Launching a performance review starts it: Factorial creates the evaluations for every person to evaluate and notifies the reviewers. You can launch a draft immediately with Launch now, or pick a future date with Schedule for later.
Before you start
The review needs all of these, or Launch review shows Missing information:
| Required | Error if missing |
|---|---|
| A title | "Your review needs a title. Please provide one before launching." |
| At least one review type | "Select review types. You must decide how you want assess the target group." |
| A target group | "Select a target group. You must decide which employees you want to evaluate." |
| At least one question per review type | "Some of the selected review types are missing questions. You must have a minimum of one question." |
| A deadline in the future | "You must set a deadline before launching the performance review." / "The deadline provided is not valid. Please set a correct date." |
| Section weights adding up to 100% (Custom weights only) | "Weights don't add up to 100%." |
| At least one evaluation produced | "Your review may not have any reviewers. Make sure your review types and target group setup is correct." |
Step by step
Launch now
- Go to Performance > Reviews and open the draft review.
- Click Launch review at the top right.
- In Launch review, choose Launch now.
- Check the Deadline ("Set the final day for answering and editing the review").
- Click Launch review.
- The review shows Launching your performance review ("This may take a few minutes. All participants will be notified once it's ready — you can safely leave this page."), then becomes Active.
Schedule for later
- Open the draft review and click Launch review.
- Choose Schedule for later.
- Pick the Launch date ("The review will be started on the selected date") and the Deadline.
- Click Schedule review.
- The review shows Performance review scheduled ("It will launch on <date>. All participants will be notified when it starts.").
Cancel a schedule
- Open the scheduled review.
- Click Remove schedule.
- Confirm with Remove. The review goes back to Draft and nobody is notified.
Rules and behavior
- If the review launches, then each reviewer receives the email "New review '<name>' needs your action" and an inbox task "You have 1 or more pending evaluations to complete in <name>".
- If the review is Scheduled, then it launches automatically on the launch date.
- If the review is Scheduled, then its score scale is fixed at that moment. Removing the schedule unfixes it.
- If the review includes Peer, then managers with direct reports to evaluate get the task "You have 1 or more peer assignments to complete" after launch.
- If the review is Launching, then nobody can edit or delete it until it's Active.
- Automatic reminders go to reviewers with pending evaluations 7 days and 1 day before the deadline.
- The review moves to Finished automatically when the deadline passes.
Limitations
- You can't un-launch a review. Once Active, you can only stop it.
- You can't change the questions, review types, performance score, competency assessment or potential score after launch.
- You can't choose who gets notified at launch. Every reviewer is notified.
Troubleshooting
- Symptom: "Launch review opens Missing information." → Cause: one of the requirements above is missing. → Fix: fix each item listed and try again.
- Symptom: "The review has been Launching for a long time." → Cause: large reviews take a few minutes to create every evaluation. → Fix: leave the page and come back later. If it is still Launching after an hour, contact support.
- Symptom: "A scheduled review didn't start." → Cause: the schedule was removed or the launch date was changed. → Fix: open the review and check its status.
FAQ
1. Can I launch at a specific time?
Yes. The Launch date and Deadline have a date and a time.
2. Can I change the deadline after launch?
Yes. Use Edit > Timeline while the review is Active.
3. Do people being evaluated get notified?
They get notified as reviewers when they have something to fill in, for example a self review.