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Tenant-Based Data Isolation

Askalot supports two deployment modes that determine how data is organized and who can access what. This guide explains both modes and helps you understand which applies to your environment.

Deployment Modes

Multi-Tenant Mode

In multi-tenant environments, multiple independent teams or organizations share a single Askalot instance. Data isolation ensures each team only sees their own data.

How it works:

  • Respondents belong to specific Projects
  • You only see respondents from projects you own
  • When creating a respondent, you must select which project they belong to
  • Campaigns can only use respondents from the same project

Best for: Shared environments, research agencies with multiple clients, organizations with independent research teams.

Single-Tenant Mode

In single-tenant environments, a single organization has exclusive use of the Askalot instance. Respondents are a shared resource available to all users.

How it works:

  • Respondents are independent of projects
  • All users can see and use all respondents
  • Any respondent can be assigned to any campaign
  • Projects organize questionnaires and campaigns, but don't restrict respondent access

Best for: Dedicated deployments, single-organization use, environments where all users should share respondent data.

Working in Multi-Tenant Mode

Creating Respondents

When you create a new respondent, you assign them to one of your projects:

  1. Navigate to Respondents in Targetor
  2. Click New Respondent
  3. Select the Project this respondent belongs to (required)
  4. Fill in the respondent details

Respondents belong exclusively to their assigned project. Only owners of that project can see or manage them.

Viewing Respondents

The respondent list shows a merged view of all respondents from all projects you own. If you own multiple projects, you'll see respondents from each of them in a single list with a Project column indicating which project each belongs to.

Assigning Respondents to Campaigns

When creating or editing a campaign, you can only assign respondents that belong to the same project as the campaign. This ensures data isolation between different research initiatives.

Example workflow:

Project Respondents Campaigns
Customer Research 500 customers Customer Satisfaction Q1
Employee Study 200 employees Engagement Survey 2026

Customers can only be assigned to Customer Research campaigns. Employees can only be assigned to Employee Study campaigns.

Working in Single-Tenant Mode

Creating Respondents

Respondents are created without project assignment:

  1. Navigate to Respondents in Targetor
  2. Click New Respondent
  3. Fill in the respondent details (no project selection needed)

Viewing and Using Respondents

All respondents appear in a single shared list. Any user can:

  • View all respondents in the system
  • Assign any respondent to any campaign
  • Edit or manage any respondent

This provides maximum flexibility when data isolation isn't required.

Project Ownership (Both Modes)

Regardless of tenant mode, project-based access control applies to:

  • Projects: Only visible to users listed as owners
  • Questionnaires: Visible if you own the parent project
  • Campaigns: Visible if you own the parent project

Administrator Access

Users with administrator privileges can see all content across all projects in both modes. This enables platform-wide management and support.

Practical Examples

Multi-Tenant: Research Agency

A research agency serves multiple clients from a single Askalot instance:

Project Owners Respondents
Acme Corp Study Account Manager A 1,000 Acme customers
Beta Inc Research Account Manager B 500 Beta users
Gamma LLC Survey Account Manager A 300 Gamma members

Each account manager sees only their clients' respondents. Acme customers cannot accidentally be surveyed for Beta Inc.

Multi-Tenant: Enterprise Departments

Different departments run independent research:

Project Owners Respondents
Marketing Research Marketing Team Customer panel
HR Engagement HR Team Employee roster
Product Feedback Product Team Beta testers

Each team manages their own respondent pool without seeing other departments' data.

Single-Tenant: Dedicated Instance

A company has its own Askalot deployment:

  • All 2,000 respondents are visible to all researchers
  • Any researcher can create campaigns using any respondents
  • Projects organize work but don't restrict access
  • Respondents can participate in campaigns across different projects

Best Practices

Multi-Tenant Environments

  • Plan project structure carefully — respondents cannot be moved between projects after creation
  • Use descriptive project names — include client name, time period, or research objective
  • Add all collaborators as project owners — ensure everyone who needs access is included

Single-Tenant Environments

  • Use external IDs consistently — link respondents to your CRM or panel provider
  • Avoid duplicate respondents — without project isolation, duplicates are harder to manage
  • Document respondent sources — use the source_system field to track origin

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know which mode my environment uses?

Your Askalot administrator configures the tenant mode. If you see a project selection when creating respondents, you're in multi-tenant mode.

Can a respondent belong to multiple projects?

No, in multi-tenant mode each respondent belongs to exactly one project. If you need the same person in multiple studies, create separate respondent records or use a shared project with multiple owners.

Can I switch between modes?

Tenant mode is configured at deployment time. Contact your administrator to discuss changing modes. Note that switching may require data migration.

What happens to existing respondents when switching modes?

Respondents without project assignments become visible to all users in single-tenant mode. In multi-tenant mode, respondents without projects become inaccessible to non-administrators.

Next Steps