With colleagues (recommended for a full end-to-end test) – run the test with a small group of willing colleagues who know it is a test, for the most realistic experience, including real emails and the full notification flow.

Solo, with dummy users – use a small set of dummy/test users (and optionally yourself), to validate the admin and participant experiences.

Set one dummy user as the participant (employee): They'll receive the survey invitation and complete the survey

For Full Workflow only: assign a real, accessible email as the interviewer. They'll receive the assignment notification and can add interview notes

Onboarding and Exit surveys are continuous – each participant goes through their own individual process triggered when they are invited, unlike the single-window Engagement survey.

By default, these surveys are non-confidential. Admins and assigned interviewers can view individual responses based on the following settings, which are locked at launch:

Email communications cannot be disabled for Onboarding/Exit surveys; only the recipient list controls who receives them.

The single automatic reminder cannot be turned off or rescheduled, and additional reminders cannot be added (unlike Engagement Surveys). Admins can push a manual reminder anytime from the Responses page.

Participants cannot be bulk imported; add them individually from the Responses page.

Allow Individual Responses must be enabled before launch (locked after) for interviewers to view responses, cancel processes, or classify.

Responses cannot be edited once submitted; an admin can reset a submitted response from the Responses page.

The platform supports one email address per Exit survey and per user. To use a personal address (e.g., for someone who has left), update the Email field in their user profile before sending.

A user can only be re-invited if their previous response is in the 'Completed' state; for Exit surveys, the user must also be reactivated first.

The Action Framework, Focus Areas, and PowerPoint export are not available for Experience surveys.

On the Confidentiality page, note that Onboarding and Exit surveys are non-confidential by default, so admins and assigned interviewers can view individual responses based on the following settings, which are locked at launch:

Confidentiality is set as intended before launch (especially Allow Individual Responses if you're testing the Full Workflow).

Click Launch Now. This activates the survey so individual processes can be created; it does not send invitations yet.

Unlike Engagement surveys, there is no Participants page. Participants are added individually from the Responses page.

Invitations send only to your chosen test participants.

(Exit) No real user is unintentionally scheduled for deactivation.

Invitation email: sent immediately when the process is created and Send is clicked, from notifications@cultureamp.com, with a unique personal link (should not be shared). It includes the survey name (with any TEST prefix), a Start Survey link, a link to the Reporting Rules, and the due date. If Slack/MS Teams is enabled, it also arrives there.

Automatic reminder: sent per the launch plan if not submitted; cannot be turned off. Admins can also push a manual reminder from the Responses page. Additional reminders cannot be scheduled.

Welcome Screen: shows the organization's message and confidentiality settings.

Completing: responses autosave; participants can save and exit, return via the original link while it is open, and switch devices.

Submission: a Thank You page appears, with options to rate the survey or Redo Survey (resets answers and sends a new link).

Invitation arrives (check spam), and the link opens; the Welcome Screen shows correct confidentiality/reporting rules.

Variables (manager name, start date, survey name) resolve correctly.

The survey works on mobile and desktop and saves progress between pages.

Submission produces the expected confirmation screen.

The automatic reminder arrives per the launch plan if not submitted.

If Slack/MS Teams is enabled, notifications arrive there too.

The survey is Full Workflow (Survey + Interview). Quick check: if you can change the Invitation Method on the Launch Plan page it is Basic; if you cannot, it is Full.

Allow Individual Responses is enabled in Confidentiality (locked after launch) so the interviewer can view responses.

The interviewer is an active user with platform access.

The process is created from the Responses page with the interviewer assigned and both due dates set.

Assignment email (notification 1): sent when the process is created and Send is clicked, with the participant's name, survey due date, interview due date, and a platform link. Cannot be disabled.

Access before submission: the interviewer can log in anytime via Feedback > Surveys and is directed to their Responses view (only their assigned processes). If Allow Individual Responses is on, they can view responses as submitted.

Submitted alert (notification 2): sent when the participant submits, prompting review. Cannot be disabled. The interviewer can then view full responses, add interview notes, and print or take notes offline.

Conducting the interview: add notes in the Interview tab. For Exit surveys, classify the exit (voluntary/involuntary, regrettable/not) in the Classify tab.

Interview reminder (notification 3): sent per the 'Interview Reminder' field if the interview is not completed.

The assignment email arrives on process creation and shows the participant name and both due dates.

The interviewer can log in and find the process in their Responses view, and view individual responses (requires Allow Individual Responses).

The submitted alert arrives after the participant submits.

The interviewer can add and save notes in the Interview tab, and (Exit) the Classify tab works.

Clicking Complete closes the process, and the PDF export includes both responses and interview notes.

The interview reminder arrives the correct number of days before the interview due date.

If Slack/MS Teams is enabled, all notifications arrive there too.

The survey is launched and at least one test participant has submitted.

Allow Individual Responses and Raw Data Extract were enabled before launch (both lock at launch; raw data extract is on by default).

Reporting Group Minimum is 0.

From the Surveys page, click View Reports next to your test survey. This opens the Responses tab, the default for Onboarding/Exit.

The tab shows each invited employee and their status: Awaiting Response, Awaiting Interview (Full Workflow), Awaiting Classification, or Completed. Filter by name/email, survey status, or demographic.

Click 'View Response' next to a test participant to see all answers, interview notes (Full Workflow), and classification data (Exit). You can export the response or Reset it if the tester needs to redo it.

The Insights tab summarizes participation, factor-level scores, and question results.

Date Range filter uses the process launch date (when the process was created), not the submission date – e.g., a participant invited in December but submitting in January is grouped under December.

Trend: the Lifecycle Survey Trend shows trends based on past responses in your date range, only when an Index Factor is set and the Reporting Group Minimum is 1 or less.

Impact Analysis: identifies which factors correlate most with the outcome score (e.g. Onboarding or Exit Experience).

Heatmap: shows how demographics compare across questions; only rating questions appear (open-text excluded).

Comments: open-text responses; the date range filter categorizes comments by the date the survey was issued, not submitted.

Comparisons: compare over time or against Culture Amp's Onboarding/Exit benchmarks. Internal comparisons are only against the same template type (Attributed Continuous); automatic comparisons are not supported, so load closed surveys manually via Add Survey.

From Surveys > Operations, or the Export menu on the Insights tab, download the raw data extract (includes name, email, employee ID, and all responses).

If raw data is not enabled, request a De-identified Raw Data Extract from Culture Amp Support.

Click Preview next to a shared report on the Sharing page to see what a non-admin viewer sees (without the Responses tab).

The Responses tab shows all test participants with correct statuses.

You can View Response for individuals (requires Allow Individual Responses).

The PDF export of an individual response includes answers and interview notes (Full Workflow).

Insights shows participation and factor scores; the Date Range filter groups by process launch date.

Trend displays (requires Index Factor and Reporting Group Minimum of 1 or less); the Heatmap displays for your test demographic values; the Comments tab shows open-text.

You can export raw data from the Operations page or Insights tab.

The report access notification arrives when shared, and the unopened report reminder arrives 1 week later if not opened.

If Slack/MS Teams is enabled, the report notification arrives there too.

Close the test survey from Surveys > Launch Plan > Close Now (outstanding responses can no longer be submitted after closing).

Decide whether to keep or delete the test data. If you keep it closed (i.e., for later reference), mark it clearly TEST and exclude it from any consolidated dashboards or BI exports.

(Exit) If you set a Last Day of Employment for a colleague, re-import the user file or clear the end date so they are not deactivated.

For dummy users, deactivate them: Culture Amp records cannot be permanently deleted; rename their name, email, and employee ID to a clear TEST placeholder if you need to free those values up.

Do not rely on deactivating dummy users alone to remove their data. Deactivating a user does not remove their survey response data. The responses remain attached to the survey until the survey itself is deleted.

Clear or reset the test demographic value you assigned to the dummy users.