Articles in this section

Building Cohort Feedback Report

Avatar
Molly
  • Updated
Follow

This article covers how cohort reports work, including cohort split types, useful merge strings for cohort reports, and tips for building effective reports.

The following video explains how cohort reports score and how to split cohort results using the cohort splits functionality.

On this page

Understanding cohort split types

Cohort splits control how results are grouped in your report. When building charts and tables in your report template, you select a split type to determine how the data is presented.

Split Type Parameter What it does
Default SplitType=N Groups all responses into a single averaged result.
Report Identifier (Role) SplitType=I Groups responses by role. This is the most commonly used split for 360 reports.
Respondent SplitType=R Shows a result for every respondent, displaying their first and last name.
Anonymous SplitType=A Splits by respondent but displays the response ID instead of the respondent's name, preserving anonymity.
Iteration SplitType=T Shows a result for each iteration that has been completed. Useful for tracking changes over time.
Classifier SplitType=C Groups results by a classifier you have selected. Requires Class=n where n is the classifier number.
Month/Year SplitType=M Groups results by month and year.
Year SplitType=Y Groups results by year.

Setting up a cohort report

Create a cohort report in the Cohort Report Manager. When automatically producing the cohort report at the completion date, the system adds the subject to any other filters you have specified (usually none).

For step-by-step instructions on adding a cohort report to your assessment, see Step 7 of Setting Up 360 Assessments or the Group/Team Cohorts setup guide.

Note: The report will be generated on the day after the completion date, provided there is an email template with a type of Cohort Feedback and the minimum number of responses has been met. You can also run the report manually at any time using the Cohort Report Manager.

Useful merge strings for cohort reports

The following merge strings are particularly useful when building cohort report templates. For a full list of available merge strings, see Merge Strings Library.

Charts split by respondents

Using SplitType=R on any chart merge string will split the results by respondents. This is the default split type for most charts in cohort reports.

Example: Horizontal bar chart showing all sections by respondents

{BarMultiHorizontal[SectionNo=ALL SplitType=R ShowActual=Y Label=Y]}

  • SectionNo=ALL - shows all sections
  • SplitType=R - splits by respondents
  • ShowActual=Y - displays Likert scores instead of percentages
  • Label=Y - shows score values on the chart

Charts split by role

Using SplitType=I on any chart merge string will split the results by role. This is commonly used in 360 assessment cohort report, where you have different roles such as Self, Manager, Peers, Others, etc.

Example: Spider chart showing all sections by role

{SpiderMulti[SectionNo=ALL SplitType=I Label=Y]}

  • SectionNo=ALL - shows all sections
  • SplitType=I - splits by role
  • Label=Y - shows score values on the chart

Heatmap by respondent

Use {Tables[...]} with BackgroundColour=Rating to create a heatmap. Each cell is colored based on its rating, making it easy to spot high and low scores at a glance.

Example: Heatmap of all subsections by respondent with Likert scores

{Tables[SectionNo=ALL SubSectionNo=ALL SplitType=R BackgroundColour=Rating]}

  • SectionNo=ALL SubSectionNo=ALL - shows all subsections across all sections
  • SplitType=R - splits columns by respondent
  • BackgroundColour=Rating - colors each cell by its rating, transforming the table into a heatmap

Add Label=N to show only the rating colors without score labels. If you have many respondents, use MaxValues=30 to split across multiple tables.

Individual text answers by role

For open-ended questions (e.g. "What can the subject do better?"), use ResponseAnswer.AnswerText with SplitType=I to list each individual answer grouped by role.

Example: Open text answers for a question, grouped by role

{ResponseAnswer.AnswerText[S2 SS1 Q3 SplitType=I]}

  • S2 SS1 Q3 - refers to Section 2, Subsection 1, Question 3
  • SplitType=I - lists each answer grouped under the respondent's role

Add Title=N to suppress the role label headings if needed.

Iteration comparisons

If you are using cohort iterations, you can compare results across iterations or filter to a specific iteration.

  • Split chart by iteration: {SpiderMulti[SectionNo=ALL SplitType=T]} - shows a data series for each iteration on a spider chart.
  • Filter to latest iteration only: Add Iteration=Last to any merge string.
  • Show score change from first iteration: {RatingScore.Score[SectionNo=ALL Metric=DiffIterationPC Base-Iteration=First]}

Tip: You can combine iteration filters with other split types. For example, use Iteration=Last with SplitType=I to show only the most recent iteration's results split by role.

Respondent lists

Use {RespondentNames} to list the respondents in the cohort. You can filter by status and role.

  • {RespondentNames[Status=Complete]} - lists respondents who completed the assessment.
  • {RespondentNames[Status=Incomplete]} - lists respondents who have not yet completed.
  • {RespondentNames[Status=Complete Identifier=Peer]} - lists completed respondents in the Peer role only.

Tips for building effective cohort reports

  • Use Multi chart types for role comparisons. Single-series chart types (Bar, Spider, Polar) show one data series only. To compare across respondents or roles, use the Multi variants (BarMulti, SpiderMulti, PolarMulti).
  • Test your report before launching. Run the cohort report manually using the Cohort Report Manager to verify it generates correctly. Complete at least one response per role so you can confirm the splits work as expected.
  • Check your assessment structure supports cohort reporting. For a 360 assessment, you need role-based questions, conditional logic, and subject name piping configured correctly. See Setting Up 360 Assessments (Step 5) for full details.
  • Hide questions only after testing. If you have hidden questions (e.g. the Role question), verify they are working correctly with visible questions first, then hide them before going live.

Tip: For automatic report distribution, you need a Cohort Feedback email template configured. Read more about the criteria for automatic cohort report distribution.

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.