---
title: What is a grouped interview plan?
slug: what-is-a-grouped-interview-plan
docTags: f0XWRZYNmNCZ92aMGG0MU,JZs-JoDAPzWDQfPK4J2E-,bMPqNIgehYtgxDe5MgRcW
createdAt: 2025-07-10T11:55:39.924Z
---

If you are using multiple different interview plans, you can use this feature to bucket your interview stages across plans into a common set of stages for reporting.

Grouped interview plans are one of the most powerful ways to bring consistency, clarity, and scalability to your hiring process. When used well, they create a standard backbone for interviews across teams and improve data quality, reduce manual work, enable better forecasting, and help teams to deliver a more predictable candidate experience.

# Permissions & access

:::hint{type="warning"}
- Only users with Organization Admin access can configure and edit the grouped interview plan.
- Users with access to edit shared interview plans (more on this at [Additional User Permissions](docId\:MHy0TXb4sxnqYe9XKvN8e)) can edit the stage mapping to the grouped interview plan on shared and custom interview plans.
:::

# Grouped interview plan overview

If you are using multiple different interview plans, you can set up a grouped interview plan to bucket your interview stages into a common set of stages for reporting.

## Why should I set up a grouped interview plan?

A strong Grouped Interview Plan helps with creating the following:

- A standardized framework that reduces one-off customization
- Clean, comparable data through consistent stage and activity mapping
- Scalable interview structures that don't require ongoing adjustments
- Structured data capture that powers accurate, repeatable reporting
- A repeatable setup process that supports hiring growth without redesigning interview flows

Because the grouped interview plan defines your company's reporting structure, stability at this layer is essential. Grouped interview plans are built for long-term consistency, not continuous adjustment.

The grouped interview plan also plays a critical role in how you configure conditions across Ashby. Features like [Candidate Experience Surveys](docId:3diVXM9wKFoQpom5c4ncB), [Alerts](docId\:fCkR-kKHNMJZ6vuU3kRvW), and other automated workflows rely on stage groups fields to trigger consistently at the right moment in the process. Without a grouped interview plan, you would need to align conditions across multiple stage names, creating unnecessary complexity and increasing the chances of misconfiguration. With a grouped interview plan, these triggers become seamless and reliable.

The Grouped Interview Plan sits at the top of a hierarchy that other pieces map into:

- The **Grouped Interview Plan** defines the stage groups.
- [Interview Plans](docId\:SJQDG-6gg32KbwjAKu1Ux) map their stages into those stage groups.
- [Activities](docId\:U2Vf0kyTMMLPiE5n6zWn7) sit on stages inside Interview Plans and power automation.

# How to configure a grouped interview plan

## Adding stages to your grouped interview plan

To add stages to your grouped interview plan:

1. Navigate to **Admin > Data Management**, then select [Grouped Interview Plan](https://app.ashbyhq.com/admin/data-mapping/grouped-interview-plan).
2. Select the `Enable Group Interview Plan?` checkbox.
3. Select the `Stage groups` tab.
4. Scroll to the Lead, Active, or Completed section, type the stage name into the field to the left of the `+ Add` button, then click `+ Add`. Changes save automatically.

::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/0p8tQ--ZZOxRtkVp6Qr-e/XLdlgBUdmA_lZBe2ZH1Sf_grouped-interview-plan-ashby-2026-11-12-at-114330-am.jpg" size="80" isUploading="false" width="1682" height="1250" darkWidth="1682" darkHeight="1250" alt="Screenshot of the Grouped Interview Plan admin page showing the Stage groups tab with Lead, Active, and Completed sections, and the name field and + Add button for adding new stage names." showCaption="false"}

## Deleting stages from your grouped interview plan

To delete a stage from your grouped interview plan, click the trash can icon to the right of the stage in question.

::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/0p8tQ--ZZOxRtkVp6Qr-e/R0InPoigMtc6N7xVHUWQE_grouped-interview-plan-ashby-2026-11-12-at-114418-am.jpg" size="80" isUploading="false" width="1692" height="1338" darkWidth="1692" darkHeight="1338" alt="Screenshot of the Grouped Interview Plan admin page showing a stage row with the trash can icon to its right for deletion." showCaption="false"}

If the stage you're trying to delete is mapped to your interview plans, Ashby gives you two options: remove the grouped stage group mapping from those interview plan stages, or select a different grouped stage to map your interview plan stage to.

::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/0p8tQ--ZZOxRtkVp6Qr-e/yx0bIUlr-XwxBwymSOMQC_grouped-interview-plan-ashby-2026-11-12-at-114523-am.jpg" size="80" isUploading="false" width="1000" height="1500" darkWidth="1000" darkHeight="1500" alt="Screenshot of the deletion confirmation dialog showing options to either remove the stage group mapping or select a different grouped stage for the affected interview plan stages." showCaption="false"}

# Map plan stages to grouped interview plan

Once your grouped plan is configured, you can map the stages within each of your interview plans to the corresponding stages in your grouped plan.

To map stages:

1. Navigate to **Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Interview Plans**.
2. Select an interview plan to map.
3. Use the `Stage Group` drop-down menus to select the grouped interview plan stage you'd like to map your interview plan stage to.

![Screenshot of the Interview Plans page showing the Stage Group drop-down menus used to map individual interview plan stages to grouped interview plan stages.](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/0p8tQ--ZZOxRtkVp6Qr-e/0dVvnMX7iAi5V3eXv0QGx_interview-plans-acent-ashby-2026-03-23-at-30256-pm.jpg)

You can also get an overview of how stages are mapped to your grouped interview plan by heading to **Admin > Data Management > Grouped Interview Plans** and navigating to the `Stage mapping` tab. A warning in yellow at the top of the page tells you how many stages across how many interview plans aren't mapped. Click `Review stages` to view and map the stages accordingly.

![Screenshot of the Stage mapping tab in the Grouped Interview Plan admin page showing a yellow warning banner indicating the number of unmapped stages and a Review stages button.](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/0p8tQ--ZZOxRtkVp6Qr-e/OeDwiY4wv_qLG1LQz5dJi_grouped-interview-plan-ashby-2026-11-12-at-114747-am.jpg)

# Grouping stages when reporting

When creating a report relating to your interview pipeline, you see the `Group Stages?` checkbox option.

Checking this box uses your grouped interview plan stages, bucketing your individual interview plans and showing a streamlined version of the report.

If you are using the report builder, this option is in the **Visualization** section.

![Screenshot of the report builder Visualization section showing the Group Stages? checkbox option.](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/0p8tQ--ZZOxRtkVp6Qr-e/CCDH4epuEmKu1HHZeG6Fz_report-builder-acent-ashby-2026-03-23-at-30959-pm.jpg)

# FAQ

### How many stages should my Grouped Interview Plan have?

Most Grouped Interview Plans work best with three to six active stage groups. These stage groups should represent the major milestones you want to measure consistently across roles. Essentially, if you need to report on passthrough or performance for a step in the process, it likely deserves its own stage group in your grouped interview plan. The grouped interview plan should only include high-level milestones. Do not include hold stages or administrative steps. Those belong in interview plans and can still be reported on by stage name if needed.

### I've created my Grouped Interview Plan and now when I pull reports, I am getting a lot of "unspecified" results or data is missing entirely. Why?

First, confirm that all of your interview plan stages are mapped to the grouped interview plan. Any interview plan (shared or custom) that isn't mapped appears as "unspecified" in reporting because Ashby doesn't know which stage group those stages belong to. You can review and update this in **Admin > Interview Plans** (available to Organizational Admins or Elevated Users with permission to edit Interview Plans). 

Make sure each plan is mapped to the correct stage groups in the grouped interview plan so all reporting can roll up cleanly. If the `Stage Group` says "Unmapped," map it to the appropriate Grouped Interview Stage.