User Experience: External Reviewer

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Base | Faculty Accomplishments | Reviews, Promotion and Tenure | Web Profiles

When an External Reviewer is approved, a unique access URL is generated and shared with them via email outside of Faculty Success in order to invite them to submit their review for the candidate. Upon the reviewer clicking on the link, they will be taken to a landing page where they will request a code to be sent to their email.

The invitation page showing a message requesting a review of a scholarship with a Request Code button centered below. Link for entering an existing code appearing underneath.

Once the email is received, they will enter the one-time code in the Security Code box. The code will only be active for 5 minutes. Once this code expires, a new one must be requested by clicking on the link once again or clicking resend code. Once they submit the code they can accept & start review or decline the review as shown in the image below.

The invitation page showing two buttons: Decline Invitation and Accept & Start Review.

This article outlines the actions an External Reviewer can take when they receive an email to review a candidate as well as how to request a security code and how to resolve common system error messages.

Accepting an Invitation

When first opening the unique access URL, the External Reviewer can request a code to be sent to their email and then can accept the invitation by clicking the "Accept & Start Review" button. This action takes them to the candidate's submission to submit their review material. The following sections provide more details on actions that can be taken after accepting an invitation:

Reminder: An External Reviewer can continue to use the same unique access URL, however a new security code will need to be generated after 5 minutes of the code being sent. See the "Generating a New Code" section of this article for more information on how to do this.

Submitting your Review

Once the External Review has entered their review into the designated fields made available to them and completed any required fields (marked with an red asterisk "*"), they can submit their review by selecting the "Submit" button in the upper-right corner and confirming in the pop up message that they want to submit their review by selecting the Submit button.

The submission confirmation popup showing a message that the review cannot be edited after submission. Popup showing Cancel and Submit buttons.

Once a response is submitted, the External Reviewer receives a confirmation message thanking them for their review. They will also receive an email confirming that the review was submitted and an option to Download a Copy of the review.

Note: An External Reviewer can only enter their review in the designated fields and view steps that have been made visible to them through the form security settings configured by the Workflow Administrator. If they wish to see the contents of a step they don't have access to, it is recommended for them to contact the person who shared the unique access URL to request access.

Saving your Progress

An External Reviewer may save their progress to return to the submission and continue later. To do this, they will select the "Save & Return Later" button shown in the image below.

The section showing Scholarship Review for Felix Baker with Due May 27, 2025. Right side showing Save & Return Later button, Submit button, and Decline Review link. Save & Return Later button highlighted.

Downloading Submission Contents

The contents of a submission can be downloaded by clicking the "Download Submission" text shown in the following image. After clicking the text, the contents of the submissions will be automatically downloaded to the External Reviewer's device as a zip file.

The section showing Scholarship Review for Felix Baker with Due May 27, 2025. Right side showing a highlighted Download Submission link.

Declining an Invitation

After opening the unique access URL and entering in the security code, an External Reviewer can select the "Decline Invitation" button to decline the invitation to review the candidate.

The page showing a message that the scholarship review invitation was declined, with an Accept & Start Review button below.

If an External Reviewer wants to decline the invitation after opening the URL, they can do so by selecting the "Decline Review" text to cancel their review. Once declining the review, you will see the original decline message from above.

The section showing Scholarship Review for Felix Baker with Due May 27, 2025. Right side showing Save & Return Later button, Submit button, and higlighted Decline Review link.

If the External Reviewer changes their mind, they can access the URL again and click "Accept & Start Review" to review the candidate. Note that the security code is only active for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, a new code must be generated. See the "Generating a New Code" section of this article for more information on how to do this.

Generating a New Code

A new security code needs to be generated by the External Reviewer after 5 minutes from requesting the original code. This can be done by clicking on the previously shared unique access URL, which will prompt the External Reviewer to click "Request Code." This email will come from notifications@watermarkinsights.com. This security code is not case sensitive.

The security code page showing a message for an annual review and a one‑time code displayed below.

If they do not receive the email with the security code, the External Reviewer is encouraged to contact the on-campus reviewer who initially shared the URL for further assistance. The on-campus reviewer may manually generate a one-time security code by selecting the "Reviewer Access Code Support."

The reviewer options menu showing items for Reviewer Contact & Submission Link, Reviewer Access Code Support, and Revoke Access. Reviewer Access Code Support option highlighted.

On-Campus Reviewer will select "Generate Code" and can provide the code shown in the boxes to the External Reviewer.

The Reviewer Access Code Support section showing a Generate Code button with a one‑time code displayed below and a countdown timer. Generate Code option highlighted.

External Reviewer will use the unique access URL and select "Enter it now" to manually enter the security code.

The code request section showing a Request a New Code button with a link below reading Already have a code? Enter it now. Link highlighted.

Resolving System Messages

This section provides insights into how to resolve common system error messages that an External Reviewer may receive and how they may be resolved.

Your access is temporarily on hold

This message appears when an external review is trying to access their review and the submission has been sent back to a prior step, they will receive a note stating that the campus is not quite ready for their review and to try again later or contact the on-campus reviewer by replying to the initial invitation.

The message showing notice that the candidate’s review is being updated and access is on hold, with instructions to try again later.

You no longer have access to this invitation

If an external reviewer tries to access their review after the submission has been advanced past the External Review step or the submission has been completed (either an Early Complete, or a normal Complete), they will receive a note stating that the review has moved to the next step or the review is no longer being needed.

The message showing notice that access to the invitation is no longer available and may not be needed.

You do not have access to this page

If an external reviewer tries to access their review after a schedule has been terminated (and all associated submissions deleted), they will receive a message stating that they no longer have access and to contact the person who shared the link with them.

The message showing notice that access to the page is not available and advising contact with the link sender for an update.

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