What do the response statuses mean (Answered, Assessed, Completed)?

The response status shows which stage a response has reached. When an assessment uses Open Response (the setting that enables assessor review), a response is not marked complete as soon as the respondent finishes. Instead it moves through several stages, and the response status updates at each one. The statuses below assume the most common configuration, where the Complete button is shown to the assessor only.

In an open-response assessment, the response status moves through three values: Answered, Assessed, and Completed.

Response status: Answered

• The respondent has finished all questions and clicked Finish.
• The response is saved but not yet completed, so the response status is set to Answered.
• If an Interim Report and Interim email are configured, the email is triggered at this point, typically to notify the assessor that a response is ready to review.

Response status: Assessed

• The assessor has reviewed the respondent's answers and added their feedback or scoring.
• The assessor clicked Finish to save progress without completing the response.
• The response remains open and the response status is set to Assessed.

Response status: Completed

• The assessor clicked Complete.
• This confirms that the respondent has finished answering and the assessor has finished their review.
• The response status is set to Completed, and the completion report and completion email are triggered, if configured.

If the response status is sitting at Answered when you expected it to be complete, this is normal for an open-response assessment. It is waiting for the assessor to review and click Complete. See Why can I not see the Complete button on a response? if the assessor cannot complete the response.

For full details, see Using Assessor Functionality.