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Guide to Populating Hierarchical Comparisons Template

A how to guide on populating the hierarchal comparison template

Jared Ellis avatar
Written by Jared Ellis
Updated over a week ago

What can I learn from this page?

A how to guide on populating the hierarchal comparison template

Who is this guide for?

Account Admins, Survey Admins, Survey Creators

Culture Amp can work with Engagement enabled customers (specifically Account or Survey Administrators) to arrange for internal same survey comparisons called "Hierarchical Comparisons" to be loaded into your Engagement surveys in Culture Amp.

You'll need to populate a basic 2-column template/worksheet per hierarchical comparison (template & details below). Once completed, just reply with "Ask a Person" in a Support Conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist. Share the file with the specialist along with the name of the survey you'd like them loaded to and we'll confirm next steps.


The turnaround time for this process will depend on the number of comparisons/amount of data, so we'll confirm the specifics following a review of the submitted data file(s).


What are hierarchical comparisons?

They are internal same survey comparisons used to set up a demographic-level comparison where the data filtered to one demographic value is compared to data filtered to another demographic value.

Example: A manager will be able to compare the results of their team to the results of their Department, in addition to the company overall comparison.

This additional comparison will be an option in the comparison dropdown displayed when the data is filtered to the demographic value the comparison was set for.

A manager's report comparing their team's results to their department's using the "My Department" hierarchical comparison.

☝️ A manager's report comparing their team's results to their department's using the "My Department" hierarchical comparison.

The visibility of the comparison doesn't depend on who views the report, it depends on what demographic value it's filtered to. As with any other manual comparison, if multiple demographic filters are stacked the comparison will disappear.

How do they work?

We map a Child demographic to a Parent demographic and give the comparison a name, such as “My Department” or “My Business Unit”.

Parent: The demographic that is the basis for the comparison. Typically the larger unit that the filtered data will be compared to, like Department or Business Unit.
Child: The demographic the report will be filtered by, like Manager.

Example: Manager = Yvonne Lyman, her Department = Sales.
Manager (child) = Yvonne Lyman will be mapped to Department (Parent) = Sales.

 Example of the hierarchy comparison mapping process completed by the Culture Amp Support team.

☝️ Example of the hierarchical comparison mapping process completed by the Culture Amp Support team.

When viewing their manager's report, they will see a comparison to their Department’s results.

🚫 Limitations

  • The survey needs to be closed before this task can be performed

  • Leader-Based Reports with the full reporting line enabled (direct and indirect reports) are not compatible with Hierarchical Comparisons. However, they can still be used for Leader-Based Reports when only the direct reporting line is enabled.

File Preparation

Screenshot_2022-09-30_at_16.43.13.png

You'll need to provide us with a basic 2 column spreadsheet/worksheet per hierarchical comparison:

  • Column header 1 = Child demographic, Column header 2 = Parent demographic

  • Spreadsheet/worksheet ideally titled as per the name of the hierarchical comparison (eg. My Department or Department, My Division or Division etc)

  • Example file/template available to download here: Hierarchical Comparisons Example Template

Once prepared, just reply with "Ask a Person" in a Support Conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist. Share the file with the Support Specialist together with the name of the survey you'd like them loaded to and we'll confirm next steps.
The turnaround time for this process will depend on the number of comparisons/amount of data, so we'll confirm the specifics following a review of the submitted data file(s).

📌 Note: If any child values require mapping to multiple parent values, a separate hierarchical comparison will need loading per set of mappings; each with its own unique comparison name.

Example: a manager is responsible for two Departments and would therefore like to view comparisons to both Departments from within their manager report

Manager = Adam Anderson, first Department = Sales
​Manager (child) = Adam Anderson will be mapped to Department (Parent) = Sales
​Hierarchical comparison name: My Department (Sales)
​When viewing their manager report, they will see that comparison available to select

Manager = Adam Anderson, second Department = Sales Development
​Manager (child) = Adam Anderson will be mapped to Department (Parent) = Sales Development
​Hierarchical comparison name: My Department (Sales Development)
​When viewing their manager report, they also will see that comparison available to select


💬 Need further help? Just reply with "Ask a Person" in a Support Conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist.

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