Best Practice for Uploading and Updating Survey Files

Optimal Raw File Format

1. Responded Id (Recommended)

Although we do need a distinct responded id to use VizualSurvey if you do not have one in the raw data you can add one in the Upload step under Actions.

2. One Row Header (Required)

Some software export multiple row headers, you ideally would like to have just one header. VizualSurvey can accept a survey file with doubleheaders but it is not ideal. The logic it will apply is if there is a value in the first row it will take that one, if there is not it will take the value in the 2nd row. This will lead to having just one-row header in the end.

3. Survey Question Number and Question Text (Recommended)

Adding the survey question number to the question text will help in the Prep step. Some software has options to add it to the data export, this will help you identify which columns belong to which questions since you can have multiple columns associated with one question. In the Prep step, you will need to assign all these columns the same New Question # so if you have the survey question number in your column text it will speed things up.

4. Do not change original Column Names (Recommended)

You can do all of the changes in VizualSurvey. The main thing with messing with the raw file is if you need to upload a new file and forget to do exactly what you did to the old file your workflow will get messed up. The new file column headers need to be exactly the same each time so it is recommended not to change the column header names in the raw data and do the updates on the app.

5. Included all Potential Columns Needed (Recommended)

When first uploading your survey data try to include all the data or all the potential columns needed for this project. If you know you are not going to use them in your dashboard you can hide these columns in the Prep step and they will not be exported in the final data set. The reason to do this is just in case, later on, you find you need this question you can always go back to the Prep step and add it easily without having to reload the data. Also, this will help you if you ever have to reload the data because all the columns will be exported and you will not have to worry about trying to remember which columns you deleted when doing the original upload. 

Updating Survey Data

If you would like to update your survey data with more respondents then just reload the same file you did in the beginning with the added rows. The main thing here is to not change the column header names at all and have the same exact file structure that you did in the beginning. Because of the risk of messing things up, we recommend using the original survey file and just pasting the new rows to the file so that you will not accidentally mess up the column headers. Remember once you update your data you will need to export the data again to the database as well as refresh your Tableau extract in order to see the new data in your dashboard.

Adding New Columns to Survey Data

You can add new columns to your survey data just make sure to keep the original columns in your file. We recommend using the original file and pasting the new columns in your data and reloading that file. After the new data is uploaded you will need to update those columns in the Prep and Clean step.  In the Prep Step, you can manually pick the New Question # and Question Type or you can Reset and reapply VZ Autofill using the Action button on the Prep screen. Be careful when doing this because if you made any changes after the initial VZ Autofill such as fixing any incorrect selections, those fixes will be removed and the logic will be reapplied. 

Next Article: Using VZ Autofill