Organisational Context for Prism (what it is and how to add it)
Prism uses your organisational context to make its interactions with you and your employees more relevant and aligned to your goals. By understanding your language, values and people priorities, Prism can tailor its recommendations so managers receive ideas that genuinely fit your organisation - not generic guidance.
To enable this, you can add a short, succinct overview of your organisation’s context in the platform.
Adding context is quick and simple, but it can make a significant difference to the quality of Prism’s outputs. It helps Prism reflect the reality of your organisation — how you operate, what matters most, and what your managers are expected to reinforce day-to-day.
What is “context”?
Context is a short description of what matters most in your organisation right now - the language, values and people priorities that Prism should reflect in its suggestions and outputs.
Think of it as a way to tell Prism:
what you care about
what you’re working towards
how you describe things internally
what initiatives you want actions to reinforce
Context is not a set of survey results, and it doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s simply a short, practical description of your organisation and your people priorities, so Prism can generate suggestions that feel familiar, realistic, and aligned to your direction.
Why does context matter?
Adding context helps Prism generate suggestions that are:
more relevant to your organisation
more credible to employees and managers
more aligned to your values and priorities
more actionable in your real-world environment
Context also influences the Prism Chat and Prism analysis. Put in another way, Context makes Prism feel “moulded to your organisation”.
Without context, Prism can still generate useful recommendations - but with context, those recommendations become sharper, more aligned, and easier for managers to trust and act on. It helps close the gap between insight and action by making suggestions feel like they were written for your organisation.
Where Prism uses your context
Your organisational context doesn’t just improve Prism Suggest - it helps Prism respond more accurately and consistently across the platform.
Prism uses context to better understand your organisation’s language, priorities and people focus areas, which can influence:
Prism Suggest recommendations (the most visible use case)
Prism Chat (so responses reflect your organisation’s priorities and terminology)
Prism Manager Action Planning (helping managers receive more relevant actions and guidance)
Qualitative insight and narrative outputs (so summaries and themes align to your organisational direction)
In short, context helps Prism stay aligned to what matters in your organisation - wherever Prism is supporting the user journey.
This means context supports consistency across the employee experience journey - from interpreting results, to generating actions, to supporting managers in delivery. The more clearly your context reflects your organisation, the more naturally Prism can support your teams.
Where does context sit?
Context is stored at two levels:
1. Organisational context
This is your default context, applied across your organisation.
2. Survey-level context
Your organisational context is automatically copied into each survey as a starting point.
This gives you flexibility: if a specific survey has a different focus (for example a wellbeing pulse rather than a full census survey), you can edit the survey-level context so Prism suggestions are tailored to that topic.
This approach keeps things simple for organisations running multiple surveys. You don’t need to start from scratch each time - your organisational context carries through automatically, and you only need to adjust it when a particular survey has a different focus or audience.
How to add or update context
Option 1: Clients with an Unlimited licence
If you have an Unlimited licence, you can add or edit your context directly within the platform.
This is ideal if you want full control and the ability to update context for different surveys as needed. If you have an Unlimited licence, your Dashboard Super Users can manage context directly, helping you keep it up to date and tailored across surveys.
Organisation Context
At Organisation-wide level, you can access Context:
Survey Context
At a survey level, you access the Context here. You can choose to use the Organisation-wide Context or you can choose to override it for that survey - so that the Context reflects the survey's purpose.
Option 2: Managed clients
If you are a managed client, or if you just want us to do it for you, you can ask a member of the People Insight team to add or update your organisational context for you.
This is ideal if you want support shaping the wording, or if you’d like your context aligned to your wider EX programme.
If you’d like us to add or update your context, you can simply send us a short summary of your values, people priorities and key initiatives, and we can format it appropriately and apply it to your organisation for you.
What should I include in context?
We recommend keeping context to no more than 500 words.
Helpful types of context include:
Your values
Provide the headline values and a brief description of each.
Key people initiatives or priorities
Share the titles and short summaries of any initiatives relevant to your survey topics - for example:
wellbeing or inclusion programmes
leadership development or talent initiatives
culture, vision or strategy priorities
any people-related commitments or frameworks you would like Prism’s suggestions to reinforce
You don’t need to include everything. Prism performs best when context is focused on the most important priorities you want managers to reinforce — for example, 3–6 values and 3–8 key initiatives or frameworks.
What good context looks like (and what to include)
The best organisational context is short, specific, and written in your organisation’s language. It should help Prism understand who you are, how work happens, and what you’re trying to improve — so suggested actions, chat responses, and qualitative insights feel genuinely relevant.
A strong context statement typically includes:
1. What your organisation does (and how you’re structured)
Include a quick overview of your organisation type and how teams operate.
For example:
sector and service model (e.g. housing, higher education, healthcare, retail)
operational reality (frontline/shift-based/site-based vs office-based/hybrid)
broad structure or major divisions (Operations / Central Services / Schools / Directorates)
2. Your values (in your own words)
List your headline values and a short description where useful. This helps Prism align recommendations to what you want leaders to reinforce day-to-day.
3. Your current people priorities and initiatives
Include the programmes, priorities or frameworks you already have in place — especially the ones you want managers to reinforce. This helps Prism generate actions that align to your organisation’s direction and avoid suggesting things that don’t fit.
4. What you want managers to do more of (in practice)
If you have clear expectations for managers (for example, regular check-ins, team huddles, recognition routines, wellbeing conversations, or consistent onboarding), include them. Prism can then recommend actions that support those behaviours.
5. Survey-specific focus (optional)
If a survey has a specific purpose (for example, wellbeing, onboarding, hybrid working, leadership), you can tailor the survey-level context so Prism’s suggestions stay focused on that topic.
A simple context template (copy and complete)
If you’re not sure where to start, you can use the structure below and keep it concise.
Organisation overview
A short description of who you are, what you do, and how work happens across teams.
Values
Our values are: [Value 1], [Value 2], [Value 3]…
In practice, this means: [brief description].
People priorities and initiatives currently in place
Our key people priorities include: [priority areas].
Key initiatives include:
[Initiative name] – [one-line summary]
[Initiative name] – [one-line summary]
[Initiative name] – [one-line summary]
What we want managers to focus on
We want managers to consistently: [3–5 behaviours].
Survey focus (optional)
This survey is focused on: [topic]. Prism suggestions should prioritise actions related to: [themes].
Top tips for writing strong context
Keep it short, clear and written in your organisation’s language
Include real initiative names where possible (Prism can reflect them back)
Focus on what you want managers to reinforce, not every detail
Tailor survey-level context when a survey has a specific topic (e.g. wellbeing, onboarding, hybrid working)
Common mistakes to avoid
Being too vague (e.g. “we want to improve culture”) without priorities or initiatives
Including too much — context isn’t a strategy document, it’s a short input to sharpen Prism
Forgetting survey-level tailoring when a survey has a specific focus
Using generic language instead of the terms your organisation actually uses
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who can add or edit organisational context?
If you have an Unlimited licence, your Dashboard Super Users can add or edit organisational context directly in the platform.
If you are a managed client, you can ask the People Insight team to add or update it for you.
How long should our context be?
We recommend keeping context to no more than 500 words. Short, specific context tends to produce the best Prism outputs.
Do we need to include survey results in our context?
No. Context is not survey feedback or results. It’s a short description of your organisation’s priorities, values and initiatives so Prism can tailor its outputs to fit your environment.
Should we update our context regularly?
Yes — it’s a good idea to review context whenever your priorities change (for example, new strategy themes, new leadership programmes, or major organisational change).
Does context apply to every survey?
Your organisational context is automatically copied into each survey as a starting point. You can then edit the survey-level context if a specific survey has a different focus (e.g. wellbeing pulse, onboarding survey).
When should we use survey-level context?
Use survey-level context when the survey is topic-specific, or when you want Prism suggestions to focus on a particular area (for example, workload and wellbeing, hybrid working, leadership, inclusion, or onboarding).
What if we run multiple surveys across different audiences?
That’s exactly what the two-level approach supports. Organisational context gives consistency, while survey-level context gives flexibility for different survey types, groups, or priorities.
Does context affect Prism Suggest only?
No. Context can influence Prism across the platform, including Prism Suggest, Prism Chat, manager action planning, and qualitative insight outputs.
Will context change the actions Prism suggests immediately?
Once context is saved, Prism will use it going forward to shape suggestions and outputs. If you update context, Prism will reflect the latest version.
What if we don’t add any context?
Prism can still generate suggestions without context, but adding context helps make outputs more relevant, aligned and credible for your organisation.
What makes a “good” context statement?
The best context is:
• short and specific
• written in your organisation’s language
• focused on real values, priorities and initiatives
• clear about what managers should reinforce in practice