Contents
- Overview
- What is Smart Reviewer?
- Before You Begin: Set Up Your Custom Feedback Form
- Step-By-Step Instructions
-
Related Articles
Overview
This article shows Program Admins how to set up and use the AI‑powered Smart Reviewer feature in Next.
⚠️ Beta Notice: Smart Reviewer is currently in Beta. Only organizations that have signed the Beta Agreement can have this feature turned on. To get started, please contact Customer Success.
🎥 Quick Video Walkthrough
Watch this short video for a quick overview of Smart Reviewer & Smart Summary.
What is Smart Reviewer?
Smart Reviewer is an AI tool that works alongside your review team. It evaluates applications based on the criteria you set in your Custom Feedback Form.
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When to Use Smart Reviewer
- Smart Reviewer is most helpful when your award cycle needs:
- An initial screening: Quickly review applications and narrow down your pool
- Support for high‑volume cycles: Add capacity when your team is reviewing many applications
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Parallel review: Provide an additional perspective alongside your review team
- Smart Reviewer is most helpful when your award cycle needs:
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Who Can Use Smart Reviewer?
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Can assign Smart Reviewer:
- Organization Owners
- Program Owners
- Program Managers
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Can view Smart Reviewer's Feedback:
- Organization Owners
- Program Owners
- Program Managers
- Program Staff
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Can assign Smart Reviewer:
📌Note: Reviewers cannot see Smart Reviewer responses within the platform.
Before You Begin: Set Up Your Custom Feedback Form
Currently, Smart Reviewer only works for Review Rounds that use a Custom Feedback Form. It does not work for rounds that use Voting or Scoring as the feedback type.
1. Create a Custom Feedback Form: If you haven’t created one yet, you must build a Custom Feedback Form for your Review Round. If you need to build one, see ➡️Building Custom Review Feedback Forms.
2. Add the Custom Feedback Form to Your Review Round: When setting up your Review Round, make sure you select Custom Feedback Form for feedback type.
3. Add Scoring (Optional): If you want Smart Reviewer to score applications, your Custom Feedback Form must include a Calculated Value Field. For help setting this up, see ➡️Calculated Value Fields.
⚠️ Field Type Limitations in Custom Feedback Forms
Smart Reviewer works with most fields in your Custom Feedback Form.
- A few field types are not currently supported:
- Presentational fields — Display‑only; Smart Reviewer does not complete them.
- Upload fields — Smart Reviewer cannot upload files and will always skip these.
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Table fields — Smart Reviewer does not complete table fields.
- Numeric Slider fields are supported, but the minimum must be set to 0 to ensure they work correctly. Smart Reviewer may skip them if the minimum value is set above 0.
📌Note: These limitations apply only to Smart Reviewer’s automated responses. Human reviewers can complete all fields normally.
💡 Tips for Creating an Effective Custom Feedback Form
Smart Reviewer gives the best results when your Custom Feedback Form is specific and aligned with your application (intake) form.
These tips will help you get clear, consistent feedback across all applications.
1. Match Your Feedback Questions to the Application
- Smart Reviewer can only evaluate information that applicants submit. The questions on your Custom Feedback Form should reference things asked in the application.
- Similarly, make sure your Intake Form includes questions that ask for the details you want to review (Examples: financial need, community impact, goals and milestones, project timeline, etc).
2. Cover One Evaluation Area Per Question (Field)
- Each field should focus on a single evaluation area. Combining multiple criteria in one question often leads to incomplete or unclear responses.
Examples
- Not effective:
“Does the applicant explain the project and demonstrate financial need?” (This combines two criteria)
- Better:
“Does the applicant clearly explain the project?”
“Does the applicant demonstrate financial need?”
3. Be Specific About What Should Be Evaluated
- Tell Smart Reviewer exactly what information to look for.
- Avoid vague prompts, which make it harder to give accurate feedback.
Examples:
- Not effective:
“Is this a strong application?”
“Evaluate the proposal.”
- Better:
“Does the applicant describe the project’s scope clearly?”
4. Clearly Define What Each Score Means (If Using Scores)
- If your fields use numeric scores (calculated values), explain what each score means.
- Avoid labels like “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Strong,” which can be interpreted differently.
Example (1–4 scale):
4 — The applicant clearly describes the project activities, provides a realistic timeline, and explains the expected outcomes.
3 — The applicant describes the project activities but the timeline or expected outcomes are incomplete or missing.
2 — The applicant provides only a brief or vague description of the project, with little detail about activities, timeline, or outcomes
1 — The project description is unclear, confusing, or missing key information.
0 – No response provided.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Add Smart Reviewer to a Review Round
Auto-Assign Smart Reviewer
Before testing or publishing your award cycle, you can add Smart Reviewer to your reviewer auto‑assignments in the Review Round settings.
1. Open the Award Cycle you need.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Workflow Builder.
3. In the Workflow Builder, click Expand+ in the upper-right corner of the Review Round to open its settings.
4. Confirm Type of Feedback = Custom Feedback Form: When selecting the type of feedback you want reviewers to provide, make sure Custom Feedback Form is selected.
For more help, see ➡️Set Up a Review Round.
5. Under Assign Reviewers, select Smart Reviewer from the dropdown. (Note: You can also add reviewers from your team here, if desired. For more help, see ➡️Assign Reviewers to the Review Round).
6. Click Finish Round.
📌Note: If you have multiple Review Rounds and want to use Smart Reviewer in all of them, you must assign Smart Reviewer to each round.
Manually Assign Smart Reviewer
After testing begins or the award cycle is published, you can no longer edit reviewer auto‑assignments in the Review Round settings. At that point, you must assign Smart Reviewer manually.
📌Note: In a deadline‑based cycle, auto‑assignment remains available until the Review Round starts. After the round begins, you must use manual assignment.
- Follow the steps in ➡️Assign Reviewers Manually. Select “Smart Reviewer” when choosing new reviewers.
Review Smart Reviewer Feedback in a Review Round
Once applications move into a Review Round, Smart Reviewer automatically adds feedback to each application.
For help moving applications to review, see these articles:
➡️Start First Review Round: Deadline-Based Cycles
➡️Rolling Cycles Administration
1. Open the Review Round you want to access. (This title will vary based on how you named it)
2. Under the Feedback Results column, click Go to feedback on the application you want to review feedback for.
💡Tip: If you already have an application open, click the blue View Feedback button in the upper‑right corner.
3. In the Reviewer Feedback pop-up, click Smart Reviewer.
4. Smart Reviewer’s feedback responses appear. Use the scroll bar to view all feedback.
📌Note: Only Program Admins (not reviewers) can view the Smart Reviewer feedback.
Related Articles
➡️ Setting Up & Using Smart Summary: Learn how to generate AI‑powered summaries of submitted applications.
➡️ Sort & Filter Applications (Intake & Review Rounds): Learn how to customize your data views. For example, if you set up a calculated value field in your Custom Feedback Form (e.g., Total Score), you can add it as a column to your view to compare applicants’ scores.
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