Contents

• Overview
• Deadline-Based Cycles vs Rolling Cycles Quick Comparison
• Deadline-Based Cycles
  • Benefits of a Deadline-Based Cycle
  • Limitations of a Deadline-Based Cycle
• Rolling Cycles
  • Benefits of a Rolling Cycle
  • Limitations of a Rolling Cycle

Overview

This article provides information about the two types of award cycles in Next, outlining each option, including benefits and limitations.

Deadline-Based Cycles vs Rolling Cycles Quick Comparison

The following table summarizes a quick comparison between deadline-based cycles and rolling cycles.  The information in the following sections provides more details.

Deadline-Based Cycles

In Next, a deadline-based award cycle requires designated dates to pass before the next phase, or round, in the workflow can begin.

For example, using a simple workflow as illustrated in the image below, where there is an intake round, followed by a review round, then awarding, the deadline date for the end of the intake round must pass before any applications or intake submissions can move to the review round.  Similarly, the deadline date for the end of the review round must pass before any applications or intake submissions can move to awarding.  

The deadline dates for the intake and review rounds represent the cut-off date for application submissions and the completion of review assessments, respectively.

Further, the movement of applications or submissions through the award cycle’s workflow is automatic within deadline-based award cycles, after the Program Owner starts the next round; this means that in the example above, when the Program Owner starts the review round, all applications move at the same time from the intake round into the review round.

Benefits of a Deadline-Based Cycle

1. Once a deadline-based award cycle is published:
   • Reviewers can still be added to the workflow until the review round starts.  After the review round starts, reviewers can be added manually.  
   • An Intake form can be edited, but the workflow must be unpublished first.
   • The intake round deadline date can be updated, but the workflow must be unpublished first, and the following review round must not have been started.
2. When the awarding starts, all applicants not selected to receive an award are automatically put on a waitlist.

Limitations of a Deadline-Based Cycle

1. New applications cannot be accepted after the intake round deadline date.  If any applications were started before the intake deadline, the candidate(s) can complete and submit their application, but a program administrator will need to approve it for it to continue through the workflow.
2. There is no manual movement of applications/submissions through the workflow in these types of cycles; the application deadline must pass before the review round can start.
3. Reviewer feedback forms cannot be edited once the deadline-based award cycle is published.

Rolling Cycles

In a rolling cycle within Next, applications/submissions can be moved independently of each other throughout the workflow and do not have to wait for deadline dates to pass to move along.  Therefore, rolling cycles could be continuously open to accept new applications while other submissions may already be in the review or awarding phases.

Benefits of a Rolling Cycle

1. The ability to manually move individual applications through the workflow while still accepting new applications.
2. Do not have to wait until an application deadline passes to review submissions.
3. Do not have to wait until a review round deadline passes to start awarding.

Limitations of a Rolling Cycle

1. Review assignments are still based on how the review round was set up in the Workflow Builder, but reviewers may not get all of their assignments at one time.
2. There is no hard date for reviewers to complete their review assignments; program administrators have to rely on reviewers to get their assignments done within an expected time frame.
3. Once a rolling cycle is published, reviewers not added to the workflow prior to publishing will need to be manually added for each submission/application.
4. Reviewer feedback forms cannot be edited once the rolling cycle is published.

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