Set the cycle details
The first setup step, Select cycle details, has these settings:- Name and description: Give the cycle a clear name. Add a description when participants need more context.
- Review period: Choose the period of work that people should review. The default is the previous six months.
- Cycle type: Select Official cycle to run reviews with your company. Windy uses the results in 1:1s, later conversations, and future review context. Select Test cycle to check your setup. Windy does not use test results. Learn more about test cycles.
- Deadline digest emails: Choose whether Windmill sends a weekday email about work that is overdue or due soon.
Add stages and schedules
- Stage type: Add self, upward, peer, or manager review stages. A cycle needs at least one stage.
- Number of stages: Select Add another to add more self, upward, or peer stages. You can add only one manager stage. Each stage can have its own name and questions.
- Schedule: Set a start date and time for each stage. Select Set a deadline to add an optional due date. Stages can overlap.
- Time zone: Use one time zone for everyone or each employee’s local time zone.
- Peer dates: A peer stage has separate dates for nominations and feedback. Select Skip peer nomination chats to collect nominations in Windmill without a Windy chat.
- Schedule preview: Open the timeline preview to see your stages laid out as proportional bars across their dates. Use it to check how stages line up and overlap before you continue.
Add questions
Each stage has its own setup step for its questions.- Question type: Choose Text, Single Select, Multi-Select, Yes/No, Scale, eNPS, or Rating.
- Question details: Add a title, description, help text, and required setting.
- Answer settings: Configure choices, limits, scales, labels, or text-answer guidance based on the question type.
Set up peer nominations
If the cycle has a peer feedback stage, the Peer nomination settings step follows the question steps. Choose who can add nominations, whether nominations need approval, the nomination and reviewer workload limits, and who can revoke or see nominations. Learn more about peer nomination settings.Choose people and assignments
- Reviewees: In Select reviewees, select the employees who will receive reviews. You can search, filter, and select people in bulk.
- Stage participation: In Review assignments, choose which stages apply to each reviewee.
- Review period overrides: Set a different review period for a specific reviewee when needed.
- Managers: Start with each reviewee’s current manager or assign a different active workspace member.
- Upward reviewers: Start with active direct reports or choose other active workspace members.
- Peer reviewers: Reviewees, managers, or cycle admins nominate peers based on the peer nomination settings.
Choose the review packet
The Review packet step comes after Review assignments. Choose what employees see when their manager shares the review:- Stages and questions: Select the stages and questions to include in the employee packet. By default, it includes the manager review only. Managers always see every stage and answer.
- Reviewer anonymity: For each peer or upward stage, choose whether to hide reviewer names from the employee.
- Sharing: Choose HR enables sharing or Managers share directly with their direct reports. Use HR enables sharing if you plan to calibrate. Learn more about sharing reviews.
Review and create the cycle
The Review & create step shows each stage, its participants, and its schedule. It also shows the cycle stage timeline, so you can confirm how the stages line up across their dates before you create the cycle. Select Copy All Assignments to copy the stage assignments to your clipboard. Fix any missing work, missing manager, invalid date, or archived workspace member before you create the cycle. Create cycle creates an active cycle. There is no separate launch step. Each stage starts at its scheduled time. Windmill saves the reviewees, managers, and assignments when you create the cycle. Later HRIS or org chart changes do not update this saved cycle data. Some question settings also become locked after review work starts. After creation, cycle admins can change eligible dates, people, and assignments. Learn more about managing an active cycle.Change settings after you create the cycle
Open Configure cycle > Settings to change these settings:- Cycle type: Change between Official cycle and Test cycle.
- Cycle admins: The person who creates the cycle becomes its first cycle admin. Select Edit next to Cycle admins to add more. Learn more about cycle admins.
- Deadline digest emails: Turn the weekday digest on or off.
- Employee review packet: Select Edit to change the stages, questions, and reviewer anonymity in the employee packet. Learn more about changing the packet.
Recommended setup
- Test first: Run a test cycle with a small group before your first official cycle. This lets you see the messages and review pages that people will get.
- Set deadlines: Add a deadline to each stage. Windy automatically reminds people with incomplete work only when a stage has a deadline. Learn more about notifications and deadlines.
- Keep HR in control of sharing if you calibrate: Use HR enables sharing so that managers cannot share results before calibration changes are final. Use Managers share directly only if you do not plan to calibrate.
- Limit reviewer workload: Set Requests before approval is required so that one person does not get too many peer review requests. Windmill suggests 10 requests for each reviewer.