What it does
The question bank is the shared library of reusable questions for the organization or institution you are working in. Write a question once — type, wording, help text, choices, category — and reuse it in forms, quizzes, case log templates, surveys, and checklists.
Who it's for
Organization, institution, and program administrators and coordinators who build forms, quizzes, or case templates maintain the bank with template-editing permission; other members can see published questions but not change them.
How it works
Open Forms, then Question Bank. The page has Questions, Categories, and Labels tabs, scoped to the organization or institution you're working in. On the Questions tab, the list shows summary counts (active, published, draft) plus search, filters by type/category/context/label, Active and Archived tabs, sortable columns, and pagination.
Creating a question. Create Question (or Edit Question on a row) opens a side panel with Basics, Choices, and Outcomes tabs. On Basics you set:
The question itself — title, an optional longer description, and short help text shown to the person answering.
Type — eighteen types, including Competency, short text, long text, number, rating, scale, single-select dropdown, multi-select, checkbox, date, time, date and time, yes/no, file upload, email, URL, matrix, and ranking.
Category — required; every question files into one.
Label — optional controlled multi-select labels (e.g. Canine, Equine) managed on the Labels tab, separate from category folders and competency outcome mappings.
Contexts — where the question may be used: Form, Case Log, Quiz, Survey, Checklist.
Answer choices — for choice-based types (dropdown, multi-select, checkbox, rating, scale), each choice has a label and an optional score value.
Outcome mappings — link a question to competency-framework nodes or learning objectives so its answers count as evidence for those outcomes.
Lifecycle. A new question appears on the Active tab with Draft in the Published column, visible to its creator and administrators. Publish this question makes it available in form and quiz pickers in that bank. Archive this question retires it from Active without erasing it — it stays on Archived, and existing responses stay intact.
Categories. The Categories tab manages shared folders: Create Category sets a name, description, and optional parent; you can deactivate, reactivate, or delete ones you no longer need. Form-specific questions stay on the form — Promote to bank in the form editor moves one into the shared bank under a chosen category.
Labels. The Labels tab manages controlled label vocabularies. Labels are institution-scoped — in an organization, the tab asks you to select an institution first. Each institution gets seeded terms (Canine, Feline, Equine, Bovine, Other) that can't be renamed or deactivated; admins with template-editing permission can add custom terms with Add term. The bank list can filter by label where an institution has those terms.
Before you start
You need template-editing permission at the organization, institution, or program you are working in — without it you can only view published questions.
Be inside the organization or institution whose bank you want to edit; the bank list is scoped to one at a time, never both.
Know which category the question belongs to — every question files into exactly one, and Category is required on the editor.
Do this
Open Forms, then select Question Bank (
/forms/questions) → you should see the Questions, Categories, and Labels tabs.On the Questions tab, select the Create Question button → the Create Question panel opens with Basics, Choices, and Outcomes tabs.
On the Basics tab, enter the question text and choose a Type and a Category → confirm both required fields are filled before you continue.
If the type takes answer choices (dropdown, multi-select, checkbox, rating, or scale), switch to the Choices tab and add each choice's label and optional score → you should see the choice list grow as you add entries.
To link a competency outcome, switch to the Outcomes tab and select the outcome node → confirm it appears under linked outcomes.
Select Create Question at the bottom of the panel → you should return to the bank list and see the new question on the Active tab with Draft in the Published column.
Open the row's ⋯ menu and select Publish this question → confirm the Published column now shows Published.
You're done when
✓ The question appears on the bank's Active tab.
✓ The Published column shows Published.
✓ The question is selectable from form, quiz, and case-template pickers that share this bank.
Boundaries and limits
The bank belongs to the organization or institution you're working in, not both — one institution never sees another's bank, and the list stays empty until you're in a scope.
You need template-editing permission at that scope to create, edit, or archive questions; without it you can only view published questions.
System-provided questions and categories cannot be edited or deleted.
Once a question has submitted responses, its outcome mappings can no longer be changed — duplicate the question instead. Mappings must also stay within a single level per outcome family (you can't mix core-competency and sub-competency mappings on one question).
A question belongs to exactly one category. Labels are multi-select controlled terms, not free-typed tags or competency mappings; analytics grouping by label isn't available yet.
Question titles are limited to 500 characters, descriptions to 2,000, help text to 255, and choice labels to 200. Choice score values must be between 0 and 1,000.
Archiving and deleting are soft operations: data is retired from lists, not destroyed, and existing responses are unaffected.
Common questions
Q: What is the difference between a draft and a published question? A: A draft is only visible to its creator and administrators; publishing makes it available in forms and quizzes in that bank.
Q: If I add a question in the organization, do institutions see it in their bank? A: No. The organization bank and each institution bank are separate lists.
Q: Can I reuse the same question in a form and a quiz? A: Yes — that's the point of the bank. Assign it the relevant contexts and it appears in both pickers.
Q: What happens to old responses if I archive a question? A: Nothing. Archiving only removes the question from the active bank; collected responses remain intact.
Q: Why can't I change the outcome mappings on a question? A: It already has submitted responses. Duplicate the question and map the copy to use different mappings going forward.
Q: Can I add labels when I am in an organization? A: No. Labels belong to an institution, not the organization bank. Save the question without labels, or switch to an institution and create it there.
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