START Conference Manager

What it does

Author updates

Authors can refine an existing submission up to the deadline without creating a new submission.checked 1 Oct 2026

Blind review

Submission setup supports blind review and propagates author-visibility settings through the review process.checked 1 Oct 2026

Committee discussions

Optional per-paper and committee-wide message boards can forward postings by email.checked 1 Oct 2026

Configurable roles

The system provides configurable views and policy controls for authors, reviewers, committee members, track coordinators, and program chairs.checked 1 Oct 2026

Hosted operations

Softconf-hosted installations include installation, maintenance, backups, automatic upgrades, unlimited support, and possible customizations.checked 1 Oct 2026

Hosting

START can run on a customer server or be hosted remotely at softconf.com or another provider.checked 1 Oct 2026

Multi-track management

The system supports multiple tracks and hierarchical reviewing with semi-autonomous track-manager consoles.checked 1 Oct 2026

Purpose

START V2 is an integrated web-based system for managing peer-reviewed conferences.checked 1 Oct 2026

Review assignment

START can generate draft reviewer assignments using reviewer bids and quotas, which administrators can manually adjust.checked 1 Oct 2026

Review forms

Administrators can configure review forms with unlimited criteria and custom quantitative or qualitative scoring ranges.checked 1 Oct 2026

Submission formats

Administrators can allow PDF, Postscript, MS Word, RTF, PowerPoint, and plain-text submissions, with optional document conversion.checked 1 Oct 2026

Support

Customer support provides step-by-step help, email ticketing through OTRS, request history, and public, customer, and conference-management FAQs.checked 1 Oct 2026

Workflow automation

Each step of the conference process is fully automated through a single-panel interface.checked 1 Oct 2026