About updates to a dynamic question

When you update or clear the answer of a determining (parent) question or a dynamically-displayed (child) question, you must keep in mind the specifics of this update according to each use case.

Note:

Dynamically-displayed questions that are frozen, locked, read-only, hidden, assigned a data classification that you don't have permission to see, or assocciated with future visits cannot be automatically cleared. You must manually clear the data of those impacted questions first.

Anytime you update or clear the answer of a determining (parent) question, you get an Information dialog detailing what's going to happen next. The information on that dialog may vary depending on what types of questions, forms or visits your action is impacting, whether they're frozen, locked, associated with other visits, and so on.

Update the determining question of multiple dynamic questions

• When you want to update or clear the answer of a determining question, after you perform this action, an Information dialog appears indicating the dynamic questions, forms, or other dynamic elements that you are about to automatically clear as part of this process. On that dialog, you have the option to update the questions or cancel the action.
• When you want to update or clear the answer of a determining question, and the dynamic elements associated with it are either locked, frozen, read-only, hidden, or associated with forms in future visits, the Information dialog will indicate that you need to manually update or clear the dynamic (children) questions before you can update the determining (parent) question. If the fields that are locked, frozen, read-only or hidden contain no data, then you don't have to manually update those fields.
• If there are multiple layers of dynamically-displayed questions (for example, a child question can act as the determining parent question for other dynamic questions), then you must manually clear any "grandchildren" questions. For example, if you attempt to clear the answer for parent question A, the system could clear the answer to child question B. But if child question B has other dynamic questions determined by its answer (questions C and D), then you must first clear the answers for the granchildren questions (questions C and D). When you attempt to update or clear parent question A, the dialog only displays the child questions that are directly impacted by the given parent question.
• If there is an open manual query raised against a dynamic question that is about to be hidden, the manual query is automatically closed with a reason of 'Dynamic has been untriggered' specified in the system.
• If there is an automated query raised against the dynamic question that is about to be hidden, the hiding of that rule target field (whether it is a dynamic question, a question on a dynamic form or a question in a dynamic section) automatically closes the query with the reason 'Dynamic has been triggered' specified in the system.

Update the determining question of multiple forms or visits

Anytime you want to update or clear the determining (parent) question of multiple dynamic forms or visits, the Information dialog indicates which forms or visits will be cleared of their data in the process.

Consider the following notes, as well:

• By default, a dynamically-displayed repeating form, a two-section form, a repeating section, or a lab form is completely cleared and hidden from the visit.
• For a dynamically-displayed visit, if the Visit Date field is the only completed field in the visit, after updating its determining question, the Visit Date field is cleared, and the dynamic visit is hidden from a subject's schedule. If the visit had other fields completed, you won't be able to clear or update the determining question until you manually clear all of the other fields.

Clear a dynamically-displayed question

When you want to clear the answer for a dynamically-displayed (child) question, you must indicate a reason for this change in the Reason for Change field for that question. When you submit that reason for change and the update becomes effective, you can view the question's update in the Answer & Visit History side panel. Every automatically-cleared dynamic question is displayed as Clearing - Dynamic hidden in the User Interface (UI). This new status is displayed again at a later time since it is not possible to see the Answer and Visit History data for a question that you cannot view.

If you skip a dynamic visit for a subject, you can hide the visit by changing the answer to the determining question to a value that doesn't display the dynamic question, without un-skipping the visit first.

Other use cases for clearing dynamic elements

• While the system is clearing that question's answer, you can continue working on other questions in the form, but you won't be able to modify the questions that are being currently cleared.
• If a dynamic question is locked, then a sponsor user must first unlock it before you can clear its answer.
• If a dynamic question is frozen or unanswered (without a data flag) the question is simply hidden without a reason for change being required.
• If a dynamic question is unanswered but it contains a data flag, you must first remove its data flag before you can clear it. The question is displayed in the Information dialog.
• If a dynamic question is signed or verified, it becomes unsigned or unverified after you clear or update the question. It remains unsigned or unverified even when its determining question is updated or cleared, and the questions become hidden.
• If the age question is dynamically displayed and you attempt to clear or update its parent question, the system only automatically clears the Date of Birth field. This re-runs the calculation of the rule and clears the Age field, as well. The Information dialog only references the Date of Birth question as being automatically cleared.
• If the value of a dynamic parent question is updated before any data in the dynamic child question is saved, the answer provided for the dynamic child question is not saved, and the question is hidden. In this case, the dynamic child questions are not displayed in the Information dialog.
• When you automatically clear dynamic child questions that are linked to other forms, your username appears in the Answer & Visit History side panel as the user who unlinked those forms. The unlinking action is attributed to you clearing the dynamic parent question.