The review queue
How work reaches a reviewer, why you can only hold three items at once, and what escalation and SLA actually mean here.
- Work arrives in one queue instead of being chased across screens
- A three-slot limit means items get finished rather than collected
- Nobody reviews or resolves their own work — the database refuses it, not just the button
One queue, three slots
Everything waiting on a reviewer arrives in one place. You claim an item to work on it, and you can hold three at a time.
The limit is not advice. It is held in the database as three numbered slots per reviewer, and a fourth claim is refused. Two reviewers reaching for the same slot at the same moment is a normal race that the database settles — one gets it, the other is offered the next one, and neither ends up believing they hold something they do not.
What you can do with a claimed item
- Resolve it — record the outcome. A review record is written at the same time, so the decision has a trace and not just a status change.
- Release it — put it back. Your slot is freed and the history keeps the fact that you held it.
- Escalate it — hand it to someone with more reach when the decision should not be yours alone. The item stays in the queue with everything that happened to it.
SLA, honestly
Each item carries the time by which it should have been picked up. When that passes, the item is marked late and shown. Nothing is auto-reassigned and nothing is dropped: a queue that quietly reorganizes itself is a queue nobody can reason about. The point of the SLA is that the pile-up is visible to the organization while it is still small.
The two things that cannot happen
You cannot be handed an item about yourself, and you cannot resolve one. Both are constraints in the database rather than rules in the interface, which means they hold for the API and for every integration as well as for the screen.
What the queue does not do
It does not grade, and it does not certify. Resolving an item records a reviewer's judgment about a piece of work. Credentials are earned in a separate module, by proving skill.
Frequently asked
Why can I only claim three items?
Because a queue where everyone claims everything is a queue where nothing is finished. Three is a work-in-progress limit held by the database as three numbered slots: claiming a fourth item is refused until you release or resolve one. If two reviewers claim the last slot at the same instant, exactly one wins and the other is told to try the next slot.
What kinds of work come through the queue?
Twelve subject types today, including submissions awaiting review, mentor requests, tutor escalations and check-in reviews. Each carries who it is about, what it is about and when it arrived.
What does the SLA do?
Each item records when it should have been picked up. Passing that time does not delete or reassign the item — it marks it late and makes it visible, so an organization can see where work is piling up rather than discovering it from a complaint.
What is escalation?
Handing an item to someone with more reach when it needs a decision you should not make alone. The item stays in the queue with its history; escalation is a state on the item, not a way of removing it.
Can I review my own work?
No, and this is not a matter of the button being hidden. The database has two checks — one that refuses to hand you an item about yourself, and one that refuses to let you resolve it — so no API call, script or integration can arrange it either.
What happens if I release an item?
It goes back to the queue unclaimed, your slot is freed, and the fact that you held it is kept. Releasing is a normal action, not a failure — an item you cannot judge is better released than held.
Related guides
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