Contents

• Overview
• What is Average Scoring?
• Step-By-Step Instructions
  • Set Up Average Scoring
    • Step 1: Build Your Feedback Form
      • Available Field Types for Average Scoring
      • 💡 Tips for Building Your Custom Feedback Form
    • Step 2: Set the Review Round's Feedback Type to Custom Feedback
    • 📌Good to Know: What Happens When You Select More than 1 Field to Average?
  • Viewing Average Scores
    • 💡Tip: Test Before Going Live
    • Step 1: Navigate to the Review Round
    • Step 2: Add Average Score Columns to Your Table View
• Related Articles

Overview

This step-by-step guide shows Program Admins how to set up average scoring for a review round that uses a Custom Feedback Form and view average scores after reviewers submit feedback. 
 

What is Average Scoring?

Average scoring takes the answers reviewers give to specific fields (questions) in a Custom Feedback Form and averages them into one number. Instead of adding up each reviewer's score yourself, Next calculates the average automatically each time a reviewer submits feedback.

• Who can set up and view average scores in a review round:

• Organization Owners 
• Client Admins (for partner-managed accounts) 
• Program Owners 
• Program Managers

⚠️Important Notes: 

• Average scoring only works in review rounds that use Custom Feedback Forms (not Voting or Scoring feedback types). 
• Average scoring only calculates the mean (average). It currently doesn’t support median or other statistical measures. 

Step-By-Step Instructions

Set Up Average Scoring

Step 1: Build Your Feedback Form

Follow the steps in this article to build a Custom Feedback Form ➡️Building Custom Review Feedback Forms.

Available Field Types for Average Scoring 

When you build your Custom Feedback Form, only these field types are available for average scoring — you'll select from them in Step 2. 

• Numeric Slider fields: Reviewers drag a slider to a whole number. (Example: "How feasible is the applicant's proposed implementation timeline?" set from 1 (Not feasible) to 10 (Highly feasible)).
   
• Number fields: Reviewers enter a number. Useful when you want an exact number—like exact dollar amounts, percentages, or decimals. It also works well for a wide range, like 0–100, where a slider would be hard to use precisely. (Example: "What percentage of the proposed project activities appear achievable within the proposed timeline and available resources?").
   
• Calculated Value fields: You create a formula that combines answers from several fields into one score. Formulas can add fields together, make some fields count more than others by assigning them a higher weight, or perform other calculations using values from supported field types*  (Example: Reviewers answer three separate fields, each scored 0–5, and Next combines the three scores into one calculated value). 
  
  *Only specific field types can be used for a Calculated Value field — for more information, see ➡️Calculated Value Fields.

💡 Tips for Building Your Custom Feedback Form 

• Give each field a clear, descriptive label (title): When you add a field to the Custom Feedback Form, its label defaults to a generic name based on the field type (like "Number" or “Numeric Slider”). Change it to something specific, like "Evidence of Need.”
  
  📌Note: The field label is what you'll see when you select fields to average in Step 2. It’s also what becomes the column header when you view average scores in the review round; a clear label makes it easy to identify in both places. Keep the label short and put the full question in the help text instead, like in the example below. 
   

  Example Field Label & Help Text for Numeric Slider:
  
  
  
   

• If reviewers are rating or scoring something, describe what the lowest and highest scores mean. This helps reviewers score submissions objectively and consistently. 
   
  • Numeric Slider fields: Add scoring guidance to the minimum and maximum labels to describe low and high scores (Example: “1 = Does not address community need and 10 = Directly addresses a critical community need”) 
     
  • Number fields: Add scoring guidance to the help text (Example: ""Enter a percentage from 0–100%, where 0% = The proposed budget is not aligned with the project activities and 100% = The proposed budget is fully aligned with the project activities and clearly justified.")
    
    💡Tip: A Rich Text Editor field can be added to the feedback form before a question to provide scoring guidance/rubric information, if desired. 

Step 2: Set the Review Round's Feedback Type to Custom Feedback

⚠️Before You Begin: This step picks up after you've begun setting up your review round in the Workflow Builder and reached the point where you select a feedback type. If you haven't gotten that far yet, follow the steps in ➡️ Set Up a Review Round first. 

1. Within the review round settings, on the Feedback screen, select Custom Feedback. (This screen is part of your review round settings in the Workflow Builder) 
   
   
    
2. Choose the Feedback Form you wish to use: In the dropdown, choose the feedback form you built in Step 1.
   
   
   
    
3. Choose the fields you want to average: In the dropdown, select the fields you want to collect an average for. The calculated average for each field you select will become available in the review round. (Reminder: Only Numeric Slider, Number, and Calculated Value fields will be available for selection). 
   
   💡Tip: Select fields in the order that you want them to appear in the review round. If you make a mistake, temporarily switch the feedback type to something else then back to Custom Feedback Form to reset the order. 
   
   

📌Good to Know: What Happens When You Select More than 1 Field to Average?

If you select more than one field, you get a separate average for each field — Next doesn't blend the fields into one combined score. For example, if you select a Number field and a Calculated value field for averaging, you'll see two independent averages, not one number that mixes both. 

💡Tip: If you want a single overall average, build a Calculated Value field that combines other fields, then select that Calculated Value field for your average instead. 

Example: 

Say your Custom Feedback Form has all three supported field types. Three reviewers are assigned to review the applications. Here's what each field's average might look like for a single application in the review round: 

4. After you select fields to average, they will appear in list form under the text, “Fields for which to display an average:”


 

5. Finish setting up your review round. For more help, see ➡️Set Up a Review Round.
 

Viewing Average Scores 

The steps below work the same whether you're testing the award cycle or your cycle is published (live). Once reviewers submit their feedback, you can view the averages. Averages will update automatically as reviewer feedback comes in.

⚠️IMPORTANT: You can only adjust point values and calculations on your Custom Feedback Form while your cycle is in Test Mode. Once your cycle is published, feedback forms can't be edited.

📌Note: If you allow reviewers to edit their feedback after submitting (a review round setting), the average updates automatically each time they do. If a reviewer changes an answer to a field that feeds into a Calculated field, the calculated value shown on their form won't update right away. It recalculates once they submit again. Once the review round closes, reviewers can no longer edit their responses.
 

💡Tip: Test Before Going Live

When your award cycle is in Test Mode, complete a few reviews on test applications, and check that the average comes out right. This can help correct issues or mistakes before going live.

➡️Pre-Test Checklist: Prepare an Award Cycle for Testing 
➡️How to Activate Test Mode
➡️How to Complete a Review 
 

Step 1: Navigate to the Review Round 

1. In the program, click the cycle name to open the cycle. 
   
   
    
2. Select the review round from the left-hand menu. 
   
   📌Note: The name of this round reflects the title you gave it in the Workflow Builder. 
   
   

Step 2: Add Average Score Columns to Your Table View 

The average scores aren’t automatically visible in the review round. You must use the Show/Hide Columns feature to add them into your table view. 

1. In the review round, click the three-bar icon (Show/Hide Columns) in the upper-right corner of the table. 
   
   
   
    
2. Scroll to the bottom and select the checkboxes next to the fields you want to include. Each one is labeled "Average" plus the name of the field.
   
   
    
3. Click anywhere outside of the dropdown to close it. 
    
   • The average columns you selected appear on the right side of the table. Each number shows the average score for one field, on one application. 
      
   • Scores become visible to program admins after at least one reviewer submits feedback. They are based only on submitted reviews. (For example, if 2 of 3 reviewers have submitted, the displayed score reflects those 2 reviews and updates automatically when the third review is submitted). 
     
     📌Note: If your field name is long, the column header may be cut off. Hover over the header to see the full name. You may also need to use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the screen to see all columns. 
     
     

💡Tips: 

• Filter results: Click the stacked lines icon next to a column header to filter that column's data. 
• Save the view that includes average scores: Click the Save dropdown in the upper-right corner of the table and select Save as New View. A new tab appears next to the default view. To rename saved views, export the data, or further customize your view, see ➡️Sort & Filter Applications.

Related Articles

➡️Set Up a Review Round
➡️Feedback Types & Setup in a Review Round 
➡️Set Up a Review Round That Actually Tells You Something
➡️Sort & Filter Applications

 

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