Use this article to close a review cycle in Workleap, or part of it, and to reopen a review for someone who needs more time. A due date alone never blocks anyone: a review stays open until the cycle is locked, or until the review locks on its own deadline when the cycle is set up that way.
Who can use it: Executives and Collaborators lock and unlock cycles and extend any deadline. Direct Managers can extend deadlines for their reporting line; Temporary Direct Managers for their assigned reviewees.
Close and lock a review cycle
Locking a review cycle freezes it: no review can be submitted, and participants, questions, and nominations can't change.
Log in to Workleap and go to Org, then Review cycles. Select the … menu on the cycle's row, or open the cycle and select the … menu next to Send a nudge.
Select Close and lock and confirm.
The cycle's state becomes Locked. Every unsubmitted review now counts as not submitted, reminders stop, and the cycle admits nobody.
Only an Active cycle can be locked. Two things stay possible on a locked cycle: calibration, because the Performance and Potential formulas remain editable, and reading, exporting, and sharing results. To reopen the cycle, open the same menu and unlock it; everything becomes editable again.
Lock the cycle automatically on a date
A review cycle can lock itself on a date you set, with no action from you.
Open the cycle's … menu, select Cycle settings, then the Scheduling step.
Under Cycle closes, replace Manually with a date. It must fall after the last deadline the cycle can produce. On a launched cycle, a new date must be in the future.
Workleap checks every 6 hours and locks the cycle on or after that date. The cycle's creator, editors, and launcher receive an email when it happens; locking by hand sends none. About a week after the cycle's overall due date, they also receive a reminder to lock it if it's still open.
Let each review lock on its own deadline
On a hire-date cycle, people enter at different times, so locking the whole cycle would cut off latecomers. Instead, each review can lock on its own deadline.
In the cycle settings, Scheduling step, find Late submissions.
Pick Not accepted (the review locks as soon as it is due), Accepted for a number of days after the review is due (then it locks and becomes read-only), or Accepted indefinitely (the review never locks on its own).
Save. On a launched cycle, confirm the change; it applies to everyone in flight and can lock or reopen reviews at once.
How a review lock works: the lock date is the day after the due date, plus the delay, plus any extra days granted to that reviewer. A locked review is final: it can't be started, answered, or submitted, and it shows a lock icon with Ended and the date instead of Due. The reviewer receives one email when it locks. Each reviewer holds their own lock: on a manager review, the regular manager and the temporary manager each have theirs.
Give a reviewer more time
When a review has locked on its own deadline, or is about to, you can grant one reviewer extra days without touching anyone else.
On the cycle's Progression tab, select the … menu on the reviewee's row, then Manage reviewers.
In Manage reviewers for [name], each review type lists its reviewer with a LOCKS ON date: the reviewee under SELF-REVIEW, the manager and any temporary manager under MANAGER REVIEW, and each PEER REVIEWER and UPWARD REVIEWER. Pick a new LOCKS ON date for the reviewer who needs time.
Select Save changes. Changes apply to this reviewee only. A review that had locked reopens and shows Overdue until it's submitted; the reviewer receives an email with the new date.
A grant replaces the previous one for that reviewer; it never adds up. Setting the date back to the past locks the review again. A reviewer added later, including a replacement manager, starts on the default lock date; they never inherit someone else's extra time.
Note: Extra time can't be granted when the cycle has no Late submissions delay, when the cycle is locked, or when the reviewee has already acknowledged their results. It reopens a review lock, never a cycle lock or an acknowledgment.
Delete a review cycle
Deleting a review cycle removes it and every review in it, permanently.
Open the cycle's … menu and select Delete.
In Delete [cycle name]?, read the warning, check I understand, and select Delete cycle.
Important: This action is permanent and cannot be undone. All reviews are permanently deleted, and export and calibration are no longer available for the cycle. To keep the results, lock the cycle instead.
Limitations and workarounds
A lock stops submissions, not reading. Results, exports, and sharing still work on a locked cycle.
Only a launched cycle locks. Delete or edit a draft instead.
A temporary manager can't share results in a locked cycle. The regular manager or an Executive can.
Where locked reviews show. They stay visible, read-only, in the cycle and in exports; the Progression list counts them as not submitted, and they drop out of reminders and nudges.
Related
How do I run reviews on each employee's hire date (probation and anniversary reviews)?
How do I track review completion and send reminders?
What emails and reminders does a review cycle send?
How do I create a review cycle?