Annual Surveys

Your survey data providers — the individuals who are authorized to complete surveys on behalf of your institution — will receive the survey invitation via email in the fall. You can make additions or updates to your data providers any time, but note that communications to data providers begin in September each year, as the survey season begins.

If you have an addition or update, your CHRO or the Primary Contact for your CUPA-HR membership can make updates by logging in to their CUPA-HR account, selecting “Manage Survey Data Providers,” and following the instructions on the screen.

Note for system offices: How a system of institutions chooses to provide data affects how data providers are assigned. Please refer to these instructions to assign data providers and manage survey participation across your system.

To ensure your survey data providers receive important emails about survey participation and deadlines, ask them to review and update their CUPA-HR email preferences using the personalized Manage Email Preferences link at the bottom of any email they receive from CUPA-HR. They should not be opted out of Survey Participation emails.

Download the new Survey Participation and Information Templates (SPITs) that are posted in September and familiarize yourself with them. Each SPIT includes the upload template, instructions, and position descriptions or CIP codes. Be sure to download the SPIT file for uploading your Institutional Basics data. Providing Institutional Basics data is required to participate in any of our surveys.

Identify your survey team and delineate their roles for each survey. These roles might include:

• matching position numbers for the Administrators, Professionals, and Staff Surveys
• matching CIP codes for the Faculty Survey
• gathering data for each section of the BEES Survey
• large-scale data queries
• formatting upload files
• ensuring data are uploaded or entered by the deadline for each survey

Decide which team member will be responsible for completing Institutional Basics. Providing Institutional Basics data is required to participate in any of our surveys.

Establish timelines for your team to ensure that all participation steps are complete well before the posted deadline.

This is a critical step. After the data submission window opens in November, follow these steps to confirm your participation for each survey. We’ll send you instructions and keep you apprised of any updates related to the surveys.

Log in to Surveys Online, our data collection platform, and then:

1. Select the Surveys tab
2. Click on Survey Menu
3. Check the box for “Your Institution…” > “Will Complete” for each survey you plan to complete.

Follow the instructions in the Survey Participation and Information Template and use the provided upload template to prepare one data file for each survey you’re completing.

Then log in to Surveys Online, our data collection platform:

1. Select the Surveys tab.
2. Click on Survey Menu.
3. Choose the survey you wish to complete. Consider starting with Institutional Basics, as this data must be uploaded and marked as complete before you can mark any other surveys as completed.
4. The survey status “My institution will complete this survey” must be checked. This unlocks the data upload option.
5. Submit your data, following the instructions in the Survey Participation and Information Template for the survey you’re completing.
6. Be sure to use the Upload Template for the current year. Using a template from a prior year may cause your upload to fail.

To indicate that your survey is complete and transmit your data, check the box in the Survey Menu for “Your Institution…” > “Has Completed” the survey. Check this box for each survey you complete. We cannot accept your data until you complete this very important final step. Please note that Institutional Basics must be marked as complete before any other surveys can be marked as complete.

How To Prevent Errors

• Don’t modify the header row or column structure in the upload template.
• Don’t use a template from a prior year. You must use the current year upload template.
• Don’t use formulas, comments, calculations, notes, or macros ANYWHERE in your data file
• Don’t include any data not specified in the Formatting Parameters outlined in each SPIT file.
• Do save your file as a XLS or XLSX
• Do use the expected format for each column as shown in the Formatting Parameters outlined in each SPIT file.

Common Error Messages

• Error on Row 1 / Row Number in file is 1 / Invalid Row Width / Uploaded File Is Too Large: These errors will occur when you’re missing the required header row or if you have irrelevant data anywhere in your spreadsheet (comments, notes, formulates, macros, etc). Your file should only contain the data outlined in the “Data Collected in This Survey – Formatting Parameters” section of the SPIT file. Refer back to this section of the SPIT file to resolve this error.
• [Variable Name] contains invalid data: This error message indicates an error with the specified variable name. The system will identify on the screen exactly which row has the incorrect format. Refer to the “Data Collected in This Survey – Formatting Parameters” section of the SPIT file for the expected format. For position number formatting errors, refer to the POSITION DESCRIPTIONS tab.
• [Variable Name] is required: This error message indicates you are missing required data. Refer to the “Data Collected in This Survey – Formatting Parameters” section of the SPIT file for the expected format for the variable named.