Overview
Question Categories are tags you put on Checklist questions so you can compare scores for the same topic across many Checklists. Tag every restraint question on every coaster Checklist with Restraints, and one Dashboard widget shows how restraint checks score across the park — without opening each Checklist.
You build categories in a Question Category Hierarchy, tag questions in the Checklist editor, and then use them in Dashboard widgets and Excel exports.
At a glance |
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Who can do this | Super Users, or a Role with Question Category Hierarchies › Create, Modify or Delete (View to look only). Tagging questions needs Checklists › Modify. |
Where | Checklists › Question Categories |
Works on | Backend (web) only. Categories aren't shown in the Mobile app or RideOps. |
Availability | All organizations |
💡 Why this matters: Without categories, comparing similar questions across Checklists means exporting Results and adding them up by hand. With them, "How are we doing on cleaning across all rides?" is a single Dashboard widget.
How categories are organized
Level | What it is | Example |
Hierarchy | The top-level container for one reporting theme | Train Maintenance |
Group | An optional folder of categories. Groups can contain other groups. | Vehicles |
Category | The tag you put on questions. It can sit in a group or directly in the Hierarchy. | Restraints, Wheels |
You tag questions with categories only. Groups and Hierarchies roll up the scores of the categories inside them on Dashboard widgets.
Build a hierarchy
1. Create the hierarchy
In the Backend, go to Checklists › Question Categories and click Create. Enter a Name, for example Train Maintenance, and save. The editor, Manage question category hierarchy, opens with the hierarchy in a tree.
2. Add groups and categories
Select the hierarchy, or a group in it, click Create and choose Create group or Create category. Enter a Name and click Save. The new item is added under the one you selected. Repeat to build the structure.
To rename the hierarchy, a group or a category, select it and click Edit.
Tag questions with categories
1. Open the question
In the Backend, go to Checklists, open the Checklist in the editor and click the question you want to tag.
2. Add categories
Expand the Question Categories panel and click the + button. In Choose question category, select a category and click OK. Repeat to add more; a question can have any number of categories, from any hierarchy. To remove one, click the x on its tag.
3. Save the Checklist
Save the Checklist, then tag matching questions in your other Checklists with the same categories.
Every question type has the Question Categories panel, but only questions that give points add to category scores.
Where categories are used
Where | What you get |
Question Category Score and Circular Question Category Score widgets | The average score for one category or group |
Average Score by Question Category widget | Average scores side by side for each category in the group you pick |
Question Category Hierarchy widget | A whole hierarchy with scores rolled up through its groups |
Latest Images widget | Photos filtered to questions in chosen categories |
Export results as Excel document and the aggregated Excel export | A Question Categories column for each question |
Category scores are worked out from the scored answers to tagged questions in the Results each viewer can see, within the widget's date, Checklist and Location filters. See the Dashboard widget catalog for widget settings.
Dashboards match Results to a question by its ID, which stays the same when you edit and save the Checklist. If you delete a question and add a new one, the new question starts with no earlier Results, and the deleted question's Results stop counting toward its categories.
⚠️ Heads-up: Dashboards use each question's current categories for all its Results, past and future. Tagging a question adds its earlier Results to the category's score; removing a tag, or deleting the category, takes them out. Excel exports instead show the categories the question had in the Checklist version each Result was completed on.
Change or delete categories
In the hierarchy editor, select a group or category and click Delete. To delete a whole hierarchy, select it in the Question Categories list and click Delete. Creators of a hierarchy can edit and delete it with Create alone.
🛑 Critical: Deleting can't be undone. Deleting a category, group or hierarchy removes it — and every category below it — from all Checklist questions, and Dashboard widgets stop showing its scores, including for past Results.
When you copy a Checklist to another organization with Create Copy, its Question Categories aren't copied. Tag the questions again in the new organization. Copies within the same organization keep their categories.
Best practices
Group broad themes you want scored as a whole, such as Cleaning, and put the specific topics underneath as categories.
Make categories as specific as the questions leadership actually asks: Safety is too broad to act on, and a category per bolt is too narrow.
Use the same category across every Checklist that asks about that topic — that's what makes comparisons work.
Categories only score questions that give points, so make sure the questions you tag are scored.
Frequently asked questions
What are question categories and how do I use them?
They're tags on Checklist questions for comparing scores by topic across Checklists. Build a hierarchy in Checklists › Question Categories, tag questions in the Checklist editor, then add a Question Category widget to a Dashboard.
Can I see question categories in the mobile app?
No. Categories are set up and reported on in the Backend only. Users answering Checklists in the Mobile app or RideOps don't see them.
Can I compare checklist results with each other in a graph?
Yes, by topic. Tag matching questions in each Checklist with the same category, then use the Average Score by Question Category or Question Category Hierarchy widget on a Dashboard.
If I add a category to an existing question, do past results count?
Yes, on Dashboards. Widgets use the question's current categories for all its Results, so earlier Results are included straight away. Excel exports of older Results don't show the new category.
Can I delete a question category that's already in use?
Yes. It's removed from every question that uses it, and Dashboard widgets stop counting it, including for past Results. This can't be undone.