Building a Survey Template

Survey templates are built in Settings and define the questions, logic, and recommendations that drive your discovery process. This article walks through each part of building a survey template, from basic settings through recommendations.

Creating a Survey Template

Navigate to Settings > Documents > Surveys to see the list of survey templates in your account.

On this screen: The main Settings navigation. The left sidebar shows sections including Documents, Governance, Integrations, and more. Clicking Documents expands it to show sub-items including Surveys, Document Templates, and Attachment Types.

On this screen: The Surveys list page under Settings > Documents > Surveys. A table displays existing surveys with four columns: Survey, Published?, Questions (right-aligned count), and Tags. Each row is clickable and navigates to the edit page. Below the table, a footer row contains a + Add Survey button to create a new survey.

Click + Add Survey to create a new survey template.

Survey Settings

The Survey tab defines the high-level information about your survey template: its name, introductory text, submission behavior, and team assignments.

On this screen: The new Survey form. At the top is a Name text field (required, placeholder “Request for Proposal”) paired with a Published checkbox on the right. Below that are two text areas side by side: Introductory Text (displayed at the top of the survey, placeholder “This form will allow you to request services from our company”) and Thank You Text (displayed after the survey is completed, placeholder “Thank you for sharing your needs with us. Someone will contact you shortly.”). A Notification List field accepts comma-separated email addresses to notify when a survey is submitted. A Redirect after survey? checkbox controls whether a Completion URL field is active below it. A Submit button and a Back link appear at the bottom.

• Name: Give your survey template a meaningful name.
• Published: Only published survey templates are available for users to fill out. Leave this unchecked while building.
• Introductory Text: Displayed at the top of the survey when someone takes it.
• Thank You Text: Displayed after the survey is submitted.
• Notification List: Comma-separated email addresses to notify when someone completes the survey.
• Redirect after survey?: Optionally redirect the respondent to a URL after submission.
• Tags: Comma-separated tags for organizing survey templates.
• Team IDs: Assign the survey template to one or more teams. This controls which surveys appear when users filter by team on the Surveys page.

On this screen: The lower portion of the Survey form. A Tags text field accepts a comma-separated list of tags. Beside it, a Team IDs multi-select dropdown lists all teams in the account, allowing one or more teams to be assigned to the survey. A small helper note reads “Assign a survey to one or more teams.” The Submit button and Back link appear below.

Only published survey templates will be available to fill out.

On this screen: The Survey form with the Published checkbox checked. The form is otherwise identical to the creation form: Name, Introductory Text, Thank You Text, Notification List, Redirect after survey, Completion URL, Tags, and Team IDs fields. The Submit button is available.

After pressing Submit, you will see additional tabs for building out the survey template. These tabs flow from left to right in the suggested order of completion.

On this screen: The top of the survey editing page after saving, showing a tab navigation bar with five tabs: Survey, Questions, Lookups, Calculations, and Recommendations. The Survey tab is currently active. These tabs appear across all pages within a survey and allow navigation between the sections in left-to-right order.

Questions

Questions define what information you collect from respondents. Click the Questions tab and then + Add Question to create your first question.

On this screen: The Questions tab for the survey, showing a table of existing questions. Columns include the question text, name (slug), type of value, and action buttons. Below the table, a footer row contains a + Add Question button.

Each question has these fields:

• Question: The full text of the question displayed to respondents.
• Name: A short-form label used to reference this question’s response in lookups, calculations, and recommendations.
• Slug: Auto-generated after saving. Used in calculation expressions and lookup references.
• Type of Value: The kind of data you expect (text, number, email, date, phone, checkbox, or select).
• Minimum and Maximum Length: Optional size constraints for the input.
• Name of Option / Value: Used to create a single-select dropdown. If you leave these blank, the respondent gets an open text field. If you add options, the survey presents a dropdown.

On this screen: The Add Question form. The top row contains a wide Question text field (required, placeholder “How many square feet are covered?”) and a narrow Required checkbox. Below that are three side-by-side fields: Name (required, placeholder “Square Feet,” with helper text “Used when showing answers”), a read-only Slug field (auto-generated after save, used in calculations and lookups), and a Type of Value dropdown (options include text, number, email, date, phone, checkbox, and select types). For a basic text question with no select options configured, the Type of Value is set to “Text” and no option rows appear. A Submit button and Back link are at the bottom.

For questions with select options, set the Type of Value to “Select” and add option rows with a name and value for each choice.

On this screen: The Add Question form configured for a single-select dropdown question. The Type of Value is set to “Select.” Below the main fields, a repeating section shows rows for adding options, each row containing a Name of Option field and a Value field. Multiple option rows can be added. A Submit button and Back link appear at the bottom.

Lookups

Lookups let you map a question’s response to a derived value that can be used in calculations or recommendations. They work similarly to VLOOKUP in a spreadsheet.

For example, a question might ask “How big is it?” with options Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large. A lookup could map Small to 10, Medium to 25, Large to 100, and Extra Large to 250.

Lookups can reference one or two questions. A two-question lookup creates a matrix of values (for example, wireless coverage based on both building type and network traffic).

Click the Lookups tab and then + Add Lookup to create one.

On this screen: The Lookups tab for the survey. A table lists existing lookups with columns for Name, Type of Value, First Value, and Second Value. Below the table, a footer row contains a + Add Lookup button.

Each lookup has:

• Name: How this lookup is referenced in calculations and recommendations.
• Type of value: The data type of the output.
• First value to associate: A question whose response drives the lookup.
• Second value to associate (optional): A second question for matrix lookups.

After submitting, ScopeStack generates a table where you fill in the output value for each option combination.

On this screen: The Lookup form after submitting with a single index value configured. The form shows a Name of the lookup text field (required, placeholder “AP coverage”), a Type of value to look up dropdown, a First value to associate dropdown (populated with the survey’s question slugs), and an optional Second value to associate dropdown. Below the fields, a table has been generated with one row per option value from the associated question. Each row shows the “Selected Value” (the option from the question) and an editable output value field. A Submit button and Back link appear at the bottom.

Calculations

Calculations take the results of questions and lookups and let you derive new values using arithmetic. They can also reference other calculations. See Survey Calculations for details on basic calculations, conditional statements, and the available operators.

Click the Calculations tab and then + Add Calculation.

On this screen: The Calculation form. On the left, a Name of the result text field (required, placeholder “Sum of parts”) and a Calculation to be performed expression field (required, placeholder “floors * area_per_floor”). A Submit button and Back link appear below the fields. On the right side of the form, a reference panel shows available operators: Add (+), Subtract (-), Multiply (*), Divide (/), Grouping ( ), and a conditional IF syntax. Below the operators, a list of available Operands for Calculation is grouped by Questions (showing question slugs for number-type questions), Lookups (showing lookup slugs), and other Calculations (showing calculation slugs from the same survey, excluding the current one).

Recommendations

Recommendations connect your survey logic to the services, governance items, or products you deliver. Based on the responses, lookups, and calculations, you define what should be recommended and when.

Click the Recommendations tab and then + Add Recommendation.

On this screen: The Recommendation form. The top section has three fields side by side: Quantity (a dropdown of available survey values and calculations, labeled “Survey value or calculation”), Item Type (a dropdown with options Service, Governance, and Product), and Item (a searchable grouped dropdown populated based on the selected item type — services grouped by service category, or a flat list for governance or products). Below those fields is a section titled “When does the recommendation apply?” with two radio button options: Always and Only when. Selecting “Only when” enables three additional conditional fields: a value to test (dropdown of operands), a comparison operator (greater than, equal to, less than, etc.), and a comparison target (either selected from another operand dropdown or typed as a number). A Submit button and Back link appear at the bottom.

Each recommendation defines:

• Quantity: The survey value or calculation that determines the quantity of the recommended item.
• Item Type: Service, Governance, or Product.
  • Service: The quantity becomes the quantity of the service on the project.
  • Governance: The quantity is either the number of hours or the percentage of total effort, depending on the governance item’s configuration.
• Item: The specific service, governance item, or product to recommend.
• When does the recommendation apply?
  • Always: The recommendation is included every time.
  • Only when: Define a condition (a value, a comparison operator, and a target) that must be true for the recommendation to appear.

After saving a service recommendation, subservice quantity overrides become available.

On this screen: The Recommendation form after saving a service recommendation. A Subservices section has appeared between the main recommendation fields and the “When does the recommendation apply?” section. It shows a table with two columns: Quantity (a dropdown defaulting to “Default,” allowing a specific survey value or calculation to be selected) and Subservice (a read-only text field showing the subservice name). One row appears per subservice attached to the recommended service. A checkbox labeled “Restore default” appears on each row to reset the quantity override.

Taking the Survey

Once the survey template is published, users can take it from the Surveys page or within a project. The survey displays the introductory text, followed by all questions in order. After filling in answers and clicking Calculate, the platform processes the responses and shows recommended services with calculated quantities.

On this screen: A walkthrough of the end-to-end survey workflow. Starting from the Surveys page, a user selects a published survey from the “Take a Survey” tab and clicks to open it. The survey form displays the introductory text at the top, followed by all active questions in order — text fields, number inputs, or single-select dropdowns depending on the question type. After filling in answers and clicking Calculate, the platform processes the responses against the configured lookups, calculations, and recommendations. The results screen shows a list of recommended services with calculated quantities. The user can then click to create a new project pre-populated with those services and quantities.