How do I use data mapping to combine multiple surveys in the same dashboard?

Multiple surveys can be combined into one dashboard using the Data Mapping feature.

Note: You cannot use the following dataset features if you are using data mapping:

• You cannot use CSV upload

• Activities cannot be added as a secondary source to the dataset

• Profile variables cannot be added as a primary source to the dataset

Use of data mapping

After applying data mapping, a new custom field will appear in the dashboard called “Source”. The value for each record will be the name of the survey. With this field you can separate the data by survey within a visualization or filter.

Limitations

A dataset can contain either of the following, but not both:

• A single multi-response survey, plus up to 10 PVs

• Up to 20 single-response surveys (added as primary data sources), plus up to 10 PVs

Based on this - because you can’t add two multi-response surveys to the same dataset, you can only use the data mapping feature with single response surveys.

• All surveys to be mapped must be added as primary data sources

• Profile variables can be included in the same dataset as the data mappings, but profile variables cannot be mapped. It does not make sense to map them, since they exist outside of any individual survey.

• The maximum number of mapped fields in a single dataset is 1,000, including system fields like Completed Date.

• With a dataset containing survey results, PVs will always contain the value at the last time the dataset was synced. Example:

  • March 1st - my PV for “city” is set to Vancouver

  • March 2nd - I complete a survey

  • March 3rd - my city is updated to Seattle

  • March 4th - a dataset is created containing the survey and the city PV, and a dashboard is created. The dashboard will show Seattle

  • March 5th - my city is updated to Toronto

  • March 6th - dataset is manually synced. Dashboard now shows Toronto

• In order for questions to be mapped between surveys, the answer options must match identically. Thus, these two questions cannot be mapped together:

  • Survey 1 - What is your favorite color?

    • Red

    • Green

    • Blue

  • Survey 2 - What is your favorite color?

    • Red

    • Green

    • Blue

    • Yellow

• Once you sync a survey, you lose the ability to edit the data mapping (if no mapping was set up, you lose the ability to add mapping). But, you can add another survey, map it, then hit sync again. A good analogy is building a brick wall - once you hit sync, all the bricks you’ve added so far are “locked”. But you can add more bricks and then lock those separately.

Example of a valid workflow to do this:

1. Add single response survey as the primary

2. Add another single-response survey as the primary

3. Apply data mapping

4. Sync dataset

5. Add a third single response survey as primary, and apply data mapping

6. Sync dataset again

It is important to sync the dataset only after applying the data mapping.