Before launch, you control what each person can see and when, who manages the cycle, and how long each phase runs. This article covers visibility, participants and access, collaborators, the timeline, and the final review and launch. Publishing the cycle is not enough to activate it, because you still assign reviewees afterward.

Before you begin

You must be:

• An admin with access to Engage > Reviews
• Working in a review cycle with feedback types configured
• An admin, to be added as a cycle collaborator

Set visibility settings

Note: The Visibility settings step has two tabs, Direct manager and Reviewees. Admins can view all feedback in a review cycle.

Step 1 – Configure each tab

• Toggle Visibility to share a feedback type's results with the reviewee or direct manager. Toggle it off to keep results private.
• Set When to share to control when results become visible.
• Toggle Anonymize so reviewees or managers see scores but not who provided them.

Step 2 – Set direct manager visibility

• Configure Self review visibility. When on, feedback is shared with the direct manager automatically and cannot be anonymized.
• Configure Peer feedback visibility. When on, feedback is shared automatically and can be anonymized.

Step 3 – Set reviewee visibility

• Configure Downward feedback visibility. When calibration is on, only the manager can share feedback, not the system. Downward feedback cannot be shared anonymously, because it comes from one manager.
• Configure Upward feedback visibility. The manager can share it, or it can be shared automatically. It can be anonymous.
• Configure Peer feedback visibility. The manager can share it, or it can be shared automatically. It can be anonymous.

Note: The reviewee can always see their self review, because they write it.

Set participant access and collaborators

Step 1 – Configure the reviewer experience

• Toggle Show reviewers who will see their responses to inform reviewers upfront who can see their responses and whether they are anonymous. This builds trust and reduces reviewer anxiety about confidentiality.
• Toggle Show reviewers additional information about reviewees to show contextual information such as career path and goals.
• Toggle Allow manager to share feedback immediately to let managers share the full feedback package once all feedback is submitted, without waiting for writing task deadlines to close.

Step 2 – Configure manager access to weights

• Toggle Allow manager to see question weights to let managers view how questions within a feedback type are weighted.
• Toggle Allow manager to see feedback weights to let managers view how feedback is weighted across all feedback types.

Step 3 – Configure the reviewee experience

• Toggle Hide average rating score in shared results to hide average scores from the reviewee's results and summary pages. Admins and managers following the org structure still see rating averages.
• Toggle Show final score to reviewees to show a final score card at the top of the results summary page. Enable it only if your organization is comfortable with employees seeing a numeric overall rating.

Step 4 – Add cycle collaborators

• Click + Add collaborators.
• Assign the Viewer role to see the cycle setup and monitor progress without changes. Assign the Editor role to change settings, track progress, view feedback, and close the cycle.
• Click a role badge next to a collaborator's name to change the role or remove them.

Note: Only people with an admin role can be added as collaborators.

Set the cycle timeline

Important: The cycle does not go live until you assign reviewees and confirm the start date. You can add reviewees manually or with an automation after launch.

Step 1 – Set timeline settings

• Enter the Expected launch date. It is an example date used to preview phase durations and is not final. You can change it until you launch the cycle.
• Select the Cycle timezone. All deadlines use this timezone. The cycle closes at the same local time for everyone, and participants see deadlines in their own timezone.

Note: With automations, each reviewee's start date is their assignment date. Phase durations are relative to it, so reviewees assigned on different dates have different deadlines.

Step 2 – Open a phase

• Review the Gantt chart. The phases depend on the feedback types you enabled. Parallel phases appear as separate stacked bars.
• Click a phase name or bar to open its detail panel.

Step 3 – Set phase dates

• Set Phase start, shown as a day number and a date based on the expected launch date. The time picker defaults to 12:00 am.
• Set Phase end, shown as a day number and date, with the total duration below, for example "21 days total".
• Respect the phase dependency notice. For example, Calibration must start after Downward feedback ends.

Phases in a cycle

• Enabling self review adds a Self review phase. Enabling calibration adds a Calibration phase.
• A cycle with self review, upward feedback, downward feedback, and calibration shows 5 phases.
• Enabling all four feedback types gives 8 phases. Peer feedback adds Peer nomination and Peer approval.

Note: With automations, the dates you set are treated as phase durations, not fixed calendar dates. A 21-day self review window starts from each reviewee's assignment date.

Review and launch the cycle

Step 1 – Review the cycle summary

• Open the Review step, a read-only summary of every decision from the previous steps. Read each section: cycle details, feedback types, visibility settings, reviewer and reviewee experience, and timeline.
• Click View on a feedback type to jump back to its form configuration, or click the expand arrow for an inline summary.
• Look for the green banner "Review cycle is ready to launch". It confirms there are no blocking issues.

Important: You can add or remove questions at any point before launch. After launch, you can edit question text only. You cannot remove a question or add a new one. Other changes need a new cycle.

Step 2 – Choose a launch option

• Click Save as draft to save without launching. The cycle appears in the Drafts tab.
• Click Make as template to save the configuration as a reusable template. Find it in the Templates subtab or at the templates page.
• Click Launch cycle now to publish. The cycle appears as Ready for launch.

Note: Publishing the cycle does not activate it. Assign reviewees, manually or with an automation, to activate participants and trigger tasks.

Frequently Asked Questions