Once you launch a campaign, you need to track how reviews are progressing. The review system provides visual indicators, status labels, and progress tracking to help you monitor everything at a glance.
This article explains how to read review statuses, understand completion indicators, and use the review interface to stay on top of your campaigns.
💡 Still using our previous review system? See Classic Reviews documentation for help with one-on-one and 360 reviews.
Review statuses
Every review moves through a lifecycle from creation to completion. Understanding these statuses helps you know what's happening with each review.
Not started
What it means: The review has been created but hasn't been started yet. It's only visible to HR and review supervisors.
What you see:
Status label shows "Not started"
No steps are open
Participants haven't been notified
No one can complete any actions yet
What happens here:
As a review supervisor, you can view the review details, edit participants, and adjust settings. Once you're ready, you start the review to open the first step.
When you'll see this:
Immediately after adding a reviewee to a campaign but before starting their review. Some organizations create reviews in advance and start them later.
Open
What it means: The review has been started and made available to participants, but nobody has opened it or made any contribution yet.
What you see:
Status label shows "Open"
The first step is available to participants
No participants have started their tasks yet
No completion indicators are showing
What happens here: Participants have been notified and can access the review, but none of them have opened it yet to begin their work. Once any participant opens the review and starts contributing (for example, answering the first question in a feedback step), the status moves to "In progress."
When you'll see this: Right after starting a review and before any participant begins their task. If participants respond quickly, you may only see this status briefly.
In progress
What it means: The review is active and at least one participant has opened it and started contributing. They don't need to have completed their participation — even starting to answer one question moves the review to this status.
What you see:
Status label shows "In progress"
At least one step is open
Participants can complete their actions
Progress indicators show who's completed and who hasn't
What happens here:
Reviews stay in this status while moving through steps. The review is "in progress" whether you're on the feedback step, meeting step, or signature step.
When you'll see this:
From the moment you start the review until the final step is complete. Most reviews spend the majority of their time in this status.
Completed
What it means: All steps are finished and the review is done.
What you see:
Status label shows "Completed"
All steps show as complete
Green checkmarks or completion indicators throughout
No outstanding actions needed
What happens here:
The review has been brought through all steps and marked as completed. This is one of two "done" statuses (the other is "Cancelled"). You and review viewers can still access all content. If changes are needed, a review supervisor can reopen the review to go back to a previous step — see Moving Reviews Through Steps for details.
When you'll see this:
After the review has been moved through all steps and marked as completed. This doesn't necessarily mean every single participation was finished (for example, not everyone may have signed) — it means the review has been marked as done.
Cancelled
What it means: The review has been marked as cancelled — it's done, but wasn't completed by going through all the steps.
What you see:
Status label shows "Cancelled"
A cancellation reason is displayed explaining why it was cancelled
No participants can make further contributions
All content produced before cancellation is preserved
What happens here: Someone decided this review shouldn't continue and cancelled it. A reason is required when cancelling, which gives you traceability about why the decision was made. All existing content (feedback, preparation notes, summaries) is preserved but no further contributions can be made. This is the second "done" status alongside "Completed."
If a review was cancelled by mistake, a review supervisor can restore it to its previous state. See Moving Reviews Through Steps for details.
When you'll see this: When a review supervisor has decided to stop a review before it completed all steps — for example, if the employee left the company mid-review, or if the review is no longer relevant.
Step statuses
Within each review, individual steps also have their own statuses. Understanding these helps you see exactly where each review is in its workflow.
Step not started
What it means: This step hasn't opened yet because previous steps are still in progress.
What you see:
Step appears in the step list but is grayed out or marked as upcoming
No participants can access it
No completion indicators yet
When you'll see this:
For any step after the current one. For example, if you're in the feedback step, the meeting and signature steps show as "not started."
Step in progress
What it means: This step is currently open and participants are completing their parts.
What you see:
Step is highlighted or marked as active
Participant list shows who's completed and who hasn't
You can see partial completion (3 out of 5 feedback givers done)
Action buttons appear for participants
When you'll see this:
For the step the review is currently on. Only one step is "in progress" at a time — reviews move sequentially through steps.
Step completed
What it means: Everyone has finished this step and the review has moved forward.
What you see:
Step shows a completion indicator (checkmark, green badge, etc.)
All participants show as complete
The step is locked (in beta — can't go back)
When you'll see this:
For any step that's been finished. Once you move to the next step, the previous step shows as completed.
The review list view
The campaign page shows all reviews in a list format. Here's how to read it.
What you see in the list
Each review row typically shows:
Reviewee name and photo
The employee being reviewed. Click their name to open the review detail page.Current step indicator
Shows which step the review is on (Feedback, Meeting, Signature) and the step status.Overall review status
Badge or label showing "Not started," "In progress," or "Completed."Action indicators
Icons or buttons showing if you need to take action (move to next step, send reminder, etc.).
Quick assessment
You can quickly scan the list to identify:
Reviews that need attention:
Low completion rates
Overdue participants
Blocked reviews waiting for a specific person
Reviews progressing normally:
Most participants completed
On schedule
No blockers
Reviews finished:
Marked as completed
All green indicators
💡 Tip: Sort or filter the list by status, step, or completion rate to focus on reviews that need your attention most.
The review detail page
When you click into a specific review, you see the detail page with comprehensive information.
Left panel: Steps and overview
The left side shows:
Review overview
Who's being reviewed
Step list
All steps in the workflow with their status:
Which step is current (highlighted or marked active)
Which steps are complete (checkmarks)
Which steps are upcoming (grayed out or pending)
Progress summary
For each step, you see:
How many participants are involved
How many have completed their part
Any blockers or issues
This gives you an instant snapshot of where the review stands.
Middle panel: Participant details
The middle section shows detailed participant information for each step.
What you see:
Participant names and roles
Who's involved and what they're doing (feedback giver, note taker, meeting participant, signature participant).
Completion status per person
Individual indicators showing who's done and who's not:
✓ Green checkmark or bubble — This person completed their part
⏳ Pending indicator — This person hasn't completed yet
Actions available
Buttons or links to:
Edit participants (add/remove people)
View what someone completed
Send individual reminders
Change the note taker
Campaign-level vs. review-level progress
It's important to understand the difference between how the whole campaign is doing versus how individual reviews are progressing.
Campaign-level progress
At the top of the review list in a campaign, you'll see a statistics overview showing the progress of all reviews in that campaign.
Status overview
The statistics show how many reviews are in each status:
Not started — Reviews that haven't been started yet
Open — Reviews that are available to participants but no one has started contributing
In progress — Reviews where at least one participant has started contributing
Completed — Reviews that have been finished
Cancelled — Reviews that were cancelled before completion
Step details
You can also expand the statistics to see step-level details. This shows, for each step in your workflow, how many reviews are open or completed at that step, with percentages. This helps you quickly identify where reviews are in the process and spot bottlenecks.
💡 Tip: Use campaign statistics to quickly assess progress before sending reminders or communicating to stakeholders. You can see at a glance how many reviews need attention without scrolling through the entire list.
Review-level progress
This shows the status of one specific employee's review:
Metrics you might see:
"Step 2 of 3: Review meeting"
"3 of 5 feedback givers completed"
"Waiting for manager to write summary"
Where you see it:
The individual review detail page.
What it tells you:
What's happening with this specific review. Who's completed their part? What's blocking progress? What step are we on?
How to quickly identify reviews needing attention
Use these strategies to focus on reviews that need your action:
Look for low completion rates
Reviews showing "1 of 5 completed" or "0 of 3 completed" several days after the step opens likely need attention.
What to do:
Check who hasn't completed
Send targeted reminders to specific people
Investigate if there's a blocker (confusing instructions, missing access, etc.)
Identify reviews stuck on one person
If a review shows "Waiting for manager" or only one person remaining, that's your bottleneck.
What to do:
Send a direct reminder to that person
Contact them personally if reminders aren't working
Consider if you need to change participants (if someone's unavailable)
Monitor specific steps
If many reviews are stuck on the same step, there may be a systemic issue.
Example: If 20 reviews all show "0 of 1 note takers completed," managers aren't writing summaries.
What to do:
Send bulk reminders for that step
Check if instructions are clear
Investigate if managers need training or support
Consider extending the deadline
What participants see
Participants have a different view than supervisors. Understanding what they see helps you guide them.
For participants with pending actions
When someone needs to complete a step, they see:
An action button
Clear button saying "Give feedback," "Prepare for meeting," "Write summary," or "Sign review."
Their task only
They see only their own part, not the full review detail view that supervisors see.
For participants who completed their part
Once someone completes their action:
Confirmation
They see confirmation that their part is submitted.
No more action buttons
The action button disappears or changes to "Completed."
Limited visibility
They can view what they submitted but typically can't see other participants' content (based on visibility settings).
Next step notification (if participating)
If they're involved in future steps, they'll be notified when those steps open.
Frequently asked questions
Can I manually mark someone as complete?
Can I manually mark someone as complete?
No. Completion is tracked based on actual submission. You can't manually override this. If someone completed their part outside the system (like in a document), you'll need to have them enter it in the system or note it in the review summary.
What happens if someone starts their task but doesn't submit?
What happens if someone starts their task but doesn't submit?
They show as incomplete until they submit. If they saved a draft, it's stored but doesn't count as complete. Remind them to submit, not just save.
How long do reviews typically stay "in progress"?
How long do reviews typically stay "in progress"?
This depends on your timeline and workflow. Simple check-ins might be done in a week. Complex annual reviews with multiple steps might take 3-4 weeks. Plan your timeline based on how many participants and steps you have.
What's the difference between "Completed" and "Cancelled"?
What's the difference between "Completed" and "Cancelled"?
Both are "done" statuses — they indicate the review is finished. "Completed" means the review went through all its steps and was marked as done. "Cancelled" means someone decided to stop the review before all steps were finished. Cancelled reviews include a reason explaining why. In both cases, all content produced before the review ended is preserved. Both can be reopened by a review supervisor if needed.