A Stage in Dapple is a step in the submission lifecycle — for example New, Longlist, Shortlist, Selected, Rejected. Every project has its own set of Stages, and submissions move through them as you review and decide. Stages appear as columns in a Kanban-style board so you can see exactly where every submission sits at a glance.
Why are Stages useful?
Programmes don't run in a single step. A submission usually moves through several decision points — initial sift, review panel, shortlisting, final decision, sometimes a payment or contract step. Stages give that flow a structure your team can see, agree on, and act on. Visualising every submission's position on the Kanban board removes the 'where's that one?' overhead from team handoffs.
What does a typical Stages setup look like?
Use case | Typical stages |
Academia or Publishing | New → First Read → Second Read → Shortlist → Accepted → Published |
Awards or contest | Entries → Round 1 → Round 2 → Finalists → Winners |
Residency | Applied → Longlist → Interview → Offered → Confirmed |
Grants | Submitted → Eligibility Check → Review Panel → Funded |
What can I customise about Stages?
Create multiple customised stages
Stage name (e.g. rename 'Shortlist' to 'Round 2').
Order — drag stages into the sequence that fits your workflow.
The Status each stage maps to (New, In Progress, Rejected, or Completed).
Whether the stage appears on the Stages Kanban board (hide stages you don't need to see daily).
What the creator sees in their dashboard when their submission reaches each stage.
How are Stages different from Statuses?
Stages are your project's workflow; Statuses are the four core states (New, In Progress, Rejected, Completed) that Dapple tracks behind every stage. Every stage you create maps to one of those four statuses, so creators and admins always see consistent high-level progress regardless of how custom your workflow is. Full breakdown: What Are Statuses
Where to go next