When running surveys year over year, consistent demographic data is the foundation of meaningful analysis.

Dimensions reconciliation makes it easy to catch these inconsistencies before they become a problem. With one click, you can generate a structured Excel file that compares the demographic dimensions and values between two surveys, highlights mismatches, and guides you through exactly what needs to be corrected — all without leaving the platform.

Why It Matters

Without a reconciliation check, demographic mismatches can:

Break the year-over-year comparisons in reports
Cause incorrect or incomplete filtering by department, location, or other dimensions
Require time-consuming manual fixes after data has already been imported
Result in support escalations that delay your survey launch

Dimensions Reconciliation gives you a clear picture of your data alignment before the survey goes live, so you can fix issues early and report with confidence.

How to Use Dimensions Reconciliation

Step 1: Navigate to the Participants page

Go to Surveys → Edit Survey → Participants → Click "Dimensions reconciliation"

Note: The button is only available if there is at least one other survey in your organization (of the same type) that has participant data available for comparison. If no such survey exists, the button will be disabled.

Step 2: Select a comparison survey

A modal will open with two fields:

Current survey — automatically set to the survey you're working on. This cannot be changed.
Comparison survey — select the previous survey you want to compare against. This is typically your most recent completed survey. You can search by name.

Once you've selected a comparison survey, click Generate file.

Step 3: Review your reconciliation file

An Excel file will automatically download to your device. Open it to review your demographic alignment across four types of sheets:

Sheet	What it contains
Instructions	How to read and use the file
Users template	A ready-to-use participant import template pre-populated with the right column structure
Dimensions reconciliation	A side-by-side overview of all dimensions across both surveys, with validation status
Individual dimension sheets	One sheet per dimension (e.g., Department, Location) with a detailed value-by-value comparison

Step 4: Fix any flagged issues

Each dimension row is color-coded so you can prioritize at a glance:

Color	Meaning
🟢 Green	Dimension and all values are fully aligned — no action needed
🔴 Red	Inconsistency detected — review and update your users file

The Validation message column explains exactly what's wrong and what to do.

Common messages include:

"The dimension values are fully aligned across the selected surveys." — You're all set.
"The dimension has inconsistent values across the selected surveys. Review and update the current users file to align all values." — Values exist in both surveys but don't match exactly (e.g., "USA" vs. "United States").
"The dimension values are present in only one survey. Review and update the current users file to ensure consistent dimension names and values across surveys." — A dimension exists in one survey but not the other.

Use the Users template sheet to prepare your corrected users file and re-import it once all issues are resolved.

Practical example: Understanding your reconciliation file

When you open an individual dimension tab in your generated Excel report (such as the Department tab shown above), Entromy places your current survey and comparison survey side by side:

Column A (Current Survey): Lists all department values found in your new dataset (e.g., 2026 Employee Listening Survey).
Column B (Comparison Survey): Lists the matching values from your previous baseline dataset (e.g., 2020 Employee Engagement Survey).

What to Look For

1. Perfect Matches (Unshaded Rows)

Rows 3 through 13 show departments like Client Success, Data Feeds, and Sales that match identically in naming and formatting across both survey years. No action is required for these categories.

2. Discrepancies and Mismatches (Red-Highlighted Rows)

Rows highlighted in red flag potential inconsistencies that will disrupt your year-over-year reporting if left uncorrected:

Naming Inconsistency (Row 14):
- 2026 Survey: Marketing Team
- 2020 Survey: Marketing
- Impact: Entromy will treat these as two separate departments rather than combining them into a continuous trend. To fix this, update Marketing Team to Marketing in your current participant upload file before launching.
New or Unmatched Value (Row 15):
- 2026 Survey: Product
- 2020 Survey: (Blank)
- Impact: This indicates a new department that did not exist in the 2020 survey (or was named differently, such as Product Management or Product Development seen in rows 8 and 9). You will need to verify whether this is an intentional new category or a typo that needs alignment.

Tips for Best Results

Run the reconciliation check before finalizing your users file for a new survey cycle.
Use the Users template sheet as your starting point when preparing participant data — it's already structured with the correct columns.
Pay close attention to spacing, capitalization, and punctuation in dimension values. "New York" and "NY" are treated as different values.

FAQ

Q: Can I run this multiple times?

Yes. You can generate a new reconciliation file at any time. Each time you open the modal, it resets — so you can compare against a different survey if needed.

Q: Does this change my participant data?

No. Generating the reconciliation file is read-only. It does not modify your current survey's users file in any way. Any corrections need to be made manually and re-imported.

Q: What if my current survey has no participants yet? You can still generate the file. It will display the dimensions from the comparison survey so you can structure your new users file correctly from the start.

Q: Who can use this feature? Org Admins, and Survey Admins all have access to Dimensions reconciliation.

Q: What survey types does this apply to?

Organizational Health Baseline (OHB) and Value Creation Plan (VCP) surveys.

If you have questions or need assistance, reach out to our support team or contact your Customer Success Manager.