Overview

Culture Amp’s permissions model gives you flexibility and control over who can access different parts of the platform. Use this article as a comprehensive reference to understand the specific capabilities and limitations of each role.

Updated Permissions Model

The Roles and Permissions page uses a simplified, module-based system. If you are a new customer, you can skip this table and proceed to the Core Permissions section. If you are migrating from our legacy system, use this reference to find your new equivalent:

Previous Role	New Role
Account Administrator	Account Administrator
Surveys Administrator	Surveys Full Permissions
Surveys HR Business Partner	Surveys (Limited)
Survey Creator	Survey Creator
Survey Comment Replier	Survey Comment Replier
Survey Data Analyst	Survey Data Analyst
Employee Data Administrator	Employee Data Full Permissions
-	Employee Data (Limited)
Performance Administrator	Performance Full Permissions
Performance HRBP	Performance (Limited)
Develop Administrator	Develop Full Permissions
-	Development (Limited)
Goals Administrator	Goals Full Permissions
Group Goals Administrator	Goals Full Permissions (Scoped Role)

Core Permissions and Roles by Module

Account Administrator

Overview: The highest level of administrative access. This role manages global account settings, employee data, and user permissions across all modules except Performance.

Permission	Access
View/manage employee data	✔ Yes
Clear bounced emails	✔ Yes
Configure HRIS integrations & syncs	✔ Yes
Assign/Manage platform roles	✔ Yes
Manage account & survey settings	✔ Yes
Issue invitations/reset responses	✔ Yes
Create/manage surveys	✔ Yes
Add/export survey participants	✔ Yes
Create/view/share survey reports	✔ Yes
View Action Dashboard	✔ Yes
Administer Skills Coach	✔ Yes
Manage goals	✔ Yes
Bulk goal creation	✔ Yes
Edit career paths/competencies	✔ Yes
View development reports	✔ Yes
Enable Coach	✔ Yes
View/Manage sensitive demographics	✔ Yes
Create/manage performance cycles	No

Employee Data Full permissions

Overview: Provides comprehensive access to manage the employee directory, HRIS integrations, and sensitive demographics. This role does not grant access to survey content or performance cycles.

Permission	Access
View/manage employee data	✔ Yes
Clear bounced emails	✔ Yes
Activate/deactivate employees	✔ Yes
Configure HRIS integrations & syncs	✔ Yes
View/Manage sensitive demographics	✔ Yes
Create/manage surveys/performance	No
Manage goals	No
Access raw survey data	No
Request feedback	No

Employee Data (Limited) - Scoped by Demographics

Overview: Designed for regional managers or HRBPs who require management access to a specific subset of the organization.

Permission	Access	Notes
Add new users to the account	✔ Yes	Can add new users, but can only assign core demographics (e.g. Name, Email, Start Date) along with any demographic within their scope.
View/manage employee data	✔ Yes	Only for employees within their assigned scope. Can manually edit attributes or use CSV/xlsx partial imports (full imports not available)
Export employee data	✔ Yes	Export will only show employees within their scope
Clear bounced emails and Slack Errors	✔ Yes	Only for employees within their assigned scope.
Activate/deactivate employees	✔ Yes	Only for employees within their assigned scope.
Delete existing or create new account demographics	No	Can only view and edit existing demographic data for users in their scope.
Configure HRIS integrations & syncs	No	Centralized management is reserved for Full Permissions.
View/Manage Sensitive Demographics	No	Any demographics marked as Sensitive will not be visible to the user on their scoped employee profiles. User does not have permissions to mark account demographics as sensitive.

Surveys Module Roles

Account-Level Roles

Assigned at the account level (not per survey).

Surveys Full Permissions

Overview: Full control over surveys and reports, except for account or employee data settings.

Permissions	Access	Notes
Create surveys	✔ Yes
Manage survey settings	✔ Yes
Assign another Survey admin	✔ Yes
Add survey participants	✔ Yes
Issue invitations and reset responses	✔ Yes
Export survey participants	✔ Yes	Can export survey participants, but not with demographic data, unless they also have the Employee data administrator role.
Create survey reports	✔ Yes
View all survey reports and add viewers/owners	✔ Yes
View the Action Dashboard	✔ Yes
Export survey participants	✔ Yes
Manage account settings or employee data	No
Export survey participants with demographic data	No

Surveys Limited Permissions

Overview: Read-only report access with filtered results, no survey creation, and no admin rights. Ideal for stakeholders who need to see results and high-level action planning data across shared reports without altering configurations.

Permissions	Access	Notes
View the survey's Reports page	✔ Yes
Preview reports	✔ Yes	Requires being a viewer on each relevant report (Preview Reports access)
Export filtered and leader-based reports	✔ Yes	Includes the Action Dashboard to see all specific action details.
Add report viewers/owners	✔ Yes
View the Action Dashboard	✔ Yes	Provides a high-level overview of all survey actions from any shared reports. Requires being a viewer on at least one report.
View specific Action Plans	✔ Yes	The Action Plans tab is specific to each report. To see full action details within the UI, you must be a viewer on each specific report.
View Administrator reports	No
Create/edit/publish reports	No
Bulk import sharing permissions	No
Create/edit/launch surveys	No
Manage account/users	No

Survey creator

Overview: Can create and manage surveys they own, with no account or employee data access. They are automatically designated as survey admins for their created surveys, gaining full access to survey admin features. Their access can also be restricted to specific demographics.

Restricting to specific demographics: Keep in mind when restricting the Survey Creator role to specific demographics, each different demographic works on an 'AND' logic, but each value inside the demographic works on an 'OR' logic.

This means for example if you restrict the role to Department = Marketing, Sales, Support, the user will have permissions to invite anybody from either of those 3 departments to their survey. If another demographic was added such as Gender = Male, then the user would only have access to invite anybody from those 3 departments who is also a male.

Permissions	Access
Create surveys	✔ Yes
Manage account settings or employee data	No

Survey data analyst

Overview: Can extract raw survey data if enabled on the survey. Another Account administrator must assign this role; self-assignment is not permitted.

Permissions	Access
Access to survey raw data (if enabled)	✔ Yes
View audit log of data extracts	✔ Yes

Survey comment replier

Overview: Can reply publicly to comments left on surveys where comment replies have been enabled.

Permissions	Access
Reply to survey comments	✔ Yes

Survey-Level Roles

Assigned per survey (not account-wide).

Survey admin

Overview: Survey admins have access to specific surveys they’ve been invited to, but they cannot create new surveys. There are two levels of Survey admin access: Overall and Support only.

Access level	Permissions	Access
Overall	Manage survey settings	✔ Yes
	Assign other Survey admin	✔ Yes
	Add survey participants	✔ Yes
	Issue invitations and reset responses	✔ Yes
	Create survey reports	✔ Yes
	View survey reports and add viewers/owners	✔ Yes
	View the Action Dashboard	✔ Yes
	Export survey participants	✔ Yes
	Share reports	✔ Yes
	Manage account settings or employee data	No
	Create surveys	No
	Export survey participants with demographic data	No
Support only	Resend invitations, and reset responses	✔ Yes

Note: A Survey Admin with "Support-Only access" is unable to send the initial invitations and launch a survey. They can, however, resend invitations to participants who have already been invited and reset a participant's response if needed.

Report Owner

Overview: Can view specific survey reports shared with them and receive notifications and reminders to drive and take action on those reports.

Permissions	Access
View survey reports that they have been added as a viewer too	✔ Yes
View and create actions in reports that have the take action framework enabled	✔ Yes
Receive notifications and reminder nudges to take action on reports	✔ Yes
Manage account settings or employee data	No
Create or manage surveys	No

Report Viewer

Overview: Can view specific survey reports shared with them and create actions where enabled, but does not receive notifications or reminders to take action on the reports.

Permissions	Access
View survey reports that they have been added as a viewer too	✔ Yes
View and create actions in reports that have the take action framework enabled	✔ Yes
Receive notifications and reminder nudges to take action on reports	No
Manage account settings or employee data	No
Create or manage surveys	No

Performance Module Roles

Account Level Roles

Assigned at the account level (not per cycle).

Performance Full permissions

Overview: Global administrative access to the Performance module. This role can create and manage all cycles but cannot manage global employee data.

Permissions	Access
Create/manage performance cycles	✔ Yes
Configure cycle settings	✔ Yes
View performance cycles	✔ Yes
Complete reviews and self-reflections for others	✔ Yes
Create/share/view calibration views	✔ Yes
Submit feedback requests/share feedback on behalf of managers	✔ Yes
Export performance data	✔ Yes
Manage account settings or employee data	No
Manage goals	No

Performance (Limited) - Scoped by Demographics

Overview: Enables targeted administration for specific employee populations. Visibility into cycles, calibrations, and feedback is restricted to employees matching the assigned demographic logic.

Permissions	Access	Notes
View performance cycles	✔ Yes
Complete reviews/self-reflections for others	✔ Yes
Create/share calibration views (shared only)	✔ Yes	Visibility is constrained when a view spans out-of-scope employees (unless shared).
Submit feedback requests/share feedback on behalf of managers	✔ Yes
Export performance data	✔ Yes	Exports will be restricted to employees within their scope.
Manage goals	No
Manage account settings or employee data	No
Create/configure performance cycles	No	Full administrative configuration is reserved for Performance Full Permissions.

Performance Cycle Level Roles

Assigned per cycle (not account-wide).

Collaborator

Overview: In a Performance cycle, the collaborator can access and comment on an employee’s manager review, but cannot view or comment on self-reflections.

Permissions	Access
Access the employee's manager review that they've been assigned to as a collaborator	✔ Yes
Comment on each manager review question	✔ Yes
Access the employee's profile	✔ Yes* see 🔍 "Understanding Visibility & Scope"
View or comment on an employee's self-reflections.	No

Calibrator

Overview: Participates in the calibration process to help ensure performance reviews are fair and consistent across teams and departments.

Access Type	Ratings Preview Access	Read-Only Access
View manager performance reviews	✔ Yes	✔ Yes
Use filters to sort views	✔ Limited*	✔ Yes
Access employees outside scope	No	No
View employee profiles	No	✔ Yes* (see 🔍 "Understanding Visibility & Scope")
View self-reflections	No	✔ Yes
View goals	No	✔ Yes
View peer/upward feedback	No	✔ Yes
Respond to calibration prompts	✔ Yes	No

*Filters are available within the Respond to Ratings tab, but are more limited than those in the read-only view.

🔍 Understanding Visibility & Scope

Access to the Employee Profile from a Calibration View is governed by the user’s existing relationship to the employee. While Collaborators and Calibrators (Calibration Overview tab only) can "access" the employee profile, they do not gain "all-access" bypass permissions.

Who sees "All Available Content"?

These users see all available content in the full employee profile, including historical manager reviews, upward feedback, and self-reflections:

Performance Admins
Performance HRBPs (within their assigned scope)
Direct Managers of the employee
Skip-level Managers of the employee (refers to manager of the manager)

Who sees "Limited Content"?

Non-managers (including Peers, Collaborators, or Calibrators outside the reporting line) only see content they already have visibility over elsewhere in the platform. This is the same view they would get via the Employee Directory:

Feedback: Only feedback they authored or that was explicitly shared with them.
Goals: Only public goals or goals they are collaborating on.
1-on-1s bookmarks: Only shared bookmarks from meetings they attended.
Personal Notes: Their own personal notes about the employee.

Employee Profile: Content Visibility Comparison

Feature	Limited Content (Peers/Non-Managers)	All Available Content (Admins/Managers)
Feedback	Only feedback authored by the viewer.	Full feedback history.
Goals	Public goals or goals shared with the viewer.	All goals (Public, Private, and Group).
Manager Reviews	None (except the specific current cycle).	Full history of past and current reviews.
1-on-1s	Only shared bookmarks from their own 1-on-1s.	All 1-on-1 bookmarks and history.
Self-reflections	None.	All past and current self-reflections.
Personal Notes	Only notes the viewer has written.	Only notes the viewer has written.
Role Competencies	Assigned role competencies.	Assigned role competencies.

Development Module Roles

Development Full Permissions (Account-Level)

Overview: Provides org-wide access to Development reporting, Career Pathways, and Skills Coach administration.

Permissions	Access
View development reports	✔ Yes
Administer skills coach	✔ Yes
Edit career paths and competencies	✔ Yes
Manage performance cycles or goals	No
Manage account settings or employee data	No
Manage surveys and associated reports	No

Development (Limited) - Scoped by Demographics

Overview: Restricted reporting and development plan access. This role is ideal for leaders who need visibility into their team's growth without managing the underlying framework.

Permission	Access	Notes
View development reports	✔ Yes	Reports (Insights, Participation, Employees) are pre-filtered to scope.
View development plans	✔ Yes	Visibility is restricted to employees within the assigned demographic scope.
Administer Skills Coach	No
Edit Career Paths and Competencies	No
Access Development Cycles	No

Goal Module Roles

Goals Full Permissions (Account-Level)

Overview: Full organizational access for creating and managing goals (except org structure).

Permissions	Access
Full access to create/view/edit and manage goals org-wide	✔ Yes
Assign Group goal admins	✔ Yes
Administer collaborations (formerly "Teams")	✔ Yes
Post comments on any goal	✔ Yes
View all goal reports	✔ Yes
Bulk goal creation	✔ Yes
Create/manage org structure	No

Goals Full Permissions - Scoped by Org Structure

Overview: Grants users comprehensive control over group goals and individual goals for employees within their assigned groups, including the ability to create, edit, archive, and report on them.

Permissions	Access
Create, edit, archive, and report on group goals for assigned groups	✔ Yes
Create, edit, archive, and report on individual goals for employees in assigned groups.	✔ Yes
Create and manage cascading group goals within those groups	✔ Yes
Edit individual goals for users in assigned groups	✔ Yes
Bulk goal creation (for individuals within scope)	✔ Yes

FAQs

Category	Question	Answer
Administration Roles	What’s the highest level of access on the platform?	The Account Administrator. They can manage nearly everything except the Performance module.
Administration Roles	Can an Account Administrator manage performance cycles?	No. To maintain separation of duties, Performance administration requires the Performance Full Permissions role.
Survey Roles	Can Survey Admins export participants with demographic data?	Only if they also have the Employee Data Administrator role.
Survey Roles	Can I assign someone to manage a single survey?	Yes, assign them the Survey Admin role and limit their access to that survey.
Survey Roles	Can Survey Data Analysts scope access to specific demographics?	No. Once assigned, they can access all raw data from enabled surveys.
Survey Roles	Can a user with Surveys Limited Permissions export reports even if they aren't assigned as a viewer?	Yes. Users with the Surveys Limited Permissions role can export any reports created on the Sharing page of a survey, even if they haven't been assigned as a report viewer. While they can export reports, they can't preview them in the UI unless they are specifically assigned as a viewer for that report.
Performance Roles	Why is my calibration view limited	If you are a Scoped Admin, the system prioritizes data privacy. If a calibration session includes individuals outside your assigned demographic scope, your view will be constrained to protect that sensitive information.
Develop Roles	I want to manage career paths without accessing sensitive data. Which role would be suitable?	Assign the Develop full permissions role. Note that "Develop Full Permissions" provides org-wide access and cannot be scoped by demographics. The Development (Limited) role is restricted to reporting and plan visibility only.
Develop Roles	Can I restrict an HRBP's view of Development Plans to just their region?	Yes. By assigning the Development (Limited) role, you can use demographic scoping (e.g., Region = EMEA) to ensure they only see reports and plans for employees in that specific scope. However, please note that this role does not grant access to Development Cycles, Career Pathways, or Skills Coach administration.
Goals Roles	What’s the difference between the Goals Full Permissions and Goals Full Permissions (Scoped Permissions) role?	Goals Full Permissions has org-wide access. Goals Full Permissions with restricted permissions are limited to assigned groups on your organisational structure.
Goals Roles	Can scoped users see public goals outside their scope?	They can view public goals (e.g., visible to everyone), but they can’t manage or edit them unless within their assigned scope.
Goals Roles	What if someone changes departments?	If your HRIS syncs regularly, scoped access should update automatically. Still, it's best to check permissions after org changes.
Goals Roles	Does a scoped Goals role allow for editing individual goals?	Yes. If a user is scoped to a specific group, they have full administrative authority (create, edit, delete) over the goals of employees within that group.

💬 Need help? Just reply with "Ask a Person" in a support conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist.

How Employee Data Affects Your Organization Structure

Admin Guide to Setting Up Goals in Your Organization

Understanding Roles in Culture Amp

Assigning Platform Roles and Permissions

Setting up Sensitive Demographics in Culture Amp

Role Permissions Breakdown