Web surveys made EZ

Federal managers seeking to set up surveys now have an easier way to do

it, Raosoft Inc. announced with the release today of EZSurvey 2000.

EZSurvey 2000 is an electronic data collection program that lets users

build forms or questionnaires on Web sites or distribute them over the Internet,

intranets or any standard e-mail system.

EZSurvey was not designed with "techies" in mind, said Catherine Rao,

chief executive officer of Seattle-based Raosoft.

"You no longer need to know HTML to use it, but you can impose your

own if you need to," she said. "We don't want to exclude the experts."

Among the agencies using earlier versions of the program are the Internal

Revenue Service, the Transportation Department and the Air Force, Rao said.

Features of EZSurvey 2000 include:

* A template that enables users to format the style of their surveys

and questionnaires with assorted colors, fonts and designs, tasks that used

to require additional HTML code.

* A new HTML that uses Netscape Communication Corp.'s Composer or Microsoft

Corp.'s Front Page so that the user creating the surveys doesn't need to

know HTML.

* A preview mode to check final Web page formats before posting them.

* An automatic table wizard for making advanced tables with headers.

* The ability to pre-fill information based on a person's unique information.

Jim Woodmansee, personnel management specialist at DOT, has used EZSurvey

to conduct a number of human resources surveys on the Web and confirms that

you don't have to a "techie" to do it. He recently completed a 157-question

Web survey of about 500 employees that asked about the effectiveness of

management with regard to diversity.

"Before we had a product like this, it was really difficult and time-consuming

to try to survey such a diverse group of people and then compile and analyze

the results," Woodmansee said. "I've tried other products, and this is far

and away the easiest to use, and I'm not an IT person. I'm an HR person."

EZSurvey 2000 can be used on the Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and NT operating

systems. Pricing starts at $399 for an unlimited-use license, and a professional

version featuring Open DataBase Connectivity costs $1,500, Rao said.