Open and close an appraisal cycle
Opening a Draft cycle creates an appraisal for every active staff member and can notify them. Closing locks the cycle; unfinished appraisals stay incomplete.
For School administrators, HR managers. Updated 2026-10-09.
Overview
On the Cycles tab, open a Draft cycle with its Open action (needs the “edit appraisal” permission). The "Open this cycle?" box has a checkbox "Notify staff that their self-assessment is due".
Opening creates one appraisal for every active staff member (teachers, employees, accountants and other staff roles; inactive, suspended and withdrawn users are excluded) and sets the cycle to Open. If there are no active staff you get "There are no active staff to appraise." Each staff member then receives the notification "Your appraisal is open".
The success toast reads "Cycle opened. Every active staff member now has an appraisal." A cycle can only be opened once ("This cycle is already open." / "A closed cycle cannot be opened again."). Staff who join after the cycle opened do not get an appraisal automatically in that cycle. Close with the Close action ("Close this cycle?").
Only an Open cycle can be closed. Closing does not delete anything: completed appraisals stay locked and visible, but appraisals still waiting for self-assessment or review can no longer be submitted (self and review actions require an open cycle). The toast is "Cycle closed".
A cycle whose end date has passed while still Open is flagged Overdue and its unfinished appraisals are counted as overdue.
Before you start
- A Draft cycle with valid criteria
- The “edit appraisal” permission permission
Steps
- Open Appraisals & Training > Cycles.
- Find the Draft cycle and click Open.
- Tick or untick "Notify staff that their self-assessment is due" and confirm.
- Go to the Appraisals tab to assign reviewers and monitor progress.
- When the review period is done, click Close on the cycle and confirm.
Common problems
"There are no active staff to appraise."
Make sure staff accounts exist and are active before opening the cycle.
A staff member who joined later has no appraisal.
Appraisals are generated for staff active at the moment the cycle is opened. Include late joiners in the next cycle.
Staff cannot submit after I closed the cycle.
Self-assessments and reviews need an Open cycle ("This appraisal cycle is not open."). Closed cycles cannot be reopened, so create a new cycle if needed.