---
title: Survey definitions
description: A survey definition is the root record upon which a survey is built.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/servicenow-platform/c\_SurveyDefinitions.html
release: australia
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Survey administration, Use surveys, Surveys, Assessments and Surveys, Exploring Service Administration, Service Administration, Manage service capabilities, Extend ServiceNow AI Platform capabilities]
---

# Survey definitions

A survey definition is the root record upon which a survey is built.

The survey designer generates a survey definition automatically when you save or publish the survey. Survey administrators may want to modify the survey definition to configure additional options for the survey, or to publish the survey when it is ready for distribution.

Survey administrators and survey readers can also send survey invitations directly to users from the survey definition.

-   **[Modify a survey definition](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/servicenow-platform/t_ModifySurveyDefinitions.md)**  
You can configure additional options for a survey definition.
-   **[Schedule periods](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/servicenow-platform/c_SchedulePeriods.md)**  
The available schedule periods are **Only Once**, **No Limit**, **Daily**, **Weekly**, **Monthly**, and **Yearly**.

**Parent Topic:**[Survey administration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/servicenow-platform/r_SurveyAdminTasks.md)

**Related topics**  


[View survey reports]()

[Survey designer]()

[View a survey instance]()

[Survey users and groups]()

[Copy a survey]()

[Publish a survey]()

[Customize the appearance of a survey]()

[Create a survey designer template question]()

[Survey questions]()

[Survey trigger conditions]()

[Survey distribution]()

[Outlook Actionable Messages]()

[Sentiment analysis for surveys]()

[Surveys in Service Portal and the Now Mobile app]()

[Surveys in ITSM Virtual Agent]()

[Legacy survey migration]()

[Send survey invitations to users](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/servicenow-platform/t_SendSurveyInvitationsToUsers.md)