> This is the Markdown of a Backed Help Centre page, https://admin.backed.giving/help/administrator/assessments/assignments.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 assignment gives one assessor one application to assess. You make assignments while you set up an
assessment round, and change them after it is published.

Labels that name `Application` and `Assessor` use your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.

## Assign before publishing

1. On the round's `Assessors` step, search administrators and assessors and include the people who
   will assess.
2. Select `Assign` beside a person and tick the applications they assess. Select `Save`.

Each person shows how many applications are assigned to them, and any `Conflict of Interest` they
have declared. An application they have a conflict with cannot be assigned to them. One publish can
create a limited number of assessments; add more afterwards with `Change Assignments`.

To share applications out in one go, use `Assign by rule` or `Bulk Assign` instead (see below).

## Share assessments with an assessor

`Sharing` is beside `Assign` on each person's row of the round's `Assessors` step, and on each
assessor's row under `Assessment Sharing` in `Change Assignments` step 1. It lets an assessor read
assessments of this round and of earlier rounds, for example a first-stage panel's assessments in a
later stage. Include the person in the round first.

1. Select `Sharing` beside an assessor.
2. Tick the assessments they can see. Filter by round, or search by application or assessor. The
   ones already shared with them are ticked: untick one to stop sharing it. Their own assessments
   cannot be ticked.
3. Select `Add`. Exactly the ticked assessments are shared with them, and their row's
   `Shared Assessments` count changes to match.

In a draft round nothing is shared until you publish the round. In a published round, changes to
sharing take effect immediately: the assessor sees an added assessment under `Shared Assessments`
at once and loses a removed one at once, without `Notify Assessors`. Sharing sends no email.

Shares made here include scores. In a blind-review round the popup reminds you of this: to keep
scores and assessor names from other assessors until the round closes, use `Share Assessments` with
scoring and assessor information scrubbed instead (see [Assessment sharing](assessment-sharing.md)).

## Assign by rule

`Assign by rule` is on the round's `Assessors` step and on `Change Assignments` step 1,
`Update assignments`. It assigns many applications at once from a pool of the round's assessors.

1. Select `Assign by rule` and give the rule a name.
2. Choose a mode. The number you're asked for follows the mode:
   - `Random: N Assessors per Application` gives each application that many assessors.
   - `Random: N Applications per Assessor` gives each assessor in the pool that many applications.
   - `Round robin with a cap per Assessor` gives each application one assessor, taking turns, and
     never gives an assessor more than the cap.
3. Choose which applications the rule reaches: every application in the round, those of chosen
   funding categories, or those carrying a chosen application tag. A scoped rule shows a pool for
   each value you choose, so `Arts` can go to one group of assessors and `Health` to another.
4. Tick the assessors in each pool.
5. Select `Preview`. The preview lists every proposed assignment, each assessor's load before and
   after, the applications the rule could not fill, how many existing assignments it skipped, and
   how many assessors it left out of each application for a conflict of interest or because they
   belong to the applying organisation.
6. Select `Apply`.

Nothing is assigned until you select `Apply`. If you close the drawer or change the rule, the
preview is discarded. If the pool is too small for the number you asked for, the preview is refused
and offers `Assign as many as possible`, which assigns what the pool can and lists the rest as not
filled.

Random draws are balanced: no assessor gets more than one assignment above another unless a cap, a
conflict or an existing assignment forces it. In a draft round the rule's assignments are created
when you publish. In a published round they are created at once, and assessors are told only when
you select `Notify Assessors`.

### Assign by answer

The fourth mode, `By answer`, assigns on what applicants said rather than at random. Use it to send
every application from one region to the assessors who know it, or every application that names a
specialisation to the assessors who hold it.

1. Select `Assign by rule`, give the rule a name and choose `By answer`.
2. Under `Question`, choose a question of the round's application form, or a field tag that names
   one. Only questions with a plain answer are offered: choices, text, numbers and dates.
3. Choose a `Condition`. The conditions follow the question:
   - `is` and `is not` compare the whole answer, ignoring capitals and spaces at either end.
   - `contains` finds a word or phrase in a text answer, or a ticked option of a multiple choice.
   - `is any of` matches any of several answers: tick the options of a choice question, or type
     one answer per line.
   - `is more than` compares a number answer.
4. Enter or choose the `Answer`.
5. Tick the assessors to assign. Each one you tick is given every matching application.
6. Select `Preview`, check the proposed assignments, then select `Apply`.

An application that left the question blank never matches, not even `is not`. Assessors with a
conflict of interest, or who belong to the applying organisation, are left out and counted in the
preview, as for any rule. A rule that names a field tag keeps reading the question the tag was on
when you applied it.

## Bulk Assign

`Bulk Assign` is beside `Assign by rule` on the round's `Assessors` step and on `Change Assignments`
step 1. It gives several assessors several applications in one go, without a rule.

1. Select `Bulk Assign`.
2. Tick the assessors. Only people included in the round are listed.
3. Tick the applications. Search narrows the list, and `Tick every Application shown` ticks the
   ones the search shows. The count below says how many assignments you are asking for: each ticked
   assessor gets each ticked application.
4. Select `Assign`.

The result shows how many assignments were created, how many already existed, and each one left
out with its reason: a `Conflict of Interest`, a `Member of the applying entity`, or an application
`Not eligible for this round`. Select `Done` to close it. A bulk assignment is the same as one made
with `Assign`: in a draft round it is created when you publish, and in a published round it is
created at once and the assessor is told when you select `Notify Assessors`.

## Re-apply a saved rule

A rule is saved when you apply it. The published round's `View` lists its assignment rules, with
the mode and when each was last applied. A `By answer` rule shows its question, condition and
answer, for example `By answer: Region is North`. Select `Re-apply` beside a rule to assign only the
applications that joined the round since. `Re-apply` shows the preview first and assigns nothing
until you select `Apply`; then notify the assessors from `Change Assignments`. A panel's rule is
listed with a `Panel` badge and is applied from its panel: open the panel from the round's
`Panels` tab and select `Apply rule`. `Re-apply` keeps the rule as it was
saved: if its pool is now too small and the rule was saved without `Assign as many as possible`,
make a new rule with `Assign by rule` instead.

## Acceptance and reassignment

When a round has `Require assignment acceptance` turned on (the `Workflow` step), each new
assignment is `Awaiting acceptance` until the assessor answers. The date to accept by is set when
the assessor is notified, `Accept within (days)` after it. The assessor accepts, or declines with
a reason: `Unavailable`, `Outside my expertise`, `Conflict of interest` or `Other`. Assessors get
a reminder two days before the date, and an unanswered assignment lapses after it.

A declined or lapsed assignment is removed. With `Reassign automatically` on, Backed gives the
application to the next eligible member of the rule's pool (or the round's assessors), leaving out
anyone with a conflict, and notifies them. When no one is left, or reassignment is off, you get a
Task, `Assignment needs reassignment`, that opens the round. A `Conflict of interest` decline is
recorded as a conflict declaration in a round that asks for them, for you to review; in any other
round the assignment is removed and that assessor isn't proposed for the application again.

The round's `View` shows each assessor's counts under `Assignment acceptance`.

## Change assignments after publishing

1. Open the published round and select `Change Assignments`.
2. On `Update assignments`:
   - `Add Assessors` adds people to the round.
   - `Assign by rule` assigns by rule (see above).
   - `Bulk Assign` gives several assessors several applications (see above).
   - `Add Application` adds more submitted applications.
   - `Update` beside a person changes their applications. Unticking one removes that assessment at
     once, whatever its status, except that a panel member's submitted assessment is kept.
   - `Sharing` under `Assessment Sharing` changes which assessments an assessor can read (see
     [Share assessments with an assessor](#share-assessments-with-an-assessor)).
   Each change applies as soon as you make it.
3. On `Review`, check the assessors and applications added, and the assignments added, removed and
   skipped. Each skipped assignment says why: the assessor has a conflict of interest that has not
   been revoked, or the assessment was submitted by a panel member and is kept.
4. On `Notify Assessors`, select `Notify Assessors`. Each assessor with new assignments gets one
   email and a Dashboard notification about those assignments only.

Assessors are not told about new assignments until you notify them.

## See also

- [Assessment rounds](assessment-rounds.md)
- [Assessment sharing](assessment-sharing.md)
- [Conflicts of interest](conflicts-of-interest.md)