Scoring criteria are the questions reviewers answer for each submission they review in a space. For each criterion, you can set a maximum score. You can also ask reviewers for an overall recommendation and add instructions for reviewers, review-team administrators, and reviewers who decline.
This page explains scoring criteria, recommendations, and instructions. Other review settings for a space, including its starting round, default bucket, and review form, are covered separately.
Prerequisites
- You need the review settings permission for the space.
- The space must already have a starting round, a default bucket, and a review form selected. You cannot save review settings until all three are set.
Where to Find It
Go to Spaces › Setup › Reviews › Settings. On this settings page, you manage scoring criteria, the recommendation option, and all instruction fields, along with the round, bucket, and form choices. The criteria table opens a separate dialog where you add or edit one criterion at a time.
Adding a Scoring Criterion
Select Add a Review Criterion to open the criterion dialog. Fill in:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Scoring Criterion Name | Yes | The name reviewers and staff use for the question |
| Scoring Criterion ID | Yes | A stable identifier. Each review score is saved against this ID, so avoid changing it after reviews exist |
| Prompt Text | No | The question text reviewers see |
| Maximum Score | No | A whole number from 1 to 100. You can leave this blank |
| Guidance/Help | No | Help text shown beside the criterion |
| Display a text box instead of a rating scale | No | Shows a plain number entry instead of a row of rating squares. A maximum above 15 always shows a text box, regardless of this setting. The graphical rating scale does not support a score of 0, so display a text box when reviewers need to enter 0 for this criterion |
| Applies only to certain review rounds | No | Shows a round selector when checked |
| Applies only to certain review buckets | No | Shows a bucket selector when checked |
If you leave Maximum Score blank, Rhythm does not cap the criterion, so reviewers can enter any score. Set a maximum when you want to limit the score.
Two criteria in the same space cannot use the same Scoring Criterion ID. If they do, Rhythm will not save the criterion and shows a duplicate identifier message.
- Go to Spaces › Setup › Reviews › Settings for the space.
- Select Add a Review Criterion.
- Enter the name, identifier, and prompt text, and set a maximum score if you want one.
- Optionally check Applies only to certain review rounds or Applies only to certain review buckets, and choose which ones.
- Save the criterion, then save the review settings page.
Result
The next time a reviewer opens or starts a review, the criterion appears on the review form for the rounds and buckets it applies to.
Limiting a Criterion to Certain Rounds or Buckets
When you limit a criterion to certain rounds or buckets, choose at least one round or bucket. If you turn on a restriction without choosing one, Rhythm will not save the criterion. If you limit a criterion by both round and bucket, it appears only when the review’s round is one of the selected rounds and its bucket is one of the selected buckets.
Warning
The round and bucket selectors do not confirm that your selections belong to this space. If a selected round or bucket is later deleted, or if a space is cloned, the criterion keeps the old identifiers and may no longer apply anywhere. After you clone a space, review any criterion with round or bucket restrictions and reselect the new space’s rounds and buckets.
Reordering Criteria
Move a criterion up or down in the table to change the order reviewers see. Reordering changes only the display order; it does not change any score or total.
Changing or Removing Criteria After Reviews Exist
You can change or remove a criterion at any time, even after reviewers have submitted reviews that use it. When you save settings with changed criteria, Rhythm warns you that existing reviews are not altered.
You can change a criterion’s display name freely. Avoid changing its identifier after reviews exist, because the identifier connects the criterion to scores already recorded. If you rename the identifier, scores saved under the old identifier are not moved, updated, or deleted; they simply no longer match the criterion shown to staff.
Scoring Criteria or Reviewer Recommendations — Which to Use
Scoring criteria and reviewer recommendations serve different purposes, and you can use either or both. Use scoring criteria when you want detailed, factor-based scoring: you define each question, give it a maximum score, and can restrict it to specific rounds or buckets. Reviewer recommendations use a simpler, fixed scale, which works well when you only need an overall yes-or-no sense from each reviewer. Using both gives you more review data, but there is no single setup that fits every organization. Choose the level of detail you actually need.
You do not have to turn on scoring criteria to use reviewer recommendations. Leaving criteria disabled or unset does not cause problems in approval or other review workflows; recommendations work on their own when you do not need granular criterion scoring.
Asking for an Overall Recommendation
Turn on the switch to ask reviewers for a recommendation when they submit their review. Once it is on, write a Recommendation Prompt and Recommendation Guidance for reviewers. Reviewers choose from a four-point scale from Definitely Not to Strong Yes. These four values are fixed; you cannot change or relabel them the way you can with scoring criteria. Rhythm requires this prompt only in the review form itself, not in every possible way a review can be saved. Rhythm averages every reviewer’s recommendation and shows the combined overall recommendation when you view the submission in the Console.
Instructions
| Instructions field | Who sees it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions to Reviewers | Every reviewer in the space, when they start reviewing | Everyone sees the same text. It cannot vary by round or bucket |
| Instructions to Administrators | Review-team administrators, in the Portal | Every administrator in the space sees the same text |
| Decline Instructions | Reviewers who decline a review | This editor appears only when your account has individual reviewer decline turned on |
Each instructions field supports rich text, so you can format the instructions with headings, links, and lists.
Decline Instructions only matter to reviewers in a round you have configured to allow reviewer declines; that round setting controls whether reviewers see a decline option at all. If you do not plan to allow declines in any round, you can leave this field as it is and ignore it.
Permissions
You need the review settings permission for the space to view or change scoring criteria, the recommendation setting, and any instructions field. Staff without this permission cannot access the review settings page.
Validation and Errors
| Message or behavior | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Two criteria with the same ID were detected. Please make sure each review criterion has a unique id" | Two criteria use the same Scoring Criterion ID | Change one of the identifiers |
| Save refused, criteria list required | Review settings were saved with an empty criteria list sent explicitly | Add at least one criterion before saving. Review settings will not save when the criteria list is present but empty. If you want a space to have no scoring criteria, do not touch the criteria list instead of clearing it out |
| Save refused, a round or bucket restriction has none selected | The restriction switch is on, but no round or bucket is selected | Choose at least one, or turn the restriction off |
| Decline Instructions editor is missing | Your account does not have individual reviewer decline turned on | Ask your administrator whether this feature should be enabled |