This guide covers how to test an Engagement Survey end-to-end in the Culture Amp platform: launching a test survey, the participant experience, reporting and report sharing, and action planning. All perspectives (admin, participant, and report viewer) are covered in one place. Run everything as a clearly labelled test and remove the test data when you are done (see Clean Up).
Before You Begin
Choose your testing approach
With colleagues (recommended for a full end-to-end test) - run the test survey with a small group of willing colleagues who know it is a test, so you get real invitation emails, survey links, and the manager/report viewer experience.
Solo, with dummy users - add yourself as a participant and create a small set of clearly named dummy employee records to validate the admin, participant, and reporting experiences on your own. You will not be able to fully simulate the manager/report viewer experience this way; use colleagues for that.
Set up dummy users (solo testing)
Add yourself as a participant so you receive a real invitation email and can complete the survey from your own inbox.
Create 3 to 5 test employee records in your HRIS or directly in Culture Amp. Label them clearly, e.g. "TEST USER 01 - Do Not Use", so they are easy to find and remove later.
Assign the dummy records a distinctive value in a demographic (e.g. Department = "TEST GROUP") so you can validate group-level filtering and reporting without mixing test data into real demographic values.
After testing, archive or delete the test survey and remove the dummy records (see Clean Up).
Important Notes
Confidentiality thresholds apply across all reporting views, including filtered/shared reports and the heatmap. If the test group is too small and the threshold is not lowered, reports show as "Unreportable".
Each participant's survey link is personal and cannot be forwarded. Using someone else's link can produce a 403 error, especially if Authenticated Capture is enabled.
Emails are sent from notifications@cultureamp.com - add this address to your organization's allow list.
Report notifications cannot be customized; the content is predefined by Culture Amp and includes the survey name. Each report notification is sent individually, so a viewer assigned to multiple reports receives a separate email for each.
Action plans created in the Admin report do not appear in the Action Dashboard - always action from a shared/filtered report.
Actions cannot be reassigned once created, and the creating admin's name appears on the action.
The Action Framework is only available for Engagement surveys, not Onboarding/Exit (Experience) surveys.
Testing an Engagement Survey
Step 1: Launch a Test Survey
From the Surveys page, click Create Survey and select a template from the Template Library.
Name it clearly, e.g. "TEST - [Survey Name]", to avoid confusion with your live version.
On the Participants page, manually select only your test group (yourself, a few colleagues, or dummy records). Keep it small.
In Confidentiality settings, lower the Reporting Group Minimum if you need results from a small group (restore it before your real launch).
On the Launch Plan page, set a short survey window (a few hours is plenty) and launch. Since the window is short, you may want to skip reminders or set them close together to keep the test tidy.
What to validate
The survey launches and only your test participants are included.
Invitation emails arrive from notifications@cultureamp.com (check spam), and if Slack/MS Teams is enabled, notifications also arrive there.
Step 2: Participant Experience
Complete the survey as a participant (using your own account, and colleagues/dummy users if added).
Participants receive a unique personal survey link by email and land on the Welcome Screen, which shows the organization message and confidentiality settings.
Responses autosave; participants can save and exit, return via the original link while the survey is open, and switch devices.
On submission they reach a Thank You page, where they can rate the survey or click Redo Survey to reset and retake it (this erases previous answers and sends a new link).
Reminder emails go only to participants who have not submitted, on the dates set in the Launch Plan.
What to validate
Email delivery, survey links open, question logic/display rules, welcome screen message, autosave between pages, Thank You page on submission, and scheduled reminders (if configured).
If Slack/MS Teams is enabled on account level, notifications come through there too.
Step 3: Reporting Views (Including Notifications)
Tip: before launching, use Preview Report to see how demographic filters, heatmaps, and group breakdowns will display without running a full survey.
Once the survey has responses, open the survey's Results page for the Admin Report (full view of all results).
From the Reports section, click Create Report (or Configure) to build a shared/filtered report, e.g. filtered by Department or Location. Ensure Take Action is enabled (on by default).
Click Publish, then choose whether to Notify viewers (sends a real-time email to anyone granted access) or Publish without notifying.
What to validate
As admin: report type (Summary/Standard/Advanced) displays as expected, correct demographic filters are available, the Take Action button is visible (if enabled), and Slack/MS Teams report notifications arrive (if enabled).
As a report viewer: the report access notification arrives when shared, the report opens from the email link, and the correct questions, factors, and filters are visible.
Reminder behavior: the unopened report reminder arrives after 1 week (if the viewer did not open it), and the Report Owner focus area reminder arrives after 2 weeks (if no focus area was selected).
Step 4: Action Planning
Allow up to 3 days, since reminder emails are part of the workflow. You must work within a shared/filtered report (actions created in the Admin report do not appear in the Action Dashboard).
Open the shared/filtered report and go to the Questions tab. Use the focus flag icons next to each question: an outlined flag is a recommended focus area not yet selected; a solid flag is selected. Click to select or deselect a focus area.
Click Take Action, then Create Action on a focus area. Review the Inspiration Engine suggestions (sourced from other Culture Amp customers and the People Geek community), or create a custom action.
Add a title and description, and optionally a due date (this triggers a reminder 3 days before it is due). Click Finish to save.
What to validate
The Take Action button appears in the shared/filtered report.
You can select and deselect focus areas, the Inspiration Engine shows suggestions, and you can create a custom action with a title, description, and due date.
The action appears in the Action Dashboard (not just the Admin report).
The due-date reminder arrives 3 days before the due date (if set), and the focus area reminder reaches the Report Owner after 2 weeks (if no focus area was selected).
Clean Up
The goal is to remove all test data so it does not persist in reporting or on profiles.
Close the test survey, then archive it (to keep the Surveys page tidy) or delete it if you do not need the data.
Deactivate the dummy users. Culture Amp records cannot be permanently deleted, so deactivate them (or mark them Former), and rename their name, email, and employee ID to a clear TEST placeholder if you need to free those values up for real use.
Clear or reset the test demographic value you assigned to the dummy users.
Restore the Reporting Group Minimum if you lowered it.
Test Completion Checklist
# | Test point | Expected result |
1 | Test survey launched with only test participants | Survey live, scoped correctly |
2 | Invitation email and link received | Email from notifications@cultureamp.com; link opens |
3 | Participant experience | Welcome screen, autosave, Thank You/Redo all work |
4 | Reminders (if configured) | Sent only to non-submitters on schedule |
5 | Admin report | Displays all results with correct filters |
6 | Shared/filtered report published | Report type and filters correct; Take Action visible |
7 | Report viewer notification | Access notification arrives; report opens from link |
8 | Reporting reminders | Unopened reminder after 1 week; focus area reminder after 2 weeks |
9 | Action planning from shared report | Focus areas, Inspiration Engine, custom action all work |
10 | Action appears in Action Dashboard | Visible in dashboard, not just Admin report |
11 | Cleanup done | Survey closed/archived/deleted, dummy users deactivated, test demographic value cleared, threshold restored |
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