Table of Contents
- When to use automated review enrollment
- Setting up your first automated review cycle
- Monitoring enrollment and completion
- Migrating from legacy review automations
- FAQs
The 'Enroll in a review cycle' workflow step automates employee enrollment into performance review cycles, replacing the legacy review automations previously found in the Reviews module. This powerful automation feature provides enhanced flexibility and transparency, allowing you to seamlessly integrate review enrollment with other workflow actions.
When triggered, the enrolled employee is added as a participant either to a new review cycle created from a template or to an existing, active review cycle. This eliminates manual review setup and ensures consistent, timely review processes across your organization while providing better visibility into who gets enrolled, when, and why.
Please note: Legacy review automations in the Reviews module continue to function for existing configurations. However, creating new review automations is no longer available. All new automated review processes should be set up using workflows.
Key benefits:
- Automate review enrollment based on any date attribute or employee event
- Trigger reviews relative to probation end dates, project completion, or role changes
- Integrate review cycles with onboarding, offboarding, and other HR processes
- Gain clear visibility into enrollment decisions, timelines, and review statuses
- Track all workflow steps and review progress in a unified dashboard
- Connect review enrollment to custom notifications, forms, calendar event scheduling, goal creation, document creation, and other actions in and outside Leapsome
- Chain multiple review cycles together for sequential processes like PIPs
When to use automated review enrollment
Use the 'Enroll in a review cycle' workflow step to automate:
Onboarding reviews Schedule 30, 60, and 90-day check-in reviews during a new hire's onboarding, all combined in one onboarding workflow to track progress centrally. Connect learning paths, automatic development goal setting, and instant feedback requests in between review check-ins to encourage in-depth, continuous feedback.
Probation reviews Automatically enroll employees in review cycles based on their probation end date rather than start date, eliminating the need for manual enrollment or duplicate monthly cycles. Combine with form completion or set attribute tasks to track probation status, collect approvals, and trigger extensions if necessary.
Role-based reviews Initiate reviews when employees change roles, departments, or managers without reconfiguring organizational hierarchies.
Performance improvement plans Create sequenced review cycles that build on each other, such as 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day check-ins as part of a performance improvement plan workflow.
Project-based reviews Trigger reviews when projects complete by using webhooks or other external signals, and assign project managers as reviewers. Make sure to pick a template that has 'project manager' activated in the professional settings.
Recurring reviews Trigger reviews periodically based on a fixed date to set up a cadence for the whole team, or based on individual employment dates for rolling reviews that occur every 6 or 12 months per employee.
Integrated review processes Combine review enrollment with other workflow actions like document creation, notifications, automatic goal creation, instant feedback requests, forms, learning path assignments, or meeting scheduling, all triggered by the same event.
Setting up your first automated review cycle
Step 1: Create a review template
Before setting up the workflow, ensure you have an active review template that defines the baseline settings and timeline for your review cycle. Navigate to 'Reviews' > 'Templates' to create or select a template.
Please note: If you delete a template that is assigned to an active workflow, it will have the same effect as removing a template assigned to an active review automation. The step configuration will need updating.
Step 2: Create or edit a workflow
Navigate to 'Settings' > 'Automation' > 'Workflows', then either select an existing workflow or create a new one by clicking 'Create workflow.'
Step 3: Configure the workflow trigger
Set the trigger that will initiate your review enrollment. Recommended trigger options include:
Date-based triggers:
- Start date or probation end date
- Anniversary of the start date
- Fixed date combined with 'repeats' option set to every 'x weeks' to set a cadence for the whole company or a specific group, mirroring previous review automation option 'based on fixed schedule'
- Custom date attributes such as 'project end date' or 'role change date'
Event-based triggers:
- Employee updated (for role changes, transfers, etc.)
- Webhook calls (for project completion or external system events)
Step 4: Add and configure the 'Enroll in a review cycle' step
Click 'Add step' and select 'Enroll in a review cycle' from the available step types.
Set cycle kick-off timing
Use the standard step timing options to define when the review cycle should start. This defines the 'cycle kick-off' in the timeline of the review template you select in the next step. You can set the cycle to start:
- On the trigger date / event
- Before the trigger date / event, such as 1 week before probation end date
- After the trigger date / event, such as 2 weeks after start date or manager change
The system will display a preview of the cycle timeline based on your selected template: 'Based on this template, the cycle timeline will be: Trigger + N days after trigger Peer deadline, Trigger + N days after trigger Manager deadline, etc.' This preview helps you understand when key review milestones will occur relative to when the workflow step is triggered.
Select review template
Choose an active review template from the dropdown menu. The review cycle will inherit settings from the selected template, including cycle owner, scope and participants, questionnaire, timeline and deadlines, and visibility rules.
Optional: Auto-set project manager
Depending on your template settings, additional participant customization options may appear:
Project manager If the template's manager selection is set to 'Manually selected project manager,' you can dynamically set the project manager using:
- Dynamic filters for additional managers
- Specific users
- Person field attributes (coming soon)
Choose grouping behavior
Select how employees should be grouped into review cycles:
Group by day (default): Employees triggered on the same day join one cycle. This is ideal for company-wide or team-wide review processes where employees should share the same cycle. When employees are grouped into a single cycle, they share the same timeline, cycle owners, and visibility settings - hence these can be modified for everyone together. This allows us to use the review cycle dashboard for a unified status overview.
No grouping: Each employee gets an individual cycle. This allows to adjust timeline and visibility setting for each employee, making it ideal for probation reviews, role-based reviews, or PIPs. For project reviews, employees are only grouped if their project manager matches. You can get a unified status overview across cycles in the workflow overview and the 'All reviews' list.
Set completion criteria
Choose when the workflow step is considered done, which can trigger follow-up steps:
- Manager assessment shared
- Manager and employee assessments signed
- All assessments completed
- Enrollment complete
- Cycle deadlines reached
- Cycle closed
This allows you to add step sequences to chain actions after specific review milestones, such as sending a notification when all assessments are completed or creating a follow-up document after sign-off.
Optional: Step 5: Add other steps to your workflow
You can enhance your review workflow by adding additional steps before or after the review enrollment:
Add a notification before the cycle kick-off to inform managers in advance
To ensure managers can reserve time to complete the review ahead of time, you can send them a reminder of an upcoming review. This also ensures that the workflow instance is created before the review cycle kicks off and hence allows the admin to preview the cycle and make changes, such as skipping the task if a review already took place or the employee is on longer leave.
Schedule calendar events for the review discussion
Automatically add the review discussion to your team's calendars to make sure feedback is not just documented, but managers also take the time to discuss the results with their direct reports. The scheduled events can be moved by the selected organizer.
Add instant feedback requests before or in between review cycles
To enable true continuous feedback and nudge team mates and managers to provide feedback throughout the year, so that at the time of the review they can access evidence.
Add goals before or after the review cycle
Before: Set goals such as ramp-up goals for new hires, or recurring business goals that are standardized across employees / departments. These can then be referenced in the review cycle. After: Auto-create suggestions / templates for development goals as draft. Employees and managers are then encouraged to adjust these based on the review cycle feedback.
Forms, such as for probation review
Automatically trigger a form after completion of a review, such as an end of probation questionnaire to the manager.
Step 6: Activate the workflow
Once you've configured all steps, activate the workflow to begin enrolling employees based on your trigger criteria.
Monitoring enrollment and completion
The workflow overview displays detailed review information for each enrolled employee:
- Assigned reviewers (manager, peers, direct reports, self)
- Assessment statuses per reviewer (not started, in progress, completed, shared)
- Discussion and sign-off states
- Deadlines and late indicators
- Cycle status (draft, active, closed)
To access more details:
- Click any step to access the assessment (as a reviewer) or the review cycle dashboard (as an admin)
- Edit participants, skip enrollment, or remove participants directly from the workflow interface
- Monitor completion based on your selected completion criteria
Please note: Cycles are created when the step triggers, not a week in advance like legacy automations. The workflow overview provides transparency into upcoming enrollments only for workflow instances already running. If the workflow includes another step before the review cycle enrollment step, the review cycle enrollment will be visible once the first step in the workflow is due.
Migrating from legacy review automations
If you have existing review automations in the Reviews module, they will continue to function as configured. However, you cannot create new review automations. To set up new automated review processes, use workflows.
Here's how legacy review automation options map to workflow settings:
- Legacy: Once after the employee started
Workflow equivalent: One step relative to start date with no grouping
- Legacy: Repeating based on start date
Workflow equivalent: Workflow trigger set to 'Anniversary of start date' with recurring frequency
- Legacy: Based on fixed schedule, repeating every x weeks
Workflow equivalent: Fixed date trigger combined with 'repeats' option set to every 'x weeks'
- Legacy: Minimum tenure
Workflow equivalent: Use conditional step criteria to include only employees who meet minimum tenure requirements
- Legacy: Inclusion / exclusion rules
Workflow equivalent: Use workflow target group settings and conditional step criteria
- Legacy: Preview of who will be included
Workflow equivalent: Visible in workflow overview for running workflow instances
Please note: The grouping logic differs slightly. Legacy automations grouped users by week (Monday), while workflows group by day. If weekly grouping is critical to your process, set your trigger to occur on a specific day of the week.
FAQs
Can I still use my existing review automations?
Yes, existing review automations in the Reviews module will continue to function as configured. However, you cannot create new review automations. All new automated review processes should be set up using workflows.
How do I migrate my existing review automation to workflows?
Review your existing automation settings and recreate them in a workflow using the mapping guide above. You can run both the legacy automation and the new workflow in parallel during testing, then deactivate the legacy automation once you're confident in the workflow setup.
What happens if I delete a template that's being used in a workflow?
If you delete a template assigned to an active workflow step, the step configuration will need updating, similar to removing a template from a legacy review automation. Make sure to update the workflow with a new template before deactivating the old one.
Can I trigger reviews based on a probation end date?
Yes, use a workflow trigger based on the 'Probation end date' attribute. Set the step timing to trigger on or relative to that date.
How do I set up recurring reviews every 6 months for each employee?
Create a workflow with a trigger based on 'Anniversary of start date' and set it to repeat every 26 weeks (approximately 6 months). Alternatively, use a trigger relative to the start date with a recurring frequency.
Can I combine review enrollment with other actions like sending notifications?
Yes, workflows allow you to add multiple steps, including notifications, document creation, learning path assignments, instant feedback requests, and more. You can sequence these actions before, during, or after the review enrollment step.
Why aren't draft cycles created a week in advance like legacy automations?
Workflows create cycles when the step triggers to provide more flexibility with timing. If you need a buffer period, set your step timing to trigger earlier than your desired kick-off date.
How do I know who will be enrolled in upcoming reviews?
The workflow overview shows all running workflow instances and their upcoming steps, including review enrollments. You'll see which employees are scheduled for review enrollment and when.