Adding Questions

Overview

When you create a new section in a new template, it initially has no questions. Click Add Question (1) to the right of the section name to begin.

Template section showing the Add Question button

The Add Question screen appears.

Add Question screen showing the Select Question Type field
Question Types

Select a question type from the Select Question Type field. There are nine question types available:

Yes/No — A single-select question pre-populated with Yes and No answer choices. Additional choices can be added and the pre-populated ones can be changed.
Single Select — Respondent selects one answer from a dropdown list or a list of predefined answers.
Multiple Select — Respondent selects one or more answers from a dropdown or predefined list. At least one answer must be chosen.
List Box — Respondent moves one or more answers into a separate listbox. Suitable for multiple-select questions with very long answer lists. At least one answer must be chosen.
Text — Respondent answers in free-text form.
Metadata Pull — Respondent selects a metadata value pulled from the system as predefined answer choices.
Date — Respondent answers with a date in a predefined format.
Data Inventory — Respondent selects a data type from a list generated from the Data Mapping & Risk Manager.
Contact Form — Respondent types in their name and email address.
📋 Note — Text Questions: Because Text Questions are open-text fields, they cannot support risk flags defined by compliance expressions and cannot have remediation recommendations as described in Adding Compliance. Reviewers can, however, manually flag a Text Question as an issue in a specific assessment.
Managing Answer Choices

After selecting the question type and entering the question text and description, go to the Choices, Comments and Attachments tab to specify the possible answer choices.

Choices, Comments and Attachments tab showing the answer choices section

For Single Select, Yes/No, Multiple Select, or List Box question types, specify at least two custom choices. Click Add Choice to add more.

Each choice has an optional Risk field where you can set the default risk level the system should automatically assign when a respondent selects that choice. Options are: Unassigned, No Risk, Low, Low-Med, Medium, Med-High, and High.

Answer choices showing the Risk level dropdown next to each choice

To learn more about question risk and how to manually override it in individual assessments, see Reviewing Answers under Reviewing & Approving an Assessment.

📋 Note: For Multiple Select and List Box questions, if a respondent selects answers with different risk levels, the highest risk level is used.

You can reorder answer choices by clicking the drag icon to the left of a choice and dragging it to the desired position.

Answer choices showing drag handles for reordering and the list/dropdown display toggle

For Single Select and Multiple Select question types, use the radio buttons to choose whether answer choices display as a list or in a dropdown. The default setting is Auto — the system displays questions with five or fewer choices as a list, and questions with more than five choices as a dropdown.

Default Responses
Answer choices showing the default response checkboxes

When a question has a default response set, the survey pre-populates that question with the default answer when it is first accessed. If the respondent changes it, the updated answer is used. Default responses apply to the following scenarios:

New, unsaved surveys
Test mode
Cloned templates — default responses are copied to the cloned template
Push-copied templates — default responses are carried over to the target account
📋 Conditions support: Default responses evaluate follow-on conditions, auto tasks, auto assessments, early exits, and approval routing.
Managing Answer Choice Groups

For Single Select, Yes/No, and Multiple Select questions with many choices, you can organize choices into named groups. Click Add Answer Group to create a group.

Add Answer Group button in the choices area

Enter a name and optional description for the group, then click Save.

New answer group created with an empty choice and drag-and-drop support

The system automatically creates an empty choice in the new group. You can also drag existing choices into it.

Answer group showing the Selectable as response checkbox enabled by default
📋 Note: After a group is added, the Selectable as response checkbox is enabled by default, meaning the group name is a selectable answer choice.
Multiple answer groups with choices dragged between them and the group drag handle visible

You can add as many groups as needed, drag choices between groups, reorder groups using the drag icon next to the group name, and leave some choices outside any group. To edit or delete a group, use its context menu. If you delete a group that contains choices, those choices are also deleted — drag them to another group or outside any group first to preserve them.

Answer group context menu showing Edit and Delete options
Using Answer Choice Labels

Use the Labels field to the left of an answer choice to assign one or more labels to that choice. When a respondent selects a labelled answer, the system automatically assigns that label to their assessment — making it easy to filter assessments by how a specific question was answered.

Answer choice showing the Labels field and dropdown selector

Click the Labels field and select from the dropdown, or use the Search field to find existing labels. Labels are saved when you save the question and the assigned label options are displayed below the question.

Question showing assigned label options displayed below it after saving
Importing Answer Choices from Tag Groups

For Single Select, Yes/No, List Box, and Multiple Select question types, you can import answer choices from an existing Tag Group — a collection of custom field values that can be assigned to new assessments. See Creating Tag Groups under Adding Custom Fields for more information.

Click Import from Library to begin.

Import from Library button in the choices section

Choose how to apply the imported choices:

Replace and Append options for importing from library
Replace — Replaces all existing choices with the imported ones.
Append — Adds only the new choices, keeping existing ones.

The Import from Library modal lists all custom Tag Groups configured in the system. Select the desired group to import its choices.

Import from Library modal showing available Tag Groups such as COUNTRIES and Departments
Answer choices populated after selecting a Tag Group from the library

You can still edit the imported choices before saving.

Making Comments and Attachments Mandatory

In the Comments, Attachments column, check the checkbox next to each option to make comments and/or attachments mandatory for that question.

Comments and Attachments column showing checkboxes to set each as mandatory

When set as mandatory, the survey respondent must add a comment or attachment after answering the question before they can proceed to the next section or complete the survey.

TrustArc  ·  Adding Template Questions  ·  support.trustarc.com