Managing Evaluation Periods

Evaluation periods define the timeframes for performance reviews in your organization. As your review cycles change throughout the year, you'll need to update these periods to reflect current practices.

Note: This section requires system administrator role and appears only when Performance Reviews are enabled.

Editing Evaluation Period Details

You can modify evaluation period information at any time:

1. Navigate to System Admin → Subdivisions → Evaluation Periods
2. Find the evaluation period you want to edit
3. Click Edit next to the period name
4. Update the following fields:
   • Name: Period identifier (e.g., "2024-2025 School Year")
   • Term: Optional term number for multi-term periods
   • Start Date: Beginning of the evaluation period
   • End Date: End of the evaluation period
5. Click Save

Changes to evaluation period details will immediately affect how the period appears in reports and user interfaces.

Changing Active Periods

Only one evaluation period should be active at a time. The active period determines which timeframe new performance reviews are assigned to:

1. Navigate to System Admin → Subdivisions → Evaluation Periods
2. Find the period you want to activate
3. Click Edit next to that period
4. Check the Active checkbox
5. Click Save

The system will automatically deactivate any previously active period. All new performance reviews will now be created within the newly active period.

Deactivating Old Periods

When an evaluation cycle ends, deactivate the period to prevent new reviews from being assigned to it:

1. Navigate to System Admin → Subdivisions → Evaluation Periods
2. Find the period you want to deactivate
3. Click Edit next to that period
4. Uncheck the Active checkbox
5. Click Save

Deactivated periods remain in the system for historical reporting but won't appear as options for new performance reviews.

Deleting Periods Safely

You can delete evaluation periods, but this action will affect existing performance reviews:

1. Navigate to System Admin → Subdivisions → Evaluation Periods
2. Find the period you want to delete
3. Click Delete next to that period
4. Confirm the deletion

Warning: Deleting an evaluation period will impact any performance reviews associated with that period. Consider deactivating instead of deleting to preserve historical data.

Impact on Existing Reviews

Changes to evaluation periods affect performance reviews differently depending on the action:

Editing Period Details

• Existing reviews maintain their association with the period
• Updated names and dates appear in reports immediately
• No performance review data is lost

Deactivating Periods

• Existing reviews remain unchanged
• Historical reports continue to function normally
• New reviews cannot be created in deactivated periods

Deleting Periods

• Associated performance reviews may lose their period classification
• Historical reports may be affected
• This action cannot be undone

Best Practices

Plan Ahead: Create new evaluation periods before the current one ends to ensure smooth transitions.

Use Consistent Naming: Follow a standard format like "YYYY-YYYY School Year" or "Fall YYYY Semester" for easy identification.

Coordinate Transitions: Notify evaluators when switching active periods so they understand which timeframe applies to new reviews.

Preserve History: Consider deactivating rather than deleting old periods to maintain complete historical records.

Review Annually: Update evaluation periods at the beginning of each school year or review cycle to match your organization's calendar.