Creating and launching a survey

A survey is built in a four-step wizard: questions, participants, settings, then launch. You can start from a blank page, from a template, or from an existing survey you duplicate. This article explains each step, saving as a draft, launching, and what you then do from the survey’s page: edit, duplicate, close. It is intended for the HR staff and administrators who design surveys.

Before you start #

• The Surveys module must be open to your account — see Getting started with Surveys.
• To create, edit or duplicate a survey, you need the Survey permission at the Execute tier. The Administrator and HR Manager roles hold it.
• To launch or close it, you also need Launch / schedule a survey at the Execute tier (Administrator, HR Manager, Manager). Without it, you can only save it as a draft.
• To use templates and the question library, you need PMF templates — Browse (11); to edit them, PMF template — Customize at the Execute tier.
• The participants offered are the active employees within your scope.
• The wizard’s starting values (confidentiality, duration, reminders) come from Settings › Surveys › Configuration — see Survey settings.

Opening the wizard #

Three paths lead to the wizard:

• the New survey tab, or the New button on the list: a blank page with a first question;
• the PMF Templates tab: click Preview → under a template to read its questions, then Access → to open the wizard pre-filled with its title and questions, grouped by theme;
• the Duplicate icon of an existing survey: the wizard takes over its questions, participants and settings, and its title followed by “(copie)”.

The Preview button, top right, shows the questionnaire at any time as a participant will see it.

Step 1: questions #

1. Enter the Survey title, which is required. The globe icon to its right opens the title translation.
2. Fill in the first question: its text, then its type in the drop-down list.
3. Click Add a question to add another one to the section, or Add a section to group questions under a new heading. A section’s title is edited directly in its header.
4. For each question, pick a Theme… if needed: results are calculated and presented by theme.
5. Use the arrows to move a question up or down, the copy icon to duplicate it, the bin to delete it and the globe to translate its text.
6. Click Next. The wizard will not move on without a title (“Title is required”), without any question (“Add at least one question”) or with a question that has no text.

Question types #

• Scale (1-5): from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”. Answers 4 and 5 count as favourable.
• Single choice and Multiple choice: three options are created by default; rename them, delete them with the cross or add more with Add an option.
• NPS: a score from 0 to 10, from “Not at all likely” to “Extremely likely”. Only scores 9 and 10 count as favourable.
• Free text: a written answer. These answers feed the Comments tab of the results.

The question library #

The Library button opens a panel of ready-made questions sorted by theme. Search for a question, then add it to the chosen section with one click. With PMF template — Customize, you can also edit the text of a library question.

Step 2: participants #

You have two modes.

Participants mode #

1. Filter the list by department or office if needed.
2. Click a row to tick or untick an employee. All ticks the whole filtered list; Deselect clears the selection.
3. Check the counter, top right, then click Next. With no participant, the wizard shows “Select at least one participant”.

Lifecycle mode #

Choose Onboarding (new joiners) or Offboarding (leavers). Participants are not ticked: they are worked out from employees’ status. The card shows how many employees currently match; the list is recalculated each time the survey is edited.

Step 3: settings #

• Confidentiality: Confidential (non-identifiable responses) or Visible (names visible). In Confidential mode, set the Minimum confidentiality threshold: no result is shown until that number of responses is reached.
• Timeline: One-time or Recurring. For a recurring survey, choose the Frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, biannual or annual) and the number of Rounds. Enter the Opening and Closing dates; the number of days left is shown underneath.
• Estimated duration: calculated from the number and type of questions. Turn on Customize duration to enter a duration in minutes yourself.
• Reminders: the list of automatic reminders, each expressed in days. Add one with Add a reminder, remove one with the cross.

Step 4: launch or save as a draft #

1. Review the Summary: title and number of questions, participants and confidentiality, schedule and reminders.
2. Click Draft to save without sending anything. The survey appears in the list with the Draft status.
3. Or click Launch: the survey is saved and opened to responses. The button only appears if you may launch surveys.

On launch, each participant receives a personal response link, and the invitation email is sent if automatic sending is on in the settings. A module notification reports the launch.

The survey page #

Click a survey’s title in the list to open its page.

• Edit reopens the wizard on this survey. Duplicate creates a draft copy.
• Launch (draft) or Launch now opens the survey. Close (open survey) closes it as of today: no further response is accepted.
• Results appears once the survey is open or closed.
• The cards show the dates, the number of reminders sent, the estimated duration, participation by department and the global score.

Good to know #

• A survey whose closing date has passed no longer accepts responses, even if nobody closed it by hand; the closing day itself is still open.
• When a recurring survey closes, the next cycle is prepared as a draft, with the same questions and participants and dates shifted according to the frequency. You then launch it.
• Editing a survey’s questions replaces its whole list of questions: avoid doing so once responses have come in.
• Every creation, edit, launch and closure is recorded in the module’s activity log.

Frequently asked questions #

I only see the Draft button. Why? #

The Launch button requires Launch / schedule a survey at the Execute tier. Save as a draft, then ask someone with that permission to launch it from the survey page.

Can I add a participant after launch? #

Yes, by editing the survey. The new participant can then answer from the response form.

What is the minimum confidentiality threshold for? #

It prevents anyone from guessing who answered what in a small group: below that number of responses, no result is shown, neither for the survey nor for a department. See Reading results and generating reports.