Setting up reviews in Dapple means creating a Review Round, adding it to a stage, configuring scoring and guidance, adding members to it and then sending submissions to it. Everything lives in the Workflow & Reviews tab inside your project, and the core setup is handled through a six-step wizard. This guide walks through each stage in order — from first configuration to viewing results.
Before you start
Check the following before setting up your review:
Your project has the correct stages set up. Review Rounds can only be attached to in-progress stages — not New or Completed.
The team members you want as reviewers already have accounts in your Dapple organisation. If not, invite them first from Settings → Team.
You know which scoring approach you want — a simple numeric rating per submission, or rubric scoring with weighted criteria. You can change this later, but it is easiest to decide upfront.
Step 1 — Open Workflow & Reviews and find the right stage
Open your project.
Click the Workflow & Reviews tab.
Find the stage column where you want reviews to happen. In-progress stages show a REVIEW ROUND section near the bottom of the column. If a stage shows "Unavailable for this stage", it is not an in-progress stage.
Step 2 — Create a Review Round
In the REVIEW ROUND section of the stage column, click + Add review round.
The six-step wizard opens. Work through each step in order.
Step | What to do |
1 — Name & stage | Give the round a name that reflects its purpose — for example, "Round 1 Sift" or "Final Jury". Confirm the stage. Toggle on Automatically send to review round if you want every submission entering this stage routed to the round without a manual send step. |
2 — Guidance | Write the instructions reviewers will see on their review form. Include what each score means, any context about the programme, and how you want them to approach the assessment. Clear guidance produces more consistent scores. |
3 — Deadlines | Toggle on Display due date to reviewers if you want a visible deadline. Choose Specific date for a fixed calendar date, or X days from send for a rolling window calculated from when each submission is sent. |
4 — Scoring | Choose the scoring type. Rating gives reviewers a single score per submission. Rubric scoring lets you define weighted criteria — each with a name, description, Max score, and Weight — producing a final score out of 100. Add your criteria if using Rubric scoring. |
5 — Members | Add the members of the Review Group — the people who will complete the reviews. You can add team members from your organisation here. |
6 — Notifications | Configure email notifications. The Reviewers tab controls when reviewers are notified (new reviews assigned is on by default). The Admins tab lets you turn on alerts for when a review is submitted, declined, or the round is completed. |
Click Save at the end of Step 6. The Review Round card now appears in the stage column.
Step 3 — Send submissions for review
Once your Review Round is set up, route submissions to it. There are three ways to do this:
Method | How | Best for |
Individual | Open a submission → Reviews tab → Send to review round → select the round | Routing specific submissions to a particular round, or when submissions need different rounds |
Bulk | In Workflow & Reviews, click the three-dot menu (⋯) on the stage column header → Send all to review round → select the round | A batch of submissions all ready for the same round at the same time |
Automatic | Enable the Automatically send to review round toggle (Step 1 of the wizard), or add an Assign Review Round Stage Automation to the stage | Every submission entering a stage should go to the same round — zero manual steps |
When submissions are sent, reviewers in the Review Group receive an email notification (if set) and the submissions appear in their Awaiting Feedback queue.
Step 4 — Reviewers complete their assessments
Each reviewer logs into Dapple and goes to their review dashboard. They will see:
Awaiting Feedback — submissions assigned to them that they have not yet started
In Review — reviews they have saved as drafts
Submitted — submissions they have already submitted feedback for
For each submission, reviewers score against the criteria you configured, provide any written comments, and submit. Reviews can be saved as drafts and returned to. Reviewers cannot see each other's scores — each reviewer only sees their own feedback.
Step 5 — Track progress and view results
Admins track review progress each Review Round by heading to the Reviewers and the Review Sections or from the main submissions list. They can see:
Individual scores, votes, and comments from each reviewer
Average scores and leading votes across the Review Group
Total votes
Side-by-side comparison of reviewer responses
Weighted totals (if Rubric scoring is enabled)
Step 6 — Make decisions and move submissions
Once scoring is complete, use the results to triage your submissions and move them on. Open the Submissions list, filter and sort by review score to rank submissions from highest to lowest, then multi-select the ones you want to act on and bulk move them to the appropriate stage — a later stage for those that progressed, or a Rejected stage for those that didn't.
If you prefer to work visually, you can drag submission cards directly between stage columns in the Stages board, or use the multi-select on cards there to move a batch at once.
A later stage can have its own Review Round attached — so shortlisted submissions can go straight into a second round of assessment with a different Review Group and scoring criteria. Repeat as many times as your programme requires.
Best practices for setting up reviews
Finalise your scoring criteria before adding reviewers — changing criteria after scores have been submitted recalculates existing weighted totals.
Write clear guidance for reviewers. Describe what each score level means, not just the criterion name. Vague criteria produce inconsistent scores across the Review Group.
Use rubric scoring with Weight to reflect the genuine priorities of your programme. If two criteria are equally important, give them equal weights.
Set a deadline for reviewers and communicate it when you send the submissions — the in-product countdown reinforces it but a direct message sets expectations from the start.
Enable blind review if applicant identity could influence scoring. This hides selected submission fields from reviewers during assessment.
Preview the review form before sending submissions to the round. Check that each criterion reads clearly from a reviewer's perspective, not just an admin's.
Check the Stats section a few days before the deadline to see who is behind and follow up directly.