Session designer

The session designer is a visual canvas for building a workforce session from Start to one or more End nodes.

Add questions, connect them in order, and use routes when different participants should follow different paths. The surrounding briefing and settings define who the session is for, when runs open, and how reports are produced.

The designer is available to workspace admins.

Build the conversation flow

Add nodes from the palette and connect their ports with cables. You can also drag a cable into empty canvas space to create a placeholder, then choose its type.

Available nodes:

Start — the entry point for every participant.
Scripted — asks the question exactly as written.
Generative — gives Soma instructions for creating a question that fits the conversation.
Response classifier — classifies the previous response and sends the participant down a matching branch.
Group — routes by group membership.
Category of work — routes by the category saved in the participant’s profile.
Attribute — routes by workspace-defined profile values and can combine conditions.
End — finishes a path and moves the participant toward summary review.

Select a node to edit it in the inspector.

Configure questions

For a scripted question, write the exact prompt. For a generative question, describe what Soma should ask and what the question should achieve.

Both question types support:

a follow-up budget from 0 to 8
optional follow-up guidance
references to pages or narrative reports

Use follow-ups when depth matters but the next main question should remain predictable. A budget is a maximum, not a requirement for Soma to ask every follow-up.

Add routes

Routes change the next node without asking the participant an extra question.

Response classifier

Define the classes that Soma should use to interpret the previous answer. Each class has its own output port and connection.

Group route

Add groups in priority order. If a participant belongs to more than one listed group, the topmost matching route wins. Else handles everyone who does not match.

Category of work route

Choose one category for each route. Else handles categories that are not listed or not available.

Attribute route

Choose an attribute and the values that qualify for each route. Use + And to combine a second attribute, group, or category of work when the path needs a narrower audience.

If a participant has not completed an attribute used by the session, Soma asks for it before the interview begins. A skipped optional value follows Else.

Every route and fallback needs a connection before the session can be published.

Organize the canvas

Use a Section to frame related nodes. A section can have a title, accent color, description, and references. Its description and references apply to questions inside the section.

The canvas also includes:

Select for moving, selecting, and connecting
Cut for removing cables
undo and redo
a Layers view for finding objects on a larger canvas

Complete the briefing and settings

Use Briefing for the session title, audience-facing description, and session-level references.

Use Settings for audience, schedule, conclusion rules, participant inactivity, report threshold, and report scope. Options that do not work together are disabled. For example, a member-joins schedule needs an organization or group audience.

Save and publish

Changes save continuously to the working version. The header shows whether the session is a draft or has unpublished edits.

Select Publish or Publish changes when the design is ready. Publishing checks the full session and blocks issues such as:

an unassigned placeholder
a missing or unreachable End node
an output port without a connection
a loop in the flow
an empty classifier
a route without a selected value
incomplete audience or schedule settings

Canvas errors are highlighted near the affected node or route where possible.

After the first publish, the session becomes active. Use the Active or Paused status control to pause or resume future runs. Open run is available when an active session is fully published.

Current limits

A published session does not return to draft. Later edits become a new published revision.
Flows cannot loop back to an earlier node.
Single-choice, multiple-choice, scale, and ranking questions are not available.
Changes do not alter a run that is already open.

Sessions covers audiences, runs, participation, and reports.
Groups provides group membership used by Group routes.
Attributes provides workspace-defined values used by Attribute routes.
User settings contains the category of work used by Category of work routes.
Pages can be attached as references.