When a performance review starts, every reviewer gets the evaluations they must fill in: their own Self review, a Manager review of each direct report, a Peer review of a colleague, or a Direct report review of their manager. You answer each one in Factorial, your answers save as a draft as you type, and you click Submit before the deadline.

Before you start

• You receive an email ("New review '<name>' needs your action") and an inbox task for each review with evaluations for you.
• The review must be Active. You can't answer after the deadline.

Steps

Open your pending evaluations

1. Open your Inbox and click the task "You have 1 or more pending evaluations to complete in <review>". Or go to Performance → Reviews and open the review.
2. In the review, the Reviews card ("Complete and check your reviews") shows how many are pending. Click Complete reviews (or View all).
3. The My reviews panel lists each evaluation with the person, the review type and its status (Pending, Editing, Published). Click one to open it.

Answer and submit an evaluation

1. Read the header: Evaluator (you), Evaluated (the person) and the review type, for example Manager review ("Manager reviews a direct report").
2. Answer the questions. Questions marked as mandatory must be answered.
3. Your answers save automatically. The header shows Saving changes... and then Saved as draft. You can close the page and continue later.
4. Optional: click View context to open the side panel (see below).
5. Click Submit.
6. Confirm in the modal. If Allow review edits is off, it warns "Once submitted, you will not be able to edit your answers anymore."
7. When you finish all your evaluations, you see "Great job! You filled all your reviews!".

Use View context while answering

1. In the evaluation, click View context at the top right.
2. Switch between the tabs:

Get writing help from AI

If you have the Use One permission, text answers and rating comments show Enhance, which can rewrite, translate, shorten or fix the grammar of what you wrote, and a dictation button. You always accept or reject the result. See AI features in Performance: insights, suggested competencies and writing help.

Rules and behavior

• If a mandatory question is empty, then Submit shows "Complete all required fields to continue" and marks the question "Missing mandatory field".
• If you are a manager in a Custom weights review and real-time scoring is on, then you see Estimated score: X / Y while you answer.
• If the review includes competency assessment, then a Competencies assessment section lists the person's competencies with their Expected level. See Competencies in performance reviews.
• If you submit a self review and early access is on, then your manager is notified.
• If the review ends before you submit, then your draft is not submitted and nobody sees it as a result.
• If you are an additional reviewer on a manager review, then you share it with the reviewer: either of you can fill it in and submit it. If someone else has it open at the same time, you see "<name> also has this review open". Answers save automatically and the latest save wins, so agree on who edits. See Manage an active review: participation, peers, reviewers and status.
• If you are the evaluated person in a Direct report review, then you don't fill it in. Your direct reports do.
• View context only shows information you're already allowed to see elsewhere in Factorial.

Limitations

• You can't edit answers after Submit unless Allow review edits is on.
• You can't submit after the deadline.
• You can't decline or reassign an evaluation yourself. Ask an admin or the review owner.
• You can't attach files to answers.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: "I can't find the review I have to fill in." → Cause: the review isn't launched yet, or the evaluation was reassigned. → Fix: check your Inbox and Performance > Reviews; ask the review owner.
• Symptom: "Submit doesn't work." → Cause: a mandatory question is empty. → Fix: look for "Missing mandatory field" and answer it.
• Symptom: "The Goals tab is missing in View context." → Cause: your company doesn't have Goals. → Fix: ask your admin.
• Symptom: "I see a message instead of past courses." → Cause: Trainings isn't in your plan. → Fix: ask your admin.

FAQ

1. Is there a Save draft button?

No. Answers save automatically as you type.

2. Can I answer on my phone?

Yes. Open Hub → Performance reviews in the Factorial app.

3. Will the employee see what I wrote?

It depends on the review's visibility settings. By default, the evaluated person sees submitted results after the review ends.

4. What happens after everyone submits?

The manager can start an action plan. See Run an action plan after a review.