Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey
The Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey gathers quantitative and qualitative feedback from UW-Madison employees regarding their experiences and perceptions of administrative service quality.
The 2026 survey was the third iteration of the survey, following previous surveys conducted in 2022 and 2024.
The AQSS assesses employee experiences with seven categories of administrative services, referred to as Standard Activity Models (SAMs): Communications, Facilities, Finance, General Administration, Human Resources (HR), Information Technology (IT), and Research Administration (RA).
2026 Survey Results
A total of 3,660 employees took part in the 2026 Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey (AQSS), with a response rate of 12.9% and over 20,000 qualitative responses. The overall satisfaction rating decreased from 3.90 in 2024 to 3.83 in 2026 on a 1 through 5 scale. This is still up from a satisfaction rating of 3.81 in 2022.
The technical report, summary report, and dashboard will be released later this Fall.
If you missed the survey, or have additional feedback, please fill out the Finance and Administration feedback form.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to frequently asked questions about the Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey.
The survey provides data to inform UW–Madison’s decision-making related to enterprise-wide initiatives, including Operational Excellence and ongoing Workday stabilization efforts. In addition to supporting institution-wide planning and decision-making, AQSS results provide schools, colleges, divisions, and departments with insight into employee experiences within their local administrative environments. AQSS results may inform future decisions regarding administrative investments, resource allocation, staffing, training, service delivery, and organizational development.
The intended audience for actionable survey results included functional leaders responsible for each administrative service area (e.g., HR, Finance, Facilities, and IT), the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and administrative leaders across the university. An overview of key quantitative and qualitative findings is shared with the broader campus community.
The survey is not being used for evaluation of budgets or employee performance.
Campus (central)-level units serve the broader university. The Office of Human Resources and the Madison Budget Office are considered campus- or central-level units.
Divisional or departmental (decentralized) units serve the school, college, division, or department in which they immediately reside. The human resources team in the School of Business and the finance & budget team in Recreation & Wellbeing are both divisional or departmental units.
HelioCampus is a benchmarking consortium with more than 70 active members. Members are colleges and universities from around the country. UW-Madison has been a member of the HelioCampus consortium since 2016.
Contact Us
If you would like the project team to speak with your group or have questions about the findings, email adminqualitysurvey@vc.wisc.edu.