Behavioral assessments

A behavioral assessment is a structured behavioral questionnaire you run on an animal, aligned with current shelter-medicine guidance (combine behavioral history with ongoing observation). ShelterSync scores the answers, gives a handling tier, and keeps the record. This page lists every assessment in your organization and is where you start new ones. Assessments are for staff and administrators.

Start, score, and review behavioral assessments for your animals.

See every behavioral assessment in one searchable list on the Records tab, start a new assessment for an animal from a template, and open a finished one to read its answers, score, and handling tier. The Templates tab lists the assessment templates and lets admins build or edit them, including the green/yellow/red handling-tier thresholds and the species each template applies to. Each shelter starts with five default templates. Three apply to both dogs and cats — a Behavioral Intake History (an unscored questionnaire) and two scored observation logs (Daily Behavior Observation and Handling & Enrichment Observation). Two more are cat-specific, with feline-focused questions (hiding, litter box, affiliative signals, handling tolerance) — a Cat Behavioral Intake History and a Daily Cat Behavior Observation. You pick which one to record when you start an assessment (and a template targeted to a single species is pre-selected automatically when it is the only one matching the animal). The result is a handling-tier signal (green = standard handling, yellow = experienced handler recommended, red = specialized/approved handlers) to help match animals to the right people and activities — it is one input among many, not a validated predictive test, and it does not change the animal's status. Assessments are available to staff and admins; editing templates requires the surveys management permission.

What you can do here

• Search or filter assessments by status and handling tier
• Start an assessment: search for an animal by name or species, then pick a template
• Fill in a draft assessment — questions with a show-when rule appear and disappear as you answer — then review and confirm to submit
• Open a completed assessment to read its answers and result
• Void a completed assessment with a reason (kept for audit, reversible); filter to Voided to review
• Build or edit an assessment template on the Templates tab
• Create a new template from the Start dialog — it opens the full-page builder and returns you to the Start dialog with the new template and your animal selected (needs the surveys management permission)
• Set which species a template applies to so it pre-selects automatically

Start an assessment

1. Click Start assessment in the top-right.
2. Pick the animal — start typing a name or species to filter the list. When the animal's species matches exactly one template, that template is pre-selected for you; you can always change it. Each shelter starts with five default templates. Three apply to both dogs and cats — a Behavioral Intake History (an unscored questionnaire) plus two scored observation logs, Daily Behavior Observation and Handling & Enrichment Observation. Two more are cat-specific, with feline-focused questions — a Cat Behavioral Intake History and a Daily Cat Behavior Observation. You choose which one to record.
   • Don't have the template you need? If you can manage surveys, click Create new template next to the Template field to open the full-page builder — when you save, you're returned to the Start dialog with the new template selected and your chosen animal kept.
3. ShelterSync creates a draft — an assessment you can fill in now or come back to later.

Fill it in and submit

Open the draft and answer the questions. Templates can use several question types, including:

• Rating — a 1–5 scale.
• Yes / no with a note — a yes/no answer plus an optional comment.
• Multiple choice, text, and number questions.

Templates can also hide questions that don't apply. If the template's author added a show-when rule to a question — "only ask this if the answer to Has this animal bitten anyone? is Yes", or "only ask this for cats" — that question stays out of your way until it's relevant, and disappears again if you change the answer that brought it up. A question you can't see isn't recorded, so an answer you gave before it was hidden isn't submitted.

As you answer, the calculated result is shown just above the override control: the handling tier and score your answers currently add up to. That's what will be recorded unless you change it. Unscored templates have no score or tier, so nothing is shown there.

You can save it as a draft and finish later, or submit when you're done.

When you choose Review & submit, ShelterSync shows a review step first: a read-only summary of your answers and the proposed handling tier and score, calculated from what you entered. Nothing is recorded until you click Confirm & submit — use Back to keep editing. On confirm, ShelterSync re-scores the answers and records the final handling tier.

How the handling tier is decided

Each answer can carry points. The template's scoring rules turn the total score into a handling tier — a signal for who can safely work with the animal and what helps, not an adoptability or outcome verdict:

• 🟢 Green — standard handling; any approved volunteer.
• 🟡 Yellow — experienced handler recommended; note the trigger and route enrichment.
• 🔴 Red — specialized/approved handlers; follow the behavior & enrichment plan.

The handling tier is one input among many — not a validated predictive test — and it does not change the animal's status or restrict it. If you disagree with the calculated tier, you can override it while filling the assessment — the calculated result is shown right next to the override control so you can see what you're changing. You'll be asked for a reason, which is recorded for the audit trail.

Review past assessments

The list shows every assessment with its animal, template, status, handling tier, score, and who assessed it. Use the search box and the status / handling tier filters to find what you need, then click a row:

• A draft opens so you can keep filling it in.
• A completed assessment opens read-only, showing the answers, score, and result.

Void an assessment

Recorded a wrong assessment? You can void a completed assessment instead of deleting it. On the Records tab, click Void on the row, enter a reason, and confirm. Voiding:

• Keeps the record for the audit trail — it is never permanently deleted, and it can be reinstated.
• Hides it from the default list. Use the Voided status filter to see voided assessments.
• Removes the handling-tier signal from the active record. (Assessments don't change an animal's status, so there's no restriction to undo.)

Fields explained

Field	What it means
Animal	The animal being assessed. Start typing a name or species to filter the list, then pick the animal. Offboarded animals are not shown.
Status	Where the assessment is: draft (in progress), completed (submitted and scored), or cancelled.
Risk	The result ShelterSync calculates from the answers — green, yellow, or red. It is a handling-tier signal (who can safely handle the animal — green = standard, yellow = experienced handler, red = specialized/approved handlers), not an outcome, and it does not change the animal's status.
Score	The total points from the answers; the template's scoring rules turn the score into the handling tier (green/yellow/red).
Calculated result	The handling tier and score the current answers add up to, shown while you fill the assessment and updated as you answer. It is what will be recorded unless you set an override. Unscored templates have no score or tier, so nothing is shown for them.
Override risk (optional)	Replaces the calculated result with a tier you choose. Leave it on "Use suggested risk" to keep what was calculated; an override needs a reason so the record explains itself later.
Void	Removes a completed assessment from the active record while keeping it for the audit trail (it is never deleted and can be reinstated). A reason is required. Voiding does not lift any restriction the assessment caused — review the animal's restriction separately. Voided assessments are hidden until you filter to Voided.
Applies to species	Which animal species this template is for. When you pick an animal whose species matches exactly one template, that template is pre-selected on the Start dialog. Leave empty to apply to any species; it never hides or blocks a template.

Where templates come from

The questions in an assessment come from a template. On the Templates tab, New template (and Edit on a row) opens the full-page builder, split into two tabs. The Properties tab holds the details — title, code, description, which species the template applies to, and whether it is scored (with the handling-tier thresholds). The Builder tab is where you add questions as blocks from the palette on the left — click a type to append it, or drag the type onto the canvas to drop it where you want — a line shows the insertion point, so you can drop it between two existing questions. Each question is an editable block — set its prompt (property blocks like the animal's name appear as green chips you click or drag in), type, answer options and scores, whether it's required, and a show-when condition; drag a block by its grip handle to reorder it (keyboard: focus the handle, press Space, then the arrow keys), and the live preview on the right shows how it will look. The species setting is what lets the right template pre-select itself when you start an assessment (empty = applies to any species, just no auto-select).

TIP

Need to change an answer on a completed assessment? Completed assessments are read-only to keep the record trustworthy. Start a new assessment for the animal to re-evaluate it.