How to Do It, Step by Step

Short, numbered steps with real screens, from the first programme to the last letter.Short, numbered steps with real screens for each task a programme team performs, from setting up the first programme to the last decision letter, each ending in a checklist.

13 guides, each under a quarter of an hour. Times are for the clicks, with your material ready.

Start here

Setting Up Your First Programme

From an empty organisation to an open application window: branding, the programme, the form, the rubric, evaluators and the checks before you announce.

About 10 minBeginner6 steps

Read the guide

The Create a Programme window with feature cards for Interviews, Pitch day, Committee, Cohorts, Mentors and Portfolio, each with an On switch.

Set Up

The programme, its look and how entries are scored.

Building a Scoring Rubric
Criteria, weights and what the lowest and highest scores mean: build a rubric from a preset, a template or a short IdeaScore AI draft, and test it before evaluators see it.
About 8 minBeginner6 steps

Collect

The form applicants fill in, and the window it is open.

Building a Multi-Stage Application Form
Stages, the eleven question types, conditions, resources, the window and capacity, version history and the preview pass before the public link goes out.
About 12 minIntermediate6 steps

Review

Evaluators, conflicts, blind rounds, scoring and IdeaScore AI.

Inviting Evaluators and Handling Conflicts
Add evaluators with their expertise and weightage, decide what they can see, assign teams around declared conflicts and reassign when a new one appears.
About 8 minBeginner5 steps
Setting Up Blind Review
Three separate settings keep a review blind: the round's Blind review switch, deck masking for evaluators, and what evaluators see in Programme settings.
About 7 minIntermediate5 steps
Running Evaluation Rounds
Open a round, assign evaluators, chase progress, read the leaderboard with normalised scores, then close the round and promote with a written rule.
About 12 minIntermediate6 steps
Using IdeaScore AI Responsibly
Accept the data terms once, decide what evaluators see, check the cost before each run, read the evidence, and keep the panel's ranking the one of record.
About 8 minBeginner6 steps

Decide

Pitch day, the committee, decisions, letters and results.

Running a Pitch Day
Create the session, set the running order and timings, show teams their slots, run the stage live, and decide when the room sees the standings.
About 10 minIntermediate6 steps
Committee Decisions and Results Emails
Run the committee session, record decisions at the cut-off line, send letters you have checked recipient by recipient, publish results and confirm every applicant heard back.
About 12 minIntermediate6 steps

Follow Through

Reports for the board and data for your other tools.

Exporting Reports and Data
The committee pack, the Excel workbook, leaderboard and submissions exports, a report that emails itself, and the full organisation export for owners.
About 6 minBeginner4 steps
Connecting Zapier and Make
Send new applications, decisions and results to the tools your team already uses: pick a goal, choose Zapier or Make, paste an address, send a sample and finish in your tool.
About 6 minIntermediate5 steps

Admin

Privacy, retention and where IdeaScore runs.

Data and Privacy Settings
Mark personal and sensitive questions, set how long applications are kept, answer applicants' data requests within 30 days, and know where deleted items and the audit log live.
About 10 minIntermediate6 steps
Self-Hosting on Your Own Server
Self-hosting is an Enterprise option, on request: who to involve, what your IT team provides, how our team installs, updates and supports IdeaScore on your servers, and your data and backups.
About 6 minBeginner

Every guide is kept current with the product and carries the date it was last revised. If something here does not match what you see in the app, tell us and we will fix the guide.

See IdeaScore Run a Call with Your Own Rubric

A 30-minute walkthrough with a product specialist, using your programme's form and criteria.

Book a demo Start a 7-day trial