How to create a Cycle

A Cycle is a review period. You set the dates, the cycle type, and who participates. You can attach Templates to the cycle.

Before you start

• You must be signed in.
• These roles can create a Cycle: owner and administrator.
• Hiring manager, Office Administrator, and employee cannot open Cycles.
• Your organization must have the Evaluations feature.
• Create a Template first if you want the cycle to use one. Templates are optional when you create the cycle.

View Cycles

1. Open Retain, then open Evaluations.
2. Select Cycles.

The page title is Evaluation Cycles. The table columns include Title, Cycle type, Status, and Scope.

Status values:

• Draft — the cycle is not open yet.
• Active — people can complete reviews in the cycle.
• Completed — the cycle is finished.

3. Select New Cycle. If the list is empty, select Create Cycle.

Cycle details

The dialog title is Create Evaluation Cycle.

1. In Title, type the cycle name. This example uses Q3 2026 Performance Review. The title can have up to 255 characters.
2. In Cycle type, select the kind of review.

Cycle type options:

• Company Survey
• Performance Improvement Plan
• Performance Review
• Self Reflection
• Upward Feedback

3. In Description, type a short note. This field is optional.
4. In Period start, select the first day of the review period.
5. In Period end, select the last day of the review period. The end date must be on or after the start date.
6. In Due date, select the day when reviews are due.
7. In Scope, select who participates.

Scope options:

• Organization-wide — the whole organization.
• Specific teams — only the teams you select. Then select Teams.
• Specific people — only the people you select. Then select Participants.

8. In Templates, select one or more templates if you want the cycle to use them. This field is optional.
9. Select Create Cycle.

Select Cancel to close the dialog.

View the cycle

1. Select the cycle title in the list, or open the row menu and select View Details.

The page shows Cycle details and Reviews in this cycle.

Cycle details fields:

• Evaluation type — the cycle type you selected.
• Scope — who is in the cycle. An organization-wide cycle shows Entire Organization.
• Templates — the templates on the cycle, or No templates assigned.
• Period
• Due date
• Review progress

2. Select Actions.
3. Select Activate if the status is Draft. Confirm Activate Evaluation Cycle, then select Activate. The cycle notifies participants.
4. Select Edit if you need to change the cycle.
5. Select Export CSV to download the cycle data.

You cannot delete an Active cycle. You can delete a Draft cycle or a Completed cycle.

After you finish

The new cycle is in Cycles. The first status is Draft. After you select Activate, the status is Active.

You can assign evaluations to the cycle. See How to assign an Evaluation.