Review admins can create a peer-only review cycle to collect peer feedback without self, manager, or upward reviews. When complete, the cycle appears on the Review cycles dashboard with a launch date.
> Note: Your organization may have renamed this feature. If you don't see "Reviews" in your navigation, check with your admin for the name used in your account.
Required role: Review Admin Available in: Perform and Total Platform pricing packages
Before You Begin
- You must have Review Admin access. See Who are my review admins? for role details.
- Prepare a question template before starting. See Create a custom question template if you need one.
Steps
- Go to Reviews in the left navigation.
- Click Create a new review cycle in the top-right corner.
- Enter a name in the Cycle name field.
- Click Continue.
- Select Peer as the review cycle type.
- Click Continue.
- Select a peer review initiation type:
- Participant initiated — the participant nominates peers; their manager can approve or deny nominations. This is the default option. - Peer initiated — the peer selects which participants they will review; no approval process applies.
- Click Continue.
- In the Cycle collaborator section, select people to serve as cycle collaborators.
> Note: Cycle collaborators have the same permissions as review admins, scoped to this cycle only. See What cycle collaborators can do in a performance review cycle.
- Click Continue.
- Select milestone dates for the review cycle.
> Note: Milestones can be changed after the cycle launches.
- Click Continue.
- Select whether the cycle repeats: Quarterly, Bi-annually, Annually, or No, this is a one-time review.
> Note: Repeated cycles do not launch automatically. Review admins receive an email one week before the start date to confirm.
- Click Continue.
- Select participants for the review cycle.
> In a peer-only cycle, participants have peer reviews written about them. Non-participants can still write peer reviews. See for all available options.
- Click Continue.
- Select a peer review question template.
> 15Five provides two default templates: Peer questions (recommended for participant-initiated cycles) and Ad Hoc Peer Review (recommended for peer-initiated cycles). Click View to preview a template before selecting.
- Click Continue.
- Review all cycle settings on the summary page. Click Edit to the right of any setting to change it.
> To customize the kickoff email, click Edit to the right of Kickoff email. Pay attention to visibility and transparency settings that control who can see feedback.
- Click Save changes.
The cycle appears on the Review cycles dashboard. It will launch automatically on the configured start date. If a kickoff email was enabled, participants receive it at launch.
If Something Goes Wrong
| Issue | Check | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Peer review type not available | Confirm your account includes the Perform or Total Platform package | Contact your 15Five account manager to verify package access |
| Cycle collaborator field not showing expected users | Confirm the user has an active 15Five account | Reactivate the user's account before adding them as a collaborator |
| Cycle does not appear on the dashboard after saving | Confirm you clicked Save changes on the final summary page | Return to Reviews, click Create a new review cycle, and complete all steps through Save changes |
| Repeated cycle does not launch on the expected date | Confirm the review admin responded to the confirmation email sent one week before the start date | Manually launch the cycle from the Review cycles dashboard |
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover general review cycle configuration options. See Create and launch a manual review cycle.