Ballots in CASCADE are used to query other project members concerning their viewpoint on the document in which the ballot is located. By using ballots any project member can submit a question to all other project members or a selected set of the project members to obtain a conscensus opinion. Results of the ballot vote are immediately available to all members.

Ballots are easily recognized within a document which is being displayed in the document viewer by noting the "_" within the colored link name. Comments are also colored links within documents but they will not have an "_" in their link name.

Creating a Ballot

Creating a ballot is easy. One note, all ballots are created within documents being displayed in the document viewer while it is in Read/Comment mode. Remember the document viewer is in Read/Comment mode when the background color is a light blue color. Now, to create a ballot within a document just display the document in the document viewer and press-hold the right mouse button on the area of the document where you wish the ballot to be located. You may create as many ballots as needed within a document to accomplish your objective. As shown below, after you press-hold the right mouse button a menu will be displayed.

To cancel the menu just let off the right mouse button and the menu will close. To continue with the ballot creation just select the menu item "Create Ballot" which will open a Ballot Builder dialog window as shown below. At this point if you wish to cancel the ballot creation just select "Cancel" and the Ballot Builder dialog window will close.

To continue with the ballot creation, complete the following seven items and click the OK button. If at anytime you wish to cancel your ballot creation just click the Cancel button and the Ballot Builder window will close. First, Enter your question into the area at the top of the Ballot Builder window labeled "Question to be balloted." Second, choose a day for the ballot open and ballot close day. The ballot open day is the day that you wish for the first vote to be taken. The ballot close day is the last day for which you wish votes to be taken. Third, select the project groups for which the ballot will apply. You may click the radio button next to the word Project to select all groups within the project. By selecting all groups within the project every member with access to the document will be allowed to vote on your ballot. Alternatively, you may individually select groups by highlighting each group that you wish to be involved in your ballot. Fouth, select the ballot type. Ballot types are blind, vote with summary and vote with role call. Fiveth, select the ballot vote type. Ballot vote types are single and multiple. Sixth, choose whether the voter will be allowed to enter comments concerning their vote. By clicking the radio button next to the phrase "Comment allowed" the voter will be allowed to enter comments related to their vote. Seventh, enter the vote choices for which the voters will select. To enter a vote choice, click the first checkbox which will open the first entry panel for you to enter a choice description. Click the second checkbox and enter a choice into the second panel. You may enter choices into the other choice panels in the same manner as the first two. To create your ballot just click the OK button. Notice that the document now contains a colored link with a portion of your ballot question as its name.

Voting on a Ballot

After a ballot has been created within a document, all project members with access to the document can vote on the ballot. Within a document a ballot is a colored link with the first 15 characters of the ballot question as its name. To open the ballot for voting just single click on the ballot link which will open a ballot vote dialog window. Alternatively, you may right-click and select Open from the menu to open the ballot vote dialog window. Within the ballot vote dialog window, as shown below, a project member selects the appropriate choice as their vote and then clicks OK to register their vote. If the ballot was created with the voter option to enter comments then the voter may enter additional information which will supplement their vote.

There are additional ways to find a ballot other than to read a document and notice that there is a ballot link within the document. One way to find a ballot is to check the most recent project activity by selcting Project Activity from the Information Menu and noticing that a ballot has been created, you may then access the ballot with a single click on the ballot name. Another way to find a ballot is to use the Browser, which is accessed thru the Navigation Menu. With the Browser, the ballot icon can be easily seen within the project space and with a single click on the ballot will open the ballot for a vote to be entered. If you are not sure what the ballot icon looks like, you may review it and other file type icons through the "File Types" folder which is accessed via the Preferences item in the Main menu.

Reviewing the Ballot Vote

A ballot summary is maintained and is available to view through the Summary folder within the ballot vote dialog window, as shown below. During the ballot voting period, which is the time between the "ballot open" and "ballot close" days, the data represents all votes to the current day. If the ballot is closed, which occurs when the ballot close day has passed, the data represents the final result of the ballot.