Previously, Brink supported only one question → one answer. This worked well for simple cases but fell short when dealing with structured data.
For example:
You may want to ask for emissions data across multiple years.
Each year requires multiple values (e.g., Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3).
In many real-world scenarios, however, users need to capture structured data across multiple dimensions—for example, emissions data broken down by year and scope. Instead of creating nine separate questions for three years × three scopes, you can now create one table question with defined rows and columns.
To understand better how this feature works, watch the tutorial video or keep reading!
How it works
Create a new question in your template
Navigate to the template creator.
Add a new question.
Specify the high-level prompt in the form of a question (e.g., “Please fill out this table about emissions data”).
Choose Table as the question type.
2. Define columns
Next, click on Edit on the table preview to edit and/or configure your table, starting from your columns.
Each question in the table editor corresponds to a distinct column of the questionnaire.
Columns represent the dimensions of your data.
For emissions data, you might define: Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3.
Each column can also be assigned a question type; for instance, a metric type for numerical values.
3. Define rows
You can manually specify rows (e.g., 2020, 2021, 2022) by selecting the Rows data type in column 1.
If you leave rows blank, Brink will automatically generate them based on the available data in the documents.
4. Run the template
Return to the template view.
Select the documents or folders you want to analyze.
Run the questionnaire against the dataset.
5. Review results
Brink will pre-fill the table cells with answers from your sources.
To review results you can click on "view data table". This will lead you to the filled out table with responses.
You can click any cell to trace the answer back to the source document.
This gives you transparency and validation, just like with regular Brink answers.
API access
The table question type is fully supported via the Brink API.
You can programmatically create rows and columns.
Run both static and dynamic tables.
Retrieve structured results in the same way as other question types.
Next steps
Try adding a table question to your next template to streamline data collection.
If you have feedback or questions about this feature, please reach out to the Brink team; we’d love to hear from you!