Admins and cycle collaborators can lock an ended review cycle to prevent further submissions and setting changes, then unlock it if edits are needed later. Locking does not prevent participants from acknowledging their review results. A locked cycle displays a lock icon on the Reviews overview page; an unlocked cycle does not.
Before You Begin
- You must be a Review Admin or Cycle Collaborator to lock or unlock a cycle.
- To edit cycle settings or participants after unlocking, the cycle's end date must also be in the future. See Extend a review cycle if the end date has passed.
Lock an ended review cycle
- Go to Reviews in the left-hand navigation.
- Click the name of the review cycle you want to lock.
- Click the orange Lock cycle button at the top of the page.
- In the popup, select whether to share all results for submitted reviews that have not been shared yet.
> Note: Selecting this option shares and finalizes all submitted peer, manager, and upward reviews for participants whose results have not yet been shared — but only if the manager review was submitted. Reviews hidden from participants are not shared, even if this option is selected.
- Click Lock review cycle.
- Go back to Reviews and confirm a lock icon appears to the right of the cycle name.
Unlock a review cycle
- Go to Reviews in the left-hand navigation.
- Click the name of the review cycle you want to unlock.
- Click the Unlock cycle button.
- Review the confirmation popup, then click Unlock review cycle.
- Confirm the lock icon no longer appears next to the cycle name on the Reviews overview page.
If Something Goes Wrong
| Issue | Check | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Lock cycle button is not visible | Confirm the review cycle has ended — the button only appears after the cycle end date has passed | Wait until the cycle ends, or go to Edit settings and set the end date to a past date |
| Unlock cycle button is not visible | Confirm your role — only Review Admins and Cycle Collaborators can unlock a cycle | Ask a Review Admin in your organization to grant you the correct role, or have them unlock the cycle. This does not require contacting 15Five Support — your Review Admin can do this directly in 15Five. |
| Lock icon does not appear after locking | Refresh the page and check the Reviews overview again | If the icon still does not appear, reload the cycle and repeat step 3 |
| Cycle remains locked after unlocking | Confirm you clicked Unlock review cycle in the confirmation popup — dismissing the popup without confirming does not unlock the cycle | Repeat steps 3–4 |
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover deleting a cycle, editing active cycle settings, or extending a cycle end date. See Delete a performance review cycle, Edit settings in an active performance review cycle, or Extend a review cycle.