Granular Data Governance enables you to control response-level visibility within a survey.

This feature is designed for scenarios where a single survey is distributed across multiple regions or organizational units, and different users require different levels of access.

For example:

• A global admin can access all responses
• A regional admin can access only responses relevant to their region

Problem

By default, response access is controlled at the survey level and does not support partial data visibility.

This creates the following limitations:

• Permissions expose full data access

  • Granting View Responses provides access to all responses without scoping

• Dashboard controls are not secure

  • Locked filters apply only to a specific dashboard
  • Users can bypass restrictions by creating new dashboards

As a result, teams often restrict dashboard creation or lock dashboards, limiting self-serve analytics.

Solution

Granular Data Governance introduces survey-level access control that is enforced across all analytics surfaces.

This ensures that users can only view responses they are authorized to access, regardless of how the data is accessed.

Supported surfaces

• Response Tab
• Analytics
• Custom Dashboards
• Drilldowns
• Exports
• APIs
  

Who can use this

• Survey Owners / Program Managers: Configure governance rules
• Global Admins:Retain full access to all responses
• Regional / Country Admins: Access only responses mapped to their region
• Analysts: Create dashboards without exposing restricted data
  

Use Case

A global survey is distributed across multiple countries.

• A Country Admin (India) should only view responses from India
• Responses from other countries must remain hidden

Without governance:

• Requires locking dashboards
• Prevents users from creating dashboards

With governance:

• Access is automatically restricted at the data level
• Applies to all reports and dashboards, including new ones
  

Benefits

• Separates data access from user permissions
• Prevents data exposure across dashboards
• Applies consistent rules across all analytics surfaces
• Supports safe self-serve analytics for regional users

Permissions

To configure governance:

• Navigate to Survey Permissions → Granular Permissions → Settings
• Enable Edit Granular Data Governance

Only users with this permission can create or modify rules.

Entry point

Go to: Survey Settings → Granular Data Governance

Configure governance rules

Step 1: Add exclusion rules

Use exclusion rules to grant full access to specific users or groups.

• Evaluated first
• Overrides all other rules

Example:

• Global admins
• Compliance users
  

Step 2: Add inclusion rules

Use inclusion rules to control which responses a user can access.

Rules are evaluated using OR logic.

Option A: Custom field-based rules

Use response-linked fields such as:

• Response
• Profile
• Case
• Transaction
• Hierarchy

You can:

• Match values using user properties
• Combine conditions using AND / OR
• Apply rules to invite metrics (for Transaction/Profile/Case fields)

Option B: Hierarchy-based rules

Use hierarchy-linked user fields to restrict access.

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Step 3: Add multiple rules

• Use + Granular Data Governance
• Define rules for different user groups​

Rule evaluation

Rules are evaluated in the following order:

1. Exclusion rules

   • If matched → full access

2. Inclusion rules (OR logic)

   • If any rule matches → access granted

3. Default deny

   • If no rule matches → no access
     

Behavior in dashboards

If a user does not have access to any data:

• Widgets display No data available

Scope

Governance rules apply to:

• Responses
• Standard fields
• Survey questions
• Text analytics fields
• Custom and response metrics

Not supported

• Distribution metadata
• Transaction metadata
• Some case-related scenarios may require manual validation

Test before rollout

• Verify no change when governance is disabled
• Test inclusion rules (field-based and hierarchy-based)
• Validate exclusion overrides
• Confirm default deny behavior
• Check across dashboards, exports, and API
• Validate permission access

Limitations

• Works alongside dashboard filters (does not replace them)
• Does not govern distribution or transaction metadata
• Case visibility may not always follow governance rules

FAQs

Does this impact existing surveys?
No. Governance is disabled by default.

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Can users bypass governance using dashboards?
No. Governance is applied at the data level.

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Can I create multiple rules?
Yes. Rules are evaluated using OR logic.

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Who can configure rules?
Only users with the required granular permission.

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What do users see if they lack access?
They see a No data available state.