Group Load Balancing in Evaluation Steps

Overview

Group Load Balancing allows admins to assign groups as evaluators in a step that supports load balancing and have Brightidea distribute action items across those groups. This ensures each submission receives reviewer coverage from each configured group, rather than flattening all group members into one shared evaluator pool.
This is useful when evaluations need representation from distinct reviewer cohorts, such as Technical SMEs and Business SMEs, while also distributing workload fairly within each group.

Applies To:

• Evaluation steps that support load balancing
• Program Managers
• System Administrators
• Configurations using Group Assignment for evaluator setup

Difference between Group load balancing and Adding a group for individual balancing

Adding a group to an evaluator step acted as a shortcut to add all group members as individual evaluators. Load balancing then distributed assignments across the full flattened user list, not by group.

With Group Load Balancing enabled:

• Groups are treated as assignment units
• Each submission receives the required evaluator coverage from each configured group
• Assignments are distributed within each group using fairness logic aligned to current load balancing behavior

When Group Assignment is selected:

• The evaluator selector accepts groups only
• Load balancing operates across the selected groups
• For each group, assignments are distributed within that group
• Each submission receives the configured number of evaluators from each selected group

Example:

If you configure:

• Group A = Technical SMEs
• Group B = Business SMEs
• Evaluators per group = 1

Then each submission receives:

• 1 evaluator from Group A
• 1 evaluator from Group B

Requirements:

Before configuring this feature, make sure:

• The Load Balancing Across Groups release toggle is enabled
• The evaluator groups already exist and include the correct members
• Each selected group has enough eligible users to support the configured evaluator count

How to Configure

• Open the step you want to configure.
• Go to the evaluator assignment settings.
• Select Group Assignment.
• Add the evaluator groups you want included.
• Set the Evaluators per group value.
• Save the step configuration.

Validation Rules

Brightidea validates the step configuration before saving.

Groups only

When Group Load Balancing is enabled, only groups can be used in the evaluator selector. Individual users cannot be added in this mode. If non-group assignees are present, the step cannot be saved.

Evaluators per group

The Evaluators per group value must be at least 1 and cannot exceed the size of the smallest selected group. If the selected value is too high, saving is blocked and Brightidea displays an error.

Users in multiple selected groups

If a user belongs to more than one selected group, Brightidea follows the V1 overlap rule defined in the implementation. Depending on the final setup, the system may either block overlapping memberships or allow them while attributing each action item to one group and still preventing duplicates.

Assignment Behavior

For each submission entering the step, Brightidea creates evaluator action items by selecting users from each configured group according to the Evaluators per group setting. Assignments are distributed within each group using a fairness approach consistent with current load balancing goals.

• A single user cannot receive two evaluator action items for the same submission in the same step

• If a submission is processed multiple times due to retries or system events, duplicate action items are not created

To help admins verify reviewer coverage:

• Exports include an Evaluator Group column
• Where feasible, Brightidea shows evaluator group context in action item or step views

Reassignment

Bulk reassignment is not supported for steps using Group Load Balancing in V1. In these cases, bulk reassignment controls are disabled or greyed out, with explanatory text indicating that reassignment is not supported for group-based balancing.

However, admins can still handle one-off exceptions on an individual submission by using Update assignees. This preserves the current ability to adjust evaluators manually for a specific submission, such as when someone is unavailable. Brightidea still prevents duplicate evaluator action items for the same user on the same submission and step.