Overview
Understanding Review Rounds in Your Award Cycle Workflow
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Navigate to the Workflow Builder
- Set Up a Review Round
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Overview

This step-by-step guide shows Program Admins how to set up Review Rounds in Next.

Understanding Review Rounds

A Review Round is one of the core stages in an award cycle's process. It's where applications are evaluated.

Each round in your award cycle's workflow represents a phase where specific actions must be completed. Award cycles use three types of rounds:

Intake Round: Applicants submit information such as applications, letters of recommendation, or essays.
Review Round: Submissions are evaluated to determine which ones will move forward (to the next round, or awarding). This stage often includes collecting reviewer feedback and/or scoring applications.

⚠️IMPORTANT: You must have at least one Review Round after each Intake Round.
Awarding: The last stage in the cycle's process, where final decisions are made.

When the Review Process Begins

A Review Round can start only after all of the following have occurred:

The intake for that round is complete.
The deadline for the corresponding Intake Round has passed.
Applications you want to move forward have been moved into the Review Round.
- For rolling cycles: This means "advancing" applications to the Review Round.
- For deadline-based cycles: This means "starting" the Review Round.

Step-By-Step Instructions

⚠️IMPORTANT: You must set up an Intake Round before you can set up the Review Round. The same Intake Form needs to be used in the Intake Round and evaluated in the corresponding Review Round. If you still need to set up an Intake Round, see ➡️ Set Up an Intake Round.

Navigate to the Workflow Builder

1. Open the Award Cycle you need (Open the Program > Program Settings > All Award Cycles > Open the Award Cycle)

2. Click Workflow Builder in the left-hand menu.

Add a Review Round

1. In the Workflow Builder, select the + icon below the Intake Round box.

2. In the Add Node pop-up, select Review Round.

3. The Review Round is added to the workflow.

⚠️IMPORTANT: You'll see a yellow warning icon next to the new Review Round. The cycle can’t be published until that round is set up.

Set Up a Review Round

After the Review Round is added to the workflow, its settings need to be set up.

⚠️IMPORTANT: For reviewers to appear in the assignment list in your Review Round, they must already be invited to your program. If you still need to invite reviewers, see ➡️Add New Program Members.

Click anywhere in the Review Round box or click Expand +.
A menu appears on the right side of the screen.

Rename the round (if desired):

Click the pencil icon next to the title at the top of the panel.

2. Type in the new name. (There's a 30-character limit)

3. Click Enter on your keyboard, or select the Enter arrow.

Select a round deadline:

Type a date in mm/dd/yyyy or choose a date from the dropdown menu.

Select Who is in Charge of the Round:

The default person is set to the Program Owner. You can leave this as-is; it currently doesn't affect the review process.

Select an Intake Form

Select the Intake Form that will be evaluated in the round. (Only one can be selected.)

📌Note: If there are no forms on the dropdown list, it means you haven't created one yet. For help, see ➡️Intake Forms.

2. (Optional) Hide Fields: If you want to hide any Intake Form fields from reviewers, click the Hide Fields button.

a. In the Hide Intake Form Fields pop-up, fields can be hidden:

By section: Select the checkbox next to the section name in the Hide Intake Form Fields list.

By individual field or field bundle: Click the > arrow on the far-right of the section. Select the field you want to hide (for example, the Email field in the screenshot below).

⚠️IMPORTANT: This information is only hidden when viewing the application as a review assignment and is still visible to any administrators.

b. When you've selected all fields that should be hidden, click Done.

c. The panel will now show the number of hidden fields.

3. (Optional) Display Previous Forms: If you have more than one Review Round, and this is a subsequent round, you can select forms from previous rounds that you want reviewers in this round to see.

Choose How You Want to Make Reviewer Assignments

Select the radio button next to the option you want.

a. Assign applications to all reviewers: All submitted applications will be assigned to each of the reviewers.

➜ Click Next.

b. Set the number of reviewers per application: You choose how many reviewers you want assigned to each application (For example, 2 reviewers per application). The system will randomly distribute assignments so each application gets that number of reviewers, as evenly as possible.

➜ Select the number of reviewers per application from the dropdown.

c. Divide Applications into Groups: Create application groups based on random assignment, a field in your Intake Form, or a custom setup.

➜ See ➡️Creating Review Groups in a Review Round for the next steps.

Choose your feedback type:

1. Follow the instructions in ➡️Feedback Types and Setup in a Review Round.

Assign Reviewers to the round

1. Follow the instructions in ➡️Assign Reviewers to the Review Round to assign reviewers and finish setting up your Review Round.

Finish the Review Round setup

When you're done assigning reviewers, click Finish Round to complete the Review Round setup.

2. Review Round's name updates (if you renamed it), and a green checkmark appears next to it, showing that setup is complete.

➡️Feedback Types and Setup in a Review Round
➡️Assign Reviewers to the Review Round
➡️Setting Up & Using Smart Reviewer
➡️Creating Review Groups in a Review Round

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