Using Track Chair to Manage the Review Process

Using Track Chair to Manage the Review Process

The X-CD Track Chair Module is one of the most flexible modules of the X-CD system and it gives you, the track chairs, several tools for managing the review process.

STOP
If you used the Reviewer Sign-up form method to collect your list of reviewers, do not use the instructions in this article.
Refer to the following help article: Track Chair Review Process with Reviewer Sign-up Form

Assigning Reviewers

The first step in the process is to decide how we want to assign reviewers. We have two methods available to you, Batch Assignment and Single Assignment, which can be used in tandem to facilitate your assignments.

Batch Assignment Method

In some cases, the best strategy is for you to take a small number of reviewers and assign them to review a large number of submissions using a batch assign method. This may be the right method due to one or more of the following circumstances:
- You have a small committee that is responsible for each subtopic in your track,
- A small committee is responsible for all of the submissions in your track that correspond to a particular presentation type,
- Any other situations where your review team is small, your number of submissions is large, and you've planned out most or all of your review assignments.

ABSTRACT REVIEWS
  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
  3. In the left menu, click Manage Reviewers (For Abstract Reviews; To access Paper reviewers, click Manage Paper Reviewers)
    • This will display a list of reviewers in the reviewer pool (earmarked for reviews)
  4. Find the contact you would like to add by typing in their last name. Once you've found them, click on their name and "Quick Add to Pool".
    1. If the contact does not exist, you can use the Add Contact button on the left menu of the track chair site to add them. If this button does not appear, you will have to speak to your organization's administrator to get access.
  5. Repeat step 3-4 for all intended reviewers.
  6. Click "Create Assignments".
  7. Click "Select Reviewers".
  8. Select all of the reviewers that will be assigned in the first batch (which may be all of them in your case) by clicking the checkbox beside their names. Then click "Select"
  9. Select all of the submissions that the first batch of reviewers will be assigned to review by clicking the checkbox beside each submission.
    1. Note: In each "batch" all selected reviewers will be assigned as reviewers for all selected submissions.
  10. Click Create Assignments.
  11. Repeat steps 7-10 if you have other batch assignments.
  12. Next you will want to email your reviewers to inform them, in the left side menu click Download/Email
  13. Click Email button next to All Reviewers - Invitation to Review
  14. Compose and Send your email
PAPER REVIEWS
  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
  3. In the left menu, click Manage Paper Reviewers
  4. This will list the submissions in the track area, click the checkbox for the submissions to be assigned
  5. Click Assign Submissions button
  6. The Reviewer Pool will appear, select the corresponding reviewer response from the sign-up form to filter the list of reviewers and click Filter button
  7. Click the check box next to the reviewer name to assign.
  8. Click Assign Reviewers
  9. Repeat steps 3 to 8 for each track area
  10. Next you will want to email your reviewers to inform them, in the left side menu click Download/Email
  11. Click Email button next to All Paper Reviewers - Invitation to Review
  12. Compose and Send your email
Single Assignment Method

The other strategy would be to assign the reviewers one at a time. This may be the right method due to one or more of the following circumstances:
- Your submissions are highly specialized and require specialized reviewers.
- You would like to look at a submission for other details before you assign reviewers.
- Any other situations where you are making assignments on the spot as you go through submissions (especially if you haven't pre-planned the assignments externally).
  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
    1. You will be presented with a list of all the submissions in your track.
  3. Find the submission you want to assign reviewers to.
    1. Note: You can view the submission first by clicking on the title.
  4. Click "Manage Reviewers"
  5. Under "Find Contact to Assign" type in the last name of the reviewer. Select the contact from the list that appears and click "Assign Contact as Reviewer".
    1. If the contact does not exist, you can use the Add Contact button on the left menu of the track chair site to add them. If this button does not appear, you will have to speak to your organization's administrator to get access.
  6. You will now see the reviewer has been assigned to the submission and their review will be marked as "Incomplete".

Un-Assigning a Reviewer from a Submission

If you've made a mistake, it is easy to remove an individual reviewer assignment.  Note that unassigning them from reviewing a particular submission does not preclude them from being assigned to review another submission.
  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
    1. You will be presented with a list of all the submissions in your track.
  3. Find the submission you want to adjust
  4. Click "Manage Reviewers".
  5. Click on the Trash Icon beside the reviewer (Note: this option will not appear once a review has been completed).

Managing your Reviewers

Once some or all of your reviewers have been assigned, it's time to invite them to submit their reviews.

Sending the Invitations

When you send the invitation to review, X-CD will make a list of all of the reviewers you've assigned reviews, and prepare to send the invitation. This works well if you've done all of your assignments at once and will only send out the invitation once. However if you are sending out a large number initially and then sending more as you finalize the remaining reviews, or if you would just like to send invitations as you make the assignments, you can do that as well.
  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
  3. In the left menu, click Download/Email
  4. Click the Email button next to 'All Reviewers - Invitation to Review' (or if in Paper review phase, select corresponding All Paper Reviewers)
  5. You can now edit the email, including the reply address and name, the subject and the body of the email.
  6. Click Preview Email
    1. This will send a copy to your email address so you can see how it looks.
This next screen presents you with a complete list of the assigned reviewers with all of them selected as recipients of the invitation. You have two options for how to proceed:

      7. Option A: If this is the first time you send the invitation, you may leave it as is with all of the names selected and then click Send Now, or schedule the email for later by clicking the calendar icon, then clicking Schedule Email button. If you select the schedule email for later, the system will check again in case you've added reviewers, and will email all of them.
      7. Option B: If this is not the first time you send the invitation, you need to identify who you would like to email, and you will have to use Send Email Now (Schedule Email will ignore your selections). If you only have a few reviewers to send it to, it is fastest to click "Deselect All" and then choose the few who will receive the invitation. If you have recently done the bulk of your assignments, it's likely faster to just deselect one by one the reviewers who've already received their invitation previously. Again, don't forget to click "Send Email Now" when you are done.

Monitoring Reviews

On the overview of the track chair site, where you can see a full list of submissions, you can see the list of assigned reviewers on the right with "Incomplete" beside each of their names. As the reviews are completed, these "Incompletes" will turn to "Complete" or whatever option they've selected in the recommendation field of their review form (if one exists).  While some reviewers will complete their work right away, some may need reminders. You can send out reminders in a batch, or individually.

Sending Batch Reminders

  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
  3. In the left menu, click Download/Email
  4. Click the Email button next to 'All Incomplete Reviewers' (or if in Paper review phase, select corresponding All Paper Reviewers)
  5. You can now edit the email, including the reply address and name, the subject and the body of the email.
  6. Click Preview Email
    1. This will send a copy to your email address so you can see how it looks.
  7. Since you want to email all incomplete reviewers, you can leave all of the names selected and then click either "Send Email Now", or select a date and then "Schedule Email".

Sending Individual Reminders

You could use the Batch Reminders method above to send individual reminders by selecting a single reviewer on the last step, however, if your organization's administrator has set up a template email, there is another quick method for sending out an individual reminder. With this method, you will not be presented with the opportunity to edit the email before it is sent, so you must make sure that the template has been set up properly by the administrator.
  1. Log in to the Track Chair Module
  2. Select the Track to view
    1. You will see the complete list of submissions with the review status on the end of each row.
  3. Click on Manage Reviewers on the applicable submission.
  4. For each reviewer that you would like to email a reminder, click on the email icon.

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