---
title: "Setting up SurveyTester for your company: the administrator's checklist"
description: "What an administrator sets up once before project teams start: roles and users, folders, project types, automatic checks, dictionary, AI engines and templates."
url: https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/company-setup-checklist/
language: en
type: how-to
audiences: ["SurveyTester Administrators", "Team Management"]
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
tags: ["administration", "setup", "checklist", "users", "roles", "project types", "classification fields", "auto-detect", "dictionary", "ai engines", "templates"]
---

# Setting up SurveyTester for your company: the administrator's checklist

_Company Admin Settings · SurveyTester Academy_

Project teams move fast in SurveyTester once the company account is prepared for them. Almost everything a
project manager picks in the **Create Project** dialog, from the project template to the result filters, and
almost everything the automatic checks report, from spelling to personal data, comes from settings an
administrator made once. This checklist walks through those settings in the order in which they depend on each
other. Done once and reviewed per quarter, it keeps every project consistent.

> [!TIP]
> This checklist is also available as a handout:
> [SurveyTester Admin Setup Checklist (Word)](/downloads/SurveyTester-Admin-Setup-Checklist.docx) ·
> [PDF](/downloads/SurveyTester-Admin-Setup-Checklist.pdf). Once the company is set up, hand the project teams
> the companion article [Best practices: from a new project to sign-off](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/general-queries/project-best-practices).

All settings live behind the gear icon in the top bar, **Administration & Settings**. The menu follows the
headings below.

## The checklist at a glance

| # | Setting | Why it comes first | Admin menu |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Roles, then users | A user without a role sees nothing | **Roles**, **Users** |
| 2 | Folder structure | Folders carry access and templates | **Folder Structure** |
| 3 | Project types with classification fields | Every issue is classified with them | **Project Types** |
| 4 | Auto-Detect and personal-data settings | Define what the automatic checks report | **Project Types**, **Company Settings** |
| 5 | Company dictionary | Stops false spelling findings on brand names | **Company Dictionary** |
| 6 | AI engines and features | AI is off until you turn it on | **AI Engines**, **AI Usage** |
| 7 | Templates: result filters, test plan, mail, forms | Offered to every new project | **Test plan templates**, **Mail Templates**, **Forms** |
| 8 | Extension rollout and notification defaults | Testers need the extension on day one | outside the admin area |

## 1. Roles first, then users

Access in SurveyTester is role-driven: a person belongs to your company through the roles they hold, and a
role is a set of permissions. There are more than a hundred permissions, from *Add projects* and *Test survey*
through *Use SurveyBot* and *Edit test cases* to *Sign off project* and *Manage company dictionary*.

A fresh company comes with three roles that cover most teams:

| Role | Typical holder | What it can do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Admin | You | Everything, including this checklist |
| Project Manager | Research managers, QA leads | Create and configure projects, run bots, manage issues, sign off |
| Internal Tester | Testers, survey authors | Test, report and work on issues in projects they are assigned to |

Duplicate a default role before you change it (**Duplicate a Role**), so you can always compare with the
original. Typical additions: a *Client* role that may read and comment on issues but not change the project,
and a *Survey Author* role that may close issues but not sign off. See
[Roles and permissions](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/roles-and-permissions),
[Manage Locked Roles](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/manage-locked-roles) and
[Duplicate a Role](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/duplicate-a-role).

Then invite the users and give each at least one role:
[Add User / Role to SurveyTester](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/add-user-role-to-surveytester). Users can belong to
several companies and are deactivated per company; a deactivated user keeps their history but loses access.

![Placeholder: screenshot of Administration & Settings › Roles with the three default roles and the permission list of one role](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/company-admin-settings/company-setup-checklist/en/admin-users-roles.png "w=44rem | Roles and their permissions")

**Security settings in the same area.** Set the company's password policy (length, character classes, expiry,
inactivity). Companies with Azure AD or Active Directory can switch on SAML single sign-on with
automatic user and group provisioning; then roles follow the directory groups and this step runs itself.

## 2. Folder structure

Projects live in folders, and folders do more than tidy up: they are the scope for result-filter templates and
for AI engine restrictions, and a role can be given access per folder. Design the tree along the way your
company works, for example by client, by business unit or by year, and keep it shallow: two levels are enough
for most companies. See also [Who has access to my projects?](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/who-has-access-to-my-projects).

## 3. Project types with classification fields

A **project type** (shown as *Project Template* in the Create Project dialog) bundles everything a project
inherits at creation: the classification fields every issue is tagged with, the automatic checks and what they
report, the end-page identifiers and the market and language questions. It is the most important setting on
this list, because it decides how issues are sorted, filtered, exported and closed for years to come.

Per project type you define:

- **Classification fields** and their values, for example *Severity* (blocker, major, minor, cosmetic), *Area*
  (text, routing, layout, data) and *Status* (open, fixed, verified, rejected). See
  [Classification Fields](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/classification-fields).
- **Closing values.** Mark the values that mean "this issue is done", for example *verified* and *rejected*.
  SurveyTester derives the open/closed state of every issue from them, so the open-issues badge, the sign-off
  warning and Insights all agree.
- **Which fields appear on the Issues page** and in which order:
  [Company Setting for Fields on the Issues Page](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/company-setting-for-fields-on-the-issues-page).
- **Market and language questions.** Name the survey questions that carry the market or language, so SurveyTester
  can assign test runs to markets even when the link does not.
- **End-page identifiers.** Keywords, redirect URL patterns or page names that mean *Complete*, *Screenout*,
  *Quota full* or *Early complete* for all projects of this type. Project managers can still refine them per
  project.

![Placeholder: screenshot of Administration › Project Types with classification fields, closing values and end-page identifiers](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/company-admin-settings/company-setup-checklist/en/admin-project-types.png "w=44rem | A project type")

> [!TIP]
> One project type per way of working, not per client. A "Standard QA" type and a "Client review" type with a
> reduced field set usually cover a whole company. Many types mean many filter templates and many exports to
> maintain.

## 4. Auto-Detect and personal-data settings

The automatic checks run after every test run and report their results as findings. Which checks run is set at
three levels: company, project type and project; the more specific level wins. Start at company level with the
checks everyone wants (spell check, visible HTML, unresolved piping, empty and duplicate labels, missing images,
wrong-language text) and switch off per project type what does not apply, for example brand language checks for
a type used only for internal surveys. See [Auto Detect Issues](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/auto-detect-issues).

The **personal-data detection** flags pages that ask for or display personal data, in two levels: simple
(name, e-mail, phone, address) and extended for the special categories of the GDPR (health, religion, political
opinion and others). Decide per company which level your projects need; privacy officers usually want extended
on everything. The GDPR sub-processor register SurveyTester publishes is the document to hand them when they
ask where the data goes.

![Placeholder: screenshot of the Auto-Detect and personal-data settings with the three levels company, project type and project](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/company-admin-settings/company-setup-checklist/en/admin-autodetect-settings.png "w=40rem | Auto-Detect settings per level")

## 5. Company dictionary

The spell check compares every label against the language's dictionary plus your **Company Dictionary**. Fill
it before the first project with the words the spell check would otherwise report in every run: brand and product
names, client names, abbreviations, industry terms. Later entries arrive on their own when testers decline a
spelling finding with a reason such as "brand name"; review that inflow now and then. Brand entries also feed
the brand language check, which reports a brand written in the wrong casing or spelling. See
[Company Dictionary](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/company-dictionary) and [Spell check](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/issues/spell-check).

## 6. AI engines and features

AI in SurveyTester is opt-in and granular. Nothing is sent to a language model until an administrator has:

1. **Accepted an engine.** Either from the SurveyTester catalogue (hosted, no key needed), with your own key
   for a vendor, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint including a model hosted in your own data centre.
2. **Set a company default** and, if needed, restricted engines per folder or project type.
3. **Decided per feature** whether it uses the default engine, a specific engine, or stays off: generic survey
   parsing for unknown platforms, test case generation, AI auto answers, project import text analysis,
   image recognition and questionnaire document analysis.

Usage is metered per project, user, feature and model under **AI Usage**, so costs can be charged back. See
[AI Administration & Usage Controls](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/company-admin-settings/ai-administration-usage-controls).

![Placeholder: screenshot of Administration › AI Engines with catalogue engines, the company default and the per-feature switches](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/company-admin-settings/company-setup-checklist/en/admin-ai-engines.png "w=44rem | AI engines and per-feature switches")

> [!TIP]
> Companies with strict data policies run two configurations: a catalogue engine hosted in the EU for test case
> generation and auto answers, and questionnaire analysis pinned to an internal model or switched off. "Off"
> is a real setting: there is no fallback to another engine.

## 7. Templates the project teams will see

Templates turn your decisions into defaults that appear in every new project:

- **Result-filter templates.** Templates are saved by the users themselves, from any project's Result Filter
  dialog, and can be shared with others and scoped to a folder or project type. Encourage the team leads to save
  the filters everyone uses daily (open blockers, issues since the last milestone, runs of one test case) as
  shared templates: the Create Project dialog then offers the matching ones to every new project. See
  [Result Filter](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/issues/result-filter-newer-version).
- **Test plan templates.** The test plan is the project's sign-off checklist. Start from the SurveyTester default
  of 84 items in 13 phases and remove or add items to match your QA process; the project team loads the template
  with one click under **Project Details › Test plan**.
- **Mail templates.** The texts of the e-mails SurveyTester sends on your company's behalf.
- **Forms.** Custom forms per company for information that does not fit the standard fields, with Excel export.
  See [Custom Forms, Usage and Export Forms](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/project-details/custom-forms-usage-and-export-forms).

![Placeholder: screenshot of the administration pages for result filter templates, test plan templates, mail templates and forms](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/company-admin-settings/company-setup-checklist/en/admin-templates.png "w=44rem | Templates offered to new projects")

## 8. Extension rollout and notification defaults

Every tester needs the SurveyTester browser extension in Chrome or Edge. In managed environments, add it to the
browser policy so it installs for everyone; otherwise send the installation article along with the invitation:
[Installing the SurveyTester Extension](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/general-queries/installing-the-surveytester-extension) and
[Browser Extension](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/general-queries/browser-extension).

Notifications are per user, but roles carry the defaults: which events a new holder of the role is subscribed to
(new issues, phase changes, sign-off). Set them so that survey authors hear about issues in *Script Update
Needed* and project managers about sign-offs, and nobody gets every event. See
[Notifications](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/notifications-permissions-subscriptions/notifications) and
[Subscriptions](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/notifications-permissions-subscriptions/subscriptions).

## Hand-over to the project teams

With the eight points done, a project manager can create a project in two minutes and inherits everything above:
the right template, the right checks, the right filters and an AI policy the privacy officer has signed. Send
them [Best practices: from a new project to sign-off](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/general-queries/project-best-practices) and review this
checklist once a quarter: new clients bring new brand names, new teams bring new roles, and the AI catalogue
changes.

## Key takeaway

Set up roles before users, project types before projects, and dictionary and AI policy before the first bot
run. Each of these settings is cheap to make once and expensive to retrofit across running projects.