Qualtrics FAQs
Frequently asked questions about the Qualtrics platform.
Before our full launch in October, we need to finalize several in-development items. Please refer to the "Get Prepared and Next Steps" slides and the corresponding YouTube chapter for more information on pre-launch preparations. Further details will be shared shortly.
With the New Survey Taking Experience survey on by default, it meets the meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards for key features, the full list of which can be found in Overview of Improvements. Please refer this article to the Federal Register for compliance dates for WCAG 2.1 AA.
Before publishing, an additional accessibility review will be conducted by the review team. This step will help confirm the presence of all ALT text and identify any other potential errors made by the content creator.
We strongly encourage all creators to utilize the built-in ExpertReview feature. This will help them to design optimal surveys and ensure compliance.
API or SFTP workflows in the FedRAMP (Gov1) environment typically connect only to other FedRAMP environments. Qualtrics offers a robust API, but each case is subject to review by the DOM IT Governance team.
This page covers the main concepts for workflows and how to manage workflows after they’ve been built. See Building Workflows for instructions on how to build a workflow.
On July 9, 2025, the DX Steering Committee, composed of members selected by IGOV to make decisions regarding the look and feel of the state of Iowa, convened to discuss branding and survey navigation. The committee's objective is to provide a trusted and safe experience for our constituents.
Theming
Each agency will have the state logo, followed by the agency name at the top of each form when in full screen and a portion of the website footer will be displayed.
Agencies which have attached units that maintain their own sites (e.g. State Public Defender within DIAL), will have additional theme options available to identify those units.
If additional themes are needed, they must be approved by the Public Information Officer or a designated approver.
Display Name and Description
To ensure a positive browsing experience and to build constituent trust, a display and survey description are required for each published survey.
Survey Navigation
The labels "Back" and "Next" will be used to navigate through forms.
Additional details are available in the support article on the DX Training Site. Please note that this page is still under development.
Given our FedRAMP (Gov1), we are authorized to collect SSNs. Our Sensitive Data Policy masks SSNs by default;, however if given prior authorization to collect this data, approved users can see collected SSNs or other sensitive information.
Qualtrics is FedRAMP and all approved all data centers are located in the continental USA.
Users can upload multiple documents, but these must be separated into different survey questions; alternatively, the user can upload a ZIP file. The maximum file size for uploads is 50 MB.
Uploaded files from surveys are scanned for viruses during the upload process. This scanning occurs synchronously and utilizes ClamAV, an industry-standard antivirus tool that is regularly updated with the latest signature databases. If malware or a virus is detected in an uploaded file, the upload will be aborted, the file will not be stored, and an error message indicating the presence of the virus will be returned to the user and logged internally.
For more information about the File Upload question, please refer to this article.
In Qualtrics, if certain data requires different retention periods, we can set various exemptions to meet business and security needs.
We received several highly sensitive questions regarding infrastructure and other back-end setup. This information should not be publicly displayed due to confidential cybersecurity information, as per Iowa Code § 22.7(50).
You can pass a session ID token from an external app to Qualtrics for the purpose of securing access to complete a form, primarily using the SSO Authenticator feature. Qualtrics supports various SSO authentication types including Token-based SSO, which allows a third-party to generate a secure token containing encrypted user information. This token is passed to Qualtrics, decrypted, and then used to authenticate the user before allowing access to the survey. The Token SSO authenticator can also be configured to capture identifying information such as embedded data within the survey results. Additionally, tokens can be configured with expiration and other security attributes to maintain session security. For detailed setup, you would use the Authenticator element within the Survey Flow and configure it as a Token type SSO with the necessary encryption parameters and keys provided by your external app to Qualtrics.