Review flow configuration

In Award Force, review flow allows for a task or notification message to be sent to an individual named within an entry, the entrant themselves, a manager in the account, or a specified email address collected within the submission (learn more in our dedicated Review flow overview guide). 

Example: review flow can be used for a multitude of purposes, but a few common examples are:
  • Direct manager approval of a submission
  • Two-step entry forms for successful entrants
  • Alert of and notice to accept a nomination

To configure a review flow stage, you'll need a few things:

  • For tasks and notifications being sent to an individual named within the entry, fields to collect their name and email address.
  • Fields within your entry form for the review flow recipient to view and/or edit.
  • Notifications to be sent at each stage of the review flow; i.e. to alert the recipient of a task, to confirm that their decision has been submitted, etc. 
  • The review flow configuration itself

Create review notifications

  1. In the Manage workspace, go to Settings > Communications > Notifications
  2. Create a New notification
  3. Choose the Review stage started trigger for notifications that can be sent when a review stage starts
    Review stage started.png
  4. In the email body, be sure to use the {review_url} merge field to include a link directly to the review page
    Review flow URL merge field.png
    • If the reviewer will be a registered user, they will need to log in to view the review page
    • If the reviewer is someone mentioned in the entry form and they are not a registered user, then anyone with that generated review link will be able to access the page
  5. Click Save when finished

You can also refer to general instructions for configuring notifications.

Configure a review stage

Note: if additional fields will need to be completed by the task recipient that are not visible to entrants, configure those first and deselect the Read and Write permissions. To learn more, see our Field configuration article. 
  1. In the Manage workspace, go to Review flow > Settings
  2. Create a New review stage
  3. Give the review stage a name; this is for manager reference only
  4. Under 'Outcome', choose whether this is a task the recipient must complete or a notification only
  5. Choose a Start stage
    • If this stage is the first in a review flow, check Stage is started by entry submission. In this case set whether the stage applies to all categories, or to only one or some categories
    • If this stage should be triggered based on the decision of another review stage, choose Started by another stage and select which stage and the decision required to start. 
    • Should you choose to manually initiate the review flow, you can learn how to do so here: Manually trigger a review stage
  6. Next, select your desired recipient in the Review by module:
    • Review by manager - the task or notification should be reviewed by a manager on the account. If selected, check all managers that should be given the review task.
      Important: if more than one manager is tasked with the review, only one needs to complete it— once one manager has reviewed it is then locked and another manager cannot change the review. If you require e.g. two managers to review, then set up two review stages sequentially (you might also consider a qualifying judging stage instead)
    • Review by a person nominated in the entry, - the task or notification should be sent to an individual named within the entry form. A name field and a recipient address field are required amongst the entry fields.
      Note: the recipient address field may be added as any of the following field types: email, phone number (for mobile numbers only), or a drop-down or radio button field in which the field's value is a valid email address or mobile number. Mobile/SMS messaging is a feature of the Premier solution. If the recipient is already a user in your account they must sign in to complete the task. 
    • Review by entrant - the entrant will receive the task or notification to complete. 
    • Review by referee - the task or notification will be sent to a nominee named within a referee tab of the entry form. To learn more about referee review, see our guide: Configure a referee review
  7. In the Notification module, choose the Send stage start notification the recipient should be sent
    Note: if left blank no notification will be sent to alert the reviewer that a task must be completed. Referee tasks must have a notification selected.  
  8. In the 'Review page' tab, select which fields to show to the reviewer. Field access is a list of all entry fields in tab/sort order
    • For each field to be displayed for review check the Read box.
    • If the reviewer should be able to edit a field, check the Write box.
    • If the field must be completed by the reviewer, check the Required box.
      Tip: should you wish to consolidate all of your review flow fields into one location, create a new tab and hide it from entrants. To learn how, check out the 'Hiding tabs from entrants' section of this guide: Tab configuration.
      Important: in the event that your program utilises review flow for multiple stages, it is not recommended that fields be recycled. For example, if entrants are asked to state their progress on a project, it is important that the same progress field not be used in multiple review stages as doing so will rewrite the data collected each time. You can copy your fields in bulk via Settings > Entries > Fields to prevent this. 
      Important: conditional fields cannot be used in review flows.
    • If you have information content already prepared in a content block for this review stage, select it from Content block drop-down
  9. Configure the 'Proceed / Stop' tab
    • Set a label for both Proceed  and Stop button labels (e.g. Approved, Accepted, Checked, etc) which the task recipient will interact with. The Proceed/Stop status is the text which the manager will see on the entry
      Note: the proceed and stop buttons that a user will interact with are green and red, respectively. The colours of these buttons cannot be updated.
    • Moderation approval can be set automatically with the proceed action by checking Apply approved or rejected status
    • The proceed action can Start another stage if there is one that should follow
    • Hide stop action will prevent a user from seeing or interacting with the stop action button, requiring them to proceed
    • Validate fields will verify that all fields have been completed correctly if the user selects the stop action 
  10. Click Save when finished

Add informational content to review pages

  1. Open the Manage workspace and navigate to Settings > Content > Content blocks
  2. Create a New content block
  3. Choose the content location Review flow page
  4. After creating and saving your content, return to the review stage configuration to choose the content block to be displayed on the review page
Note: you can have different content blocks for each of your review stages— they will all have the Review flow page content location.

You can also refer to general instructions for content configuration.

Add a certificate to a review task

If you'd like your review flow task recipient to receive a certificate, you can easily add one in a few easy steps. 

  1. In the Manage workspace, create a certificate; see Award certificate configuration for instructions
  2. Navigate to Settings > General > Review flow
  3. Click your desired review stage or configure a new one
  4. Open the Review page tab
  5. Select your certificate from the Attach certificate to page drop-down
  6. Save

Setting the review flow deadline

To define when the review flow task must be completed by the reviewer, you'll need to set an deadline. Here's how:

  1. Go to Settings > Entries > Rounds in the Manage workspace
  2. Click on your program's entry round (named 'Entry open period' by default)
  3. Set a Review / resubmission ends date and time
  4. Click Save when finished

Viewing and exporting review flow data

All data collected during the review flow process is stored within an entry itself, but is not accessible by the entrant or entrant views like the entrant PDF. Should you need to view or export this data, you have a few options.

Video overview

This video does not include the referee functionality. 

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