What is BrightFlow?
BrightFlow is a Kanban-style, visual representation of your company's submittal workflow. It organizes candidate statuses into Swimlanes (also called Stages), giving you a streamlined view of candidates as they move through the hiring process. Within each swimlane, recruiters see the assigned statuses as individual status boxes and can drop a candidate directly into a specific status.
Setting up swimlanes and configuring the activity window recruiters see when they move a candidate helps recruiters work more efficiently and makes your hiring pipelines clear to everyone across your organization.
For day-to-day usage guidance, see: Changing a Candidate's Submittal Status in BrightFlow View
Why Configure BrightFlow?
A good BrightFlow setup lets your recruiters and hiring managers:
Easily visualize candidate progress.
Move candidates to a specific status in a single drag-and-drop, forward or backward.
Group related workflow statuses into logical, easy-to-read stages.
Log activities consistently, with the fields and defaults your company needs.
Each company has one BrightFlow, so all configuration is company-wide.
Accessing BrightFlow Setup
Go to Settings.
Select BrightFlow Setup.
The setup page has two tabs:
BrightFlow Setup: create swimlanes and assign statuses.
Activity Modal Setup: choose which fields appear in the activity window, and set the defaults used when moves are saved automatically.
Note: If you don't see this option, you likely lack the Manage Submittal Workflow permission. Contact your Account Admin for access.
Setting Up Swimlanes (BrightFlow Setup tab)
Creating a Swimlane
Click Add Swimlane.
Name your swimlane and choose the text color, background color, and border color for the column header.
Save your swimlane.
Tip: Avoid creating a separate swimlane for every status. Group related statuses together instead. Each status appears as its own box inside the swimlane, so recruiters can still move candidates to an exact status.
Editing and Managing Swimlanes
Click the pencil icon or swimlane name to edit.
Use the arrow icons to move a swimlane left or right.
Click the trash can icon to delete a swimlane.
The number beside the trash can shows how many statuses are assigned to that swimlane.
Assigning Submittal Statuses to Swimlanes
All statuses start in the Unassigned pool.
Drag statuses from the Unassigned pool (or another swimlane) into the swimlane you want.
Click Save to keep your changes.
Important: a status must be assigned to a swimlane for recruiters to see it in BrightFlow and move candidates into it. Statuses left unassigned won't display in BrightFlow.
Activity Modal Setup tab
When a recruiter drops a candidate into a status in BrightFlow, the status changes immediately and an activity window opens so the move can be logged. Use the Activity Modal Setup tab to control that window. This tab applies to BrightFlow only.
At the top of the tab, you'll see whether the BrightFlow Bypass Activity Modal and Require Submittal Activity Comment preferences are on or off. Use the Manage company preferences link to change them.
Activity Modal Field Visibility
Activity, Start Time, Status, and Assigned To always appear and can't be hidden.
Check Visible next to any other field to show it: End Time, Comments, Reminder, Follow-up Activity, Email Assigned, and Complete.
By default, Comments and Complete are visible, and End Time, Reminder, Follow-up Activity, and Email Assigned are hidden.
To make comments required, turn on the Require Submittal Activity Comment preference in Company Preferences.
Default Comment
Under Comments, set the default comment that's pre-filled on each move. The default is "Fast activity logged: moved from {previous status} to {new status}." The available placeholders are {previous status} and {new status}.
Complete by Default
"Complete is checked by default on a BrightFlow move" is checked out of the box. If you uncheck it, every BrightFlow move creates an open activity in the recruiter's Planner.
Default Activity per Status
Choose a default activity for each status from the Default Activity per Status table. It pre-fills the Activity field, and it's required for moves that are saved automatically (see below).
Click Save to keep your changes, or Reset to defaults to restore the original setup.
Skipping the Activity Window (BrightFlow Bypass Activity Modal)
To save moves instantly without opening the activity window, turn on BrightFlow Bypass Activity Modal in Settings > Company Preferences, under Display & Behavior. It applies to the whole company.
When it's on:
The activity is logged automatically using the defaults on the Activity Modal Setup tab. End Time is saved as 30 minutes after the start, even if the End Time field is hidden.
Recruiters can still enter details by dragging a candidate to the "Drag here for modal to edit info" zone on the swimlane header.
A drop into a status with no default activity is blocked. Make sure every status your recruiters use has a default activity.
If comments are required, a default comment must be set.
Placement statuses always open the placement flow.
Best Practices for BrightFlow Configuration
Group statuses logically to simplify recruiter workflows.
Make sure all active statuses are assigned to a swimlane.
Set a default activity for every status, especially if you use the bypass preference.
Show only the activity fields your team actually needs.
Review your swimlanes regularly so they reflect any process changes.
Work with your recruiting team so BrightFlow matches how you actually hire.
Need Help?
If you're an Account Admin and need help with BrightFlow setup, contact BrightMove Support at [email protected].