> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.talentmap.com/knowledge-base/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.talentmap.com/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview.md).
# Participant Directory Overview
Participant Directory keeps the people who take your surveys in shared lists inside Compass, so you build a population once and reuse it on every survey instead of uploading a new participant file each time.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Some tasks stay with TalentMap.** Turning on Participant Directory for your organization and undoing an import are done by TalentMap. Ask your Project Manager.
{% endhint %}
***
## What Participant Directory does
Before Participant Directory, every survey was built from its own participant file, so the same people were uploaded and assigned again for each new survey. Participant Directory replaces that with lists your organization owns:
* **Participant list**: a population your organization surveys, for example Employees, Citizens or Customers. Each list is separate. The same person on two lists is two unlinked records.
* **Participants**: the people on a list. You bring them in by importing a CSV or Excel file and edit them in a grid.
* **Attributes**: the columns that describe each participant, such as Department or Hire Date. Each attribute has a display label, which is the name your reports show.
* **Calculated fields**: columns Compass works out for you, such as Length of Service from a hire date.
* **Structure**: a reporting tree built from your participant data. It controls which group's results each Restricted User sees.
* **Audit**: a record of every change to the list, who made it and when.
When you connect a list to a survey, changes you make in Participant Directory reach that survey while it is open. A change never deletes an answer a participant has already submitted.
***
## Find Participant Directory
1. Navigate to **Admin** > **Participant Directory**. If you do not see it, ask your Project Manager. TalentMap turns on Participant Directory for your organization.
2. If your organization has no list yet, select **Add people** to start a list from a CSV or Excel file.
Each list has tabs for **Participants**, **Structure**, **Attributes** and **Audit**.
***
## How a list works with your surveys
1. You create a list and import your participants. See [Set Up a Participant List - Quick Start](/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview/set-up-a-participant-list-quick-start.md).
2. You connect the list to a survey, either everyone on it or a filtered group. See [Use a Participant List in a Survey - Quick Start](/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview/use-a-participant-list-in-a-survey-quick-start.md).
3. You keep the list current in Participant Directory. Connected surveys pick up the changes until they close for the first time.
4. You give leaders access to their own group's results through the list's structure. See [Give Restricted Users Access - Quick Start](/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview/give-restricted-users-access-quick-start.md).
{% hint style="info" %}
**Action plans use their own structure.** Action Planning stays on its existing structure. Action plans are not matched to the groups in a participant list's structure.
{% endhint %}
{% hint style="info" %}
**Start with one list.** Begin with one list, such as Employees. Add a separate list only for a population you survey separately, because lists never merge.
{% endhint %}
***
## Who sees what
| Role | What you see | What you can do |
| -------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Site Admin** | Participant Directory for your organization | Create lists, import, edit and deactivate participants, set attributes and the structure, and create users |
| **Report Viewer holding a Survey Creator license** | Your organization's lists when you set up a survey's participants | Connect a list to a survey |
| **Restricted User** | No Participant Directory pages | Results for your assigned group and every group beneath it |
| **TalentMap Admin** | Everything a Site Admin sees | Everything a Site Admin can do, plus undo the latest import |
***
## Related articles
* [Set Up a Participant List - Quick Start](/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview/set-up-a-participant-list-quick-start.md)
* [Use a Participant List in a Survey - Quick Start](/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview/use-a-participant-list-in-a-survey-quick-start.md)
* [Give Restricted Users Access - Quick Start](/knowledge-base/survey-design-and-deployment/participant-directory-overview/give-restricted-users-access-quick-start.md)
* [Permissions](/knowledge-base/step-5-analyze-interpret-and-report/compass-admin/users/permissions.md)
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