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Setting Up 360 Assessments

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Molly
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This article covers how to configure the system to run 360 assessments, including cohort settings, roles, email templates, and report setup.

Training Video

Please note: The platform has had some enhancements and updates since this video tutorial was created, and as such, some of the platform areas shown in the video may now look a bit different. We are working to update our videos to reflect the changes, however, the video is still relevant and extremely useful for use in understanding the set up and the steps to setting up your 360 Assessment.

On this page

Step 1: Turn on cohort functionality

Head to Site Settings > Features > General tab. Scroll down the page to select the checkbox 'Use Cohort' and press Save.

Step 2: Fill out cohort settings

  1. Head to Assessment settings for the assessment for which you want to set up cohorts. Then click on the Cohort tab of assessment settings.
  2. Fill out each field as follows:

Cohort Settings tab:

Cohort Type Select '360'.
Cohort Report Recipient Choose who receives the cohort report. Options include the subject, a specified contact, both, or as specified by role.
Default Days to Completion Enter the number of days you want a cohort to run for. This default can be overridden each time you set up a cohort.
Default Minimum Responses This sets the minimum number of responses needed before the system auto-generates the report on the closing date. If the minimum has not been met on the completion date, the system will check again every 24 hours and generate the report once the minimum has been met. You can enter a number here, or leave blank if you want to set the minimum at the role level.
Maximum Responses Enter a number for the maximum number of respondents allowed. The system will not allow cohorts larger than this number. If left blank, there is no restriction.
Enable Iterative Feedback Tick this if you want to run repeat 360 cycles. See Step 4 for more details.
External Cohort THIS IS A COHORT CONFIGURATION OPTION. Read more here if you want the 360 subject to initiate their own cohort and nominate raters. Otherwise, continue with set-up and enable it later if needed.

Step 3: Add roles

Roles differentiate participants in a 360. They allow you to:

  • Filter and split data in the report by role (e.g. show Manager feedback separately from Peer feedback).
  • Show different parts of the assessment to different roles.
  • Send tailored emails to each role.

Important: You need to add at least one role to your cohort. A typical 360 uses at least two: the Subject (Self) and one or more rater roles.

Common roles for a 360 assessment:

  • Self (the person being assessed)
  • Manager
  • Peer
  • Direct Report

These are only examples. You can create whatever roles are appropriate for your 360.

  1. Click on the Cohort Roles tab, then click Add Role.
  2. Fill out the fields for each role:
Role Type in the name of the role (e.g. "Self", "Manager", "Peer", "Direct Report").
Customer Type Select a customer type if needed. Customer types are commonly used to differentiate emails. For a 360, you typically create two customer types: one for the subject (e.g. "Yourself") and one for all other raters (e.g. "Others"). This lets you send different email wording to each. Read more about Customer Types.
Receives Report Only appears if you selected the 'As specified by role' option in Assessment settings > Feedback Tab > Outputs > Cohort Email Recipient. Select an option from the dropdown list: Not applicable, Alternate Cohort Report, or Cohort Report.
Minimum Number of Respondents Invited Enter the number of respondents needed for sending invitations. This minimum will be applied only if the role is selected at least once in the cohort.
Minimum Number of Respondents Leave blank if you have set it at the cohort level (in the cohort settings tab). If you want to specify at the role level, enter the minimum number of completed responses required for the automatic production of the cohort report. Note: if using this field, all roles for the assessment must have a minimum number set. It is valid to have zero if there is no requirement for responses from that role.
Numerical Order Set a numeric order for the roles to appear in charts that are split by role.
Is Subject Tick this for the "Self" role. This ensures that the subject of the 360 is, by default, invited to assess themselves. Leave unticked for all other roles.
  1. Press Save and continue to add more roles as needed.

Note: The Is Subject checkbox is specific to 360 assessments. It identifies which role is the person being assessed. When ticked, the system will register respondent with this role as the Subject of the cohort.

Step 4: Optional - Set up cohort iterations

THIS IS A COHORT CONFIGURATION OPTION.

Read more here if you want to set up iterations.

Cohort iterations automate reassessment of a 360 cohort. This is useful for running repeat 360 cycles (e.g. quarterly or annually) to track how someone's feedback changes over time. Iteration data can be used as a filter or as a split type in charts.

Otherwise, continue with set-up and enable it later if needed.

Step 5: Set up questions for your 360 assessment

Building questions for a 360 assessment is different from other assessment types. Because you have a Self role and Others roles (e.g. Manager, Peer, Direct Report), you need two versions of every question - one worded for the person assessing themselves, and one worded for others assessing the subject.

Important: This step should be completed before setting up email templates or reports, as your question structure directly affects how your 360 functions.

5a. Add a Role question (hidden)

On the Welcome page of your assessment, add a question to capture the respondent's role. This question should be hidden from the respondent - the system will auto-populate the answer based on the role assigned in the cohort.

To set this up:

  1. Add a new question on the Welcome page (e.g. "Role").
  2. Add answer options that match your cohort role names exactly (e.g. "Self", "Manager", "Peer", "Direct Report").
  3. Go to the question's Options tab and set Link to Response Settings to Role.
  4. Set the question to Hidden so the respondent cannot see or change it.

When a respondent is added to the cohort with a specific role, the system will automatically select the matching answer for this question. You will use this question later to set conditions on your assessment questions.

5b. Add a Subject Name question

To display the subject's name dynamically in questions for the "Others" roles, you need to link a question to the subject's name in Response Settings.

  1. Add a question on the Welcome page for the subject's name (this can also be hidden).
  2. Go to Answer Options > Options tab.
  3. Set the Answer Report Name field to Subject First Name.
  4. Set the Link to Response Settings field to Subject firstname.

The subject's name will now be synchronized into this question's answer, and you can use Question Piping to pull it into other questions throughout the assessment.

5c. Build two versions of each question

For every question in your assessment, you need to create two versions - one for Self and one for Others. Both versions should sit within the same section and subsection.

Example: Leadership Style questions

In a section called "Leadership" with a subsection "Leadership Style", you would set up questions like this:

  • Q10 (Self): "I set clear goals for my team."
  • Q20 (Others): "{ResponseAnswer.AnswerText[S1 SS1 Q35]} sets clear goals for their team."

In the Others version, the merge string {ResponseAnswer.AnswerText[S1 SS1 Q35]} uses Question Piping to pull in the subject's first name from the Subject Name question you set up in step 5b. So a respondent would see something like: "Sarah sets clear goals for their team."

5d. Set conditions on each question

Use conditional logic to control which version of each question appears based on the respondent's role.

  1. Open the Self version of the question and go to the Conditions tab.
  2. Set the condition so the question only appears when the Role question answer is "Self".
  3. Open the Others version of the question and set the condition so it appears when the Role question answer is "Manager", "Peer", or "Direct Report" (using OR logic - add a separate condition record for each role).

This ensures the Self respondent sees questions worded in first person ("I set clear goals...") while all other raters see questions worded in third person with the subject's name piped in ("Sarah sets clear goals...").

Note: For more details on linking questions to response settings, see Linking Questions to Response Settings. For question piping syntax, see Using Question and Answer Piping.

Step 6: Set up email templates

Head to Assessment settings > Emails tab to add or amend email templates.

360 assessments require more email templates than individual assessments because you need to communicate differently with the subject and the raters.

Tip: To send different welcome emails to the subject vs. raters, create Customer Types (e.g. "Yourself" for the subject, "Others" for raters) and assign them to the matching cohort roles. Then create two Welcome email templates, each assigned to a different customer type.

The email types you may need for a 360 assessment are:

Email Type Sent To Purpose
Cohort Welcome Subject (Self role) Introduces the subject to the 360 process and invites them to initiate their cohort and nominate their raters.
Welcome (Yourself) Subject (Self role) Invites the subject to complete their self-assessment. Assign to the "Yourself" customer type.
Welcome (Others) Raters (all other roles) Invites raters to assess the subject. Assign to the "Others" customer type.
Auto Reminders All respondents Optional. Sends reminders to respondents who have not yet completed the assessment.
Completion (optional) Individual respondent Sent when a respondent submits their response. Can be replaced with or supplemented by a Cohort Feedback email.
Cohort Feedback Subject or contact Sends the cohort report once the cohort closes and the minimum responses criteria has been met.

This article is a how-to guide for email templates. You can also copy pre-written email for 360 in email template samples.

Step 7: Set up your cohort report or results page

  • Read more about building a cohort report here.
  • Read more about building a cohort results page here.

To add a cohort report:

  1. Navigate to Assessment settings > Feedback tab.
  2. Under the Cohort reports section, press Add Cohort Report.
  3. Fill out these fields:
Report Name Type in a name for your report. This is an internal name only.
Report Description Type in a description of the report. The description is internal only.
Report Template Upload your Word doc report template.
File Name Enter a name for the file. The filename can include merge parameters that will be resolved by the system.
  1. The Options tab allows you to filter the respondents included in the report. We recommend leaving these fields blank for most 360 setups.

Step 8: Test before launching

We always recommend testing your cohort before launching to ensure it's working how you expect it to.

If you're unsure how to launch a cohort, follow these instructions.

Testing tips for 360 assessments:

  • Create a test cohort with yourself as the subject and use test email addresses for each rater role.
  • Complete at least one response per role to verify that role-based conditional logic works correctly.
  • Check that the correct welcome email is sent to the subject vs. the raters.
  • Run the cohort report on-demand to verify it generates correctly before going live.

Note: The report will arrive on the day after the completion date, provided there is an email template with a type of Cohort Report and the minimum number of responses criteria has been met. However, you can run the cohort report manually using the Cohort Report Manager.

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