Good work! You have added company values, created a custom question template (or are using the default 15Five template), and are ready to get a Best-Self Review™cycle running.
To create a review cycle
1. Click on the 'Reviews' tab.
2. Then click on the orange button 'Create a new cycle'.
3. Enter in the name of your cycle. For example: "Genericorp Q1 2018 Review"
4. Choose the Review cycle type. Self & manager reviews are required for all review cycles; ie you cannot have a peer review or upward review only.
Again, self & manager reviews are always required. Other than that, you have the option to include peer (participant initiated or peer initiated) and/or upward reviews (managers who are participants in the cycle will have upward reviews written of them by their direct reports).
5. Next, decide who the review participants will be. You can exclude certain people or groups, or can choose to only include certain people or groups.
Cycle specific excluded groups or individuals will not be asked to complete a self review, may be asked to complete manager reviews, may be asked to complete an upward review, and can be nominated as a peer. If needed, these excluded people can be added as cycle participants at a later time.
6. Select a question template, either the template you have created or the 15Five default. Have you not created your template yet? See this article.
7. Enter in your dates for the review, called Review milestones. If these dates need to be updated after the cycle has begun, see this article.
8. Choose whether you want to repeat the review quarterly, bi-annually, or one time only. If needed, this setting can be updated at a later time.
When setting up a review to "repeat quarterly" or "repeat semi-annually," the review will launch on the same day as you created it 3 or 6 months in the future (for example, today's date + 3 months for quarterly, or today's date + 6 months for semi-annually).
9. Confirm the visibility settings or manage them directly from this screen.
10. Review the kick-off email and click 'Create review cycle'. The kick-off email will be at 8:23 am in the company's timezone on the day the cycle begins. The email will not be sent when the cycle is created.
Do your employees need help figuring out how to fill out their reviews? Check out our review help docs!
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To clone a review cycle
If you want to update a cycle or restart it entirely, we offer a way to clone an inactive cycle or update the cadence of an already active cycle.
1. Click on the 'Reviews' tab.
2. Find the review cycle you want to clone.
3. Click on the '...' to the right of the cycle and click 'Clone'.
4. The setup process will be the same as steps 3-10 above.