Design a Survey

Learn how to create surveys in LeanIX

Overview

Surveys in LeanIX are a collaborative way to gather information from several stakeholders in one go without the hassle of sending out individual emails. Not only is data collected effortlessly, but Surveys also allow for regular updates of data, enriching the data quality. The collected data can be directly fed into relevant Fact Sheets, enabling EAs to focus on creating value rather than being burdened with manual upkeeping of data. This makes it easy to gather information and assessments on all aspects of Enterprise Architecture without manual effort. You can track progress, personalize messages, and make sure the data collected is accurate.

On this page, you will discover the methods for creating a survey as an Admin. In the subsequent pages, you will find guidance on running surveys and viewing the results as an Admin. Additionally, you will also learn how to respond to surveys as a recipient.

Design Survey

Surveys can be created by users with Admin rights. To access the configuration, go to Administration > Surveys.

Accessing Surveys

Accessing Surveys

This is also the space where you will find the list of already existing surveys, and you will see when they were created and how many executions have occurred.

You have different options to create a survey:

(a) You can create one from scratch

(b) Import an existing survey and use or modify it.

(c) Build a new survey from a template.

(a) Create a survey from scratch

Clicking on the New Survey button leads you to the Design Survey tab. Here, users can easily design the survey form by dragging and dropping different types of input fields from the left pane onto the survey editor.

There are three main categories of input fields around which survey questions can be designed:

Fact Sheet element: This type of input field directly connects to a specific field of a Fact Sheet. Any responses given in these fields will be automatically reflected in the corresponding Fact Sheets. You can include different Fact Sheet fields, including Relations, Tag Groups, and Subscriptions. However, Fields on Relations are not yet supported. Tags are shown as a dropdown if they are single-select and as a multi-tag picker if they are multi-select.

Adding Fact Sheet elements

Adding Fact Sheet elements

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Fact Sheet element replaces Fact Sheet segment

As of March 1, 2024, Fact Sheet segment within the survey editor has been discontinued. Instead, the Fact Sheet element fields have been enhanced to encompass Lifecycle, Location, Multi-select, and Relations. This transition offers a more intuitive and improved user interface compared to the previous segment system.

Instructions on how to transition to the Fact Sheet elements is found here.

Basic: From this category, you can create questions that accept inputs such as text, number, date, single-select, and multi-select answers. These are stand-alone questions and are not tied to any Fact Sheet fields; therefore, they are not updated on any Fact Sheets. The Question group field allows you to organize and group multiple sub-questions under a single category.

Advanced: This type of input field empowers survey creators to create Conditional questions and Calculated fields.

  • Conditional questions: allows you to display or skip a question based on an answer given earlier. To set up a rule, select the question to which the rule should apply and then define the specific conditions. For example, you can create a conditional question like "Are you sure you are the IT Owner of the Application?" and depending on the response, you can choose whether the follow-up questions should be displayed or skipped.
  • Calculated Fields: The calculated fields enable survey designers to quantify survey results by deriving a specific score by aggregating or quantifying answers provided in other questions. This functionality accepts standard JavaScript as input and is designed to return an integer. Here's an example to illustrate:
// Enter any JavaScript code to calculate a value based on the user's responses
// saved in the 'answers' object and return that value at the end. The response to
// any single questions can be accessed either by the question's index or label text.
// (Hidden questions and Fact Sheet questions are always present in the array with the
// value 'null'. Questions groups have no impact on the answers array whatsoever.)
// The following example is based on the availability demo survey:


var score = 0;
score += answers[0] === 'Many outages' ? 10 : 0;
score += 5 - answers['Which channels of communication did you use to inform your users about availability issues?'].length;
score += /crucial customer/i.test(answers[4]) ? 50 : 0;
return 'Overall score: ' + score;

Mandatory Questions: You can designate a question as mandatory by using the Mandatory toggle switch. Survey recipients will see an asterisk next to mandatory questions and are required to answer them to complete the survey. This feature ensures respondents answer essential questions that you consider are vital in achieving the survey's objectives. Although the mandatory questions in Surveys can align with the mandatory fields on Fact Sheets, they are independent of each other and not necessarily combined.

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Note

Questions in existing Surveys based on the now deprecated Fact Sheet Segments can not be made mandatory.

Mandatory Questions

Mandatory Questions

Inserting Links in questions: While creating survey questions for any of the input fields, you can also insert links by typing the display text in square brackets ‘[...]’ and typing the link right after it inside parenthesis '(...)'.

Inserting Link in survey questions

Inserting Link in survey questions

Recipient view

Recipient view

Preview Survey: After designing your survey, you can preview it by clicking the Preview button in the top-right corner of the survey editor. This lets you see how it will appear for the recipient, ensuring that everything looks as intended before sharing it with your audience. If everything looks good, click Save & Next to move to the next stage - Run Survey, where you can define the scope, add recipients, and include Fact Sheets.

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Best Practice

Add descriptive text field for survey questions: It provides extra information or context for your questions. This field supports clickable URLs and is limited to 250 characters. It helps respondents understand the questions better and increases the chances of getting accurate answers. This feature also ensures a clear separation between the survey question and its additional description

Descriptive text field

Descriptive text field

(b) Through Import and Export Feature

Instead of creating a survey from scratch, to save time and simplify the survey creation, you have the option to import an existing survey file or use a template. Use the Import option from the menu on the top-right corner of the survey editor, and either upload a .txt file with JSON code or directly paste the code into the editor on the right. Use the Export option in the same menu to save your survey for future use.

Import Survey

Import Survey

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Best Practice

To make things easier, after building a survey, export it as a JSON file to re-use it at a later point in time or for another workspace.

(c) Build Survey from Template

To help you get started with the survey, we have provided various templates in the LeanIX Store. Choose the templates you need and add them to your workspace.

You can add the survey templates from within your workspace as well. Go to the Surveys setup area, click on the Templates tab, and if the list is empty, you will find the button Browse LeanIX Store, which takes you to the LeanIX store.

Choose a template you want to explore and then click Add to Workspace. Once successful, you'll see the survey listed in the Templates tab, and you can initiate a new survey based on it. This will create the survey in your workspace, allowing you to edit it as needed.

Import survey template

Import survey template