Configure SurveyMonkey as a data pipeline source ​

Set up SurveyMonkey as a data pipeline source to extract surveys, survey structure, responses, answers, and collectors into your destination.

Use this guide to set up a connection, configure your pipeline, add objects, review sync behavior, and understand known limitations.

Features supported ​

The following features are supported when you use SurveyMonkey as a pipeline source:

• Cloud connectivity: Connect to SurveyMonkey over HTTPS through the API host for your account's data center. On-prem agents aren't required.
• Full sync and incremental sync: Supports full sync for every object and incremental sync for surveys, survey_responses, and collectors. Refer to Sync modes for more information.
• Object-level selection: Select from SurveyMonkey objects, including surveys, survey structure, responses, answers, and collectors, to sync as separate tables in your destination. Refer to Supported objects for the full list.
• Delete tracking: Detect deleted records on full-sync objects and deleted questions in survey_questions. Refer to Delete tracking for more information.
• Schema drift detection and handling: Detect and apply schema changes automatically with Auto-sync new fields, or keep the schema fixed with Block new fields.
• Field-level data protection: Hash or replicate sensitive fields as is before the data reaches your destination.
• Configurable sync frequency: Schedule syncs on a time-based interval or with a cron expression. The minimum supported interval is 15 minutes.

Prerequisites ​

Connecting SurveyMonkey as a data pipeline source requires:

• A SurveyMonkey account. You need a paid plan to sync survey_responses and response_answers. Refer to Responses require a paid plan for more information.
• SurveyMonkey account credentials to authorize the OAuth 2.0 connection. Workato recommends using an admin account to avoid permission issues.
• A custom OAuth profile, if your SurveyMonkey account is hosted in a data center outside the United States.

Supported connection types ​

SurveyMonkey data pipelines support OAuth 2.0 authentication. You sign in to SurveyMonkey and authorize Workato to read your account data. Use a custom OAuth profile to authorize through your own SurveyMonkey app or to connect to a data center outside the United States.

Connect to SurveyMonkey ​

Complete the following steps to connect SurveyMonkey as a data pipeline source:

Configure the pipeline ​

Complete the following steps to configure SurveyMonkey as your data pipeline source:

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Supported objects ​

SurveyMonkey data pipelines sync data from the SurveyMonkey REST API v3. The following tables list the supported objects, grouped by category. Each object syncs as a separate table in your destination.

Surveys and survey structure ​

survey_pages, survey_questions, question_options, and question_sub_rows store each survey's structure. question_options contains the answer choices for each question, and question_sub_rows contains the rows of matrix and other multi-row questions.

Responses ​

survey_responses and response_answers require a paid SurveyMonkey plan. Refer to Responses require a paid plan for more information.

response_answers contains one row per answer in each response. Join response_answers to question_options on question_id and choice_id (matched to question_options.id) to resolve a selected answer to its choice text.

Collectors ​

collector_recipients contains recipients of email and SMS collectors only. Other collector types, such as web links and embedded surveys, have no recipient list.

Sync modes ​

SurveyMonkey data pipelines support full sync and incremental sync. You configure the sync mode per object when you add it to your pipeline.

Full sync ​

A full sync reads all available records from SurveyMonkey for the selected object. Survey structure objects, response_answers and collector_recipients, use full sync because SurveyMonkey doesn't expose a last-modified timestamp for them.

Every SurveyMonkey object has a primary key, so a full sync merges into the existing destination table, and records deleted in SurveyMonkey stay in the table.

Incremental sync ​

An incremental sync extracts only records that changed since the last successful run, using the date_modified field as the cursor:

• surveys: Extracts surveys modified since the last run.
• survey_responses: Tracks a separate cursor for each survey and checks every survey on each run, so new and edited responses sync even when the parent survey hasn't changed.
• collectors: Extracts collectors modified since the last run.

Each incremental run rereads the last 5 minutes of the previous window to capture records modified at the window boundary. Your destination's upsert behavior deduplicates rereads by primary key.

Delete tracking ​

SurveyMonkey's API doesn't report deleted surveys, responses, or collectors. Workato tracks deletions in the following ways:

• Full-sync objects: Workato marks records that no longer appear in SurveyMonkey as deleted in your destination. Deletions are detected on the next full sync, not at the time of deletion.
• survey_questions: SurveyMonkey keeps deleted questions in the API and sets their visible field to false. Workato sets _workato_is_deleted to true for these questions.
• Incremental objects: Deletions aren't detected for surveys, survey_responses, or collectors. An incremental run only pulls changed records, so deleted records remain in your destination.

Schema and data type handling ​

The following considerations apply to schema and data types when you sync data from SurveyMonkey:

Nested fields ​

Nested and variable-shape fields sync as JSON objects stored in your destination's native JSON type, such as VARIANT in Snowflake. These fields include headings, answers, and validation on survey_questions, and metadata, logic_path, page_path, and custom_variables on survey_responses. Workato doesn't flatten these into individual columns. custom_variables keys vary by survey.

Timestamps ​

SurveyMonkey returns survey timestamps without a time zone offset and response and collector timestamps with an offset. Workato syncs date_created and date_modified on surveys as timestamps without a time zone, in UTC. The same fields on survey_responses and collectors sync as timestamps with a time zone.

Response answer keys ​

response_answers uses a composite primary key of response_id, question_id, row_id, col_id, choice_id, and other_id. Key columns that don't apply to a question type contain an empty string, not null. For example, row_id and col_id are empty for single-choice questions.

Collector recipient custom fields ​

collector_recipients includes six custom field columns, custom_field_1 through custom_field_6, that map to the first six contact custom fields in your SurveyMonkey account. Workato labels these columns with your account's custom field labels when the connection grants the contacts_read scope.

Synthetic columns ​

Workato adds the following synthetic column to the survey_questions destination table:

Sensitive data handling ​

SurveyMonkey objects can contain personally identifiable information (PII). The following objects commonly contain sensitive fields:

response_answers.text contains free-text answers to open-ended questions, which can include names, contact details, and other personal information. custom_variables can contain any values you pass to a survey, and metadata includes the respondent's referral URL and user agent.

Use the Hash option in field-level data protection during pipeline configuration to protect PII before it reaches your destination. Refer to the Configure the pipeline steps for more information.

Limitations ​

The following limitations apply when you use SurveyMonkey as a data pipeline source:

Responses require a paid plan ​

SurveyMonkey provides response details only to accounts on a paid plan. Syncs of survey_responses and response_answers fail on a free plan account. Remove these objects from your pipeline or upgrade your SurveyMonkey plan.

The start date applies differently by object ​

The When first started, this pipeline should pick up records from date filters SurveyMonkey objects in the following ways:

• Survey objects: surveys, survey_pages, survey_questions, question_options, and question_sub_rows include only surveys modified after this date. Survey structure objects exclude older surveys even if those surveys still receive responses.
• Responses and collectors: survey_responses and collectors apply this date to each record's date_modified value on the first incremental sync. A full sync of these objects ignores the start date and extracts all records.
• Answers and recipients: response_answers and collector_recipients ignore the start date and extract all records on every run.

Leave this field blank to sync the structure of every survey.

Surveys with more than 1,000 questions ​

SurveyMonkey doesn't return the structure of surveys with more than 1,000 questions. Workato skips the survey structure objects for these surveys and continues the sync. The surveys record for the survey still syncs.

Preview responses aren't synced ​

survey_responses and response_answers exclude test responses submitted from a collector preview link or the survey builder's preview. All other responses sync, including manually entered and edited responses.

Collector recipient data ​

collector_recipients doesn't include recipient first and last names, because SurveyMonkey doesn't return them in the recipient list. Custom field values sync only for the first 6 contact custom fields in your account.

Minimum sync frequency ​

The minimum supported sync interval is 15 minutes.