If you're unsure of why you or another person aren't able to see a certain review, the visibility settings your review admins selected when creating the review cycle may explain why. If you aren't a review admin you aren't able to see what visibility settings were selected in a given review cycle, but this contextual article will walk you through the visibility options available to review administrators.
In this article, you will learn default visibility and visibility options for the following items:
- Past review results
- Submitted reviews and review summary
- Private Manager Assessment
- Peer review answers and identities
- Upward review answers and identities
Access and availability
⛔️ Required access to Best-Self Review®.
👥 This article is relevant to all roles.
📦 This feature is available in the Perform and Total Platform pricing packages.
Past review results visibility
By default, who can see the results of a person's past reviews?
By default, only people who were granted visibility into a person's review results (i.e. all submitted reviews and the review summary) at the time of the review cycle can access those results once the review cycle is ended. Those people are: review admins, cycle-specific cycle collaborators, the participant, their manager in that review cycle, their cycle-specific additional managers, and their review viewers.
New managers and additional managers are not granted visibility into a person's past review results by default. Their visibility only applies for review cycles that occur after they're added as a manager or additional manager.
What customization options exist for past review visibility?
Account admins have the option to grant managers and additional managers visibility into all previous reviews for their direct reports in Best-Self Review® feature settings.
- If All direct managers can view past reviews is selected, all direct managers can see review results for their direct reports' previous review cycles.
- If All additional managers can view past reviews is selected, all additional managers can see review results for their direct reports' previous review cycles.
There's also a role in 15Five called "review viewer." These individuals have read-only visibility into someone's review cycle results. A person can be appointed as a cycle-specific review viewer, which grants them visibility into a participant's review results for only a specific review cycle, or a global review viewer, which gives them visibility into all review results for a person.
Submitted reviews and review summary visibility
By default, who can see the results of a person's current review?
By default, the following roles can see the results (i.e. submitted reviews and the review summary) in a person's current review cycle: review admins, cycle collaborators, the participant's manager, their additional managers, and their review viewers.
What customization options exist for current review visibility?
Account admins have the option to choose between hierarchy visibility and basic visibility for review cycles in your company's Best-Self Review® feature settings. This organizational setting determines who will be able to see submitted reviews and the review summary.
- If Basic visibility is selected, submitted reviews are only visible to the default roles mentioned above.
- If Hierarchy visibility is selected, submitted reviews will also be visible to anyone above the participant's manager (i.e. their manager's manager and so on).
Submitted reviews do not become visible to the participant themselves until review results are shared with them, typically towards the end of a review cycle.
Private Manager Assessment visibility
The Private Manager Assessment is a section of manager reviews in which managers answer future-focused questions about their direct report.
By default, who can see Private Manager Assessment answers written about a participant by their manager?
By default, the following roles can see a person's Private Manager Assessment answers: review admins, cycle collaborators, and the participant's direct manager.
What customization options exist for Private Manager Review visibility?
Account admins also have the option to allow visibility into the questions and answers of the Private Manager Assessment for review cycle participants and their respective hierarchy.
- If no custom options are selected, Private Manager Assessment questions/answers are only visible to the default roles mentioned above.
- If the Participant option is selected, Private Manager Assessment questions/answers will also be visible to review cycle participants.
- If the Hierarchy option is selected, Private Manager Assessment questions/answers will also be visible a person's hierarchy (i.e. their manager's manager and so on).
Help Center article 💡: Manage visibility options for Private Manager Assessment
Peer review transparency
Account admins can select whether or not review cycle participants see peer review answers and peer identities in Best-Self Review® feature settings.
Options for peer review answer visibility are:
- Shared: Participants will see all peer answers verbatim.
- Hidden: Participants can only see a summary of peer review answers written by their manager.
You can tell whether or not your answers will be shared verbatim by opening your peer review and going to the bottom of the screen. Above the Submit button, you'll see a note that either says your feedback will be shared verbatim with the participant, or that your feedback will be shared with the person's manager to summarize, but not directly with the participant.
Options for peer identity visibility are:
- Everyone; reviews are fully transparent to participants: Identities of peers will be fully transparent to everyone that can see the review— meaning participants can see which peers wrote which answers about them.
- Everyone except for the participant: Peers' identities will be transparent to everyone who can view the review except the participant themselves.
-
No one; reviews are fully anonymous to everyone who can see the review: Peers' identities will be hidden from everyone. No exceptions— even for review administrators and managers.
Peers can see which of these identity visibility options were selected in "Transparency" section of the "Review details" box when writing their peer review.
Note
Review administrators can only see the identities of their own peer reviewers if the "Everyone; reviews are fully transparent to participants" option is selected. If settings are are partially or fully anonymous, they will not be able to see the identities of their peer reviewers, even though they are review admins.
Upward review transparency
Account admins can select whether or not review cycle participants see their upward review answers and direct report identities in Best-Self Review® feature settings.
Options for upward review answer visibility are:
- Shared: Managers will see all upward review answers verbatim.
- Hidden: Managers can see a summary of their upward reviews from their manager, but will not see upward answers verbatim.
You can tell whether or not your answers will be shared verbatim by opening your upward review and going to the bottom of the screen. Above the Submit button, you'll see a note that either says your feedback will be shared verbatim with the participant, or that your feedback will be shared with the person's manager to summarize, but not directly with the participant.
Who can see the direct report identity visibility are:
- Everyone; reviews are fully transparent to managers: Identities of direct reports will be fully transparent to everyone that can see the review— meaning participants can see which of their direct reports wrote which answers about them.
- Everyone except for manager: Direct reports' identities will be transparent to everyone who can view the review except the participant themselves.
- No one; reviews are fully anonymous to everyone who can see the review: Direct reports' identities will be hidden from everyone. No exceptions— even for review administrators and managers.
Direct reports can see which of these identity visibility options were selected in "Transparency" section of the "Review details" box when writing their peer review.
Related articles 📖
- How to manage Best-Self Review® feature settings
- When do reviews become visible to others?
- How to remove a peer or upward answer from a participant's view
- What roles exist in a Best-Self Review® cycle
- How to add an additional manager for a participant
- How to add a review viewer for a participant