Introduction to Backfeed URL

How it works

Any interview that a candidate is invited to participate in is recorded as contact history. This contact history can then be updated during or on completion of the questionnaire by processing a set of returned parameters and outcome codes.

A URL link is passed back to Q_Panel to confirm details from the interview.

There are two forms for the backfeed request:

  1. https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{apiToken}/{panelId}/{responseId}/{outcomeCode} - This version is compatible the the existing Q_Panel backfeed API (see documentation here) and just requires you to change the API URL for the backfeed URL.


  2. https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{backfeedToken}/{responseId}/{outcomeCode} - This version uses one less parameter, so the URL can be shorter. The apiToken and panelId are merged into a single backfeed token. Other than the use of the backfeed token, the two URLs take the same parameters.

Using the backfeed URL has a number of advantages over using the Q_Panel API backfeed:

  • Can redirect to a URL after the backfeed has been submitted.
  • More responsive than the Q_Panel API.
  • More robust than Q_Panel API.

Parameters

Mandatory Parameters

Each parameter in curly brackets in the URLs above need to be replaced by the following values

  • apiToken - This token identifies the panel. It can be found in Q_Panel > Security > User Manager:

    If you do not have a user account which can ONLY submit backfeeds, there are details at the bottom of this article, showing how this can be done.


  • panelId - This is the panel identifier and can be found in Q_Panel > Security > Database Manager:


  • responseId - This is the response identifier generated by Q_Panel to identify the interview.


  • outcomeCode - This is the outcome of the interview.


  • backfeedToken - Contact Walr support for your token.

Optional Parameters

In addition to the mandatory parameters, there are a number of optional parameters that can be supplied. These parameters are the same whether you use the apiToken / panelId, or the backfeedToken. The details for these optional parameters can be found below:

Full Parameter Name Short Name Description
dateOfContact doc The contact date.
doNotContactBeforeDate ncb Interviewee has requested not to be contacted again before this date.
interviewEndDate ied The interview end date and time.
interviewStartDate isd The interview start date and time.
recontactDate rcd The interviewee has requested to be contacted again on this date.
redirectUrl rdu If supplied, the user will be redirected to this URL after the backfeed details have been recorded.
rewardPoints rwp The number of reward points for this backfeed result.

The full parameter names are there for compatibility with the Q_Panel backfeed API, so if migrating from the Q_Panel API, you can continue to use those names. but otherwise the short names are preferred as they keep the URL shorter.

Optional parameters are added to the URL above using the normal URL rules, i.e. the first parameter is preceded by a question mark and all others by an ampersand.

e.g.

https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{backfeedToken}/{panelId}/{responseId}/{outcomeCode}?doc=2024-5-23&isd=2024-5-23T13:26:45&ied=2024-5-23T13:32:16


The redirect URL parameter requires the value to be URL encoded, so if we wanted to redirect to https://www.walr.com

we would need:

rdu=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walr.com


Migrating from api.quenchtec.net

If your backfeeds are currently using https://api.quenchtec.net, you should change them as follows:


If you are using:

https://api.quenchtec.net/backfeed/v1/{backfeedToken}/...

this should become

https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{backfeedToken}/...


If you are using:

https://api.quenchtec.net/backfeed-redirect/v1/{apiToken}/{panelId}/...

this should become

https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{apiToken}/{panelId}/...


Migrating from QPanel API

If your backfeeds are currently using https://{clientName}-qpanel.quenchtec.net, you should change them as follows:


From:

https://{clientName}-qpanel.quenchtec.net/v1/{apiToken}/{panelId}/Backfeeds?outcomeCode={outcomeCode}&responseId={responseId}

To:

https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{apiToken}/{panelId}/{responseId}/{outcomeCode}


From:

https://{clientName}-qpanel.quenchtec.net/v1/{apiToken}/{panelId}/Backfeeds?outcomeCode={outcomeCode}&responseId={responseId}&dateOfContact={dateOfContact}...

To

https://backfeedurl.walr.com/{apiToken}/{panelId}/{responseId}/{outcomeCode}?dateOfContact={dateOfContact}...


Security

The candidate requesting the Backfeed page does not get logged into Q_Panel. Therefore the system allows for a trusted login specifically for the backfeed URL to pass information back to the Q_Panel environment.


Receiving and processing the backfeed URL

Data is provided back to Q_Panel via the URL where it is added to the queue of records awaiting processing by the Backfeed service. These records can be various status updates e.g. interview activated, interview completed etc. 

The Backfeed service runs periodically to process all the backfeed records held in the queue and update the contact history with the outcomes.

Creating a Backfeed URL account

First we need a group that ONLY allows the submission of backfeed records:

  • Create a new group called Backfeed URL. No users are required but it needs the current database (see Databases tab)

    and add only these two functions


  • Add a new user


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