We've just released an update to Conceal Responses that lets you choose if you want to hide the data for the full lifecycle of the submission. Why?
When using Conceal Responses for an objective or anonymous review process, the hidden responses becoming revealed upon the submission reaching a terminal status (such as Accepted or Declined) is often desirable.
Other times, however, the use of Conceal Responses is simply about protecting the privacy and security of submitter data. In these cases, you may well not want that data to be revealed to your team, possibly ever—or with only a few exceptions. The new Lifecycle Concealment tool is optimized for this case.
In conjunction with Custom Roles released earlier this year, it's now quite simple for you to lock submitter data down completely, or make it available to only very select people, for your entire program.
Read on for tips on how to effectively use the updated concealment tool to meet your needs and goals. And join us next month for our quarterly "What's New" webinar to see it demoed live.
Introduction to Concealment
Conceal Responses is the ability to hide submitter answers from some or all of your team (reviewers and/or admins).
There are two steps:
Mark questions in your Form(s) as "Conceal Response" in the form field settings.
Turn on Conceal Project Data under the Notifications tab in your Project. Here you'll choose either "Concealment" or new "Lifecycle Concealment", set the roles authorized to view concealed data, and decide whether or not to also conceal questions.
Concealment vs. Lifecycle Concealment
Depending on the purpose of concealment, the former default of "Concealment" or the new "Lifecycle Concealment" may naturally make more sense. Here are the two major reasons customers typically conceal responses, and a rule of thumb for how they should guide you:
To prevent bias in the review process
This often looks like hiding demographic data like gender and race. It can also include concealing location information, alma maters, work history, or organization affiliation, etc. To conduct an anonymous review process, concealing anything that could be identifying is the way to go.
Typically, for this purpose, you can use the old default "Concealment" setting, whereupon the response becomes visible when the application reaches a terminal status (Accepted, Declined, Withdrawn, Completed).
To protect submitter privacy or security
Privacy goes beyond factors that might introduce bias. It encompasses all kinds of data that you might need for a legitimate purpose—such as to confirm eligibility or deliver your award—but should be made available to your team only on a need-to-know basis.
This includes data that needs to be protected for security purposes, such as banking information, Social Security Numbers, or health-related information. (Submittable makes many of these dedicated fields, such as SSN and Banking Details, concealed by default.)
Depending on the type of program, it could also be that any personally identifying factors may need to be kept private. Think of domestic violence survivor funds, prison reentry programs, or addiction treatment or recovery. Furthermore, in some tight-knit communities, such as an employee assistance program with colleagues reviewing applications, or a case where neighbors will be assessing neighbors, you may also consider protecting privacy more stringently.
When privacy or security is the motivation for concealing responses, most often, you'll want to use the new "Lifecycle Concealment" option.
Custom Roles and Concealment
Custom Roles together with Lifecycle Concealment give you a way to strictly limit the availability of sensitive information, such as only to your team super admin or perhaps a finance role:
Not using Custom Roles yet? They are available at no cost to all customers on current Starter packages or above. Just contact support to get them turned on!
FAQs
What do team members see when responses are concealed?
If questions are shown, they will see the question and the note [Concealed] where the answer would be. If questions are not shown, they will not see anything.
When should I consider excluding questions?
If concealed questions are hidden under branched logic and seeing them may reveal information you'd prefer to keep private (such as whether an applicant has been previously awarded)
If the question itself includes revealing information (such as "Briefly describe the medical condition")
If you want to avoid inviting speculation from review teams about what they can't see or why they can't see it
If your form is extremely long, and you're looking for any reason to shorten it for the reviewers
Which Forms allow for Conceal Responses?
All Forms except those that are filled out by your internal team (Review Forms and Internal Forms).
Are names, emails, and addresses concealed?
Submitter names and email addresses are automatically concealed when either Concealment or Lifecycle Concealment is on within the Project. If you are using the Require Address feature, submitter mailing addresses will also be hidden. If you collect an address in your form, you'll need to mark that question as concealed in order to conceal it.
Is Organization Name concealed when using Organization Search?
It's up to you. This has its own Project-level setting under General Settings.
Final Tips
Let your submitters know who can see what
When collecting sensitive information from applicants, it's a good idea to tell them why you need it. In doing so, you can also specify who will see it and who will not. Here is an example:
Use multiple Forms and/or adjust concealment as needed
Note, there is only one "Conceal Project Data" choice and one selection of "Roles authorized to view concealed data" per Project. However, one of the best things about Submittable is how flexible it is, and this can be your ally if that limitation creates any roadblocks.
Consider this example workflow:
You can use your Initial Form to collect original applications, and use basic "Concealment" from your reviewers based on a desire for an objective review process.
Then, you can use an Additional Form to collect payment information, and change concealment to Lifecycle and applied to all team members except your finance role.
Want awardee data from the Initial Form to now be visible? Go back into your form, and uncheck the "Conceal response" boxes on those questions! (If you do this, make sure the form isn't being used in a current program that is still under review—duplicate your form to prevent any issues).
I hope you are all excited about this major upgrade to a core Submittable feature. Please join me next month at our webinar—I would love for you to share how you are using it!