenses strongly recommends using the contextual help to write a brief description of the topic area. Accurately orienting participants to the contents of the topic area will help them make an informed decision on whether or not the topic area is relevant to them.


3. Every topic area needs at least one Module, which asks participants to evaluate something. You can create your own modules dependent on the Assessment type. You may include more than one module if you wish, but you must have at least one module per topic area to launch the Assessment.


4. You will need to decide whether you want the "I Will Respond," "Not Applicable," and "This Topic is Unclear" buttons to appear at the top of the Topic Area. If these buttons are included, the participants will only see the Title and Contextual Help until they decide to provide feedback on the topic area. If these buttons are not included, the entire contents of the Topic Area will load when the participant first sees the Topic Area.



Optional Elements of a Topic

In addition to the standard elements, there are several additional modules that can be included in a Topic Area. 9Lenses strongly recommends having both qualitative and quantitative inputs in each topic area. This enables you to get the numbers and the story behind those numbers.


Adding Elements to a Topic
To add elements, navigate to the bottom of the page where you have the ability to add the different modules. All the modules are customizable and can be re-ordered by clicking and dragging. Be sure to click "Save" before exiting.




Previewing a Topic & Adding Section Breaks
To see what a finalized Topic Area looks like in the 9Lenses Insight, click the the Preview option on the top left side of the assessment builder page.



After you have built your topic areas, you may wish to insert section breaks (i.e. distinct sections that cover Strategic Vision then Execution of Vision or CRM System Rollout Evaluation then System Evaluation). Each section break provides an overview of the topics in the section and gives you the opportunity to provide context. You can add the section break by clicking the Table of Contents and then Add Section.  



When you have finished building your assessment, click on Submit through the assessment setting tab. 

        When you have internally finalized and approved your assessment you need to click on Approve through the assessment setting tab.  This step has to be completed for the assessment to be launched.