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Creating a Performance Review Template

Thomas
Updated

Performance Review templates are the foundation of every review cycle in Prosper. A well-built template captures the right questions, applies consistent rating scales, and produces data you can track and compare across teams and review periods.

Who this is for: Administrators only

Read time: 6 minutes

Before you start

A good template is designed before it's built. Spend a few minutes deciding:

  • Audience — who will receive this review? Frontline staff, team leaders, managers, or all employees?
  • Cadence — is this a quarterly check-in, mid-year, or annual review?
  • Structure — what sections do you need? Self-reflection, manager feedback, goals, competencies, development?
  • Rating approach — will you use rating scales, manager ratings, assessment ratings? Will some questions be rating-free (comment only)?
  • Outcomes — what do you want to be able to report on at the end of the cycle?

Sketching this out before you open the template builder makes the build itself much faster.

Prerequisites

  • You must have Administrator or Manager permissions in Prosper.
  • The Performance Reviews module must be enabled for your organisation.

How to create a Performance Review template

Step 1 — Open the template builder

  1. From the Prosper menu, navigate to Performance > Manage Reviews.

     

  2. Click Create New Template.

Step 2 — Set the template details

  1. Enter a Title, and select the audience. Administrators can create templates for use by the entire Organisation, and just the author (Only me). Managers can create review templates for their own access only.

  2. Select the Audience — the roles, sites, or departments this template is intended for. You can leave this open to all users or restrict it.

  3. Continue to move to the section builder.

Step 3 — Build sections

Templates are organised into sections, and each section contains questions. Common section examples include Self-Reflection, Performance Against Goals, Competencies, and Development & Next Steps.

  1. Click Title and description to give reviewers context.

    Enter a Section Title and an optional Section Description (optional).

Tip: Keep templates focused. Five to seven sections is usually enough — anything longer risks review fatigue and lower completion rates.

Step 4 — Add questions

Add Questions to build out the content. For each question, choose:

  • Answer type — multiple choice, short text, long text, check boxes, rating scale, emoji rating, assessment rating.
  • Question text — keep it specific and behaviour-focused. "How effectively did you collaborate across teams this quarter?" is stronger than "How was teamwork?"
  • Employee rating (optional) — a self-assigned rating out of 5.

 

Step 5 — Manager Ratings 

Questions for the manager to complete about the employee. For each question, choose:

  • Answer type — multiple choice, check boxes, rating scale, emoji rating, assessment rating.

  • Question text — keep it specific and behaviour-focused. "How effectively did the employee collaborate across teams this quarter?" is stronger than "How was teamwork?"

Preview the template

Before saving, walk through the template as a reviewer would:

  1. Click Preview in the top toolbar.

  2. Step through each section and question. Check for unclear wording, missing rating scales, or sections that feel redundant.

  3. Close the preview and make any adjustments.

Step 7 — Save template

Scroll to the bottom of the review and click Save Template in the bottom-right. The template is now stored in your Review Templates list with a Disabled status.

Drafts are not visible to users — they remain admin-only until you publish them. See Administrator's Guide to Publishing Performance Reviews for the next step.

Question writing tips

  • Be specific. Tie questions to observable behaviours or outcomes, not vague traits.
  • Avoid double-barrelled questions. "How well did you communicate and collaborate?" should be two separate questions.
  • Balance ratings with comments. A rating question will always provide a follow-up comment field for both managers and employeesto give you both quantitative and qualitative data.
  • Write at the right reading level. Frontline templates should use plain, accessible language.

Recommended template structures

Quarterly check-in (short, frequent)

  1. Recent wins (long text)
  2. Challenges (long text)
  3. Overall performance (rating + comment)
  4. Focus for next quarter (long text)

Annual review (comprehensive)

  1. Self-reflection
  2. Performance against goals
  3. Competency ratings (linked to your competency framework)
  4. Strengths and development areas
  5. Career and development goals
  6. Manager summary
  7. Overall rating

Troubleshooting

Can I import questions from an existing template?
Yes — use ⋮ > Clone on an existing template to clone it as a new draft, then edit from there.

Can I add a section or question after publishing?
Structural changes to a published template are restricted to protect reporting integrity. Duplicate the template, make changes on the new draft, unpublish the old version, and publish the new one. See Administrator's Guide to Publishing Performance Reviews for the full process.

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