QED Question Editor's Database
Idonix software drives the production of a number of major game show formats both
in the UK and around the world.
Situation
Our client was looking for a flexible solution to replace their ageing and increasingly
unreliable question database. The new system would need to be able to handle high
volumes of data, be customizable to support different game show formats, and be
easy to support. It would be used not just in the UK, but also by our client’s worldwide
licensees.
Solution
Idonix developed a powerful rules-based workflow application that generates output
for both TV shows and merchandise products.
Features
- Configurable workflow patterns.
- Handles Question, Author and Contestant data.
- Automatic rules-based stacking.
- Powerful search facilities
- Keyword based question cross-referencing.
- Powerful file import and export.
- Worldwide language support.
- Full audit trails.
- Integrated spell checker.
- Integrated user and security management.
- Runs on a single laptop, or on a multi-user network with the robust SQL Server database
engine.
Workflow
QED uses a “workflow” model to progress items (ie questions and/or contestants)
from initial creation, through verification, and on to approved lists (and optionally
stacks) ready for export. Each stage in the process is represented by a folder within
a hierarchical tree.
Actions
Most items and folders have a set of actions associated with them. Actions are things
you can choose to do to something – such as moving a question, stacking a contestant,
or adding a new question to a folder. The particular set of actions available for
an item are determined by what sort of item it is (question, contestant, folder
etc.) and where it is (which folder it’s in e.g. Approved, a Stack or the Dump)
Rules
Most folders will have rules associated with them. Rules define one or more attributes
of an item that must be present in order for that item to be moved to a particular folder.
For example, a question must have at least four points of reference before it can
be moved to an "approved" folder, or a contestant must have at least six stacked questions
before it can itself be stacked. Some rules will be absolute, whereas some may just
be warnings (in which case you can override the Rule).
Categorisation
Categories are a means of tracking what questions are about. Categories allow you
to check that you have a wide enough spread of question topics, and are often used
during stack building to ensure that two questions of the same category do not appear
in the same stack.