Who can use this feature?
Performance full permissions, Performance HR business partners (for assigned departments only)
Available on:
All Culture Amp subscriptions that include Performance.
Calibration Views help ensure that performance ratings across your organization are consistent, accurate, and fair. By bringing together performance reviews, feedback, goals, and self-reflections, Calibration Views support alignment of ratings, reduce bias, and improve the quality of feedback.
Whether you’re working with a single performance cycle or multiple, this guide will walk you through how to create, configure, and publish Calibration Views.
What is a Calibration View?
A Calibration View is a tool that allows HR and managers to review and adjust performance data across a group of employees before finalizing ratings. It includes:
Performance Reviews
Self-Reflections
Goals
Peer and Upward Feedback
This process helps ensure ratings are fair and consistent across teams and departments.
Calibration View Configuration Options
When setting up a Calibration View (or editing before publishing), you have two optional configuration features:
Compare with Past Cycles: view the history of performance ratings across cycles
Ratings Preview: allows calibrators to review and provide input on manager-assigned ratings before the live calibration session.
1. Compare with Past Cycles (Optional)
The Comparison with Past Cycles feature lets you display up to three past performance cycles as reference data. This makes it easier to view an employee’s history while calibrating.
You can add comparison cycles when creating or editing a Calibration View (before publishing).
Once published, you can’t add or remove comparison cycles.
The same cycle cannot be used for both calibration and comparison.
What You’ll See:
A chevron icon next to employees who were part of a comparison cycle.
Expanding the chevron reveals:
The performance rating
The performance cycle name
Data is read-only (cannot be edited).
Demographic fields or review questions from past cycles are not included. For more context, open the Employee Profile or include the cycle in calibration.
You can still include multiple cycles in a calibration without using the comparison feature.
In this case:
Employees who are part of multiple cycles will appear in the table once for each cycle they’re included in.
With comparison enabled, you can also view and compare their ratings across cycles.
Employees who appear in multiple cycles are flagged with a visual cue to make their multiple appearances clear, so you can be mindful of any changes.
2. Ratings Preview (Optional)
The Ratings Preview feature allows calibrators to review and provide input on manager-assigned ratings before the live calibration session. This helps identify differences early and streamlines the final conversation.
Enable Ratings Preview by checking Include ratings preview when setting up your Calibration View.
Set a due date and time for submission.
After creating the view, select the calibrators you’d like to invite.
Note:
You can enable Ratings Preview any time before publishing.
Responses become read-only once submitted and are not visible to managers.
Calibrators only see the manager’s written review, not the full employee profile.
Access to the Ratings Preview tab and the Calibration Overview tab must be granted separately. Learn more in our Facilitator Guide: How to Use Ratings Preview
How to Create a Calibration View
Step 1. Navigate to the Calibration Tool
From the Performance drop-down, under Admin, click Calibrations.
Step 2. Create a New Calibration View
Click Create calibration view and then Get started.
Step 3. Name Your Calibration View
Choose a clear name (e.g., Q3 2023 Calibration).
Step 4. Select the Performance Cycle
Choose one or more performance review cycles to include in the calibration.
Selecting multiple cycles can be helpful in matrix organizations where employees participate in more than one cycle during the review season.
Employees who are in more than one cycle will appear once for each cycle they’re part of.
If comparison is enabled, you’ll also be able to view and compare their ratings across cycles.
Multi-cycle views must use the same performance rating question and cannot be exported as a single file.
You can create a Calibration View even if a cycle is incomplete.
Step 5. Configure Options (Optional)
At this stage, you can:
Compare with Past Cycles (up to three)
Enable Ratings Preview for calibrators
7. Use Filters to Select Employees
Use the search field or Add Filters to refine your employee list by demographics (e.g., department, job title, manager, employee status). Check the boxes next to employees you want to include, or select all.
Available Filters: You can filter by the predefined demographic fields below, depending on values assigned in your employee data:
It’s not currently possible to add or customize filters beyond these options:
Business Unit
Country
Department
Division
Employment Type
Gender
Job Title
Levels
Location
Manager
Additional Filters:
Group: Direct Reports or Indirect Reports (classification is based on your hierarchy setup).
Employee Status: Active or Deactivated (classification depends on the employee status in your user list).
Note:
HRBPs can only select employees from departments they have access to.
Demographic values display only if assigned in your employee data and mapped at the account level. If filtering options seem missing, reply with "Ask a Person" in a support conversation to check your setup.
How Filters Work
When you create a new Calibration View using filters, only the individuals you’ve selected through those filters will be part of the new view, making it specific to your filtered group.
After creating the view, you can still refine the list using filters on the view page to further investigate or analyze the group.
To modify the Calibration View, whether by adding or removing employees or updating filtering options, simply use the Edit calibration view option, which lets you make changes even after creation.
7. Click Create
Click Create to generate your Calibration View. The calibration dashboard will display the distribution of ratings for your selected employees.
If you enabled Ratings Preview, you’ll see two tabs:
Calibration Overview: The standard calibration view.
Ratings Preview: A tab where you can track calibrator responses and manage the process.
Note: You can’t include your own review. The creator is automatically excluded from results
Tip: We recommend that your cycles have the same performance rating question for consistency. This ensures that you can calibrate across multiple cycles
Editing a Calibration View
If you need to make changes after creating the view:
Edit the name
Click Edit calibration name in the view header.Change performance cycles or employees
Click Edit calibration view and update selections.Enable or disable Ratings Preview
You can toggle Ratings Preview on/off anytime before publishing. If disabling, note that calibrator responses will be removed.Compare to past cycles
Add or remove previous cycles to view and compare performance ratings.
Update filters
Want to recalibrate a different group? Adjust filters via Edit calibration view.Save Changes
After making the necessary changes, click Save to update.
Customizing the Calibration View with Columns
After creating a Calibration View, you can customize the displayed information using the Edit Columns dropdown. The available column options include:
Flag – Mark employees to revisit or discuss during the calibration session.
Calibration Notes – Record relevant details on rating changes.
Average Rating – Displays the average of all ratings for each Performance Review.
Performance Rating – Shows the rating given for the performance rating question set up for the cycle.
Performance Review Cycle – Lists the name of the included review cycle(s).
Review Status – Indicates whether the manager review is complete or incomplete.
Employee Demographics – Displays mapped demographics such as Business Unit, Country, and Department etc.
Performance Review Cycle Questions – Shows the questions asked in the review cycle.
You can edit columns only after the Calibration View has been created and after it has been published.
Note: Users with shared access can modify the columns in their own view of the calibration. These changes are saved to their personal view and will persist the next time they access the calibration. However, updates made by one calibration viewer will not affect the column selections of other invited viewers. Each user’s view is independent.
Share a Calibration View
Once your Calibration View is ready, you can share it with relevant stakeholders:
Click on ‘Share Calibration View’
Navigate to the Calibration View and click on the Share calibration view button.
Enter Employee Names
Type the names or email addresses of the individuals you want to share the view with.
You can remove those with access at any time.
Click ‘Share’
Once you’ve added the employees, click ‘Share’ to send them an invite.
Export calibration view:
To export a copy of the view select Export CSV. Export details can be found here.
Tip: Shared users will have read-only access. They can view the Calibration View and use filters but cannot modify any data.
Running a Calibration Session
Now that you’ve set up your Calibration View and shared it, you can start the calibration session.
Review the Data:
Use the ‘Edit Columns’ option to add the manager review questions for each employee. This helps you calibrate ratings by giving more context.View Employee Profiles:
For additional context, click the ellipsis icon (three dots) next to an employee’s name to view their full profile. This will give you access to their manager reviews, feedback, and other performance data.Adjust Ratings:
If needed, update an employee's rating by selecting a new performance rating from the drop-down menu. The ratings will update automatically, but the original rating will remain visible for tracking purposes.Capture Notes
It’s important to capture any reasoning behind rating changes in Calibration Notes. This ensures accountability, especially if a direct manager is not present during the session.
After writing your notes, click Save to confirm the changes.
Note: Calibration viewers can access the Employee Profiles of included participants, but will only see information within their scope.
The feature respects both role-based access and reporting lines, so unless the viewer is a direct or indirect manager, or has specific admin or HRBP permissions, they won’t see past Manager Reviews, Self Reflections, Goals, or Feedback that fall outside their scope.
Publish Calibration Results
Once the calibration session is complete, publish the changes to finalize the ratings:
Click ‘Publish’
After reviewing and finalizing the ratings, click Publish to update the manager reviews with the final calibrated ratings.Confirmation Screen
A pop-up confirmation screen will appear. Check the box labeled Notify managers of changes to performance ratings or notes if you’d like managers to be notified of any updates.
Note: Indirect managers will not be notified, but they will still be able to view the calibration notes once the calibration has been published.
What Happens After Publishing:
The updated performance ratings will appear in the manager’s review.
Calibration notes will be shared with the respective managers.
Employees can no longer be added or removed from the Calibration View.
Filters and ratings will no longer be editable.
Column visibility can be edited.
Note:
Changes to the overall performance rating will only appear in the official manager review once the calibration is published.
The audit log records only the final change made to an individual question alongside the name of the user who publishes the calibration view.
The Performance Rating and Calibrated Rating columns in the calibration view export will both show the final rating, i.e the calibrated rating. Export details can be found here.
Notifications and Manager Experience
When a calibration session is published and the option to notify managers is enabled, direct managers will receive notifications about any changes to their employees' performance reviews.
Notification Options
Managers will be notified about the following changes:
An employee’s performance rating has changed.
A note has been added during the calibration session.
Tip: If you're running multi-cycle sessions, consider withholding notifications to avoid premature performance conversations. Be sure to confirm with your People Team when performance discussions should officially begin.
Manager’s View
Managers can view both the original performance rating and the updated rating after calibration:
From the notification they receive.
By navigating to Performance > Reviews, selecting the cycle, and searching for the employee.
Once they’ve found the employee, they can scroll to the right, click the ellipsis icon (three dots) under "More Actions," and select Calibration Notes to view the updated notes.
Performance Review Activity Log
To view the performance review activity log as an admin, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Performance Tab
Go to the Performance tab in your admin dashboard.Select the Reviews Option
Under the Admin section, click on the Reviews option.Access the Performance Review Cycle
Click into the relevant Performance Review Cycle.Go to the Manager Review Section
Make sure to select the Manager Review section.Search or Filter for the Employee
Use the search bar or filters to locate the employee whose review activity you want to view.View the Activity Log
Once you’ve selected the employee, scroll to the bottom of their review page to find the Performance Review Activity Log.
Here, you’ll see a detailed record of all actions and updates related to the employee’s review.
Average of All Ratings
When creating a calibration view, you can choose to include a column showing the average of all ratings for each performance review. This helps provide a clearer picture of overall performance across multiple rating questions.
How the Average Rating is Calculated
The average rating is based on all the responses from the rating questions in the performance cycle, excluding the overall performance rating, as it already serves as the final indicator of the employee's performance.
To ensure consistency across different performance cycles, the calculation method has been standardized. The calculation formula is adjusted to a 5-point scale, irrespective of what rating scale the cycle uses. This means the average rating is always scaled to a 5-point system, unless the cycle exclusively uses a 5-point scale.
To calculate the average, the system uses the following formula:
score × (5 / rating scale)
Once you've summed the scores from all the rating questions, divide the total score by the number of rating questions in the cycle to calculate the average of all ratings.
Note: The overall performance rating is not included in the average rating calculation.
FAQs
Can I edit a published Calibration View?
Can I edit a published Calibration View?
You cannot edit the Calibration View once it’s published, and at this time it is not possible to delete a calibration. Instead, if the cycle is still live, you can change the manager’s review directly within the cycle from your Performance > Reviews tab (under Admin) or create a new Calibration View.
Can Perform HRBPs see calibrations created by others?
Can Perform HRBPs see calibrations created by others?
Yes, they can see both in-progress and published calibrations but only those related to departments they’re assigned to. They cannot view calibrations outside their scope unless shared with them.
Will a Perform HRBP see participants outside their scope in a shared calibration view?
Will a Perform HRBP see participants outside their scope in a shared calibration view?
Yes, if a calibration view is shared with a Perform HRBP, they will see all included participants, even those outside their scope. If the view only includes participants from the departments they have access to, they will see it by default without needing it to be shared.
What happens if an employee moves departments?
What happens if an employee moves departments?
The Calibration View will not update automatically. If the view is still unpublished, you can edit the employee’s department manually. To do so, click into the calibration view and select Edit calibration view and then adjust the department.
Can I export a multi-cycle calibration view?
Can I export a multi-cycle calibration view?
No, multi-cycle Calibration Views cannot be exported as a whole. However, you can export individual cycles within the view.
Why can't I add my questions as columns?
Why can't I add my questions as columns?
In a multi-cycle calibration view, questions can’t be added as columns.
How can I search for a specific employee in a Calibration View?
How can I search for a specific employee in a Calibration View?
In Calibration Views and Reports, you can’t filter by individual employee identifiers like Email, or Employee ID. Filtering is only available for a predefined set of demographic fields, such as Department, Job Title, or Manager.
However, you can use the Search field to find specific employees by entering their Name.
Can I sort columns alphabetically in the Calibration view?
Can I sort columns alphabetically in the Calibration view?
Yes, but only for certain columns. You can click on the header of default columns like Employee, Manager, or Performance Rating to sort the data alphabetically (A–Z or Z–A).
However, this sorting option isn’t available for columns you’ve added to the view manually, such as Average Rating or responses to additional questions.
Can performance ratings be changed after the calibration is published?
Can performance ratings be changed after the calibration is published?
Yes! Even after the calibration is published, managers will still have the option to edit the performance ratings of their direct reports - up until the review has been shared or the cycle has been formally closed.
Can I enable Ratings Preview after creating the view?
Can I enable Ratings Preview after creating the view?
Yes, you can turn it on anytime before publishing via Edit calibration view.
Can I remove Ratings Preview after enabling it?
Can I remove Ratings Preview after enabling it?
Yes, but all submitted responses will be deleted. You’ll need to re-add calibrators if re-enabled.
Key Takeaways
Calibration Views help ensure fair and consistent performance ratings.
You can enable Ratings Preview to gather calibrator input before a session.
Create, share, and edit Calibration Views to calibrate employee ratings across multiple cycles and teams.
Publish your calibration results to finalize ratings and share feedback with managers.
Managers will receive notifications about rating changes and can view the final outcomes.
What's up next?
Check out our Performance Insights article to explore how to visualize your performance rating scale data.
For more details on managing a performance cycle, check out our Admin Guide to Tracking and Managing a Performance Review Cycle.
💬 Need help? Just reply with "Ask a Person" in a support conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist.