Managing Qualtrics in a large, complex, public sector organization

Hi, Ben! Here with the City of Orlando. We aren’t as big as Ottawa 😂 but we do deal with a wide range of departments/services that we are collecting feedback on. Our survey design is centralized in mostly IT and Communications, but the data is used citywide. Happy to chat more if it’s of interest.

Hi Ben, I’m also a Ben, CX Manager at Allegheny County Dept of Human Services. While my team acts as brand administrators, all employees can have a Qualtrics login and create surveys as they desire. We have a large research and analytics unit with teams that support each program office (child welfare, housing/homelessness, etc.). When staff need support, we try to encourage survey design and analysis to run through their analytics team. In general, for ad hoc surveying, we view the use of Qualtrics like other software that might be available to employees, like Excel. My team only gets involved in higher-impact surveys that may include automation, incentives, etc.

It becomes more important to have standardization when the scale grows. For our surveys that automatically measure client experience feedback after point of service, that’s when my team gets involved. We work with program offices to get an understanding of what they want to know about the client experience, then we build the recruitment, data collection, data storage, analysis, and reporting processes. This involves API connections between our data warehouse, a text message platform, Qualtrics, and Tableau.

Hope this helps, let me know if you’d like to talk more. 

Hi Ben, Marilyn here from Montana DPHHS/ Public Health & Safety. I’m very interested in visiting about governance that you can share!!

Hi Ben,

Welcome to the Qualtrics community! It's great to hear about your role with the City of Ottawa! Managing data governance in a large and diverse organization can indeed be challenging, but Qualtrics offers a range of tools and best practices to help streamline this process. 

One approach you might find helpful is to establish a centralized governance framework within Qualtrics. This can include setting up standardized templates, guidelines, and approval processes for survey creation. Additionally, leveraging Qualtrics' user roles and permissions can ensure that different departments have the appropriate level of access and control over their surveys while maintaining overall consistency and quality.

Additionally, within the Customer Success Hub, there are various Grow My Skills Checklists. One checklist in particular is named Effective Management of Qualtrics at my Organization. 

This checklist would be particularly useful in your case as it provides curated resources and best practices for managing Qualtrics across different departments. This checklist can help ensure that all staff adhere to corporate standards, maintain data quality, and coordinate their survey efforts effectively.

Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions or need advice on best practices. The community here is always ready to help!

-Jace Ybarra

Hi. Ben! I’m Adam with the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, MD. We adopted Qualtrics in 2018 as part of our effort to be more customer-focused and now have more than a half million responses from customers about some fifty distinct digital products. 

This survey has been part of our overall efforts to transition our product staff from a project management to a product ownership mentality, and I’d be happy to connect with you about it!

Hi Ben!

Welcome to the Qualtrics community! It’s exciting to see the City of Ottawa leveraging Qualtrics for data-driven decision-making. Given your diverse range of services, having a strong governance framework will be crucial.

I’ve worked extensively with Qualtrics and large-scale survey projects, and I also offer freelance support for organizations looking to streamline their survey processes. Here’s how I can help:

✅ Survey Governance & Standardization – Develop standardized templates, best practices, and approval workflows to ensure consistency across departments.

✅ Qualtrics Training & Onboarding – Conduct hands-on training sessions tailored to different teams, ensuring they understand best practices for survey design, distribution, and reporting.

✅ Data Strategy & Analysis – Assist in structuring survey data collection, setting up automated dashboards, and generating actionable insights for decision-makers.

✅ User Management & Permissions – Help configure roles, permissions, and governance controls in Qualtrics to balance flexibility with oversight.

✅ Survey Calendar & Coordination – Set up tracking systems to manage survey frequency and prevent audience fatigue across city departments.

✅ Dashboard Creation & Management - Set the dashboard to visualize real time insights about the ongoing surveys.

If you’re looking for an experienced Qualtrics consultant to help with setup, strategy, or ongoing support, I’d be happy to chat! Let me know how I can assist. 😊