Save data from one survey and use in the second one - embedded data? | XM Community
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Save data from one survey and use in the second one - embedded data?

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I am wondering if there is a way to save answers from one survey and use it to prepopulate the second survey with it. The second survey would be taken by a different person.

An employee fills survey/form A and when they hit submit, an email is sent to someone in HR that a form has been submitted. The HR person then needs to fill out a second form/survey B that needs some data from survey A which was filled by the employee. We are hoping form B could get some data prepopulated from form A, so the HR person does not have to enter the data again manually.

I am new to Qualtrics. I did some looking online and it seems like piping the data in the URL only works if the first survey is redirected to the second one and is taken by the same person. I also saw some people post about saving the data as embedded fields and saving to a contact list to be able to reuse it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Best answer by Akdashboard 26 August 2019, 15:17

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18 replies

KeirJ
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I haven't tested this so I can't be sure that it works but here are a couple of ideas to try:

1. Use a survey 'Action' (https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/actions-module/setting-up-actions/) to send an email to the HR person after survey A is completed.

2. In the body of the email, include the URL to survey B and use a query string (https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/survey-flow/standard-elements/passing-information-through-query-strings/) to include information about the employee that filled out survey A. Create embedded data in survey B that captures the data from the query string / URL and uses it in survey B.

Good luck!
Akdashboard
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This can be done by appending the survey URL that is sent to HR with the answers from the first survey (example: URL&Q1=answer&Q2=answer etc...).

Make sure to add an embedded data block to the top of your survey flow with whatever you append to the URL (example Q1 Q2 Q3, etc.). Then you can set _default choices_ and pipe in the appropriate answers (note they will be embedded data in the second survey).
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@Akdashboard
When you say adding "an embedded data block to the top of your survey", does this mean in the second survey?
Akdashboard
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@NeelamS - Yes, that is exactly what I mean. The embedded data block at the top of the survey will pull in the values you appended to the URL string so that you can use them in the survey.
N
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@Akdashboard - Thanks. And I would be appending the data in the URL for the first survey? How would that data get passed to the second survey?

Here is how it is set up right now:
Survey 1 is filled by an employee. There is an email action set up that sends an email to the HR if the option of sending an email is checked. The body of the email has survey responses and a link to Survey 2.

I understand that I will be setting up embedded fields in Survey 2 and the fields get the values from the survey URL of survey 1 with appended data. I am confused as to how is the data sent from survey 1 . Do I need to do anything in Survey 1 as well?
Akdashboard
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@Neelams - All you need to do in Survey 1 is build a personalized URL by appending the survey answers to the email in the way I described above. Note - I prefer to do this in the survey flow and set the URL as embedded data so that I can easily check if something doesn't work.

For Survey 2 you need to first add an embedded data block to the the very top of the survey flow. Second, in the embedded data block, enter the name of the data fields that you set to append to the URL (this tells Qualtrics what data to pull in to the survey). Third, use default choices and piped text to pre-load the values entered in the first survey.

Step-by-step instructions:

Survey 1 (Employee's Survey):
1. Copy the anonymous link from the distribution tab.
2. Go to the survey flow and add and embedded data block after the last block of questions.
3. Create an embedded data field called "HR_URL".
4. Set HR_URL equal to anonymousURL?Q1={piped answer from Q1}&Q2={piped answer from Q2}&Q3={piped answer from Q3} (etc.)
5. Replace the old URL that goes to HR with the new HR_URL by using piped text in your email trigger. Pipe in embedded data HR_URL.
Survey 1 - DONE

Survey 2 (HR's Survey):
1. Add an embedded data block to the very top of the survey flow.
2. In the embedded data block, add embedded data Q1, Q2, Q3, (etc.)
3. Go to each question and use piped text and default choices to pre-populate the answers from Survey 1. Note - this will only work with text entry question. If the question is not text entry, then you will need to pipe the survey 1 answer into the question text (i.e. What is your favorite color? Employee answer: {piped text from Q_n_})

Make sense?
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@Akdashboard

Thanks so much! I set the HR_URL to the survey link of Survey 1 with Q1 piped answer. However, the URL that goes to the HR in the email is the link to Survey 2 because that's what they are supposed to fill in, which needs information from Survey 1. If I replace the old URL with the HR_URL, that would send them an email with the link with Survey 1.
Akdashboard
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@NeelamS - You are right. You will want to use the anonymous URL link from Survey 2 when creating the HR_URL in Survey 1.
P
@NeelamS I agree w/ Akdashboard. The anonymous URL link from Survey 2 when creating the HR_URL in Survey 1 is the way to go.
I encountered a similar issue and this solved it.
Charlie
https://www.plexus-it.com/
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@Akdashboard - I followed all the steps and I think I got almost all of it to work except for the embedded data field Q1 is not capturing the data from Survey 1.

I put the Survey 2 URL with piped data in HR_URL in Survey 1 like this - URL_Survey2?Q1={q://QID12/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesTextEntry}

I added Q1 in the embedded data block in Survey 2 at the top; I did not put anything in the value there. Then I used piped text where I needed the answer for Q1 displayed/pre-populated. But instead of displaying the value, it just displays {q://QID12/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesTextEntry}
Akdashboard
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It looks like you your didn't append the URL correctly in Survey 1. Whenever you you pipe something, it needs to begin with $e. Your example of "{q://QID12/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesTextEntry}" should be "$e{q://QID12/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesTextEntry}". My guess is that you didn't include the "$e" when you wrote the logic to append the URL in Survey 1.
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@Akdashboard

Would it be-
URL_Survey2?Q1=$e{q://QID12/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesTextEntry}
Akdashboard
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Yes

Edit

Sorry, it shouldn't have the "e". It should be "URL_Survey2?Q1=${q://QID12/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesTextEntry}".

You only need the "e" when you do a math operation and I have been doing A LOT of math operations lately.
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@Akdashboard

It works finally! Except for one minor problem - the piped data in Survey 2 captures only the first word of the value. For e.g. one of the values of an option in Q1 is 'Internal Employees (e.g., employees, volunteers, contractors)'. The HR_URL is only capturing the word 'Internal' and nothing after that. So, the answer displayed in Survey 2 is just 'Internal' and not all of it.
Akdashboard
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@NeelamS -

You are probably mapping over the CHOICE not the SELECTED CHOICE. Can download and send me the .qsf file (Tools > Export/Import > Export Survey) for Survey 1 and Survey 2 (most likely this a Survey 1 issue, but it doesn't hurt to look at both).
N
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Thanks @Akdashboard
Sending you a message with the files.
N
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Hi Akash, I have similar requirement and I followed all your steps. I am facing a small problem.

The email trigger for 2nd survey has this by default for displaying the hyperlink with text TAKE THE SURVEY:

${l://SurveyLink?d=Take the Survey}

I tried adding the parameters (Q1,Q2) as below:

${l://SurveyLink?Q1=${e://Field/Quote_No}&Q2=${e://Field/Quote_desc}&d=Take the Survey}

 

It doesn’t append the values in URL. What should I do ?

I have an embedded field - Survey_URL that has all appended fields. But if I add a text TAKE THE SURVEY and try to map URL to it and provide Survey_URL, it doesn’t recognize it.

What should I do ?

 

 

M
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@Akdashboard , I have same requirement in same survey. I am using “Q_R” to retake the survey. 

Can we pipe values from original survey (which have been submitted) to retake survey. Please suggest.

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