How to Create a Review Round in Dapple

A Review Round in Dapple is a structured scoring layer you attach to an in-progress project stage. Creating one takes you through a six-step wizard: you name the round, write guidance for reviewers, set optional deadlines, choose a scoring type, add the Review Group members who will score submissions, and configure notification emails. Once created, the round can be edited at any time from Workflow & Reviews.

How do I create a Review Round in Dapple?

Open your project settings and click Workflow & Reviews in the top navigation.
Find an In progress stage column where you want the review round.
Click + Add review round in the Reviews section of the column.
The six-step wizard opens. Work through each step (see below).
Click Continue to move between steps or Save to create the round.

Review Rounds can only be added to in-progress stages. The option is not available on the New or Completed stages. The wizard also includes a Generate with AI button on Step 1 if you want Dapple to suggest a name and guidance based on your project.

What does each step of the wizard configure?

Step	What you set up
1 — Name & stage	The stage the round is attached to (pre-filled), the Review Name (e.g. "Round 1 Sift" or "Final Jury"), and the Automatically send to review round toggle — when on, every submission entering this stage is sent straight to the round without a manual step.
2 — Guidance	Notes for reviewers explaining what to assess, how to score, and any rubric criteria. Reviewers see this inside their review interface. The clearer your guidance, the more consistent the scoring.
3 — Deadlines	Optional deadline dates by which reviewers should complete their assigned reviews. Deadlines are visible to reviewers in their review dashboard.
4 — Scoring	The scoring type for the round — Rubric scoring (structured criteria you define) or Rating (a simpler star or numeric rating).
5 — Members	The Review Group for this round — the specific people who will score submissions. Add members by name or email. This is called Review Group once the round is created.
6 — Notifications	Email notification settings for both reviewers and admins. See the Notifications section below for full detail.

Step 1: Select a stage and name your panel

The setup wizard opens with the steps in order to complete:

From the Stage dropdown, choose which stage in your application flow this review applies to.
Give the panel a clear name that reflects the round or purpose — for example "Round 1 Sift" or "Final Jury".
Optional: toggle Automatically send to review panel when a submission enters this stage. This sets up a stage automation so submissions reach the panel the moment they enter that stage, with no need to send manually. Automations are available on the Growth plan and above.
Optional: Select the "Generate review panel" option to quickly generate using AI (see below).

You can rename a panel, change its stage or all the settings at any time after it is created.

What does "Automatically send to review round" do?

When this toggle is on, every submission that enters this stage is automatically assigned to the review round and reviewers in the Review Group are notified immediately. No manual routing is needed.

When the toggle is off, submissions must be manually sent to the round after they enter the stage. This is useful when you want to triage or select submissions before handing them to reviewers.

Can I speed up setup with AI or by copying a previous panel?

Yes — and we'd recommend generating with AI as your default starting point. From the Name & stage step, two shortcuts sit next to the Continue button:

Generate with AI — scans your submission form and builds your round automatically: it drafts reviewer guidance from your form fields and suggests a scoring rubric with example weightings. It doesn't add any members — you'll need to add these yourself in the Members tab before reviewers can start.
Copy from an existing panel — search your existing review rounds in this project and duplicate one into the new panel. This copies the review settings (guidance, deadlines and scoring) only; members are always set separately, regardless of which shortcut you use.

Either way, treat what's generated or copied as a draft. You can make edits and changes once the panel is saved.

Step 2: Review guidance, deadlines and scoring

Whether you built the round manually or with AI, check these three tabs before reviewers start work.

Guidance

Reviewer guidance is shown to your panel when they score, vote, or give feedback on submissions — they can refer back to it at any time during the review. If you used Generate with AI, this tab already contains a draft written from your form and rubric; edit it, click Suggest guidance to regenerate it, or delete it and write your own. Use the toolbar to format with headings, bullet points, or other styling.

Deadlines

Two settings control how deadlines work for this panel:

Display Due Date To Reviews — when enabled, reviewers see a due date for their feedback. Choose a fixed date, or set a number of days from the review start.
Require all panel members to review — when enabled, a submission is only marked complete once every active panel member has submitted feedback. Turn this off to set a custom minimum instead.

Scoring

Each criterion can collect a numeric score, a vote (with custom options), or a free-text response — only Score criteria contribute to the weighted average, which runs from 0–100. If you used Generate with AI, this tab is pre-filled with suggested criteria based on your form; adjust the criterion names, max scores, weights, and vote options as needed. Here is more information on rubric scoring.

Type	What it collects	Counts toward the 0–100 average?
Score	A numeric score up to a max you set, with a weight	Yes
Vote	One of a set of custom options you define (e.g. "Fully compliant" / "Minor deviations")	No
Text	A free-text response for open feedback	No

Step 3: Assign Review Group members

Toggle Add team members to auto-add your existing team members as reviewers, or add them individually.
Save your changes to finish setting up the panel.

Reviewers aren't notified when they're added to a round — they only see assignments once submissions start flowing in or when you activate review notifications.

Can I add external reviewers?

Yes — but they need to be added to your organisation first. Invite them in Settings → Users with the Reviewer role. Once invited, they appear in your Panel Members list as a pending panel member, even before they've accepted the invitation. They'll only have access to a personal Review Account — not full admin access.

Step 3: Configure notification options

Step 6 of the wizard — and the Notifications section when editing an existing round — has two tabs: Reviewers and Admins.

Reviewers tab

Notification	Detail
New reviews assigned	Sent to every member of the Review Group when submissions are sent to this review round. On by default. Emails are grouped over a 30-minute window — a bulk move sends one summary email rather than one message per submission.

Admins tab

Notification	Detail
Review submitted	Fires when a reviewer submits their feedback on a submission. Not sent to other reviewers. Off by default.
Review declined	Fires when a reviewer declines a review assignment. Not sent to other reviewers. Off by default.
Reviewer withdrew (conflict of interest)	Fires when a reviewer withdraws from a review they had started, citing a conflict of interest. Not sent to other reviewers. Off by default.
Review round completed	Fires when all required reviews are in for a submission. Off by default.

Reviewers can turn off review activity emails in their own account settings. The grouping window on the New reviews assigned notification means that if you move 50 submissions to a stage at once, reviewers receive one summary email rather than 50 individual notifications. You can preview any notifications by selecting the eye icon.

What is the Stats section on a Review Round?

Once a review round is live and receiving submissions, a Stats section appears in the round settings (accessible from the Workflow & Reviews stage column). Stats gives you an at-a-glance summary of review progress for the round — how many submissions have been assigned, how many reviews are complete, and how reviewers are tracking against any deadline you set. Use it to spot if a reviewer is falling behind before the deadline passes.

Can I edit a review round after it's created?

Yes. Open Workflow & Reviews and click the review round card in the stage column. This opens the round settings with the same sections as the wizard — General, Guidance, Deadlines, Scoring, Review Group, Notifications, and Stats — available as a left-hand navigation rather than a stepped wizard. Change any setting and click Save changes. The update takes effect immediately for any submissions currently in the round or entering it from this point forward.

Tab	What you can change
Overview	The round's name; whether reviewers can decline a review (with a reason); whether reviewers can declare a conflict of interest.
Stage	Which stage the round is assigned to, and the automation that sends submissions to it automatically.
Guidance	The instructions shown to reviewers.
Deadlines	Due dates and the minimum number of reviewers required.
Scoring	Rubric criteria, scoring ranges, and vote options.
Members	Who's in the review group, including pending external reviewers.
Stats	Progress and results for this round.

Click Update Review Settings on any tab to save your changes.

Can I rename or move a Review Round to a different stage?

Yes. Open the round settings from Workflow & Reviews and go to General. You can update the Review Name and reassign the round to a different in-progress stage. The stage dropdown in General only shows in-progress stages; New and Completed stages are not available.

Can I archive a Review Round?

Yes — each round has an Archive button at the bottom of its settings panel. Archiving removes the round from the active stage view without deleting its data. Archived rounds and their scoring data are retained and can be accessed from the project settings if you need the historical record.

Best practices for Review Rounds

Name the round after its purpose, not just its position — "Expert Jury" is more useful than "Round 3" when you're reviewing results months later.
Write the Guidance step before you invite reviewers. It sets expectations and reduces back-and-forth questions.
Use the email grouping on the Reviewers notification — the default 30-minute window means a batch move of submissions triggers one email, not a flood.
Turn on the Review round completed admin notification if your workflow depends on knowing exactly when all reviews for a submission are in.
Check Stats regularly during an active round — catching a reviewer who is blocked early is much easier than chasing completions the day before a deadline.
Archive rather than delete old rounds. The scoring data stays available for reporting and auditing.