Glossary
The vocabulary ScatterSpoke uses in the product, in this documentation, and in support. Terms are listed alphabetically; where a term has a page of its own, it links to it.
Agent Persona — The interviewer identity Participants meet in an Agent Survey — its name (Spoke by default) and its conversational tone. The Agent Persona is configured as part of Coverage.
Agent Results Brief — The AI-written synthesis of Participant Response Transcripts. It is distinct from the Agent Survey Brief, which sets a survey up rather than reporting on it. An Agent Survey can show live derived signals — counts, themes, confidence, citable evidence, Conflict Signals — without regenerating the polished brief for every new response. Static Surveys do not receive one automatically; on a paid plan a Seat Holder can generate one from Static Survey data while the survey is live or after it closes. A brief represents the transcripts available when it was generated, is stored with its source metadata, and can become stale as new responses arrive. Regeneration is always explicit.
Agent Survey — A survey where you do not author a fixed set of questions. The AI first interviews you about the feedback outcome you want, then interviews each Participant turn by turn, adapting to where their answers lead. A fixed set of authored questions presented as a chat is not an Agent Survey. Agent Surveys are a paid-plan capability. See Agent Surveys.
Agent Survey Brief — The intent, audience, tone, off-limits subjects, and time budget that guide an Agent Survey, together with its Coverage. The brief is authored through a live agent interview — the builder’s single Design step — which assembles it in real time as the conversation uncovers each part, rather than by filling in a form. It is not a fixed set of questions shown to Participants.
Analysis Confidence — How much confidence the product has in a survey’s analysis, given the Participant Response Transcripts available for that run: insufficient, tentative, confident, or final. It constrains how strongly the product states conclusions. Confidence is relative to the run’s reachable response pool — a small run with full participation can give the best available read without carrying the weight of a larger one.
Anonymous Participant Response — A survey response that is intentionally not bound to a User identity. Anonymous responses are a paid privacy option, chosen explicitly by the workspace. See the participant experience.
Ask Artifact — A building-block visualization the Ask agent composes inline inside an answer to fit the question — theme bars, a line or area trend, a citable quote, a Conflict Signal, or a sources panel. Ask Artifacts render real derived signals from the grounded source; the agent chooses which building block fits rather than emitting a fixed layout. See Ask Artifacts.
Ask Pool — The shared workspace allowance for Ask Queries. On paid plans the pool scales with Seat Capacity, so a team can use Ask without per-user credits. The included allowance resets with the billing period. See Ask Pool and usage.
Ask Query — A question a Seat Holder submits to Ask that reaches the AI-backed answer path. Ask Queries are distinct from Agent Surveys and from participant feedback conversations. See Ask.
Ask Thread — A saved, resumable sequence of Ask Queries and their AI answers, shown in the Ask threads list (labelled Threads). The thread is the unit you pin, rename, search, and ground; a single Ask Query is one turn within it. See Threads and pinning.
Billing Entitlement — The workspace-level answer to which features are enabled in the workspace right now. It combines the workspace’s purchased plan with the billing state that determines whether paid capabilities are currently effective.
Billing Entitlement Summary — A minimal version of the Billing Entitlement used by the app. It answers plan, effective access, seat capacity, and seat usage without including invoices, cards, or detailed billing history.
Billing Management — The in-app workspace experience for changing plans, changing Seat Capacity, buying Usage Credits, managing payment methods, canceling paid access, and viewing invoices. See Managing billing.
Billing State — Whether a workspace’s billing relationship is in good standing, has a payment problem, is incomplete, is unpaid, or is canceled. A payment problem does not immediately reduce access, but unpaid, incomplete, and canceled billing make paid capabilities ineffective.
Canceled Billing — A billing state where paid capabilities are no longer effective for the workspace. Existing paid artifacts may remain visible, but new paid actions require a new billing change.
Conflict Signal — An Agent Survey result where meaningful groups of Participant Response Transcripts disagree on the same topic. A Conflict Signal is an insight, not a survey lifecycle state.
Coverage — The structured directives that steer an Agent Survey interview: an opening prompt, a set of topics (each with a rationale, a priority of must-cover / should-cover / if-natural, and a probe depth of light / standard / deep), hard guardrails, and a closing prompt. Coverage is part of the Agent Survey Brief and is assembled live during the Design interview.
Effective Tier — The plan level that drives product access, upgrade prompts, and billing-aware screens at this moment. Product gates use Effective Tier rather than the purchased Plan Tier, because Effective Tier may fall back when billing is no longer in good standing.
Over Seat Capacity — A state where a workspace has more Seat Holders than its current Seat Capacity. Existing Seat Holders keep access and can keep using entitled features, but no new Seat Holders can be added or converted until the workspace has enough Seat Capacity. See Seats and capacity.
Participant — A user who is tracked so they can answer survey or feedback questions, without workspace access to the app. Participants do not count against paid seats. See the participant experience.
Participant Response Edit Window — The period after submission when a Participant may revise the current response tied to their Survey Distribution. The default edit window is 24 hours; a survey defines the default for its new responses, and each response stores the edit window it resolved to. Editing changes the current response rather than creating another one.
Participant Response Transcript — The ordered record of what the survey asked and how the Participant answered. Every response has a transcript, whether the survey is Static or Agent, so reporting can show the actual question-and-answer context. The transcript is the canonical evidence record; structured answers are derived from it for charts, filters, and summaries. During a Participant Response Edit Window, editing replaces the current transcript rather than appending a revision history. See Responses and transcripts.
Participant Resume — A Participant returning to an unfinished survey through the same participant-specific Survey Distribution. Resuming in the same browser can remain anonymous; resuming from an emailed link requires Participant Verification.
Participant Verification — A participant-facing identity check confirming that the Participant controls the email address or identity used for a survey response. Free Static Surveys require Participant Verification; paid workspaces may choose verified or anonymous response collection.
Payment Problem — A recoverable billing issue where a paid workspace’s payment needs attention but paid access remains temporarily effective.
Plan Tier — The purchased catalog level for a workspace: Free, Pro, Business, or Enterprise. A workspace’s Plan Tier is not always the same as its effective access when billing is unpaid or canceled. See Plans and tiers.
Recurring Survey Series — A sequence of survey runs created from the same recurring survey setup. Comparing themes across runs belongs to a Recurring Survey Series, not to one-off surveys. See Recurring Survey Series.
Response Quota — An optional cap on how many Participant Responses a survey run will accept. A quota is commonly used for anonymous collection and first-N participation, but it can apply to any distribution strategy. Quota is consumed when a Participant submits, not when they open the survey or save a draft.
Reusable Survey Entry Link — A public survey URL that can be shared with many Participants, creating or resuming a participant-specific Survey Distribution behind the scenes. See Distribution.
Scheduled Cancellation — A paid workspace state where cancellation has been requested but paid access remains effective until the current paid period ends. The app shows when paid access will end.
Seat Capacity — The count of Seat Holders a workspace is currently entitled to have. Free workspaces have one Seat Holder; a paid workspace can also have one, and billing sync updates its Seat Capacity from the paid subscription. See Seats and capacity.
Seat Conversion — The explicit change that grants a Participant workspace access and makes them a Seat Holder. Seat Conversion requires available Seat Capacity, or a billing change that increases it. See Invite users and seats.
Seat Holder — A user who can enter the workspace and use platform features, whether their role is active or read-only. Seat Holders count against the workspace’s paid seat quantity.
SSO Verification — A Participant Verification method where the Participant must verify through the workspace’s single sign-on provider. When a workspace enforces SSO, Seat Holders and Participants must use SSO for verified identity flows; Anonymous Participant Responses bypass identity binding by design. See Participant SSO verification.
Static Survey — A traditional survey authored and distributed by a Seat Holder. Static Surveys are unlimited, including on Free workspaces, and are counted separately from Agent Surveys for billing and usage. See Static Surveys.
Survey Distribution — A participant-specific access grant for a survey run. A Survey Distribution determines whether that Participant can enter, resume, edit, or is blocked from the survey; survey state determines whether the overall run is accepting responses. See Distribution.
Survey Distribution Access State — Whether a Participant can use a Survey Distribution to enter, resume, or edit, or is blocked. It is derived from eligibility such as revocation, expiration, quota, disqualification, and edit windows.
Survey Distribution Delivery State — Whether survey outreach has been sent or has failed for a Survey Distribution. Delivery State is not the same as the Participant’s access eligibility.
Survey Distribution Expiration — The time after which a Survey Distribution no longer grants participant access. Surveys define the default expiration for newly created distributions, and each distribution stores the expiration it resolved to. The default is seven days.
Thread Grounding — The optional source scope bound to an Ask Thread — currently a single survey — that grounds the thread’s answers and the evidence behind its Ask Artifacts. When grounding is unset, Ask answers across all workspace feedback; setting it constrains retrieval to that source. See Grounding.
Usage Credit — An included or purchased allowance for a metered capability. Purchased Usage Credits belong to the workspace, survive plan changes, and roll over until used; unused purchased credits can be revoked when their purchase is refunded. See Usage credits and the Ask Pool.
User — A person known to ScatterSpoke. A User can be a Participant, a Seat Holder, or both over time, through their relationship to a Workspace.
Verified Participant — A Participant whose identity has been confirmed by the system, usually through email verification or a remembered participant session. Verified Participants can still be anonymous to Seat Holders in reporting.
White Label Branding — Workspace-controlled branding for the participant and app experience. White Label Branding is available on Pro, Business, and Enterprise workspaces. See White label.
Workspace — The organization-level home where people collaborate, create surveys, use Ask, and manage settings. See Core concepts.
Workspace Access — The ability to enter the workspace and use features. Authentication or participant verification alone does not grant Workspace Access; it requires being a Seat Holder.
Workspace Relationship — The relationship between a User and a Workspace that determines whether the User is a Participant, a Seat Holder, or both. The two are not mutually exclusive, and seat usage is based on the Workspace Relationship.