Get started - Understanding coordinator & access rights
This article explains how coordinator roles, Results access, and Results release work together in My Effectory. It also explains the difference between project-level and survey-level settings, when changes take effect, and what to check when a coordinator cannot see survey results.
Quick overview
To view survey results, a coordinator needs the correct combination of:
- Coordinator role — determines what the user can do in My Effectory.
- Results access — determines which groups the user can view for a specific survey.
- Results release — determines when and how the results become available.
Important: All three settings must be set up before a coordinator can view results. Confidentiality requirements may still prevent results from being displayed for certain groups.
The three access settings at a glance
|
What it controls |
Where it is managed |
|
|
Coordinator role |
What the user can do, such as creating surveys, managing settings, or viewing results |
Account, project, or group level |
|
Results access |
Which groups the user can view in a specific survey |
Survey level |
|
Results release |
When and how results become visible to the user |
Survey level |
How coordinator access works
A coordinator can view survey results only when all the following conditions are met:
- The user has a coordinator role that allows them to view results.
- The user has Results access to the relevant groups in that survey.
- The results have been released to the user.
- The results meet Effectory’s confidentiality requirements.
Example
Sarah may be assigned as a coordinator for the Sales department and have Results access to Sales in a survey. Sarah can follow the response rate for Sales, but she can view the Sales results only after those results have been released to her.
Coordinator roles
A coordinator role determines which actions a user can perform in My Effectory.
Central coordinators
Central coordinators operate at account level. Depending on their permissions, they may be able to perform actions across the entire account.
Project coordinators
Project coordinators have full access to the projects to which they are assigned. Depending on their permissions, they can:
- Manage participants.
- Set up group structures.
- Assign group coordinators.
- Create surveys.
- Manage project settings.
- View results.
Group coordinators
Group coordinators are linked to specific groups within a project structure.
There are two main types of group coordinator:
- Local coordinators can create surveys for their linked groups and view results for those groups.
- Results access coordinators can view results for their linked groups but cannot create surveys.
The actions available to a user depend on the coordinator role assigned to them. For more information, see:
Results access
Results access determines which groups a coordinator can view in a specific survey.
A coordinator may have access to:
- One team.
- Multiple teams.
- A department.
- A larger part of the organizational hierarchy.
Access to a group also includes access to its underlying groups, unless other settings or confidentiality rules prevent the results from being shown.
Results access is managed at survey level. This means that you can add or remove access for one survey without changing the coordinator setup for other surveys in the project.
Example
Sarah has Results access to the Sales department in one survey. She can view the Sales results when they are released.
If you remove Sarah’s Results access from that survey:
- She can no longer view the results for Sales in that survey.
- Her access to other surveys is not affected.
- The project-level coordinator setup remains unchanged.
For more information, see Results access settings.
Results release
Results release determines when and how survey results become visible.
A coordinator may have Results access but still be unable to view results if those results have not yet been released to them.
The available release options may include:
- Response rate only
- Release to everyone
- Phased release to selected users
Response rate only
With Response rate only, the coordinator can monitor participation but cannot view the survey results.
Release to everyone
With Release to everyone, results are released to all eligible users at the configured release time.
Phased release to selected users
With Phased release to selected users, you can release results to different groups of users at different times.
For example:
- Project coordinators may receive access first.
- Local coordinators may receive access later.
- Participants may receive access in a separate phase.
A coordinator must have both Results access and inclusion in the relevant release phase before they can view results.
For more information, see Results release settings.
Project-level and survey-level settings
A project can contain multiple surveys. Coordinator settings can therefore be managed at two levels.
The level at which you make a change determines whether it affects surveys across a project or only one specific survey.
|
Level |
Main setting |
What the change affects |
|
Project level |
Group coordinators |
Surveys created within the project, subject to the launch cut-off |
|
Survey level |
Results access |
Only the selected survey, including running or completed surveys |
Group coordinators: project level
The Group coordinators settings belong to the project.
Coordinators assigned there provide the default coordinator setup for surveys created within that project. This makes project level the right place to maintain the coordinator structure that should be used for future surveys.
Important timing rule
Changes to project-level Group coordinator settings are not applied to a survey starting two hours before that survey launches.
They also do not change access for surveys that are already:
- Running.
- Completed.
- Starting within the two-hour cut-off period.
For those surveys, make the change in the survey-level Results access settings.
For more information, see:
Results access: survey level
Results access belongs to one specific survey.
Use survey-level Results access when you want to:
- Add or remove access less than two hours before a survey launches.
- Add or remove access for a running survey.
- Add or remove access for a completed survey.
- Make an exception to the project-level coordinator setup.
- Control access to one survey without changing other surveys.
Changes made in a survey’s Results access settings affect only that survey. They do not update the project-level Group coordinators settings or change access to other surveys.
For more information, see Results access settings.
How project-level and survey-level settings work together
Project-level assignments provide the basis for coordinator access in surveys.
For a specific survey, you can review and adjust access using the survey-level Results access settings. Depending on the setup, survey-level coordinator suggestions may also use exact matches from the current project-level assignments.
Use the following rule of thumb:
- Use Group coordinators when you are setting up the coordinator structure for a project or future survey(s).
- Use Results access when you need to change access for one specific survey.
- Use Results access for surveys that are within two hours of launch, already running, or completed.
Before making a change
First decide whether the change should apply:
- To future surveys in the project.
- To one specific survey.
This determines whether you should make the change at project level or survey level.
Confidentiality requirements
Good to know: Correct roles, Results access, and Results release settings do not override confidentiality requirements.
If a group does not meet Effectory’s confidentiality requirements, its results may remain hidden to prevent individual responses from being identified.
This can happen even when:
- The coordinator has the correct role.
- The coordinator has Results access to the group.
- The results have been released.
- The group has a high response rate.
For more information, see Confidentiality and the number of respondents.
Troubleshooting: a coordinator cannot see results
If a coordinator cannot see results, check the following:
- Coordinator role
Does the user have a role that allows them to view results? - Survey-level Results access
Does the user have access to the correct groups in this specific survey? - Results release
Have the results been released to the user? Check the release date, release phase, and release settings. - Survey status
Is the survey still open, or is it configured as Response rate only? - Project-level timing
Was the project-level change made more than two hours before the survey launched? - Confidentiality
Does the group meet Effectory’s confidentiality requirements? - Correct access level
Is the change being made at the correct level? Project-level settings affect the project setup, while Results access affects one specific survey.
For a detailed troubleshooting flow, see Why can a coordinator not see results?
Quick reference
|
If you want to… |
Use… |
|
Define the coordinator setup for future surveys in a project |
Group coordinators |
|
Add or remove access for one survey |
Results access |
|
Change access for a running or completed survey |
Results access |
|
Decide when results become visible |
Results release |
|
Allow someone to create surveys |
A coordinator role with survey creation permissions |
|
Allow someone to view results without creating surveys |
Results access coordinator permissions |
|
Check why results are hidden |
Coordinator role, Results access, Results release, and confidentiality settings |
Related articles
- Coordinator roles in My Effectory
- Platform permissions per coordinator role
- Coordinator linking settings
- Updating your coordinators in bulk via Excel
- Editing or removing coordinators
- Coordinator suggestions on survey level
- Email notifications sent to coordinators
- Results access settings
- Results release settings
- Linking group coordinators manually
- Confidentiality and the number of respondents
- Why can a coordinator not see results?