> This is the Markdown of a Backed Help Centre page, https://admin.backed.giving/help/administrator/assessments/assessment-rounds.md. Every page is listed at https://admin.backed.giving/help/llms.txt.

> This page uses Backed's default terms, such as Funding Round and Application Template. An organisation may rename them, so read each as your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.

An assessment round sends a grant round's submitted applications to assessors to score.
`Assessment Round`, `Assessment`, `Assessor` and `Application` are your organisation's own terms if
you've renamed them.

## Create an assessment round

1. Select `Assess > Assessment rounds`, then `New Assessment Round`.
2. Choose what to set up:
   - `Assessment Round`: choose which submitted applications to assess, and which assessors assess
     each.
   - `Singular Assessment`: assess one application by one or more assessors.
3. Work through the steps:
   - `Details`: the `Title`, an optional `Description` assessors see, and the `Grant` the round is
     for. Changing the grant later clears every selected application and assignment.
   - `Application`: select the submitted applications to assess.
   - `Assessors`: include administrators and assessors, then `Assign` each one their applications,
     or share them out with `Assign by rule`.
     See [Assignments](assignments.md).
   - `Template`: choose the assessment form. See [Assessment templates](assessment-templates.md).
   - `Workflow`: turn on `Assessors declare any Conflict of Interest before assessing` and choose
     what they see when they declare, and turn on `Decision to Assess workflow` so assessors accept or
     decline each assessment first (choose its `Decision form`). These cannot be changed once the
     round is published.
     Turn on `AI assessor aids` so assessors can ask for an AI summary, evidence quotes,
     consistency, eligibility and budget checks, and possible duplicates. It's off unless you turn
     it on, it can't be changed once the round is published, and the aids are advisory: they never
     change a score. The switch is disabled until assessor aids are switched on in your
     organisation's [AI assistance](../../integrations/ai-assistance.md) settings.
     Under `Concealed information`, turn on `Blind review` to hide what identifies the applicant
     from assessors. See [Blind review](#blind-review).
     Under `Assignment acceptance`, turn on `Require assignment acceptance` so each assessor
     accepts or declines an assignment before they can open it. Set `Accept within (days)` (1 to
     30, 5 unless you change it), counted from the day the assessors are notified, and turn on
     `Reassign automatically` to give a declined or lapsed assignment to the next eligible assessor
     in the pool. `Accept within (days)` is disabled while acceptance is off. See
     [Assignments](assignments.md#acceptance-and-reassignment).
     Under `After submission`, set `Allow changes for N minutes after submission` (0 to 60) so an
     assessor can unsubmit and change their assessment for a while, turn on `Assessors may amend
     until Close` to let them amend it with a note until the close date, and turn on `Allow bulk
     download`.
   - `Dates`: optional `Open`, `Close` and `Due` dates. After the close date assessors can no longer
     edit or submit.
   - `Publish`: check the `Summary` and select `Publish Assessment Round`.

If something must be fixed first, Backed lists it under `Fix these before publishing`. Each assessor
is told once the round is published.

## Follow a round

Open a round from `Assess > Assessment rounds` with `View`. Its `View` tab shows the details, the workflow
settings fixed at publishing and the next steps; its `Assessments` tab lists every assessment with its
status. Under `Assignment acceptance`, the `View` shows the round's acceptance settings and, for
each assessor, how many of their assignments are `Awaiting`, `Accepted`, `Declined` and `Lapsed`.
The `Assessments` tab can show an `Acceptance` column and filter by it. `AI assessor aids` shows
how many assessments used AI aids, such as `3 Assessments used AI aids`, and whether the round
offers them.

The header of a published round shows how many of its assessments are assessed, such as `3 of 8
Assessed`. Assessments that were declined or have a conflict of interest don't count. The number
updates when you come back to the tab, so you don't need to refresh the page after an assessor
submits.

Open an assessment to see its `Assessor`, `Status`, `Due` date, `Total Score` and the scores per
question with their weights, and the `Conflict of Interest` and `Decision to assess` answers.

## Blind review

Turn on `Blind review` under `Concealed information` on the `Workflow` step of a round that isn't
published yet. Each change saves straight away.

- Backed adds the applicant's registration details and every field it detects as identifying (an
  entity name or address field, or a field tagged as applicant identity). These are marked
  `Detected`.
- To add any other field, choose it under `Add a field` and select `Add`. To remove a field you
  added, select `Remove`. To remove a `Detected` one, select `Remove` and type `REMOVE` to confirm;
  the removal is recorded in the audit log.
- Choose how assessors see uploads: `Include attachments unchanged`, `Hide attachments`, or
  `Anonymise attachments`, which is chosen when you turn blind review on. Anonymised uploads are
  named `Attachment 1`, `Attachment 2` and so on, and author details are removed from PDF, Word,
  Excel and PowerPoint files. Other files are renamed only. Your own downloads are unchanged.
- Under `Anonymised Applications`, blind review covers `Every Application in the round` unless
  you choose `Only the Applications I choose` and tick the applications to anonymise. Every other
  application reaches its assessors un-anonymised. At least one stays ticked; to cover them all
  again, choose `Every Application in the round`.
- Under `Conflict of Interest declarations`, choose what assessors see when they declare.
  `Keep the applicant anonymised` (the default) shows the application's title or reference number,
  and you cross-reference who the applicant is. `Show who the applicant is` shows the applicant's
  name and the list of collaborators, where the round's Conflict of Interest settings show them.
  Once an assessor declares no conflict, everything else stays anonymised.
- Select `Preview anonymised Application` to see a selected application exactly as an assessor of
  the round will, then `Next` and `Previous` to move between them. An application outside the ones
  you chose says it reaches its assessors un-anonymised.

Once the round is published its concealed information, the applications it covers and the
Conflict of Interest approach can't change, and what's concealed stays hidden after the close date.
To show it to assessors, open the round's `View` and select `Lift concealment`, then give
a reason. Lifting can't be undone, is recorded in the audit log, and doesn't email anyone. The `View`
then says who lifted it and when.

## Review panels

A panel is a group of the round's assessors with one lead assessor. The lead sees the members'
scores and comments on an application once the lead has submitted their own, and in a consensus
panel records the panel's `Pass` or `Fail` for it. Open the round's `Panels` tab.

1. Select `Create panel`. Enter a `Panel name` and tick its `Members` from the round's assessors.
2. Choose the `Lead assessor`. Only ticked members are offered; untick the lead and you choose
   again.
3. Choose which applications it reviews: every application in the round, by `Funding Category`,
   or by application tag.
4. Choose the `Mode`: `Scored`, where members score as usual, or `Consensus pass or fail`, where
   the lead records one outcome per application once every member without a conflict has
   submitted. Tick `Share scores within a panel after submission` to let members, not only the
   lead, see each other's scores after submitting their own.
5. Set the panel's `Assignment rule`, then select `Create panel`.

A panel's rule assigns only its members to its applications. Open the panel from the list and
select `Apply rule`: Backed shows the assignments first and makes them when you select `Apply`.
Then notify the assessors from `Change Assignments`.

The panel's page shows, for each application, every member's status and `Total Score`, the mean,
the range and the outcome. A row is highlighted and marked `Divergent` when the members' scores on
any scored question differ by more than the `Divergence threshold` (2 unless you change it);
change the threshold to see the table again at a new one. If the lead has a conflict on an
application, select `Name deputy lead` on its row and choose one of the panel's members to record
its outcome instead. Only members who are assessing that application are offered, because the
deputy records the outcome from their own `Panel` tab once their own assessment is submitted.

`Edit panel` changes any of the panel's settings. `Delete panel` keeps every member's assessments,
archives the panel's rule so it can no longer be applied, and deletes the panel's recorded outcomes
after recording each one in the audit trail.

## Rank and shortlist

A round's `Leaderboard` tab ranks its applications by assessment score, highest first, with a
panel's `Pass` above `Fail`. Each row shows the rank, the score, how many assessments are submitted
of those assigned, the score range, `Requested Funding`, the cumulative requested funding in rank
order, the application's tags and where it sits against the cut line. Choose a `Funding Category`
to rank only its applications.

1. Under `Cut line`, choose `Cut by`: `Rank (top number)`, `Minimum score` or `Budget (Requested
   Funding)`, and enter the number, score or amount. The table shows where the line falls as you
   type; the line is a preview until you select `Save cut line`.
2. Applications that share a rank at the line are marked `Tie` and listed together at the line.
   Ties are never broken: they are not shortlisted.
3. Applications with assessments still pending are marked `Incomplete` and listed below the line.
   Tick `Include incomplete` to rank them with the rest.
4. Name the `Shortlist tag` (`shortlisted` unless you change it) and save the line.
5. Select `Shortlist above the line`. Backed shows how many applications are above the saved line
   and the tag they get, and tags them when you select `Shortlist`.

Use `Remove from shortlist` on a row to take the tag off one application. `Export` downloads the
ranked list as a CSV, with the cut line in its first row. The shortlist tag can then be used to
choose applications in a later stage's `Select Applications` and a decision's `Applications` step.

## Draw an equal-merit band

When the cut line is a budget and applications tied on score straddle it, the `Leaderboard` tab
shows `Equal-merit band`. Applications ranked above the band are funded first; a recorded random
draw decides which applications in the band get what the budget leaves.

1. The band's `Band floor (score)` and `Band ceiling (score)` are filled in with the tie that
   crosses the budget line. Change them to widen the band; the panel lists the applications in the
   band, their combined `Requested Funding` and what the budget leaves.
2. Save the budget cut line, then select `Draw`. Backed shows the band, the remaining amount and the
   seed. Leave `Seed (optional)` blank for Backed to generate one, or enter a seed announced in
   advance. Tick the confirmation and select `Draw`.
3. Backed orders the band by the SHA-256 of the seed and each application's number, and selects, in
   that order, each application whose `Requested Funding` fits what remains. Selected applications
   get the shortlist tag and are marked `Lottery` on the leaderboard; the rest are marked
   `Not drawn`.

The standing draw shows the band, the budget, the seed, who drew it and when, and the band in draw
order with each result. `Export draw` downloads it as a CSV from which anyone can recompute the
order. If an application in the band is rescored after the draw, the draw is marked `Stale` and
names it; the draw is never run again on its own. `Void draw`, with a reason, is the only way to draw
again: it removes the lottery's tags and keeps the voided draw on record.

`Draw` and `Void draw` are shown only to administrators who can also tag the round's applications.

`Export` and `Export draw` also need `Can generate reports` or `Can generate document reports`, so
someone who can only view assessment rounds can't take a copy of the ranking or the draw.

## Compare assessors' scores

A round's `Scoring matrix` tab has one row for each application and one column for each
assessor. Each cell shows that assessor's `Total Score` once they've submitted their assessment.
A cell is blank until then. A cell shows `COI` when the assessor declared a conflict of interest,
or the conflict was confirmed. The application's `Assessment Score` is at the end of the row, and
it never counts an assessment with a conflict.

Select `Show criterion scores` on a row to see each submitted assessment's score for each scored
question, with the best possible score under the question. Only each assessor's current scores
are shown.

An application is marked `Divergent` when two assessors' scores for the same question differ by
more than the `Divergence threshold`. The sentence under it names the questions, and each of
those scores is marked `Flagged`. The threshold starts at 2 points. Change it and the matrix
updates. Choose a `Funding Category` to show only its applications.

Select `Export CSV` to download the matrix as it is on screen: one row for each application, one
column for each assessor, and the `Assessment Score`.

## See a round's summary

A round's `Summary` tab counts its assessments by status, from `Pending Assessment` to `Conflict
Confirmed`, with the total. Below that, each application shows its status (`Assessed`, `In
progress` or `Not started`), how many of its assessments are assessed, and its `Assessment Score`.
Select `Export CSV` to download the summary.

`Export CSV` on both tabs also needs `Can generate reports` or `Can generate document reports`.
The `Scoring matrix` also needs `Can access Assessments`.

## Compare scores across a grant

`Assess > Assessments` compares the scores of a grant round's applications. Choose a
`Grant`, select `Search`, then sort by number or by score. Show an application's assessments to see
each assessor's score. Choose an `Acceptance` state to list only the applications with an
assessment in that state — `Declined` and `Lapsed` include assignments that have since been
removed.

## See also

- [Assignments](assignments.md)
- [Review panels for assessors](../../assessor/review-panels.md)
- [Assess as admin](assess-as-admin.md)
- [Conflicts of interest](conflicts-of-interest.md)