The first step in order to use the DET is to start a new survey which will hold all observations collected. There are multiple ways of starting a new survey:
The first way is the ideal one. The DET contacts the web service via the Internet and automatically creates a new empty survey. You can can select which survey will be initialized if more than one are in the collection phase.
The second way should be used when a survey is shared by many users. One can export the survey at its present state (including all observations entered so far) and give it to another user. The same technique can also be used for splitting the survey (the item list tree) in seperate parts. Each user will then import a partial survey. Of course all resulting observations need to be merged before finishing the survey.
The final way acts as a failsafe way when no internet access is available or for some other reason (e.g. security constraints) the web service does not work. In this case you have to point the DET to the files that hold the necessery information for a survey (item list and key family) and the DET will then create a new empty survey as normal.
See also: