Question-Answer

In ELMA, you can ask other users questions.

You can ask questions about a certain system object:

Let's take a closer look at this function and add a question to a task as an example.

Ask Question

Any task participant can ask a question about the task. To ask a question, click Actions - Ask Question (fig. 1) in the task page toolbar.

Fig. 1. Task page. Actions – Ask Question button

In the opened dialog box (fig. 2) fill in the following fields:

To - select a user to ask a question. You can select only one user.
Description – enter your question.
Attachments – attach files to the question. Click Load Files or drag a file to this area.
Show to All:
Yes – all the task participants will see the question on the history panel of the task page.
No - only the question author and the user, who is supposed to reply, will see the question.

Next, click Ask Question or Cancel.

Fig. 2. Asking a question about a task

A question is sent to the recipient as a task. Questions are shown in the list of incoming tasks and marked with a question mark icon

(fig. 3).

Fig. 3. A question in the task list

Answer Question

To open a question page:

Click on its name in the task list (fig. 3);
Click Go to Question in the history panel on the task page (fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Task page with a question

The question page will open. On this page you can answer the question using:

The quick reply form. If you do not need to attach any files to the answer, use this method. Click Answer question (fig. 5), enter the reply and click Answer question or press Enter (fig. 6). Participants of a task will see the answer on the task page according to question display settings.

Fig. 5. Question page. Quick reply form
The advanced reply form. Click Reply in the page toolbar (fig. 6). The advanced reply form will open (fig. 7). Enter you reply and, if necessary, attach a file by clicking Load Files or dragging it into the area. The Show to All switch allows you to configure whether all the participants will see the answer or not. After filling in the required fields, click Answer Question.

Fig. 6. Question page. Reply button

Fig. 7. Advanced reply form

Cancel Question

The author of a question can cancel it. Open the page of the question you want to cancel and click Cancel Question (fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Question page. “Cancel Question” button

After that you will see a dialog box with a warning (fig. 9) where you need to confirm that you want to cancel the question.

Fig. 9. Dialog box with a warning

When the author cancels the questions, the question disappears from the addressee’s task list. The addressee will not be able to comment on the question in the Messages section and will also see the notification “The question is canceled by the author”. Apart from that, the information about the question cancelation will be displayed on the task history panel and question page (fig. 10).

Fig. 10. Notification of the question cancellation on the question page

Question on the history panel

All actions with questions and answers (creation, cancellation, reply) on a task are displayed on the history panel on the task page (fig. 11).

Fig. 11. Question and answer on a task page

If the questions contains any attachments, you can download them as an archive. You can read more about downloading attachments in this article.