Impact Pulses is a feature within Orchestrator that enables L&D teams to send structured pulse surveys to initiative learners and initiative owners, in order to evaluate the real-world behavioral impact of knowledge initiatives.
Where the Reaction indicators (Learner Sentiment Score and Learner Confidence Score) capture how learners react to course content, Impact Pulses go a step further — asking whether that learning has translated into actual behavioral change in the workplace. Together, they form a complete picture of knowledge impact across the organization.
ℹ️ Impact Pulses are part of Orchestrator, available for Core-plan customers. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or Customer Support to get started.
Why Impact Pulses?
Today, most L&D teams face a fundamental challenge: they can track course completions and learner reactions, but they have little visibility into whether that learning is actually changing behavior or driving business results.
Impact Pulses is a tool designed to close that gap. It's grounded in the Kirkpatrick Model — one of the most widely used frameworks for evaluating training effectiveness. The model defines four levels of evaluation:
Level 1 – Reaction: Did learners find the training engaging and relevant?
Level 2 – Learning: Did learners actually acquire new knowledge or skills?
Level 3 – Behavior: Did learners apply what they learned in their day-to-day work?
Level 4 – Results: Did the training drive measurable business outcomes?
Most L&D teams measure only Level 1 and 2 — through completion rates, quiz scores, and learner sentiment scores. Impact Pulses target Level 3: the critical but often overlooked question of whether learning has actually changed behavior in the real world. This is the stage where training either proves its value — or reveals where follow-up is needed.
By focusing on Level 3, Impact Pulses help organizations ask the questions that matter most:
Gather real impact signals – Did learners actually apply their new knowledge on the job? Impact Pulses can capture both qualitative and quantitative feedback on how initiatives are translating into behavioral change in the real world.
Close the loop on business outcomes – Did the initiative move the needle on the KPIs it was designed to support? Connect planned learning objectives to actual business results, with data to back it up.
See impact from every angle – Are learners feeling confident applying what they've learned? Are managers observing real behavioral change in their teams? With both a Learner Pulse and an Initiative Owner Pulse, you get a 360° view of initiative impact — and the response analytics to act on it.
How Impact Pulses Fit into the Broader Impact Measurement Journey
Impact Pulses are the second stage of Learnster's impact measurement sequence within Orchestrator Insights:
Stage | What it measures | How |
Reaction Indicators | How learners react to course content | Sentiment & Confidence scores in Insights |
Activation Indicators (Impact Pulses) | Whether learners are applying knowledge in real work situations | Learner Pulse & Initiative Owner Pulse |
Outcome Results | Business KPI tracking over time | Coming soon |
Together, these layers create a clear line of sight from learning → behavior → business results — giving L&D teams the evidence they need to demonstrate real knowledge impact.
Types of Pulse Surveys
Standardized Pulse Surveys
Impact Pulses comes with two standardized pulse surveys and custom pulse surveys.
Standardized pulse surveys have pre-defined questions, each designed for a different audience and evaluation perspective
Learner Pulse
Sent to initiative learners to capture their self-assessment of knowledge application and behavioral change. The Learner Pulse evaluates whether learners feel they have applied what they learned in real work situations.
Initiative Owner Pulse
Sent to initiative owners (typically managers or team leads) to gather their observations of behavioral change in their teams. The Initiative Owner Pulse evaluates whether observable change has taken place from the perspective of someone close to the learner's day-to-day work.
Together, the two pulse types provide a 360° view of initiative impact — from the learner's own perspective and from the manager's observation.
Custom Pulse Surveys
In addition to the two standardized pulse surveys, admins can also create Custom Pulse Surveys directly in the Library for ad hoc evaluations, specific knowledge checks, or any other initiative-related questions.
Where to Find Impact Pulses
Pulse surveys are stored in the Library, and are linked and managed through Orchestrator Knowledge Initiatives.
Pulse Library
The Pulse Library is a dedicated tab in the Learnster Library, where Pulse Surveys are stored and managed.
Pulse Survey sub-tab in Library👇
It contains two types of Pulses:
Standardized Pulse Surveys (Labeled with "DEFAULT")– Pre-built pulse surveys with locked, non-editable questions: the Learner Pulse and the Initiative Owner Pulse. The content of these surveys is fixed to ensure comparability of results across initiatives and over time. Survey settings (audience, timing, frequency) can be configured through Orchestrator Initiatives, but the questions themselves cannot be changed.
Standardized Pulse Surveys in Library (Labeled with "DEFAULT")👇
Custom Pulse Surveys – Admins can create their own custom pulse surveys directly in the Library. These behave like regular surveys and can be attached to any initiative. Use these for ad hoc evaluations, knowledge checks, or any initiative-specific questions you want to explore.
Custom Pulse Surveys in Library can be created by navigating to "New Pulse Survey" button 👇
Link and manage Pulse Surveys through Orchestrator Initiatives
Impact Pulses are attached to Orchestrator Knowledge Initiatives. Once linked, the pulse settings (audience, timing, frequency) are configured inside Orchestrator Initiatives. To access them:
Navigate to Orchestrator in the Studio navigation bar
Open the Initiatives tab
Select an initiative to open the initiative details view
Click on the Pulses tab in the initiative sub-navigation
The Pulses tab sits alongside the existing Learners, Knowledge Activities, and Settings tabs within each initiative.
The Pulses Overview Table
In the Pulses tab, you will find an overview table of all pulse surveys connected to the initiative. Each row in the table shows:
Name – The name of the pulse
Status – Shows if the pulse is Scheduled or Draft
Created – Date the pulse was created
Sent – Date the pulse was sent out, or "N/A" if not yet sent
Target audience – Number of people assigned to receive the pulse
Pulse overview table in Orchestrator Initiative👇
Adding a Pulse to an Initiative
Adding a Puls to an Initiative👇
To add a pulse survey to an initiative:
In the Pulses tab, click the "New Pulse" button
A modal appears, where you are prompted to choose: Pulse name and Target audience (Initiative Learners or Initiative Owners)
Choose a Pulse Survey from the Library:
Learner Pulse (Labeled with "DEFAULT") – the standardized learner self-assessment survey
Initiative Owner Pulse (Labeled with "DEFAULT") – the standardized initiative owner/manager survey
Any custom pulse surveys previously created by admins in the Library
Select the pulse you want to use and submit
The pulse is now added to the initiative in Draft status, ready to be configured.
Configuring Pulse Settings
After adding a pulse, click on it to open its Settings side panel, where you can configure how and when it is sent out.
Pulse side panel appears when clicking on a specific Pulse to configure it's setting👇
Scheduling the Pulse
Configure when the pulse is sent out. The available options differ slightly depending on whether the pulse is sent to Initiative Learners or Initiative Owners.
Scheduling for Initiative Learners:
Instant – Send the pulse instantly or choose a specific date and time
On completion – Sent to each individual learner when they have completed all courses in the initiative. Since learners progress at different rates, each learner receives the pulse at a different point in time.
Periodic – Sent repeatedly at a set interval (number of pulses and days/weeks/months apart). Can be combined with Instant or On Completion.
Scheduling for Initiative Owners:
Instant – Send the pulse instantly or choose a specific date and time
On completion – Sent when the total initiative progress reaches a percentage level specified by the admin
Periodic – Sent repeatedly at a set interval. Can be combined with Instant or On Completion.
Notifications
Survey participants can be notified about the survey through email and push notifications in the platform/app. This is something you can configure and turn off through the Pulse side panel.
Is you want to review or edit the System message that will be sent out to the survey participant- click on the "Go to notifications" button.
Draft or Scheduled Pulse
Pulses have two states:
Draft – Saved but not yet sent. Triggered by clicking "Save".
Scheduled – Active and scheduled for send-out. Triggered by clicking "Schedule".
An ongoing pulse can be unscheduled (canceled) before it ends if needed.
ℹ️ Once published, the target audience of a pulse cannot be changed.
Viewing Pulse Responses and Analytics
After a pulse has been sent out and responses are collected, you can view the results directly from the Pulses tab:
Click on a pulse survey in the overview table
Navigate to the Analytics tab within the Pulse side panel
View a summary of all responses, including score distributions and individual answers
For periodic pulses, you are able to view all periods in parallel, in separate tabs ("Period 1", "Period 2", etc.)
Responses are anonymous. Response analytics help L&D teams identify patterns, follow up with specific groups, and understand what aspects of the initiative are — or aren't — translating into real-world behavioral change.
Pulse Analytics can be found in the Pulse side bar for the selected Pulse. Here you can view the responses per question and evaluate the survey progress.👇
Roles and Permissions
Admins and Super Admins have full access to the Pulse Library and creation of custom pulse surveys
Admins and Super Admins have full access to create, configure, publish, and view analytics for pulse surveys inside Orchestrator Initiatives
Initiative Owners have view-only access to pulse surveys and responses within their initiatives in Orchestrator
Best Practices
Use both pulse types together – The Learner Pulse and Initiative Owner Pulse are most powerful in combination, as they validate behavioral change from two perspectives, providing a 360° view of initiative impact.
Time your pulses thoughtfully – For behavioral change to be observable, learners typically need time to apply new knowledge. Consider using the "On Completion" or "Periodic" options rather than sending pulses immediately.
Use periodic pulses to track behavioral change over time – Rather than sending a single pulse at the end of an initiative, set up periodic send-outs to measure whether knowledge application is increasing over time. This helps you see whether behavioral change is growing, plateauing, or declining — and gives you the data to act on it.
Use standardized pulses for comparability – The locked questions in the Learner and Initiative Owner Pulse templates ensure you can compare results across initiatives and track change over time.
Create custom pulses for specific needs – Use custom created pulses for targeted knowledge checks, pre-initiative evaluation, or ad hoc evaluations that are unique to a specific initiative.
Use custom pulses as a pre-initiative baseline survey – Before assigning courses to learners, send a custom pulse survey to assess the existing knowledge level of your target group. This helps you understand where learners are starting from, tailor the initiative content and difficulty level to the right audience, and measure the true delta in knowledge application once the initiative is underway. A pre-initiative pulse combined with a post-initiative Learner Pulse gives you a clear before-and-after picture of impact.
Review analytics regularly – Don't wait until an initiative ends. Use pulse response data throughout the initiative lifecycle to course-correct early.
Summary
Impact Pulses give L&D teams a structured, scalable way to evaluate whether knowledge initiatives are creating real behavioral change — not just course completions. By collecting feedback from both learners and managers, and giving admins full control over timing and frequency, Impact Pulses turn learning measurement from an annual exercise into an ongoing, actionable practice.