# PeopleFluent Talent Management 23.07
Coaching Topics Library

This page lists the Tips and FAQs in the Coaching Topics Library shipped in the standard configuration of PeopleFluent Talent Management.

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## Table 1: Common Coaching Topics

Topic Type | Topic Name | Content
--- | --- | ---
FAQs | Are login proxies the same as worksheet proxies? | Are login proxies the same as worksheet proxies No. Worksheet proxies give one user the ability to view another user's compensation worksheets, but does not grant them access to any other area of the system beyond worksheets. Login proxies provide full or partial impersonation for one person to login to the system as another without having to share their password.
FAQs | How do I set up proxies for users? | How do I set up proxies for users To add proxy users for any user: Click Add in the 'Users who can proxy for this user' section. Select the user(s) who can proxy for this user. Choose if the proxy user will be given full impersonation rights (all roles and permissions that this user currently has) or selective impersonation rights (only certain selected role(s)). For selective impersonation, select the roles(s) that the proxy user will take on.
FAQs | How does the "Not Applicable" scale value work? | How does the "Not Applicable" scale value work? A "Not Applicable" rating does not have an associated numeric value and as such, does not adversely impact average rating calculations. The system treats such a rating as if no rating was given but it still satisfies the validation logic when the rating field is set to "Required". Tip: Using the "Not Applicable" value with weighted goals and competencies: If you wish to include the "Not Applicable" value on rating scales while using weighted goals or competencies, you must allow your users to adjust the weights and spread them out to account for the weight of the item that is being rated "Not Applicable". For example: If an employee's goals and goal weights are:
Goal | Goal Weight | Rating
--- | --- | ---
Goal 1 | 40 | 5
Goal 2 | 40 | 3
Goal 3 | 20 | Not Applicable
The weighted average will calculate to 3.2 ((40% x 5) + (40% x 3)). The Not Applicable rating provided for the third goal will dilute the weighted average if its weight of 20% is not redistributed to the other goals. To avoid this, it is recommended that you set the field permission for goal weight to Read/Write, which means the user will be able to edit the weights and spread them out if they wish to use the Not Applicable value. When the weights are spread out, continuing with our example, the employee's goals and goal weights will be:
Goal | Goal Weight | Rating
--- | --- | ---
Goal 1 | 50 | 5
Goal 2 | 50 | 3
Goal 3 | 0 | Not Applicable
The average will calculate to 4.0 ((50% x 5) + (50% x 3)). When using rating scales that contain a "Not Applicable" value, end-users should be advised to set the weight of any item that is rated as "Not Applicable" to 0%, so the weighted average rating calculations are not diluted by the original weight of that item. Only one "Not Applicable" value can be added to a rating scale, so you may need to adjust the text that is displayed for that value to suit all applicable cases, e.g., "Not Applicable / Too New to Rate".
FAQs | Impersonate - Frequently Asked Questions: | Impersonate - Frequently Asked Questions: Does full impersonation mean the proxy user fully "becomes the user" for whom he is proxying? Yes, in a manner of speaking. With full impersonation rights, the proxy user can see and work with all the information that the user has permission to view and work with. This means that the proxy user can view the user's confidential information just as the user can, and also work with it (including all managerial tasks, human resource assignments and so on). Is full impersonation a safe option? Yes, if you grant it to the right users for the right reasons. While granting full impersonation rights to a proxy user, you must be sure that the original user is aware of, and open to the idea of the proxy user viewing and using all their information. In addition, the proxy user should also practice discretion while dealing with another employee's confidential information. How is selective impersonation different from full impersonation? Selective impersonation gives the proxy user access to only those parts of the application that are available to the role(s) selected for proxying. The proxy user will have access to all information on the pages available to the selected role, as the original user would. Is proxy access transferred through people? Proxy rights are granted only between two users and do not flow to any other users connected with either of the two users through proxy settings. For example: Let's say Proxy 1 is set as the proxy for Manager 1 and Proxy 2 is set as the proxy for Proxy 1: Proxy 2 - (proxy for) Proxy 1 - (proxy for) Manager 1. In this case, Proxy 2 will not have any access to Manager 1 through virtue of Proxy 1's proxy assignments. Proxy 2 must be assigned as Manager 1's proxy in order to view and use Manager 1's information as a proxy user. Can I set up proxies for users or employees who are inactive? Yes, in the event that an employee leaves the company and is inactive in the system, you can set up login proxy access whereby another user can access their information and complete their tasks. Can I track a proxy user's actions while he impersonates another user? Yes, you can keep track of a proxy user's actions on the Audit Logs page. You can select an entity, and review the "Proxy User" column to check for any proxy user activity.
FAQs | Not Rated, Not Applicable and Not Computed - What do they mean? | Not Rated, Not Applicable and Not Computed - What do they mean? While using rating scales, your end users may come across these three phrases while either using a rating scale or looking through their rating averages: Not Rated - when a rating has not been entered for a performance factor by the user(s) involved in the process, the system displays the words "Not Rated" for that performance factor. Not Applicable - this is a rating scale value which may be provided to users to allow them the flexibility of not selecting any rating at all. You can use the main Rating Scales page to configure this value for any rating scale. If a user selects this value while rating a performance factor, then the system displays the words "Not Applicable" instead of an actual rating for that performance factor. Not Computed - while calculating rating averages or gaps, a Not Rated value or a Not Applicable value for one or multiple performance factors means the system will not be able to complete the calculation. In such a situation, the words "Not Computed" are displayed.
FAQs | Proxy Roles - Frequently Asked Questions: | Proxy Roles - Frequently Asked Questions: Can I grant a proxy user a role that the original user does not have? Yes. Typically, this is done when you need to grant the proxy user all the permissions as the original user, but with exceptions. In such situations, the "Proxy..." roles can be utilized to make the necessary configurations and used to grant proxy access. For example: Let's say you want to grant all Manager role permissions to a proxy user, except for the permission to view employee Talent Profiles while proxying. You can use the "Proxy..." role which is configured to not grant access to the Talent Profile. By granting this role to the proxy user, you are providing him all permissions as the original user, but with exceptions, using a role that the original user does not have. If you wish to further configure permissions, you may use the "Proxy..." role to meet those requirements as well. Use the "Selective Impersonation" option and select the "Proxy..." role to allow the proxy user access to information as required. Why don't I see dynamic roles like "Self" and "My Team" in the list of Proxy Roles to select from? The proxy user will be automatically assigned the dynamic roles of the user he is proxying for. This applies to both the full impersonation and selective impersonation options. With full impersonation, the proxy user receives all the static and dynamic roles of the user he is proxying for, and with selective impersonation you may select the static roles, but the dynamic roles are still assigned automatically. Why can I not see some roles in the Role Selector box? The security settings that are in place for roles will prevent those roles that have an Administration Level higher than your role from being available. This means that the roles that you see in the Role Selector box have an Administration Level equal to or lower than yours. For example: If your role has an Administration Level of 500, you will not be able to see or use any role that has an Administration Level above 500.
FAQs | When would I need to use proxies? | When would I need to use proxies Examples: 1. Let's say a manager in your organization is out sick. When it's time to evaluate employee performance for that manager's team, you might want to allow another manager or the team's second-level manager access to the team's information just as their manager would see it, in order to complete their evaluations. Allowing proxy access in such a situation allows one manager to proxy for another manager to complete important tasks. 2. In the case of senior management employees who do not have the time to login and complete their tasks, giving proxy rights to their administrative assistants will prove useful. In many organizations, senior management employees complete their work on paper, and the administrative staff feed in the data on their behalf. 3. In the customer-support environment, proxy rights are highly useful when a support representative needs to use an application just like the user does. This helps save time and effort in trying to reproduce user issues, and also allows the service representative a complete sense of the user's perspective.
FAQs | Why should I give proxy access, and not just grant the other user access to the same pages or information? | Why give proxy access and not just grant same access Oftentimes, giving access to just pages or information is insufficient because all information in the system is guarded by security settings that are based on the logged in user's relationship to the data they're looking at. In such cases, allowing a user to proxy for another user allows them to literally "take on the identity" of that person and is therefore most practical and effective. Moreover, proxy user rights are the closest they can get to logging in as the original user.
FAQs | Why use proxies? | Why use proxies Proxy rights are particularly useful in cases where one user should be allowed to take on the role(s) of another user, and use the application like that user would for troubleshooting or providing application support. Proxies can also be used when someone is not available to login to the application and so a proxy user assumes all or part of the user's online identity to complete their tasks.
Tips | Configuring notifications - Things to remember | Configuring notifications - Things to remember While configuring notifications, remember that these e-mails will be exchanged between employees actively using the workflow. The information contained in the notifications should be reliable and error-free. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Sender and recipient details: Cross-check the From, To and Reply To information to ensure that emails are exchanged between the correct users on the workflow. Errors in these fields may result in notifications being sent to the wrong people. Sending language-specific templates: You may create multiple language-specific notification templates, but the workflow selects a template on the basis of application locale. For example, if you create a notification template in German, the application locale must be set to Germany for that notification to be selected and sent. Sentences using merge fields and text: Review the merge fields and text of the notification. Are they reading well as complete, intelligible sentences? Merge fields: Remember that merge fields are designed to display only variable data such as a user's name, a process name, etc. The purpose of a merge field is indicated by its name. You must insert all other text that supports the merge field data and form complete sentences. For example, while addressing the recipient of the email, the merge field will only provide the name of the recipient (first and/or last name based on the merge field/s used). You must include any other references such as "Hello", "Dear" and so on. Use merge fields carefully. Do not alter any part of a merge field (content or double square brackets) or insert one merge field in another. Before adding a merge field, be sure to place the cursor on the exact point that the merge field is required within the content. If you need to move the merge field from one point in the template to another, be sure to copy the entire merge field. If not, simply delete it from the first location, place the cursor in the next location and insert the merge field again. While creating links, be sure they contain one merge field that links to the specific page followed by the link display text and the link suffix. Formatting: Use formatting wisely. Be sure that your users will have the software required to view the formatting. While appropriate formatting can enhance the effectiveness of your content, excessive formatting may cause confusion or clutter the page.
Tips | Creating New Users | # Quick tips on creating a new user: ## Details Tab Enter all the user information and click 'Save', the 'Employee' section displays Choose 'Select' to associate the user with an existing employee Choose 'Add' if the employee needs to be added for the first time Before adding an employee's details for the first time, check if the employee is already available on the employee list by filtering from the list. Adding employee details if they already exist will result in duplicates of employee details and cause confusion Remember that contact information is shared between the user and the employee. Modifying employee details for a user will also modify the contact information. Be sure to review and correct all such changes ## Preferences and Settings tab Enter all basic user preferences Choose the Start Page that you would like the user to see when first logging in Choose a page that is appropriate to this user's primary role within the company After you have entered all the information for the new user, re-visit this tab and hit "Reset User Password". This will automatically send a new password to the user. ## Roles Tab Allows you to add role(s) to the new user All users are assigned the 'Employee' role by default To provide this user with an additional role, click 'Add' You can also remove existing roles Click on the role name to view permissions assigned to this role A user must have at least one role. If a user has only one role, it cannot be removed. To change a user's only role, first add the new role and then remove the previous role. Roles have associated security groups that determine what information and actions a user can access.
Tips | Initiate Onboarding | Make sure your orientation team is well prepared. Here are some things to remember: schedule orientation programs with time frames that match the frequency of hiring try not to cram too many sessions into one day make all the orientation material available in one location Be sure the employee has all required information to be productive from the start, including information for benefit forms, employee directory and organizational charts. Living up to recruitment promises is very important because these are the very first parameters that an employee will use to judge the organization. Do all it takes to retain the level of trust that is built during the interview process. A well planned orientation program will send out the right messages about the values of the organization and the importance of give-and-take between the employer and employee. This will ensure that you have made a profitable, long-term investment with each new hire.
Tips | Staffing Plan | ## Company philosophy Staff planning is an integral part of the process of developing an optimum organization. Through strategic analysis of the dynamic business landscape, managers must continually evaluate the various staffing options available to help achieve the company's goals and vision. ## Policy snapshot Successful staffing demands the commitment and cooperation of all levels of management. Managers must: understand the skills and competencies needed to fill positions in their departments determine whether a position should be filled internally or whether an external search is required align their resource planning with the company's business objectives ### Steps for developing an optimum organization Identify the composition and competencies of your current workforce. Forecast the competencies your future workforce will need to support the company's long-term goals. Conduct a gap analysis to identify skills that are lacking and to track skills than are in excess. Develop strategies to help close any gaps. Identify ways to build skills that are lacking and reduce the surpluses. Explore a mixture of hiring, training and retention activities to find the appropriate solution. Complete a supply analysis of the department's statistics regarding: resignations retirements internal transfers promotions terminations ## Manager's role ### It is your responsibility to: Understand the current workforce Envision the future environment Identify competencies that will help the department overcome challenges and seize opportunities Implement successful staffing plans Determine the costs of your staffing plan (budgetary considerations) Evaluate the plan periodically and continuously improve for your future staffing needs ### Guidelines Involve key stakeholders in the planning process to ensure that multiple perspectives are considered. Integrate the staffing plan with other programs, such as succession planning and career development to prepare the company and your employees for future success. Continually monitor the success of your plan and be prepared to make adjustments as needed. ## Legal considerations All employment activities should be handled consistently, fairly and in accordance with affirmative action plans and company policy. Discrimination against employees with disabilities in every aspect of employment is unlawful.
Tips | Talent Profile Metric | The Talent Profile page is your tool for collecting valuable employee information such as education, skills, work history, experience, position information, resume details and so on. The Talent Profile of each employee captures important information that can be used for resource management, organizational development and team-building. This data provides a deeper insight into the talent available in your company. The Talent Profile Metric page allows you to select the sections that will be included in the Talent Profile percent completion calculation and assign weights based on the importance of each section. Use the Talent Profile Metric page to: Select sections for Talent Profile: Select sections to be included in the Talent Profile percent completion calculation, using the check-boxes. If no checkbox is selected, none of the sections will be included in the Talent Profile percent completion calculation. Add Weight (%) for each section: Determine the importance of information in each section. Assign a corresponding weight to each section. Total weight of all selected sections must equal 100%. Add Completion Statements for each section: Enter Completion Statements that employees will read and use to confirm their completion of each section. (For example: "I confirm that this information is complete and true to the best of my knowledge.") When employees confirm the completion of a section, the assigned Weight will be added to the total % for completeness. Example: Using the Talent Profile Metric page, if you select the following sections and weights: Photo Upload (5%), Work History (20%), Education (20%), Other Skills and Experience (40%), Skill Inventory (15%), when the employee completes Photo Upload and Work History and confirms it, the Talent Profile Metric will add up to 25%. As the employee completes other sections, the weight assigned to each section is added to the Talent Profile completeness, thus helping you gather information to help your business needs.
Tips | Tips on maximizing your search | The Advanced search option allows you to search for open positions by selecting the Job, Organization and Location. Search will look for specific openings in particular organizations and locations. For example: If you select "Accountant" for Job, and "Finance" for Organization and "California" for Location, search will return results for all Accountant openings, in the Finance Organization located in California. You can also search for multiple openings, organizations and locations at the same time. Select the Advanced option and choose the job or jobs, then the organization or organizations and then locations. If you select multiple options within Job, Organization and Position, one option from each will be used as search criteria. For example: If you select "Finance Accountant" and "Account Executive" for Job, and "Cost Accounting" and "General Accounting" for Organization and "California" and "New York" for Location, search will look for a Finance Accountant or Account Executive opening in the Cost Accounting or General Accounting Organizations, located in California or New York.

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## Table 2: Recruiting Coaching Topics

Topic Type | Topic Name | Content
--- | --- | ---
Tips | Hiring an Employee | ## Company philosophy Building a strong and agile workforce addresses the business needs of today and prepares the company for the talent demands of the future. Hiring the most competent and highly qualified people is critical to the company's overall success. Placing the right people in the right roles maximizes potential and ensures individual and team success. ## Policy snapshot Managers play a vital role in building a quality workforce. Taking a strategic approach to hiring ensures that competencies and skills are closely aligned to job requirements, addressing both current and future business needs. Bad hiring decisions can be costly and have a negative impact on morale and productivity. ### Selecting a candidate Selecting qualified candidates requires thorough evaluation of applicant information, including: resumes interviews references employment tests results Keep track of each applicant's strengths and weaknesses. Using the summary rating is a useful way to narrow your field of candidates. ## Manager's role ### It is your responsibility to: make staffing a priority to minimize the risk of losing qualified candidates review resumes and be responsive to recruiters who are scheduling interviews when interviewing, use the job description as a roadmap to match the candidates qualifications to the job requirements ### Guidelines Aim to find two or three qualified finalists, but do not risk losing a qualified candidate by prolonging the process. Do not hire an average candidate to fill a position quickly. Bad hires can be very costly to your department and the company. Base your selection on competency-based criteria as well as compatibility with company culture. Be fair and consistent when deciding salary level. Align salary with the candidate's level of expertise and current market conditions. Leave room for negotiation in the initial salary offer. ## Legal Considerations The Company is committed to a hiring program that is non-discriminatory and in compliance with equal employment opportunity laws. All hiring decisions should be well documented. If allegations of discrimination are made, documentation can help prove that the employment decision was made fairly and equitably. Any notes taken during an interview for example should be strictly related to the individual's ability to perform the essential function of the job. Also, be aware that you and the company can be sued for negligent hiring if: an unfortunate event occurs causing damage to a person or property a person you hired cause or helped cause the event while on the job you knew or should have known that the employee was unsuitable and therefore posed a danger to others.
Tips | Inserting Merge Fields | Before you add a merge field, be sure the focus of the cursor is on either a particular cell, if it is a table, or any insertable part of the page. You can place the cursor anywhere that there is text, as long as that text is not in an existing merge field. When you have inserted the merge field, you can click the View HTML Source check box to see whether the merge field has been added correctly. If you want to replace a merge field, select the entire merge field that you want to replace before clicking Insert Merge Field. You can click Save and Preview to see the effect of your modifications.
Tips | Interviews | ### During the interview, your goals are to: assess the applicant fairly describe the job and working conditions as accurately as possible create goodwill for the company, whether or not the applicant is hired ### Interview questions should focus on determining the candidate's: job motivation team skills leadership skills interpersonal skills management and supervisory skills
Tips | Onboarding an Employee | ## Company philosophy An employee's first days of employment are critical to the company's strategy to engage, cultivate and retain talented employees. The steps taken during the initial employment period can help start new employees on the right foot and provide a foundation for the development of valuable long-term contributors to the company's success. Managers are primarily responsible for ensuring that new employees experience a positive introduction to the company. ## Policy snapshot By properly preparing for the arrival of new employees, managers can make them feel welcome and appreciated by the company. This includes: ensuring that their computers, telephones and workstations are in good order ensuring that their teammates are expecting them assigning some basic training having an assignment ready ### Establishing checkpoints The first three months of employment set the groundwork for the employee's career with the company. It is important that you establish checkpoints during this period to meet with the employee. You should answer any questions that employee may have and provide feedback about job performance. Employees will feel more engaged if they know you are making an effort to help them get off to a good start. ### Assign a mentor Introduce new employees to a dedicated mentor who will: have lunch with them introduce them to other colleagues answer questions regarding day-to-day work-related issues The mentor need not be a person with a similar job nor someone providing on the job training. In fact, assigning a mentor outside the department provides a good opportunity to introduce the new employee to additional people in the company and increase his or her understanding of other business functions. ### Orientation program Orientation programs are designed to welcome and educate employees about the company. Giving the new employee a better understanding of the company's goals and values will increase the likelihood that they will be productive from the start. ## Manager's role ### It is your responsibility to: ensure a workstation and other resources are ready for the new employee announce the new employee to the company assign a mentor for the employee closely monitor the employee's progress during the initial employment period ### Guidelines Develop a plan to bring the employee up to speed as quickly as possible. Work closely with Human Resources to ensure that the new hire process and paperwork are completed efficiently. Assign an existing team member to train the new employee. Training can be a good leadership opportunity. ## Legal considerations Every employee must be provided the same opportunity for a successful career with the company. Keep a record of formal and informal training, mentoring and meetings you have with the employee during the initial employment period. Documentation will help you verify consistent treatment of all new hires and will also protect the company in case of any potential legal action.
Tips | Partnering with your Recruiter | Partner: Be a strategic partner. Be clear on your expectations of the hiring process. It is critical for both sides to understand what the other needs. Leverage the experience and skills of your lead recruiter. Recruiters can provide much-needed tips on the availability of certain skills in the market and advice on interviewing techniques to help you identify those skills. Collaborate: Working closely with your recruiter, will yield the types of candidates who possess the qualities and characteristics necessary for success. Collaborating throughout the process will save time and money. Communicate: Keep the lines of communication open. Alignment with your recruiter will ensure that the selection process is efficient and effective.
Tips | Providing Feedback for Candidates | Once your recruiter has found candidates matching your criteria, you will have an opportunity to provide feedback on each candidate. You can evaluate the candidates based on: the candidate profiles resumes prescreening scores any additional information provided After your review, you can submit your feedback using the manger feedback form. Give each candidate a 1 to 5 star rating Indicate your decision to advance or defer the candidate and provide your reason Giving prompt feedback will allow your recruiter to fine tune the search and continue to provide qualified candidates. # Reviewing resumes When reviewing a resume, pay special attention to: the experience and skills most relevant to the job description the desired educational level short term employment at several jobs any employment gaps any unusual shifts in career path or evidence of decreasing responsibility Remember to compare the candidate's salary expectations with the funds you have budgeted for that position. # Things to keep in mind Be honest in your assessments Honesty and accuracy in your assessment are critical to getting the right person for the job. Use good judgment Negligent hiring can be very costly. If your gut tells you not to hire someone, don't! Poor hiring decisions can lead to legal complications and to a decreased level of performance and productivity. Don't overrate candidates Your feedback regarding the candidate's suitability for the position should be based on the required competencies. Don't give someone high marks solely based on factors irrelevant to the job. Don't hire the first person you interview Try to select at least a couple of finalists and then review your selections with the interview team to compare your individual feedback. Hasty hiring decisions can lead to low productivity, lack of cultural fit and unexpected turnover.
Tips | Quality Survey | The quality survey allows a recruiter to request a quality rating for any hired candidate from their hiring manager. Measuring the quality of a new employee after he or she has come on board, provides an independent check on the selection process. Providing quality feedback ensures that the hiring process accurately selects for qualities and characteristics that contribute to the company's business plan. A program of measuring quality of hire also provides a means of evaluating the effectiveness of change initiatives, as a company seeks continuous improvement in its staffing process. After a cycle of placements is completed, you will be sent a Quality Survey requesting feedback on recent hires. Be sure to communicate any deviations from your expectations.
Tips | Requisition Tips | Creating a request for a requisition is one of the most important tasks to ensure a good hire. As a hiring manager, you have first hand knowledge of the day to day requirements for the position. Make sure that you and the recruiter have a clear understanding of the required competencies. Partner with your recruiter throughout the process. It is important for both sides to understand what the other needs. Recruiters might also be able to give you much-needed tips on the availability of certain skills in the market and advice on interviewing techniques to help you identify those skills. Remember to fine-tune your feedback to recruiters. After a cycle of placements is completed, get in touch with your recruiter with feedback on the quality of candidates provided to you. Be sure to communicate any deviations from your expectations and your level of satisfaction with timelines and other aspects of the process.
Tips | Staffing a Position | ## Company philosophy The Company's success depends on having the right people in the right roles. Managers are largely responsible for ensuring that this vision is realized. To develop and implement a successful staffing plan, managers are expected to have a good understanding of the pros and cons of each staffing option available. ## Policy snapshot ### Staffing options Be creative with the deployment of your staff. You can optimize your organization by using the right combination of staffing option to possibly eliminate the need for additional full-time resources, including: increasing overtime hours permitting flextime scheduling using part-time employees hiring contingent staff, such as temporary employees or contractors A blended staffing approach gives the company the ability to expand or contract the workforce on a just-in-time basis in response to business needs. It involves maintaining a core group of employees possessing skills tightly aligned with the company's area of specialization and assigning a contingent or non-permanent workforce to: manage non-critical work address temporary staffing shortfalls staff specialized projects better manager and control workforce costs ### Using internal promotions, transfers or new hires Promoting a current employee provides a candidate with: an existing understanding of the business, products and services knowledge of company policies and procedures proven performance record It also demonstrates your commitment to upward mobility and helps improve morale across the company. In addition to the benefits gained from promoting an employee, you can also plan to hire an internal candidate from a different area within the company In certain circumstances, hiring an external candidate may be the best option for filling a critical need within your department. ## Manager's role ### It is your responsibility to: evaluate business needs and decide whether a position must be filled determine qualifications necessary for current positions work within the established budget ### Guidelines Be sure to define the current competencies required for each position. Evaluate different staffing options against the department's needs. Consult with Human Resources to be sure your staffing approach is in line with corporate workforce initiatives, and to determine if succession planning might affect your decisions. Pursue staffing options that allow for flexibility and support the company's goals. ## Legal considerations It is imperative to ensure that all decisions regarding hiring or career advancement are made fairly and equitably. Refer to the company's affirmative action plan, familiarize yourself with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and monitor contingent workers closely and ensure that the company does not assume the role of employer to a contingent employee.

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## Table 3: Performance Coaching Topics

Topic Type | Topic Name | Content
--- | --- | ---
FAQs | Calculation Rules - FAQs | Calculation Rules - FAQs How does the goal rating scale work? The Goal Rating Scale created in the repository must match all the possible values that could be returned by the lookup tables or values entered by the administrator manually (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc.), but the Goal Rating Scale configured for the plan can be just the integer values (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The system will calculate the rating in the repository then convert the ratings to the plan rating scale values using normalization when the results are pushed out to individuals. When will the goal rating scale on the plan include all possible values (integers and decimals)? The plan rating scale must include a union of all possible values (both integer and decimal) if: You want the subscribable goal results expressed in terms of decimals on the evaluation form. AND The qualitative goal ratings to be selected from a set of integer values.
FAQs | Can I add multiple Organizational Goal Plans in one performance plan? | Yes, you can have multiple organizational goal plans included in one performance plan. For example, if you have 5 different organizations participating in one performance plan, and you have different sets of organizational goals, you can create 5 different organizational goal plans for each set of goals. You can then select all of those organizational goal plans from one performance plan and the appropriate goals will display, based on the individual's associated organization.
FAQs | Can I add multiple organizations to one Organizational Goal Plan? | You can add multiple organizations to one Organizational Goal Plan. You may add all the organizations of your company into one plan, or split them into sets of organizations based on unit (Division, Department or any other business unit). For example, if you have the Finance Division with two departments under it - Cost Accounting and General Accounting, and the Sales Division with two departments under it - Domestic Sales and International Sales, you can create one Organizational Goal Plan for all of these organizations. Or you can create two Organizational Goal Plans - one for Finance and one for Sales, with their respective departments added in each. Adding multiple organizations to one Organizational Goal Plan allows ease of administration if you wish to evaluate all those employees using one performance plan. In the first case, the Organizational Goal Plan can be added to one performance plan, and all employees initiated at the same time. Note: Before doing so, remember to check if employees of all organizations should be evaluated on the same plan options (Goals, Competencies, Overall).
FAQs | Can I add new employees to a performance plan after it is initiated? | You can add new employees to a performance plan after it is initiated. This can be done from the process management page. Initiating newly eligible employees will become part of maintaining the plan. Newly eligible employees can include new hires, transfers or other status changes.
FAQs | Can I add new rater types and aggregate groups? | Can I add new rater types and aggregate groups? You may include new rater types using the "Rater Type" display value category. You may also delete rater types or modify the names of existing types. Aggregate groups, however, are system defined. You may only modify the name of an aggregate group.
FAQs | Can I change the settings of a performance plan after it is initiated? | You cannot change the settings of a performance plan after it has been initiated. Since an initiated plan is actively used by its participants, the settings should not be changed at that point. Before initiating a plan, make sure you have reviewed all details and that the plan suits the business need.
FAQs | Can I enable the additional feedback option for managers during interim evaluations? | If you enable the Additional feedback option for the final evaluation, it will be enabled for all included interim cycles as well. Managers will then be able to solicit additional feedback for interims and final evaluations. You cannot enable the option for a single interim evaluation only.
FAQs | Can I have a goal setting and evaluation process running simultaneously? | Yes, you can. Goal setting and evaluation workflows can be configured to run simultaneously within one plan or across plans. The Workflow Process Management page allows you to manage simultaneous processes. You can perform workflow maintenance tasks on this page.
FAQs | Can I make changes to organizational goals after initiating a performance plan? | Yes, you can make changes to organizational goals after initiating a performance plan. Go to the Organizational Goal Plans page to edit details, add or delete an organizational goal. If you add or delete a goal, be sure to re-adjust the weights of other goals and communicate changes with employees. This will help them focus their efforts accordingly.
FAQs | Can I modify the multi-rater settings after the evaluation process is initiated? | Can I modify the multi-rater settings after the evaluation process is initiated? The Multi-Rater Aggregation setup page: The data on this page may be modified after an evaluation process is initiated. If you modify this page after setting up a performance plan, you must click the "Sync Rater Types" button on the Multi-Rater Options tab of the performance plan in order to apply the changes to the plan. However, it is recommended that you do not make significant modifications to rater types and auto-population settings after an evaluation is initiated since this might cause confusion among participants who are initiated. The Multi-Rater Options tab (performance plan setup): A limited amount of data on this page may be modified after an evaluation process is initiated. The rater type and aggregate group association, minimum settings for each aggregate group and the aggregate rating options for managers and employees will be locked down once the performance plan is initiated. The tab display names may be modified after the plan is initiated. It is best to not make significant modifications after a plan is initiated since this might cause confusion among participants.
FAQs | Can I set up a combination of mandated goals and employee-controlled goals within one plan? | The mandated goal setting process pre-populates employee goal forms with goals that you enter into the administrator goal setting form. The employee will not be able to enter additional goals or make changes. The mandated goal setting process will only allow employees to review, accept and then track their mandated goals.
FAQs | Can I set up a multi-rater evaluation that is not tied to an interim or final evaluation process? (i.e. a standalone multi-rater evaluation process)? | Can I set up a multi-rater evaluation that is not tied to an interim or final evaluation process? A multi-rater evaluation works within the context of a final or interim evaluation. It is designed to allow the collection of evaluation data from multiple raters within the standard evaluation processes. That's not to say multi-rater processes cannot be run independently of your annual performance review, it just means that within this system, you can only configure a multi-rater workflow process within the context of a standard evaluation process, and not on its own.
FAQs | Can I use different plan options for interim and final evaluations? | Plan options (Goals/Competencies/Overall) are shared by interim and final evaluations. After you select your plan options and start the interim evaluation process, those options will be used for the final evaluations as well, and hence cannot be modified.
FAQs | Can I use different rating scales for goals, competencies and overall evaluations? | Yes, you can use different rating scales for evaluating goals, competencies and overall ratings. However, it is recommended that you select a rating scale that commonly applies to all participants and evaluation components. This will create a common platform from which all participants and components are evaluated.
FAQs | Can I use different workflows for each interim evaluation cycle? | You can use only one workflow process for all interim evaluation cycles, but you can configure it differently for each cycle. For example: due dates, notifications and tasks can all be configured to be different for different interim cycles. Just select the cycle from the drop down and configure the workflow.
FAQs | Can employees and managers remove ad hoc competencies from an evaluation form? | Can employees and managers remove ad hoc competencies from an evaluation form? The permission to remove ad hoc competencies from an evaluation form varies between employees and managers. Employees: An employee may delete only those ad hoc competencies that he/she added. Any ad hoc competency added by the manager cannot be deleted by the employee. Managers: Managers may delete all ad hoc competencies from an evaluation form, irrespective of who added them.
FAQs | Can multiple administrators modify one unlocked planned simultaneously? | To avoid administrative errors, only one administrator can modify an unlocked plan at a time. If one administrator unlocks a performance plan to modify it, no other administrator can modify it at the same time. For example: Administrators A and B are responsible for the Annual Performance Plan. After this plan is initiated, Administrator A logs in to unlock and modify plan options. If Administrator B logs in at the same time to work on this plan, the unlock option will not be available. The second administrator will see the current status of the plan as being in the unlocked state, but will not be able to modify it. Administrator B can unlock and modify the plan after Administrator A locks it.
FAQs | Can multiple individual goals be aligned to a single Organizational Goal? And can a single individual goal be aligned to multiple Organizational Goals? | Yes, a participant can align multiple individual goals to one organizational goal. For example: A participant can have two individual goals, "Decrease cost" and "Increase productivity" aligned to one organizational goal, "Improve business results". Also, a single individual goal can be aligned to multiple org goals. For example: A participant can align the individual goal, "Increase productivity" to multiple organizational goals, "Review efficiencies", "Decrease attrition" and "Improve morale".
FAQs | Can multiple performance plans use this option simultaneously? | Can multiple performance plans use this option simultaneously? Yes, but the Publish Ratings process only keeps one performance rating for each employee from one plan at a given time. For example, let us say you have selected this option for two performance plans with 100 participants on each plan. Of the 100, there are 50 participants who are included in both plans. If you click the Publish Ratings button on Plan 1, ratings from that plan will be published to the Talent Profiles of those 50 participants. A week later, if you click the Publish Ratings button on plan 2, the ratings from that plan will be published to their Talent Profiles and ratings from Plan 1 will no longer display.
FAQs | Cascading Goals - FAQs | Cascading Goals - FAQs Why should we cascade goals? By allowing the cascading of goals, you are enabling the sharing of common objectives among individuals working in the company. When strategic goals translate into well-defined organizational goals, which are in turn cascaded down to the workforce, you are ensuring that all employees are aware of, understand and work to achieve the common objective. The ability to cascade goals empowers executive teams and managers who can define goals at a higher level and "push" them down the hierarchy so they streamline the goal-setting process of all individuals involved. Is goal cascading the only method to share objectives? You can encourage employees to share the objectives of the organization by providing an option to align their goals with the goals of individuals above or across the organization. Note that while cascading of goals "push" the objectives down the hierarchy, the aligning of goals is an individual employee's activity that works up and across the hierarchy. The option to align goals may be provided on the evaluation form using the "Individual Goal Alignment" and the "Alignment" form fields. These options are not dependent on the cascading goals option or plan settings.
FAQs | Confidential Plans - Frequently Asked Questions: | Confidential Plans - Frequently Asked Questions: Why would I use a confidential plan? A confidential plan is most useful in succession planning and talent management activities where you need to determine the overall talent status of employees. While reviewing and finalizing the short term and long term growth potential of employees within the organization, managers and HR personnel prefer to keep this information confidential. While employees are involved in the career planning phase, a talent assessment is typically conducted in a more discreet fashion. What do talent assessment plans typically measure? In a talent assessment plan, it is typical to measure the competencies and overall talent status of employees. To fulfill such a requirement, you may select the Competencies and Talent Assessment components as evaluation options during plan setup.
FAQs | Copy Ratings Between Cycles - FAQs | Copy Ratings Between Cycles - FAQs What is the purpose of copying ratings between cycles? Rating data may be copied from one evaluation cycle to another in order to provide employees and managers a point of reference while evaluating performance. If ratings and comments from the first interim evaluation are available during the second interim evaluation, or the final evaluation, it provides continuity in the process, thereby allowing employees and managers to review ratings and comments from the previous cycle while evaluating for the current cycle. How are the copied ratings displayed to the user? When ratings and comments are copied from one evaluation cycle to the next, they display on the evaluation form used in the second cycle. For example: Let's say the copy option is enabled on a performance plan, and a participant on that plan rates performance for Cycle 1. When the same employee visits the form again to evaluate performance for Cycle 2, the form will be pre-filled with ratings and comments from Cycle 1. If ratings are copied from a previous cycle, can users modify them in the current cycle? Yes. The ratings and comments are provided as a point of reference. Users may select a different rating, or edit the comments and submit them as the performance evaluation for the current cycle. For example: Let's say a user who is evaluating performance for Cycle 2, modifies ratings and comments from Cycle 1. When the user submits the modified data, it is taken as evaluation data for Cycle 2, which is the current cycle. The Cycle 1 data remains unchanged for historical reference. Are ratings copied between interim evaluation cycles and to the final evaluation cycle? Yes. If you enable the option, ratings and comments will be copied between all interim evaluation cycles (depending on the number of cycles set up for the performance plan) and also into the final evaluation cycle. Best Practice Recommendation: You shoud inform your end-users if ratings and comments will be copied from cycle-to-cycle. If not, they could find it confusing to see a form pre-populated with data from the prior cycle. Process owners should provide admins with instructional text similar to what is shown below. Ideally, the text should be placed on the forms to avoid confusion. “For your convenience, the evaluation form has been pre-populated with the ratings and comments from the previous interim evaluation, wherever applicable. The previous interim evaluation will remain unchanged but you may make updates to the current evaluation, delete data that is no longer applicable, and/or add new information to accurately reflect performance during the current cycle.”
FAQs | Do I need to sign-off on my performance evaluation even if I don't agree? | Even if you do not agree with your manager's evaluation of your performance, you will still need to sign-off by clicking the "acknowledge" button. Clicking "acknowledge" does not imply agreement with the evaluation results, only that you acknowledge that you have had the face-to-face meeting with your manager and that you have completed the performance review process.
FAQs | Does the Additional Feedback option enable a 360 degree review? | The Additional Feedback process is not a 360 performance review. The option facilitates the collection of extra feedback from previous managers and other employees who have worked with the participant. The feedback collected is used at the manager's discretion and is not factored into the calculated employee ratings.
FAQs | How can I keep track of all that I did this year? | The employee journal is a handy tool to help you track your accomplishments and any performance obstacles throughout the year. Jotting down the individual accomplishments as they happen provides the detail necessary to complete your self evaluation.
FAQs | How do I determine how many performance evaluation plans I need? | Evaluation plans are designed to evaluate certain groups of people against certain criteria. So first you have to decide who is going to be evaluated and against what criteria. Try to think about certain common elements that tie those people together into groups. So think about: People: Who are the people that should be participating in this plan and what do they have in common (for instance, department, evaluation date, etc.)? Process: Is there a specific workflow that should be applied for a certain group of people? (for instance, newly hired employees)? Plan: Are there plan features that differ from group to group (for instance, rating scales and calculations, goal categories, competency assignments)? Try to minimize the number of evaluations at any given point, to avoid losing administrative time and resources.
FAQs | How do I determine the due date of a goal? | The due date is generally the end of the quarter, mid-year or end of year depending when the cycle ends. Your goals should be designed to fit the time frame. When creating your goals, keep the time period in mind. Consider what you can realistically accomplish in the specified time frame. If your manager had set interim milestones within the goal setting period, you can indicate these in your expected results field and still use the due date field as the date for completion of the entire goal.
FAQs | How do I determine the right number of interim evaluations? | Interim evaluations provide a "check point" to evaluate employee performance before a final evaluation is conducted. By evaluating performance at different points throughout the cycle, managers have more opportunity to provide valuable feedback to enhance employee performance. Employees need time to absorb the feedback in order to modify their behavior, so it makes sense to allow enough time in between cycles. Having too many interim evaluations can be burdensome. So be sure that the number of cycles you schedule supports your overall performance management objectives. The number of interim cycles required will be determined by your business needs. The application supports up to 12 interims before a final evaluation. When deciding how many interim cycles to include consider the following: Generally, interim evaluations will be conducted on a semi-annual or quarterly basis. You can include more, but keep in mind the administrative overhead of evaluating employees so frequently. The frequency between interim evaluations need not be the same. For example, you can have three interim evaluations in one year: the first one for January-June, the second one for July-September, the third one for October-December. If a group of employees needs to be evaluated more frequently, you can create a separate performance plan that uses a greater number of interim evaluations. Keep in mind that ratings collected from interim evaluations are not included in the calculation for Final ratings. Ratings can be used as a reference during the final evaluation but Final performance review ratings will not be an average of the interim ratings.
FAQs | How do I determine what the expected results should be? | Your expected results should include the details of how and when you intend to achieve the goal, for example a statement indicating the business value associated with attaining this goal.
FAQs | How do I keep track of all that my employees do during the evaluation review cycle? | Your manager journal provides a convenient place to capture highlights of each employee's performance. Jotting down quick entries into the journal will help you capture the essential aspects of the employee's major accomplishments. It also provides a way to track any performance issues that you may have discussed with the employee that may need follow-up later. The manager journal is just one other tool to help you make your final review process more efficient. You can use your journal entries to make your evaluation feedback specific. Specific examples of what worked well and what didn't work well, will enable the employee to make targeted behavioral changes to improve performance.
FAQs | How do I know if a goal is realistic? | A realistic goal is one that you know you can reasonably attain. Be sure that the things you need to do to achieve the goal are within your control. Break large goals up into smaller bits so that you can experience small successes to keep you motivated.
FAQs | How do I provide constructive feedback on the evaluation? | Be specific and remember the three C's - Clear, Constructive and Consistent. Do not be vague; always provide relevant examples that drive specific behavior. Offer constructive criticism that focuses on performance and job related factors. Be positive, instead of saying, "You don't take initiative" you might say "You really have some good ideas and I'm depending on you to step up and take action."
FAQs | How do I set up multiple sets of mandated goals? | If you need to associate different sets of mandated goals to different groups of employees, you must create multiple performance plans. For example, in the Sales Division, the International Sales and Domestic Sales departments might have different sets of mandated goals. You can create two performance plans, one for International Sales mandated goals and one for Domestic Sales mandated goals. Select the eligibility criteria for each plan and create specific goals for each group. When the plans are initiated, the participants in the two different departments will see goal forms containing the different sets of mandated goals.
FAQs | How do I write effective goals? | When defining your goals, remember the SMART criteria. Goals should be: Specific - state focused, concrete and well-defined goals Measurable - assign goals that contain clear criteria for measurement Attainable - set goals that are challenging, yet attainable Realistic - make sure you feel that the likelihood of achieving the goal is better than 50 percent Time bound - assign a specific time line to achieve your stated goals
FAQs | How do rater types and aggregate groups work together? | How do rater types and aggregate groups work together? Rater types and aggregate groups are used to meaningfully group together evaluators and enable the calculation and reporting of multi-rater evaluation data. Rater types are used to group together individuals such as co-workers, direct reports, indirect reports, direct managers or indirect managers. Each rater type is included individually or grouped with similar rater types within aggregate groups, where the evaluation data collected from those raters are calculated to arrive at averages, and presented as performance metrics for reporting and analysis. For example, if your organization groups two rater types such as direct and indirect reports together for reporting purposes, then you may include both these rater types under one aggregate group of "Subordinates". The multi-rater evaluation data for all the raters in this group (which consists of the two rater types) is calculated and the averages are presented under the "Subordinates" aggregate group for reporting and other analysis.
FAQs | How do the goal grouping options work? | How do the goal grouping options work? No Grouping: Select this option if you want to display all goals in one section on the goals and evaluation forms. Goals will have the same fields and permissions configured for them. Group by Goal Category: Select this option if you want to display goals in multiple sections on the goals and evaluations forms based on their Goal Category. All goals regardless of category will have the same fields and permissions configured for them. Group by Goal Type: Select this option if you want to display goals in multiple sections on the goals and evaluations forms based on their Goal Type. Each section may have different fields and permissions configured for it. How does goal grouping and individual goal weight validation work together? When individual goals are assigned weights the system will validate the weighting as follows (when the goals are submitted): If the goals are not grouped by category or type or if the goals are grouped but the groups are not weighted, the goal weights across ALL goals must total 100%. If the goals are grouped and the groups are weighted, the goal weights within the group must total 100%. There is one exception to these rules and that is if the goal group weight is zero, then the individual goal weights within that group are not validated. This is done because the goals in that group will not factor into the Summary Goal Rating calculation at all (0 x Group Average = 0). This provides more flexibility in using a combination of weighted and un-weighted groups within one plan without enforcing any unnecessary restrictions on the un-weighted group's goals.
FAQs | How does Matching Behavior work? | How does Matching Behavior work? The matching behavior you select will determine how the input data is matched with the data in the lookup table. You may select different rules for matching data on the vertical and horizontal axis. Example: Let's say the input value is 3.2 on the lookup table (shown below): How will each of these Matching Behavior options work? Exact: The input value must find an exact match in the lookup table. In our example, the table does not contain an exact match for the value of 3.2, so the table will throw an exception (the lookup process will not be completed successfully). Next: If the input value falls between two rows, a value from the next row will be returned as the matched value. In our example, 3.2 falls between 3 and 4, so the 4th row will be used for matching and the Increase % will be 2.0. Previous: If the input value falls between two rows, a value from the previous row will be returned as the matched value. In our example, 3.2 falls between 3 and 4, so the 3rd row will be used for matching and the Increase % will be 1.5. Round: If the input value falls between two rows, the rounding process will check which row the value is closer to, by considering a mid-point. In our example, the mid-point is 3.5, and the input value of 3.2 is closer to the third row. So the third row will be used to match and find a value. But if the input value had been 3.8, it would be closer to the 4th row which would be used to match and find an appropriate Increase %. Straight-line interpolation: If the input value falls between two rows, the lookup process will interpolate between the values of the two rows. In our example the input value of 3.2 falls between values 3 and 4. The interpolation factor is calculated using the formula: Interpolation Factor = Distance from Previous / Full Distance Where Distance from Previous is the difference between the input value and the previous value (in our example this is the difference between 3.2 and 3 which gives 0.2). and Full Distance is the difference between the values that are previous and next to the input value (in our example this is the difference between 3 and 4 which gives 1). So in our example: Interpolation Factor = 0.2 / 1 = 0.2 Then the difference between the matching values on the previous and next rows must be found. This difference is then multipled by the interpolation factor and added to the matching value of previous row. So the last step of this calculation looks like this: Return Value = Matching value on 3rd row + ((Matching value on 4th row - Matching value on 3rd row) x Interpolation Factor). So the Interpolated value = 1.5 + ((2.0 - 1.5) x 0.2) = 1.6 Note: This option is available only on the vertical axis. Custom Interpolation: Use this option to define your own interpolation formula. You may use the vertical and horizontal match variables along with the lookup table values to specify how the data should match and return results. Note: This option is available only on the vertical axis.
FAQs | How is the mandated goal setting process different from other goal setting processes? | The mandated goals process differs from the regular goals process because the mandated goals are not set by the employee. They are set for the employee by the administrator. As the administrator, you are actually configuring forms and entering mandated goals data that will then pre-populate the employee goal setting form. When creating a mandated goals process: Select a mandated goal setting workflow. Configure the administrator form for administrators to enter the goals data. Ensure that the administrator form contains all of the fields that are included on the participant form that will be displayed to end users. Set the mandated goals. Initiate the goal setting process. You will notice that the mandated goal setting process varies from the typical goal setting process because it involves the administrator forms and goals mandated for employees.
FAQs | How many goals should I set? | It is recommended that you set no more than 3-5 goals in a single goal setting period. Having too many can overwhelm you and deprive you of the focus you need to keep motivated.
FAQs | How should I rate myself on my self evaluation? | When rating yourself, be as honest and objective as possible. List your successes through the review cycle. There is no need to be modest. Be accurate and factual, providing specific examples of your major accomplishments. Demonstrate the connection between your accomplishments and their value to the overall success of your department. Be sure to identify any obstacles or issues you experienced as well. The performance review meeting is designed to facilitate a conversation around all aspects of your performance. Clearly defining barriers to success will enable your manager to devise precise strategies to help you going forward.
FAQs | How will ad hoc competencies display on evaluation forms? | How will ad hoc competencies display on evaluation forms? If you choose to display competencies by their source, ad hoc competencies will display on a separate section on the evaluation form. For example, if your competency sources include plan and job competencies in addition to ad hoc competencies, the evaluation form will have three sections - one section each for job, plan and ad hoc competencies. Any competency added on an ad hoc basis will display in the ad hoc competencies container. If you choose to display competencies by group, when a user chooses to add competencies on an ad hoc basis, the additional competencies will be slotted into the groups they belong to. For example, if your evaluation process uses Leadership and Sales competency groups, the evaluation form will use one section each, for these competency groups. All ad hoc competencies will be categorized by the group they belong to, and not categorized separately as ad hoc competencies.
FAQs | If business needs change, can I change an employee's goals? | Business goals are designed to drive business results. You should absolutely reassess your employee's goals if there is any substantial change in direction or priorities. Be sure to set up time to discuss the changes. Be open and listen to the employee's concerns, if any, regarding any and all factors related to achieving the goal.
FAQs | If the employee doesn't achieve a set goal, can I move it forward to the next goal setting cycle? | You can carry a goal over to the next cycle, if you think that the goal was not reached due to some external circumstances outside the employee's control and if the goal is still relevant. Based on the employee's level of achievement and level of effort, you could rate the goal accordingly and carry forward the remainder required for full achievement to the next cycle. Remember, if something occurs outside the employee's control, not rewarding them will demotivate and probably cause resentment. It is better to track goal progress periodically to identify potential problems and intervene before the end of the review period.
FAQs | Is a minimum value mandatory for all aggregate groups? | Is a minimum value mandatory for all aggregate groups? Yes. Technically, the system will accept a minimum of zero, but the most common practice would be to require at least two raters in each aggregate group to ensure anonymity in the rater's responses.
FAQs | Is an interim evaluation connected to the final evaluation? | Interim evaluations are a convenient way of setting goals and competencies once, but evaluating them multiple times, before the final evaluation. This makes interim and final evaluations closely tied in some ways and independent in other ways. Interim and final evaluations can run within the same performance plan. You can create one performance plan and set up interim and final evaluations within that plan. When creating a performance plan with interims, remember: Interim and final evaluations will share plan options (rating scales, competencies) for Goal options, Competency Options and Overall Options. This means that once an interim evaluation begins, the plan options that it shares with the final evaluation cannot be changed. Interim evaluations can use a component (Goals/Competencies/Overall) only if it is used for final evaluations as well. For example, if the final evaluation does not include competency ratings, the interim evaluations cannot use it either. Since interims are contained in the same performance plan as the final evaluation, the Eligibility criteria will be the same. However, interim and final evaluations will use separate workflows, which can be initiated independently from the same plan. This means that all workflow components like notifications, tasks and due dates will be separate for interim and final evaluations. Even though an interim and a final evaluation are contained in one performance plan, the interim ratings will not average into the final ratings. All data collected from an interim evaluation will be available for reference during the final evaluation, but will not be used to calculate the final performance rating.
FAQs | Modify Goal Plan - FAQs | Modify Goal Plan - FAQs Why do I see duplicate goals? When modifying the goal plan, the system will always provide a full set of goals the employee is eligible to receive. That includes company-wide and organizationally-dimensioned goals. For this reason, goals may appear on this form for selection that are duplicates of goals the employee has already been assigned. You can disregard the duplicate goals or include them and modify the weights and other attributes to differentiate those goals based on the circumstances surrounding the employee's assignments. This method allows employees who have had multiple assignments over the course of the plan period to see all their goals across those assignments, manually adjusted to reflect the time in (and focus of) their work. Why would I need to modify the goals for the Current Goal Period? Someone may have manually deleted an assigned goal. During a previous modification of this employee's goal plan all of the available goals were not selected for their current assignment (e.g., someone selected 1 of 3 applicable goals). The administrator may need to change the goals for the employee's current assignment. What happens if I accidentally copy goals to the New Goal Period instead of the Current Goal Period or vice versa? There is no risk in copying goals to one Goal Period or the other. You can simply delete the goals and click the Modify Goal Plan button again to change your selection. The Goal Period is simply a mechanism used by the system to keep track of the last set of goals assigned to the employee to determine if any new or modified goals are needed.
FAQs | Publishing Talent Assessment Fields | Publishing Talent Assessment Fields When these fields are published to the Talent Profile, each field and its related comments field are always published as a pair. If either one is entered during an evaluation, both are published, overwriting any existing values. For example, during a Talent Assessment evaluation, a manager rates an employee's potential in the Talent Assessment section of the form, but doesn't provide any comments. Since the Potential field has a value, both the Potential field and the Potential Comments field will be published to the employee's Talent Profile Talent Assessment page, overwriting any existing data there. If there were Potential Comments from a previous plan, they will be replaced with a blank field. This is done to prevent a mismatch between the key field and its comments field if they are populated during different plans. If the fields were not paired, the comments field could be from a different plan than the key value, resulting in inaccurate data. If the manager leaves both the key field and its comments field blank, then the system will not publish that pair to the Talent Profile at all. That leaves the existing values in the Talent Profile always reflecting the last true assessment of that employee's talent indicator.
FAQs | Should competency weights add up to 100%? | Should competency weights add up to 100%? Weights are assigned to competencies in two ways - to individual competencies within each source, and to each source itself. While the weight assigned to each source is used to determine the percentage that the source will contribute to the summary competency rating, the weight assigned to each competency is used to determine its individual weight within the source. Weights assigned to the competency sources (while configuring the performance plan) should add up 100%. You have the flexibility of not assigning any weight to a source (simply type '0' in the box for that source), but for the source(s) that are assigned weights, they must add up to 100%. The individual competency weights within each source, however, need not add up to 100% during plan configuration and participant initiation. You have the flexibility of not assigning any weights to the individual competencies, and allowing your employees to enter the weights themselves on the evaluation forms. On the evaluation form, the system will ensure that individual competency weights within each source add up to 100%. In other words, the source weights must add up to 100% in order for the plan to initiate successfully, but the individual competency weights within the source need not add up to 100% at that time. The 100% weight rule on the individual competencies is enforced only on the evaluation forms. For example, you may set up competency sources and individual competencies in the following manner: Source 1: Job Competencies (Competency Source weight = 55%) Job competency 1 (Competency weight = 10%) Job competency 2 (Competency weight = 10%) Job competency 3 Job competency 4 Job competency 5 Source 2: Plan Competencies (Competency Source weight = 45%) Plan competency 1 Plan competency 2 Plan competency 3 Plan competency 4 Plan competency 5 Source 3: Ad hoc Competencies (Competency Source weight = 0) Notice that the competency source weights must add up to 100% (even if one competency source has no weight assigned to it) but the individual competency weights need not add up to 100% for successful plan initiation.
FAQs | What are competency groups and competency sources? | What are competency groups and competency sources? There are two ways of categorizing competencies used in an evaluation process - the source (where is the competency being taken from?) and the groups (how do competencies need to be grouped on employee’s evaluation forms?) Competency Sources: Plan competencies: Do you want to associate competencies to this specific performance plan? Job Competencies: Do you want to add the competencies associated with the participant's job? If so, do you want to include competencies specific to the clinical domain? Ad hoc competencies: Do you want to allow employees and managers to add competencies to the evaluation form on an ad hoc basis? You may select one or a combination of these competency sources. Each section on the evaluation form can correspond to a competency source you select, depending on how you choose to group your competencies. For example, if you select plan and ad hoc competencies and configure the form properly, the evaluation form will have two sections, one for each source. Competency Groups: Competency libraries typically group competencies according to skills sets, organizational units or some other relevant business requirement. During plan setup, if you choose to categorize competencies by their group, they will be categorized on the evaluation form by the competency group they belong to, and not the source. For example, let's say you select two sources of competencies - plan and ad hoc, and there are 10 competencies associated with the plan (6 belonging to the Leadership competency group and 4 belonging to the Sales competency group). The evaluation form will display the plan competencies in two separate sections - one for the Leadership group, and one for the Sales group. When additional competencies are added ad hoc, they will be added to the group they belong to (Leadership or Sales). If an employee adds a competency belonging to another group (for example, Clinical), then a new section for clinical competencies will be created on the evaluation form.
FAQs | What are goal types and why would I use them? | What are goal types and why would I use them? Goal Types help you group goals and configure them based on how you want an end-user (employees, managers and so on) to use them. They provide the flexibility of configuring each goal type section separately on the end-user form, thereby allowing multiple goal "behaviors" within the same form. Example: Let's say the Customer Support department wishes to mandate two goals for all its employees: Reduce call time by 10%. Increase customer satisfaction by 3%. Each goal is associated with a weight of 25%, totaling the mandated goal weight to 50%. During the goal setting process, all employees will be provided these two mandated goals. In addition, each employee must enter individual goals so the total goal weight adds up to 100%. This means that the goal setting and evaluation forms should treat the mandated goals differently, by restricting the employee from modifying them. In order to achieve this flexibility, you can utilize Goal Types and group the mandated goals together. You can create a goal type called "Department Goals", add the two mandated goals, associate the weight and configure the form sections to provide restricted permissions (read-only) for employees. Now you can create a second goal type called "Individual Goals", configure the form sections to give employees greater access (read-write) in order to set their own goals and associate weights of their choice. Now you will have set up one form with multiple goal types, where each type is configured to behave differently. You may create new goal types or use the ones provided out-of-the-box.
FAQs | What are lookup tables and why would I use them? | What are lookup tables and why would I use them? A lookup table defined: A lookup table is a set of data created and structured to validate information by matching input values against a set of pre-defined values placed in the lookup table. This helps to "map" raw inputs into discrete results by matching the input data with the lookup data and arriving at a certain value that best indicates the result. Let us translate this definition: Let's say that a company, Acme Hardware wishes to evaluate the performance of its employees in the Sales organization using more scientific and defined methods. This is important for monitoring their performance, motivating them and creating a robust pay-for-performance culture. So the head of the Sales organization, John should begin by defining the goals of the organization. He should decide how the sales targets will translate into individual employee expectations. In order to achieve a 3.0% annual growth in sales, John decides that each employee in the sales force should sell between 90 - 100 units. So he will use this number as the average required performance, on a rating scale of 1 - 5.
Number of Units to sell | Rating
--- | ---
90 - 100 | 3
This means that any employee who sells between 90 - 100 units will earn a performance rating of 3. But he should also consider the short-falls and over-achievement in order to design a fair rating process. Now the table looks like this:
Number of Units to sell | Rating | Increase %
--- | --- | ---
1 - 59 | 1 | 0.5%
60 - 89 | 1 | 1.0%
90 - 100 | 3 | 1.5%
101 - 115 | 4 | 2.0%
116+ | 5 | 2.5%
The lookup table: John's data can now be turned into a lookup table. While evaluating employee performance, the number of units sold by each employee is provided as the "raw input" (mentioned in the definition). For example, if an employee sells 110 units during the year, this number acts as the raw input. The lookup table will match this input to the data contained in the table and return an appropriate rating. In this case, the employee will receive a rating of 4. Lookup tables can be used to match and find results within large sets of data, thus reducing the time spent in repeating calculations and increasing accuracy.
FAQs | What are performance groups? | What are performance groups? Performance groups are used to subdivide the eligible population of your performance management plan in order to assign specific sets of cascading goals to each employee group. For example: You may categorize employees into performance groups by "Department" or "Job Function" because those employees have reasons to share the same objectives. Cascading goals to these performance groups will ensure that those employees work to achieve a common set of goals. Performance data maps define the criteria used to create the performance groups. Once you have selected the performance group criteria that should be used to categorize your eligible population, you must also set up corresponding performance group names in the following section.
FAQs | What are the most common elements that participants can be grouped by? | To define your eligible population for a plan, you can filter on the following criteria to create your grouping. Any combination of these elements can create the criteria to determine the participants in a plan. You can group participants by: Job Title Organization Hierarchy Position: A group of employees who share similar position profiles and can be evaluated together Job Family: Executives, Operations, Human Resources, etc. Management Level: Director-level, C-level, non-management, etc. Job Category: Executive/Senior Level Officials/Professionals Employee Status: Active, LOA, etc FLSA Exempt Status Salary Structure and / or Grade Time in Position / Time with Company
FAQs | What can I do if I see an employee's goals are at risk? | Notify employees of the importance of tracking progress against goals. Tracking progress maintains focus and keep the employee's energies targeted. By indicating the current status of any goal, the employee can flag those that may be at risk. This will allow you to intervene, remove obstacles and provide the training or support necessary to still achieve the goal. It is good practice to periodically check the progress of your employee's goals throughout the goal cycle. If you do see that an employee's goal or goals may be at risk: Discuss the issue with the employee as soon as possible. Determine what the obstacles are and offer to assist. Be sure to reiterate your commitment to the employee's success. Offer to supply any additional training or resources necessary to accomplish the goal. Don't place blame, but take a positive approach; remember goals are meant to motivate. Be supportive. Rather than saying, "how did this happen?" say "how can I help?"
FAQs | What can I do if an employee refuses to sign-off on the evaluation? | If the employee refuses to sign-off, simply clarify that the process of signing off or "acknowledging" does not imply that they agree with the evaluation results. It simply indicates acknowledgment that you have had the face-to-face meeting and that the performance review process is complete. Also, let the employee know that any comments regarding disagreement can be added to the Final Comments section. Remember, evaluation results should never be a surprise to an employee. Discuss problem behavior each time it happens rather than saving up a batch of criticisms for an annual performance review. Unloading once a year will seem punitive, not developmental, because employees will feel they were not given a chance to improve.
FAQs | What can I do to prepare for my face-to-face meeting? | The purpose of the performance evaluation is to provide you an opportunity to discuss your performance over the entire review cycle with your manager. Knowing how to process your manager's feedback will makes it more likely that the feedback can have a positive impact on your performance going forward. Here are some things to keep in mind: Assume that feedback is constructive. Keep an open mind, listen carefully and act respectfully. Use and consider only those elements which are constructive, and consider them carefully. Pause and think before responding. Ask to repeat if you have not heard clearly. Ask for clarification or examples if statements are unclear or unsupported. Accept both negative and positive feedback for consideration. Ask for suggestions of ways you might modify or change your behavior. Receive feedback on your performance with grace, even if it is critical. Take the feedback and turn it into action items. You can create your own roadmap for success.
FAQs | What do I do if I get a bad performance evaluation? | Unfortunately, not all performance reviews have positive results. But, this should never be a surprise. If there are performance issues cited in your performance evaluation, you should have been made aware of the issues long before they were documented in the evaluation. If your rating results are less than satisfactory, you should be working with your manager. Ongoing feedback is a key feature of any performance management strategy. Your manager may assign specific development activities, such as additional training or mentoring, to help you overcome obstacles. Don't take it personally. Your manager wants you to succeed and is willing to work with you to get you back on track.
FAQs | What do I need to look for when reviewing an employee's goals? | When reviewing your employee's goals, remember the SMART criteria. Goals should be: Specific - state focused, concrete and well-defined goals. Measurable - assign goals that contain clear criteria for measurement. Attainable - set goals that are challenging, yet attainable. Realistic - make sure you feel that the likelihood of achieving the goal is better than 50 percent. Time bound - assign a specific time line to achieve your stated goals. Specific, measurable goals provide clear targets for achievement. Vague goals can lead to confusion and lack of focus. SMART goals also leave less room for subjectivity and enable you to clearly assess the employee's actual results. Be sure that the employee's goals are aligned to your departmental goals and the company's business objective. The employees needs to see how their daily contributions impact the bottom line.
FAQs | What happens if: | 1) The interim cycle begins, and a new goal is added? If a new goal is added after the interim cycle has begun, it will be available to the participant in the cycle that is rated next. For example, if Q1 interim evaluations are completed and a new goal is added, it will be available to the participant in Q2 (and will not be available in the Q1 form since the Q1 cycle is complete). 2) The interim cycle begins, and a goal is deleted? If a goal is deleted after it is rated on one interim evaluation, that goal and all its ratings will be deleted too. 3) A goal is modified? Goals will continue in the "Track Progress" state during the interim evaluations. So any modifications to goals can be communicated and finalized between employee and manager within that workflow state.
FAQs | What if I add a rater type to an unrelated aggregate group (e.g. Direct Report rater type to the Management aggregate group)? | What if I add a rater type to an unrelated aggregate group? Rater types and aggregate groups are convenient tools for organizing users of the multi-rater process so that the evaluation data is collected and calculated systematically. Though you will not be restricted from adding unrelated rater types to aggregate groups, it is not recommended that you do so. Aggregate group data is the result of calculations to arrive at averages, and these metrics are used for reporting and analysis. If you include rater types that do not match the aggregate group, data from different sources will be grouped together, thereby presenting a false picture. For example, the Management aggregate group is created to collect evaluation data from individuals who have supervised the employee's work (e.g. indirect managers, previous managers, etc). If you include the co-workers rater type, evaluation data collected from the employee's peers will also be included in the calculation of averages for the management aggregate group. This will cause confusion and may even present a false picture of the employee's multi-rater evaluation results.
FAQs | What if I don't agree with my manager's evaluation of me? | If you feel that you have been unfairly treated and that your evaluation is not consistent with your self evaluation, you can note that in the final comments section. The notes entered here are retained in your employee performance record. You can highlight specific areas of disagreement and document your concerns.
FAQs | What if I encounter an obstacle after I have set my goals? | If something changes, talk to your manager. Good communication is the foundation of effective performance management. Your manager wants you to succeed. You need to be able to adapt in a dynamic environment. Remember, goals are meant to motivate and keep you on track. If something impedes your success, you can change or alter your goals by notifying your manager and discussing the possibilities.
FAQs | What if I use interim cycle dates that are not the first day or last day of a month? | What if I use interim cycle dates that are not the first day or last day of a month? If you want to use interim cycle dates that do not fall on the first or last day of a month, you can do so. But you must know that when the system calculates the dates for the first time (using the Review Period Start Date and Review Period End Date of the plan), it will automatically set the Interim Review Cycle End Dates so they fall on the last day of the month. This initial calculation is only done as a way of standardizing dates and can be modified by entering a date of your choice. This means that if an interim cycle's end date default value is calculated to any day between the 1st and 10th of a month, the system will automatically shift this to the last day of the previous month. But if the end date is any date between the 11th and the end of the month, the system will automatically set the end date to the last day of that month. The system uses '10' as the number that determines whether the end dates should be set to the previous or current month-end date. This "threshold" number cannot be modified by the administrator. This example illustrates how the system calculates default interim cycle dates: Plan start date - 1/14/2010 Plan end date - 12/31/2010 With 3 interim cycles Plan duration is calculated to be 353 days. The interim cycle duration is calculated using the plan duration (353 days) divided by the number of interim cycles (3) plus one for the final period, making a total of 4, yielding an interim cycle duration of 88 days. First interim cycle: The start date of the first interim cycle defaults to the plan start date (1/14/2010). Add the interim cycle duration of 88 days to 1/14/2010 to yield the first interim end date of 4/12/2010. Using the threshold number of 10 to round the end date to the last day of the current month, the first interim end date will be 4/30/2010. Second interim cycle: The start date of the second cycle is the day after the first cycle end date, that is, 5/1/2010. Using the same method described above, the second interim cycle end date will be 7/31/2010 (5/1 + 88 days = 7/28 rolled forward to the current month-end). Third interim cycle: The start date of the third cycle is 8/1/2010 and the end date is calculated as 10/31/2010 (8/1 + 88 days = 10/28 rounded forward to the current month-end). Final review: The final review period is always considered to be the full plan duration (353 days) but for the sake of our example, the fourth interim start date would be 11/1/2010 and the fourth interim end date would be 12/31/2010 (i.e. the plan end date). To modify these system-calculated dates, you can manually type in or select another date using the calendar.
FAQs | What if I use weighted competencies? | What if I use weighted competencies? Weighted competencies are always categorized by the competency source. So if you choose to assign weights, you should assign a weight to each selected competency source. For example, if you select plan and job competencies for an evaluation process with weighted competencies, you must assign an appropriate weight to each source - plan and job. They will display on the evaluation form by source, with a weight assigned to each source.
FAQs | What if I want to add all organizations to one Organizational Goal Plan, but evaluate some employees differently? | If you want to add all organizations to one Organizational Goal Plan, begin by creating one Organizational Goal Plan, adding all your organizations to it. Then associate that one Organizational Goal Pan to multiple performance plans. This method will allow your Organizational Goal Plan to contain all your organizations, but the performance plan will determine eligibility criteria which will allow you to evaluate employees separately. For example, if your Organizational Goal Plan contains all the organizations in the Finance Division (Cost Accounting, General Accounting and Payroll) and you need to evaluate your executives and staff employees separately: Set up two separate performance plans - one for Executives and one for Staff Select plan options for both Set eligibility for each plan: the Executive plan will have only Finance executives and the Staff plan will have only Finance staff. Associate your Organizational Goal plan (containing all organizations), to the Executive and Staff plans Initiate both the plans When the performance plans are initiated, the eligibility rules will kick in. Both executive and staff employees will see the same Cost Accounting or General Accounting or Payroll goals based on the organization they work in, but will be evaluated differently based on the performance plan options they are initiated through.
FAQs | What is a stretch goal? | Stretch goals are designed to engage and motivate you to work harder to achieve greater results. They generally involve tasks that you haven't done before. Stretch goals force you to "stretch" beyond your comfort zone and known strategies. Greater creativity is required but the results can be extraordinary. Setting one stretch goal each goal setting cycle demonstrates your commitment to increasing your value to the organization. If you set a stretch target of 115% and you reach 110% then even if you don't reach the target, you still achieved 10% more than you would have, if you had set an easier goal.
FAQs | What is goal weight? | Goal weight is the relative importance of the goal with respect to your other goals. Decide which of your goals are most important and assign the weight accordingly. Consider the amount of time you will be spending to achieve a particular goal. If you have set 3 goals for a period, will each goal be taking a third of your time or do you anticipate one or two requiring more time and focus. Also, talk to your manager if you have questions about how to prioritize your goals.
FAQs | What is the purpose of the "Others" aggregate group? | What is the purpose of the "Others" aggregate group? The "Others" aggregate group allows you the flexibility to: Include additional rater types that may not fit into the other aggregate groups. (For example, if your organization includes project teams or task committees in the employee multi-rater evaluation, you may want to collect evaluation data from those raters in a separate aggregate group. The "Others" aggregate group may be used for such rater types.) Re-order rater types and move one to the "Others" group in order to collect multi-rater evaluation data from that rater type separately. (For example, you may move the Indirect Report rater type to the "Others" group to collect data from indirect reports separately.) Re-name the "Others" aggregate group to suit a business case that works for your organization. (For example, you may re-name the "Others" group to "Project Teams" or "Task Committees" to collect multi-rater evaluation data from those raters.)
FAQs | What is the purpose of the self evaluation? | Your self evaluation provides an opportunity for you to describe all of your major accomplishments for the evaluation period. You can list your key contributions and also areas where you feel you may have fallen short. Since managers can't possibly remember as well as you, everything you accomplished throughout the year, the self evaluation reminds your manager of all the valuable tasks you have achieved. Also, there may be aspects of your job that disappointed you. By doing a self assessment, you can raise these concerns to your manager before they have to mention them to you. It's always easier for you to bring up your performance challenges, than to have them brought up to you.
FAQs | When I select the Dimension, why do I see the Individual and Company selections above the dotted line and other values below it? | When I select the Dimension, why do I see the Individual and Company selections above the dotted line and other values below it? There are 3 types of dimensions - Individual, Company, and Organizational. Dimensions below the line indicate the type of organizational dimension that is being used for the goal. Individual - each participant could have different targets and actuals (currently, this type of dimension is only used in compensation plans). Company - each participant has the same targets and actuals. Organizational Country Department Division EEO Category FLSA Region - each participant within an organization has the same targets and actuals.
FAQs | When can the performance ratings be published to the employee's Talent Profile? | When can performance ratings be published to the employee's Talent Profile? The performance ratings for each employee from the selected performance plan may be published at any point during the evaluation process using the Publish Ratings button on the Workflow Process Management page. Performance rating data will be published to the Talent Profile for use by Managers and HR personnel.
FAQs | Who can see my goals? | After you have submitted, only you and your manager can view your goals and your progress against them. Your manager is there to help, so be sure to communicate any concerns you have about achieving your goals.
FAQs | Who can view my performance evaluation? | After your evaluation is complete, you, your manager and human resources will have access to it's content. All of your ratings, your manager's ratings and the overall will be saved in your performance history for future reference.
FAQs | Why calculate goal ratings? | Why calculate goal ratings? Goal ratings are instrumental in understanding employee performance and are used as the yardstick for developing training plans and managing an effective pay-for-performance culture in the organization. If goal ratings impact employee development and pay, the rating process should be accurate and standardized across the board. Calculated goal ratings help to: Categorize goals as subjective (employee-rated) or quantitative (calculated on the basis of pre-defined rules). Define parameters to quantify goal measurements and results. Create rules around measuring goals using those parameters. Evaluate employee performance and produce reliable results. Achieve consistency in the performance management process.
FAQs | Why can't I assign competency weights when using developmental competencies? | Why can't I assign competency weights when using developmental competencies? Developmental competencies may come from multiple jobs that an employee aspires to, as opposed to their single current job. Given that each career aspiration job may have its own set of competency weights, each totaling 100%, and that in an evaluation we are combining the developmental competencies from all the employee's career aspirations, and in total they must only add up to 100%, using weights for evaluating developmental competencies coming from multiple jobs with varying weights does not make sense. To illustrate this point, let's consider the following example: Joe aspires to two jobs, Director of Finance and General Manager of Accounting, and they have the following weighted competencies assigned to them:
Director of Finance |  | General Manager of Accounting
70% Competency 1 |  | 60% Competency 1
20% Competency 2 |  | 30% Competency 4
10% Competency 3 |  | 10% Competency 5
When Joe's developmental competencies are assigned for evaluation, the system is going to merge all of the competencies from his career aspirations to create a distinct list (i.e., a union of all sets with no duplicates) to evaluate:
Developmental Competencies |  | Job Competency Weights
Competency 1 |  | 60% or 70%
Competency 2 |  | 20%
Competency 3 |  | 10%
Competency 4 |  | 30%
Competency 5 |  | 10%
Total |  | 130% or 140%
In this example, if the weights were brought forward from the career aspiration jobs, they would total 140% or 130% depending on how we resolved the weight contention with Competency 1 that is assigned to both jobs (one weighted at 70% and the other at 60%). Competencies weighted for evaluation cannot exceed 100% in order for the weighted averages to be calculated accurately. As you can see, assigning weights to competencies in this context is indeterminate and does not provide any real value to the evaluators. Developmental competencies are presented in this context for ease of evaluation; specific job competency comparison tools can be used to gain insight into each aspirational job's weighted competency requirements once the ratings have been published to the Talent Profile.
FAQs | Why do I need to set goals? | Goals provide an individual roadmap for success. Setting effective goals gives you direction and motivation. Defining specific actions to achieve your goals will: Help prioritize tasks on a daily, weekly and annual basis Ensure that your daily tasks are aligned with your department and the company's business objectives Help you to achieve more and devote less time and energy to non-critical tasks Continue to motivate you as you celebrate small successes on your way to accomplishing your larger goals
FAQs | Why should we group tasks? | Why should we group tasks? The grouping of tasks is particularly useful when a user has multiple tasks to complete in a goal setting or evaluation workflow stage. For example, while reviewing employee goals or evaluating employee performance, managers often have multiple tasks to complete. When the task grouping option is enabled, multiple tasks within a workflow state will be 'bundled' together. This provides for a neater user interface, and makes it easier for the user to work through his/her tasks. How are tasks grouped? While grouping tasks, you have the flexibility of bundling tasks from a single performance plan, or even bundling tasks across plans. This is because task grouping is based on the Task Group Text that is entered for each workflow state. If you wish to: Group tasks from different workflow stages under separate task headings: Enter different Task Group Text for each workflow state. Group tasks from different workflow stages together: Enter the same Task Group Text for all workflow states. Group tasks from different performance plans together: Enter the same Task Group Text for all workflow states, across performance plans. Group only some tasks separately: Enter similar text for all workflow states that should be grouped together, and different text for all workflow states where tasks should be grouped separately. Use merge fields in the Task Group Text. Remember to check the final Task Group Text (containing the merge field information). Task grouping will be based on this text, so if you wish to group tasks separately or together, the text should be worded accordingly. Task Text or Task Group Text or both? It's recommended that you provide both Task Text (for individual tasks) and Task Group Text (for grouped tasks) for workflow states where users will have multiple tasks to complete. When a user completes all but one of his tasks, the system will automatically switch to the Task Text and vice versa as the number of tasks increase or decrease. This provides for a flexible system for managing multiple as well as individual tasks.
FAQs | Why would I enable bulk rating of employees? | Why would I enable bulk evaluation of employees? A bulk rating process is a group evaluation, where multiple employees are rated on goals, competencies and overall performance using a single form. This allows the evaluation of multiple employees at the same time. Bulk ratings act as a time saving tool, and also allow the evaluation of employees within the context of a group. The ability to calibrate against a group standard adds value to a performance evaluation because it allows the rater to evaluate the performance of each individual relative to others within a group.
Tips | % Achievement examples | If your goals are being rated on a 1-5 scale and your competencies are being rated on a 1-3 scale, how do you compare their results? The Average Goal Rating might be 2.5 (or 50% Achievement on a 5 point scale) and the Average Competency Rating might be 2.5 (or 83% Achievement on a 3 point scale). Comparing those two averages displayed in Numeric Values makes them look like they were rated equally (when they were not) and displaying them in terms of their associated Rating Scale Values would be like comparing apples to oranges (meaningless). But when you compare 50% achievement of Goals to 83% achievement of Competencies you can clearly see how they stack up against one another (thus normalizing the results). You can then go a step further and calculate an Overall Performance Rating with accuracy. For example, (50% + 83%) divided by 2 equals 66.5% Overall Performance Rating. This example assumes Goal results and Competency results are weighted equally, something that is also configurable. Another scenario that lends itself well to displaying averages in terms of % Achievement is a method of Competency assessment that uses different rating scales for each Competency. If all of the different rating scales had an equal number of scale values, then displaying the calculated average in terms of the Numeric Values (e.g., 2.5) would work fine. But if any one of the rating scales has a different number of scale values, then the only possible way to display a meaningful average is in terms of % Achievement.
Tips | Ad hoc competencies - Tips on configuring the evaluation form | Ad hoc competencies - Tips on configuring the evaluation form To allow a user to add competencies to a specific competency source/group, place the "Add Competency" button on the group header (green bar) of the Competencies section on the evaluation form. This will ensure that the "Add Competency" option is available on all sources/groups in the section. When a user clicks this button, he/she is provided a list of competencies that belong to that specific source/group. The selected competencies will be added to that source/group. To allow a user to add competencies anywhere in the section, place the "Add Ad hoc Competency" button to the section header (blue bar) of the Competencies section on the evaluation form. When clicked, this button will bring up a list of all competencies, irrespective of their group. The user can select competencies belonging to any group, and those competencies will be slotted to the source/group to which they belong. The "Remove Ad hoc Competencies" button will provide a list of all competencies added on an ad hoc basis. The user may select one or multiple competencies and remove them from the evaluation form. (Read more about adding and removing ad hoc competencies below.)
Tips | Allowing users to add or remove competencies from evaluation forms | Allowing users to add or remove competencies from evaluation forms The ability to add and remove competencies will vary on the basis of the plan option selected for competencies. When a performance plan is set to categorize competencies by: Competency Group: All competencies added using the "Add Competency" and "Add Ad hoc Competencies" buttons can be removed using the "Remove Ad hoc Competencies" button (irrespective of the group to which they belong). Competency Source: Competencies added to the Ad Hoc Competencies source may be removed from the evaluation form using the "Remove Ad hoc Competencies" button. Competencies added to any other source may be removed using a "Remove" button placed on the item header (light blue bar). Form Configuration Tips: Place the "Remove" button on the item header (light blue bar) to allow a user to remove individual competencies. Remember that only the competencies added by a user to the evaluation form may be removed using this button. If you do not want users to add competencies to the Job, Plan or Clinical competency sections, avoid adding the "Add Competency" button on the group header (green bar). Use only the "Add Ad hoc Competency" and "Remove Ad hoc Competency" buttons which are placed on the section header (blue bar). (Read more about removing ad hoc competencies from the evaluation form.)
Tips | Assigning competencies | Assigning competencies Competencies can be assigned to the participant via the plan or via the participant's job (which include clinical competencies). You may also allow the addition of competencies on an ad hoc basis, and developmental competencies. Developmental competencies are competencies assigned to an employee's career aspirations, and can be used to assess employees' readiness for future roles in the company. When deciding which competencies to use in the plan, it is best to narrow down the number of unique sets of competencies to as few as possible. For every unique set, you will need to consider adding an additional plan. If you identify multiple unique sets of competencies, it might be better to associate competencies via the job to reduce the number of performance plans required. Increasing the number of plans increases the amount of setup and administration time.
Tips | Assigning competencies based on positions and jobs | Assigning competencies based on positions and jobs Employees move from one position to another as a result of re-organizations, promotions or to meet other business needs. Consequently, the performance appraisal for those employees could span multiple positions within a single review period. To provide for such situations, you must determine the job (tied to the position) from which competencies are drawn to appraise the participant's performance. Think about this - do you want to base it only on the position that the participant held at the end of the review period? Or do you want to base it on the number of days the participant held the position? If you select "Position held on Review Period End Date", the position held by the participant on the last day of the review period is considered, irrespective of how long the participant held that position. Hence, the competencies associated with the job (tied to that position) are used for appraising the participant's performance. If you select "Number of days in position", you must select the number of days that the participant should have held a position for the associated job competencies to be used in the appraisal process. For example: The review period for the Finance Organization is January 1 - December 31st of any year. John is an Accounts Executive in the Finance Department. His review period began on January 1st of the current year. On December 1st, John is promoted to the position of Senior Accounts Manager. Now it is time for the annual appraisal. If you had selected "Position held on Review Period End Date", competencies associated to the Senior Accounts Manager job will be used to appraise John's performance, irrespective of how long he worked in that new position. But if you had selected "Number of days in position", that number is used to determine the job from which competencies should be drawn for appraisal. The default number is 45 (this means that if John held the position for a minimum of 45 days, job competencies associated with that position are considered for the appraisal). We know that John was promoted on December 1st and therefore has held the new position for 31 days before the end of the review period. He should have held this position for a minimum of 45 days (default number) for competencies of that position to be used. So now, competencies from his previous position of Accounts Executive will be used for the evaluation since he held that position for more than 45 days. Your selection should depend on the performance management methods of your company - do you want to appraise strictly on the basis of the participant's position held at the end of the review period? Or do you want to appraise on the basis of how long the participant has worked in the position? How does the system search for a position that matches the Number of Days? Remember that the system will look for a position that meets the minimum number requirement by tracing back John's position during the review period he's being initiated into (not prior to it or after). If such a position is found, competencies from that position's job will be used. If the position that meets the number is not found, competencies from his current position's job are used. During the final evaluation process, this tracing back stops at the end of previous interim cycle, which means the system searches only within the period between the last interim cycle end date and the plan end date.
Tips | Auto calculated conversion to final ratings | Auto calculated conversion to final ratings Do you want the auto-calculated rating to be converted to the final rating for employees and managers? If Yes The system will always convert the auto-calculated overall rating to the final rating for employees and managers. The administrator must manually set the employee and manager rating fields to read-only on the evaluation forms (or remove them completely). If the administrator leaves the rating fields on the forms in read/write mode (for discretionary override), the manual ratings may be overwritten by the auto-calculation logic. The auto-calculated overall rating will be converted to the managers final rating which is included in the performance rating export. If No The system will never convert the auto-calculated overall ratings to the final rating for employees and managers. Employees and managers can refer to the auto-calculated rating and set their rating to the same value, but the system will not pre-populate the values for them. The manually-entered managers final rating will be passed in the performance rating export. For the managers’ final ratings, do you want the system to use the auto-calculated calibrated overall ratings? If Yes The system will use the manager’s auto-calculated calibrated overall rating that is based on the manager’s calibrated goal and/or competency ratings to update the manager’s final rating. Employees’ goal and competency ratings cannot be calibrated, so their final ratings will always be based on the system-calculated goal and/or competency ratings when you’ve chosen to update them with the auto-calculated ratings. If No The system will use the auto-calculated overall ratings that are based on the system-calculated goal and/or competency ratings to update the final ratings for both the employees and managers.
Tips | Average Rating Display Format: Examples | Average Rating Display Format: Examples What does this option do? As performance ratings are being entered into the evaluation forms, the system is automatically calculating an Average Goal Rating and an Average Competency Rating. And if you wish, the system will calculate an Overall Performance Rating based on the Goal and / or Competency Rating Averages. When an average is calculated the result won't always be a whole number so you have five options to pick from that control how that average should be displayed. Numeric Values Shows the numeric average calculated from the rating scale numeric values. For example, if you have defined a 3-point rating scale, Does Not Meet Expectations - Meets Expectations - Exceeds Expectations, and the numeric values associated with each value are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, then averages will be displayed as numeric averages calculated from those numeric values, e.g.,2.5. % Achievement Shows the average in terms of a percentage. For example, using the 3-point rating scale above, if the calculated average equals 2.5, the system would display 83% (i.e., 2.5 divided by 3 (the highest rating scale value)). Displaying calculated averages in terms of a % Achievement gives you a way of normalizing disparate rating scales you may be using across your performance process. It gives end-users a way of comparing the results of different performance factors even though the ratings might have been done using different rating scales. See '% Achievement examples' link below. Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the chosen rating scale. Of course, to do this, the system needs to know how to round decimal values. So it uses the Threshold Values defined for each rating scale value. For example, again using the 3-point rating scale above, if the Threshold Values were set at .5, 1.5, and 2.5, respectively, the calculated average of 2.5 would be displayed as Exceeds Expectations (as would any calculated average between 2.5 and 3; averages between 1.5 and 2.4 would be displayed as Meets Expectations; and averages between 0 and 1.4 would be displayed as Does Not Meet Expectations). The Threshold Values are configurable, by the way, so you can control exactly how the rounding is done when the system convert averages to the appropriate rating scale values. Numeric Values and Rating Scale Values Shows the numeric average and the Rating Scale Value described above. For example, 2.5 Exceeds Expectations. % Achievement and Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale % Achievement and the Rating Scale Values described above. For example, 83% Exceeds Expectations.
Tips | Average Rating Display Format: Examples | What does this option do? As performance ratings are being entered into the evaluation forms, the system is automatically calculating an Average Goal Rating and an Average Competency Rating. And if you wish, the system will calculate an Overall Performance Rating based on the Goal and / or Competency Rating Averages. When an average is calculated the result won't always be a whole number so you have five options to pick from that control how that average should be displayed. Numeric Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale numeric values. For example, if you have defined a 3-point rating scale, Does Not Meet Expectations - Meets Expectations - Exceeds Expectations, and the numeric values associated with each value are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, then calculated averages will be displayed in terms of those numeric values, e.g., 2.5. % Achievement Shows the average in terms of a percentage. For example, using the 3-point rating scale above, if the calculated average equals 2.5, the system would display 83% (i.e., 2.5 divided by 3 (the highest rating scale value)). Displaying calculated averages in terms of a % Achievement gives you a way of normalizing disparate rating scales you may be using across your performance process. It gives end-users a way of comparing the results of different performance factors even though the ratings might have been done using different rating scales. See '% Achievement examples' link below. Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the chosen rating scale. Of course, to do this, the system needs to know how to round decimal values. So it uses the Threshold Values defined for each rating scale value. For example, again using the 3-point rating scale above, if the Threshold Values were set at .5, 1.5, and 2.5, respectively, the calculated average of 2.5 would be displayed as Exceeds Expectations (as would any calculated average between 2.5 and 3; averages between 1.5 and 2.4 would be displayed as Meets Expectations; and averages between 0 and 1.4 would be displayed as Does Not Meet Expectations). The Threshold Values are configurable, by the way, so you can control exactly how the rounding is done when the system convert averages to the appropriate rating scale values. Numeric Values and Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale Numeric Values and the Rating Scale Values described above. For example, 2.5 Exceeds Expectations. % Achievement and Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale % Achievement and the Rating Scale Values described above. For example, 83% Exceeds Expectations.
Tips | Average Rating Display Format: Examples | What does this option do? As performance ratings are being entered into the evaluation forms, the system is automatically calculating an Average Goal Rating and an Average Competency Rating. And if you wish, the system will calculate an Overall Performance Rating based on the Goal and / or Competency Rating Averages. When an average is calculated the result won't always be a whole number so you have five options to pick from that control how that average should be displayed. Numeric Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale numeric values. For example, if you have defined a 3-point rating scale, Does Not Meet Expectations - Meets Expectations - Exceeds Expectations, and the numeric values associated with each value are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, then calculated averages will be displayed in terms of those numeric values, e.g., 2.5. % Achievement Shows the average in terms of a percentage. For example, using the 3-point rating scale above, if the calculated average equals 2.5, the system would display 83% (i.e., 2.5 divided by 3 (the highest rating scale value)). Displaying calculated averages in terms of a % Achievement gives you a way of normalizing disparate rating scales you may be using across your performance process. It gives end-users a way of comparing the results of different performance factors even though the ratings might have been done using different rating scales. See '% Achievement examples' link below. Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the chosen rating scale. Of course, to do this, the system needs to know how to round decimal values. So it uses the Threshold Values defined for each rating scale value. For example, again using the 3-point rating scale above, if the Threshold Values were set at .5, 1.5, and 2.5, respectively, the calculated average of 2.5 would be displayed as Exceeds Expectations (as would any calculated average between 2.5 and 3; averages between 1.5 and 2.4 would be displayed as Meets Expectations; and averages between 0 and 1.4 would be displayed as Does Not Meet Expectations). The Threshold Values are configurable, by the way, so you can control exactly how the rounding is done when the system convert averages to the appropriate rating scale values. Numeric Values and Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale Numeric Values and the Rating Scale Values described above. For example, 2.5 Exceeds Expectations. % Achievement and Rating Scale Values Shows the average in terms of the rating scale % Achievement and the Rating Scale Values described above. For example, 83% Exceeds Expectations.
Tips | Calibration Display Options | Highlight up to three (3) employee characteristics on the calibration matrix by selecting from those provided on the Display Options panel. Selecting a category places an icon next to each employee's name, color-coded to match the value indicted in his/her profile. You can display the icon for all values within a selected category or only those you're interested in. Collapse the Options panel to return to the full matrix view.
Tips | Calibration Filter Options | Filter the population by selecting one or more criteria and clicking the Apply Filter button at the bottom of the Filter panel. When searching for employees, you can use wildcards. The underscore character ( _ ) replaces any single character, while the percent sign ( % ) replaces any number of characters. For example, searching for ma%y will find the names Mary and Marcy, while searching for ma_y will only find Mary. A filter icon will appear at the top of the calibration matrix and within each box when a filter is applied—use the filter icon within any box to toggle between a filtered and unfiltered view. Click the Clear Filter button at the bottom of the Filter panel to return to the full population view. Collapse the Options panel to return to the full matrix view.
Tips | Changing plan option to ensure that goal weights add up to 100% | If you unlock a performance plan and modify plan options to ensure that goal weights will add up to 100%, the change will affect only those active participants who move from one state to another. If participants do not move from one state to another, the change will not take effect. This is because the validations of plan options occur only when participants move from one state to the next.
Tips | Checklist - Setting up multi-rater evaluations | Checklist - Setting up multi-rater evaluations Follow these steps to set up a multi-rater evaluation: Set up rater types and aggregate groups that suit your requirements on the Multi-Rater Aggregation Setup page. Be sure to review the auto-population and default minimum settings. On the performance plan Basics tab, answer the Multi-Rater Evaluation question as Yes to enable the multi-rater process for the plan. Set up plan-specific rater types and aggregate groups using the Multi-Rater Options tab. If you don't make any plan-specific changes, the default settings on the Multi-Rater Aggregation Setup page will be applied to the plan. If you adjust the settings on the Multi-Rater Aggregation Setup page, remember to click the "Sync Rater Types" button on this tab to sync the latest changes and apply them to the plan. Select a workflow for the multi-rater evaluation process using the Multi-Rater Evaluation Process tab. This will define the workflow for the process each rater will go through. You must also set up a final evaluation workflow (and optionally an interim evaluation workflow). The multi-rater workflow functions within the context of an evaluation workflow (final or interim, as applicable) and not on its own. Once the evaluation workflow (final or interim as applicable) is initiated, the multi-rater workflow will be also triggered at the appropriate time, based on the rater nomination approval process selected.
Tips | Completing your self evaluation | ### Overview The self evaluation is your opportunity to look back over the review period and describe your major contributions and how your performance met or exceeded expectations. The goals set at the beginning of the review period should act as a guide to your self-evaluation. ### Completing the self evaluation Here are a few things to keep in mind while completing your self evaluation: Be clear and concise; highlight specific achievements and also places where you may have fallen short. Make sure you identify all major events during the review period; smaller details may be set aside for discussion during the performance review meeting. While highlighting your accomplishments, be sure to mention all factors that contributed to your success. Clearly demonstrate how your achievements were tied to team or departmental successes. Note the challenges you faced and how you handled them. Highlight the actions you took that helped achieve a milestone or complete a major task.
Tips | Conducting an effective performance evaluation | Here are a few things to keep in mind while conducting performance evaluations for your employees: ### Purpose Performance evaluations provide a substantive, overall assessment of an employee's performance. Effective evaluations: ensure that employees and managers are on the same page. facilitate a two-way conversation regarding performance to keep employees engaged and motivated. help provide suggestions for improvement and career development. help identify training needs so average performers become great performers and great performers can excel. provide an opportunity to streamline an employee's activities and delegate more efficiently. ### Completing a review Be sure to write your comments before assigning a rating. Avoid delaying a review; this is an important meeting for the employee; they need to feel that is it important to you. Make your comments meaningful and thoughtful. Be honest and direct about issues; it is more important to be clear than nice. Be sure to collect feedback from previous managers or project managers is applicable. ### Meeting the employee Be prepared and set aside enough time so that you and the employee do not feel rushed. Use examples to illustrate a point. Be generous while praising and direct without being harsh while pointing out flaws. Keep the feedback focused on behavior not personality; all feedback should be job related. Listen to the employee's point of view. If there is a conflict, attempt to solve it by providing an explanation or making appropriate changes. Always maintain focus on the bigger picture, and avoid getting caught up in small details.
Tips | Creating SMART Goals | Creating SMART goals enables you to identify the tasks and actions you need to accomplish the goal. Having a specific plan to achieve your goals keeps you on track and also helps you to measure your success during the goal evaluation period. The simplest formula is to think about what you want to achieve by when and list all the individual tasks that you will need to complete to get you there. Example: Ineffective goal - Decrease department budget. Effective goal - Decrease department budget by 17% by implementing corporate cost containment strategies by June 30th 2008.
Tips | Days in Position: Examples | If Days in Position is set to the default (45 days), the system assigns competencies from the job associated with the position held on the review period end date, if the employee was in the position for at least 45 days during the review period. If the employee was not in that position for at least 45 days during the review period, the system assigns competencies from the job associated with the previously held position meeting that criteria. If no position meets the criteria, the system assigns competencies from the job associated with the position held on the review period end date. For these examples, assume the plan period is set to 1/1/08 through 12/31/08 Jan Brown has been in the "Senior Accountant" job all year (1/1/08 through 12/31/08). We will use the competencies associated with that job. Jim Green was a "Senior Accountant" until 7/31/08 (duration 7 months) at which time he was promoted to "Accounting Manager" (duration 5 months). Since "Days in Job" option is set to 90 (3 months) and Jim has been in the "Accounting Manager" job for 5 months, we use the competencies associated with the "Accounting Manager" job. Jill White was a "Senior Accountant" until 10/31/08 (duration 10 months) at which time he was promoted to "Accounting Manager" (duration 2 months). Since "Days in Job" option is set to 90 (3 months) and Jill has only been in the "Accounting Manager" job for 2 months, we use the competencies associated with the "Senior Accountant" job (because she it was the last job she was in for more than 3 months). Jamie Blue was a "Junior Accountant" until 2/28/08 (duration 2 months) at which point he was promoted to "Senior Accountant" which he was in until 4/30/08 (duration 2 months). On 6/30/08 he was promoted to "Accounting Manager" job which he was in until 8/31/08 (duration 2 months) at which time he was promoted to "Director of Accounting" (duration 2 months). On 10/31/08 he was promoted to "VP of Finance" job which he was in until 12/31/08 (2 months). Since he was not in any job for more than 3 months, we use the job competencies of his latest job "VP of Finance".
Tips | Decreasing administrative overhead | To allow ease of administration, it is recommended that you try to limit the number of evaluations required to meet your business objectives. Assess the employee population to be evaluated and find common factors to group employees into a manageable number of performance management plans. Taking this approach will also help to standardize your performance management business processes.
Tips | Defining what you should achieve | A well written goal clearly defines the results necessary for the successful completion of the goal. It is important that you define the expected results early on so you can measure your goal against them at the end of the cycle. For example: If the goal is to increase the output of your team in 3 months, the expected result is to have a 1.5% increase in productivity. In this case, at the end of 3 months, you can check if the expected result has been achieved.
Tips | Disabling goal and evaluation process after initiating | The plan lock/unlock feature allows you to enable or disable goal and evaluation processes after a performance plan is initiated. While this allows greater flexibility, you must use this option with care. If you need to modify a goal setting or evaluation workflow (to enable or disable it altogether) after initiating the plan, remember the following: Enabling/Disabling a goal setting process: To enable or disable a goal workflow process after initiating a plan, it is recommended that you: un-initiate all participants on the goal workflow. make the modification to the goal setting option. then re-initiate the participants back into the workflow. For example: You initiate performance plan A for 50 participants who will align individual goals to organizational goals. After initiating it, you need to stop the workflow because the organizational goals are being revised and participants should not be aligning to them. So you must now un-initiate all your participants from the workflow, and the performance plan will automatically unlock. Change your option for organizational goal alignment from Yes to No. Then re-initiate all 50 participants. Enabling/Disabling an evaluation process: To enable or disable an evaluation workflow, it is recommended that you: un-initiate all participants on the evaluation workflow. make the modification to the evaluation option. then re-initiate the participants back into the workflow. For example: You initiate performance plan B for 60 participants with an Interim Evaluation workflow. After initiating it, you decide that only 50 of the participants should be on an interim evaluation plan. So you must un-initiate all your participants from the workflow, and the performance plan will automatically unlock. Then change your option for interim evaluation from Yes to No. Then re-initiate 50 of your participants who must be on the interim evaluation. The other 10 participants can be on a separate performance plan. The same method should be used for any evaluation workflow. Modifying options by unlocking a plan - exceptions: The following options cannot be modified by unlocking a performance plan: Total Goal Weighted Averages (Goal Options) Mandated Goal Setting (Goal Options) Goal Setting Process Configuration Set Mandated Goals forms
Tips | Goal Alignment Options | 1. Allow individuals to align only to lowest organization's goals Selecting this option enables employees to align their goals to: the goals of the organization they belong to or if their assigned organization does not have any goals available in the system, the next closest organization above them that has goals available in the system. For example, the Payroll Department is under the Finance Division of the Company. Each of these three organizations (Company, Division, and Department) could set organizational goals. For a participant in Payroll, the first level of organizational goals available to align to, is at the Payroll department-level. If there are no department-level goals available in the system, then the employee can align with the division-level goals. If there are no division-level goals available in the system, then the employee can align with the company-level goals. In other words, an employee will be able to align only to the goals of one organization when this option is selected. 2. Allow individuals to align to any organization above them in the hierarchy Selecting this option enables participants to align with goals of any organization within their hierarchy. For example, if the Payroll Department is under the Finance Division of the Company and all three have set organization goals, a participant in the Payroll Department can align with any goal at the department, division or company-level, since all three are part of the same organizational hierarchy. This option differs from the first one since it allows aligning with goals of any organization within the hierarchy, and not just aligning with their assigned organization or the next closest organization with goals available in the system. 3. Allow individuals to align to any goals anywhere Selecting this option enables participants to align their goals with goals of any organization in the company. There are no hierarchy or organization-based restrictions. This choice enables cross-functional goal alignment. For example, a participant in the Products group could align their goals to a Sales organization goal of increasing product sales by 10%.
Tips | Important factors to consider while setting up performance plans | Here are some points to consider while setting up your performance plans: Who will be participating in this process? Will all individuals follow the same steps? What are the rating scales and methods to be used? Will they differ between participants? Is goal setting part of the process? If so, should goals be categorized on any specific basis? Will competencies be evaluated? If so, how will they be associated to the participants (for instance, associated through their job or through the plan)? Will the performance ratings be used in other activities (for instance, salary, succession or incentive planning)? ## Setting up Interim Evaluations Interim Evaluations provide a convenient method for collecting employee performance data at set intervals prior to the final evaluation. Interim evaluation cycles can be set up as part of your performance plans. You can set your plan options once and conduct multiple evaluations over set periods of time. To set up interim evaluations: Select the components that will be evaluated during the interim period (Goals/Competencies/Overall). You may select a different combination of components for interim versus final evaluations. For example, you may want to evaluate Goals only for interim evaluations, but Goals, Competencies and Overall for final evaluations. If you set up multiple interim evaluations in one plan, the plan option selections must be consistent for all interims. Select your plan options. If you select components for both interim and final evaluations, the options you select cannot be changed once the interim evaluation has been initiated. For example, if you select the 1 - 5 Goal Rating Scale and you have selected Goals for both interim and final evaluations, the rating option selected cannot be changed once the interim evaluation process has been initiated. On the Interim Evaluation Options page, select the number of interim evaluations for your plan. Do not include the final evaluation in this count. While setting the dates, it is recommended that you select dates that do not overlap. Though the dates do not control plan initiation, they are displayed on the end-user form. On the Interim Evaluation Configuration page, select your Interim evaluation workflow and configure the notifications, tasks, due dates, etc. Although all interim evaluations cycles will use the same workflow, the workflow you select can be configured differently for different interim cycles. You can configure the workflow for the first interim cycle, then select the second interim cycle from the drop-down and configure the same workflow with any required modifications to notifications, tasks, etc. Configure the interim evaluation forms using the same method you use for final evaluations. Be sure to check the permission for all fields. Initiate the Interim workflow(s) as needed.
Tips | Locking and unlocking performance plans | The plan lock and unlock feature is designed to help you make modifications to plan options after a performance plan is initiated. This feature will unlock options that are typically locked down when the first workflow of a plan is initiated. When a performance plan is initiated for the first time, it is automatically locked (look for the lock icon next to the plan name and the Unlock button at the bottom of the page). You can click this icon to unlock the plan and modify plan options. While modifying plan options, the plan is in the unlocked state, so you must lock it again (by clicking the Lock Plan button). While it increases flexibility in the plan management process, you should use this feature cautiously.
Tips | Lookup Table Examples | Lookup Table Examples Lookup table using only vertical axis: Lookup table using vertical and horizontal axes and list data:
Tips | Making modifications to a performance plan after an interim evaluation is initiated | Changes you can make after initiation: The workflow configuration can be changed for an interim cycle, even after the first cycle has begun. For example, once the interim evaluation for Q1 begins, the workflow can be modified for Q2. Interim evaluation forms can be modified throughout all interim cycles. However, since interim evaluation forms are shared between all interim cycles, it is best to avoid making changes to forms. Changes to field labels, field permissions and form instructions after an interim cycle has been initiated can create confusion for the end user. Changes you cannot make after initiation: Competency options cannot be changed between interim evaluation cycles. Goal and overall rating options, if used on both the interim and final evaluations, cannot be changed. The workflow process for interim evaluations cannot be modified. For example, you cannot add or remove states after the process has been initiated.
Tips | Manage Calibration Facilitator Instructions | How can I grant someone the authority to be assigned as a calibration facilitator? You can add the authority, “Can Be Calibration Facilitator”, to any role in the system. Employees who have been assigned a role with that authority can then be selected as facilitators on calibration templates and sessions. What can facilitators do within calibration sessions? Facilitators can see and report on sessions they’ve been assigned to, modify session details, and complete the following actions for individual employees and the session as a whole: Move employees in the calibration matrix (if interactivity has been enabled in the template) View employees’ key attributes View employees’ mini-profiles Add development activities Mark / unmark for performance improvement Add employee comments and session notes Modify session details Clone calibration sessions Print calibration sessions Publish session results Facilitators cannot complete the following actions for employees or the session as a whole: Access links in employees’ mini-profiles that they don’t already have access to outside of calibration Add employees to succession slates or pools they don’t already have access to Add or edit facilitators assigned to the session Facilitators can only add people to calibration sessions in their own hierarchy or assigned areas of responsibility (not the session owner’s hierarchy or assigned areas of responsibility). Facilitators can only import other calibration sessions published by people in their own hierarchy, assigned areas of responsibility, or sessions they’ve been made a facilitator for. Facilitators can only access sessions between the start and end dates specified. Can facilitators be given access to sessions any time after a certain date, any time before a certain date, or access regardless of date? Yes, you can specify a start date only and assigned facilitators will have access from that date forward. Or you can specify an end date only and assigned facilitators will have access until that date. Or you can leave both the start and end dates blank to grant facilitators access to sessions at any time.
Tips | Manage Calibration Session Facilitator Instructions | How can someone be granted the proper authority to be assigned as a calibration facilitator? Your administrator can grant the proper authority to any role in the system. Employees who have been assigned a role with that authority can then be selected as facilitators on calibration templates and sessions. What can facilitators do within calibration sessions? Facilitators can see and report on sessions they’ve been assigned to, modify session details, and complete the following actions for individual employees and the session as a whole: Move employees around in the calibration matrix (if interactivity has been enabled in the template) View employees’ key attributes View employees’ mini-profiles Add development activities Mark / unmark for performance improvement Add employee comments and session notes Modify session details Clone calibration sessions Print calibration sessions Publish session results Facilitators cannot complete the following actions for employees or the session as a whole: Access links in employees’ mini-profiles that they don’t already have access to outside of calibration Add employees to succession slates or pools they don’t already have access to Add or edit facilitators assigned to the session Facilitators can only add people to calibration sessions in their own hierarchy or assigned areas of responsibility (not the session owner’s hierarchy or assigned areas of responsibility). Facilitators can only import other calibration sessions published by people in their own hierarchy, assigned areas of responsibility, or sessions they’ve been made a facilitator for. Facilitators can only access sessions between the start and end dates specified. Can facilitators be given access to sessions any time after a certain date, any time before a certain date, or access regardless of date? Yes, you can specify a start date only and assigned facilitators will have access from that date forward. Or you can specify an end date only and assigned facilitators will have access until that date. Or you can leave both the start and end dates blank to grant facilitators access to sessions at any time.
Tips | Minimum Days to Complete Task Overview | Understanding Minimum Days to Complete Task When is this option useful? Some employees enter a workflow process later than others, or their workflow is reopened to them from a subsequent state. In either case, the original due date for the task may no longer be relevant and extended time is warranted. Minimum Days to Complete Task provide employees with a reasonable amount of time to complete their tasks and prevent automatic reminders, if enabled, from being sent prematurely. How does the system know when to assign extended due dates? With this option enabled, the system will subtract the date the employee moves into this state from the task Due Date and if the result is less than the Minimum Days to Complete Task, it will assign an extended due date to that employee. For example, let's say the original task Due Date for the Employee Sets Goals state was January 31st and an employee was initiated into that state on June 1st, the system compares January 31st to June 1st and calculates the difference to be -122 days. Then it would compare that to the Minimum Days to Complete Task that we'll say is set to 5. Since -122 is less than 5, it knows it needs to calculate a personal due date for this employee. How is an extended due date calculated? An extended due date is calculated by taking the date the employee moved into the workflow state plus the Minimum Days to Complete the Task. So if an employee was initiated into the Employee Sets Goals state on June 1st and the Minimum Days to Complete Task was set to 5, the system would calculate a personal due date of June 6th for that employee. Will the system ever assign a due date that's earlier than the task Due Date? No, this option only extends employees' due dates beyond the task Due Date when necessary, it never sets them back. For example, let's say the task Due Date is set to January 31st and the Minimum Days to Complete Task is set to 5. If an employee moves into that state on January 1st, the system is not going to add 5 days to that date and set the employee's due date to January 6th. That's because he / she has plenty of time to complete the task before the task Due Date. It's only when an employee enters the state with less than the Minimum Days to Complete Task that the extended due date logic applies (in this example that would be on or after January 27th).
Tips | More on the Additional Feedback option | You can add the Additional Feedback option to any performance plan. The option allows managers, during the evaluation process, to collect performance feedback from previous managers or other employees who have worked with the participant. Although the Additional Feedback process runs concurrently, the evaluation process is not dependent on its completion.
Tips | Multi-Rater evaluations - Overview | Multi-Rater evaluations - Overview A multi-rater evaluation is a performance evaluation and development process which goes beyond the traditional employee - manager equation, by involving multiple individuals in the employee's work environment. By collecting evaluation data from several individuals who work with the employee, the multi-rater evaluation process provides the opportunity to evaluate employee performance from multiple perspectives. It is common to have 7 to 10 raters provide anonymous feedback about the employee as part of a multi-rater evaluation. This number can vary based on the size of your organization and the amount of data you wish to collect. You may include peers, managers and subordinates in order to collect data from the different individuals with whom the employee interacts. A self and manager evaluation may also be conducted alongside. When conducted effectively, multi-rater evaluations act as an effective tool for performance measurement and development. It is important to develop and maintain a culture of trust and confidentiality so that evaluation data is handled and communicated properly.
Tips | Publication Triggers | What’s a Publication Trigger? Publication Triggers allow admins to configure an automatic publication of evaluation data to the Talent Profile from any action in any workflow state. Data published to the Talent Profile is visible to employees, managers, and other stakeholders to the extent allowed and can be used for calibration, reporting, and other downstream consumption, e.g., as eligibility criteria for subsequent workflow processes. What data is published? All evaluation data that the administrator has configured for publication in the plan will be published for each employee whose workflow is being acted upon (i.e., a single employee who is being moved through a workflow process or a group of employees being moved through the workflow process in bulk). See Publish…Ratings for more details about the plan publication options. Can I undo the publication process? No, the publication of evaluation data cannot be undone, so please use extreme caution when configuring this option for automatic publication. That said, Publication Triggers can be enabled / disabled at any time.
Tips | Publish Results to Evaluation | Can this option be given to only certain roles? Yes, if you would like only users with selected roles to be able to publish calibrated ratings to evaluations, first enable the option in the template, then after publishing the template, enable Design Mode and use the Edit-in-Place tools to adjust the visibility of the evaluation publication and view log buttons, as needed. How will the system know which evaluation process to publish the calibrated results to? When ratings are published from performance evaluations, the system records what process those ratings were assessed in. If those ratings are then calibrated and the user chooses to publish the results to the evaluation, the system will write the calibrated ratings back to the process they came from. What if the talent assessment ratings are being collected using a Talent Profile workflow state that provides access to the Talent Assessment form within a workflow process? When talent assessment ratings are assessed on the Talent Profile > Talent Assessment form configured within a performance evaluation process, the system records what process those ratings were assessed in. If those ratings are then calibrated and the user chooses to publish the results to the evaluation, the system will write the calibrated ratings back to the process they came from. What if the calibrated ratings did not originate from an evaluation, can users still publish the results to an evaluation? Yes, calibrated ratings can be published to an evaluation even when they did not originate from one. In this case, the user will be prompted for the evaluation process or processes they want the calibrated ratings written back to. What if there are employees in the calibration session who were not included in the evaluation? The system will look for matches in each selected evaluation and when an employee in the calibration session is found in the evaluation, his/her ratings will be updated. If a match is not found, a warning is written to the log. Employees in the calibration session who are not participating in any of the selected evaluations will not be automatically initiated into the process. What if there are employees in the calibration session who are participating in more than one of the selected evaluations? The answer depends on the source of each employee’s pre-calibrated ratings. For simplicity sake, let’s assume there is only one employee in the calibration session (the system will be evaluating each person in the session in the same way, so describing the behavior of the publication process for all session employees who may have differing conditions would be troublesome). If the user is prompted for the evaluations they want to publish the calibrated ratings to, that means the system does not have a record of where that employee’s ratings originated from. If the user selects two evaluations and the employee is participating in both, the system will update both of the evaluations. If the user is not prompted for the evaluations they want to publish the calibrated ratings to, that means the system already knows where that employee’s ratings came from and will therefore update only that one evaluation, not both. To better illustrate this, let’s say the mid-year performance ratings were published to the Talent Profile in June and the year-end ratings were published to the Talent Profile in December. The system records the source of the publication each time overwriting the previous value (the audit log keeps track of every rating and its associated source but only one set of current rating and source values are displayed in the Talent Profile and available for calibration). So in our example the source of the last published evaluation was the year-end process in December. If a calibration session was launched in January and the user opts to publish the calibrated ratings to both the mid-year and year-end evaluations, only the year-end evaluation would be updated since that was the source of the last published evaluation. What if the x- and y-axis ratings originated from different assessments, will publishing the calibrated ratings update both processes? Yes. As described above, the system records the source of each rating each time it is published from an evaluation process. If the x-axis rating came from one process (e.g., the Potential rating came from a Talent Review process) and the y-axis rating came from another process (e.g., the Overall Performance rating came from a year-end evaluation process) when each of those ratings were published from their respective processes, the system records their origin. When they are brought in for calibration and then published to the evaluations, the system will update the process they were originally assessed in. Will the calibrated ratings overwrite the original ratings in the evaluation when they are published? No, calibrated ratings are always stored separately from the original ratings collected in the process. This allows the pre- and post-calibration ratings to be compared, as needed. What happens when the same employee’s calibrated ratings are published to an evaluation more than once? The system will overwrite any previously published calibrated ratings in the evaluation so at any point in time, there will only be one calibrated rating for each type of rating assessed (e.g., overall performance, summary goal, summary competency, potential, promotability ratings, etc.). However, the performance evaluation audit logs will store any changes to calibrated ratings published to the evaluations no matter how many times the publication process is run. Are there any conditions that would cause the calibrated ratings to not be published to the selected evaluations? Yes, if the selected evaluations have not been configured to include the type of rating being calibrated, the process will not complete successfully. The user would be informed of such a condition in the evaluation publication log. For example, if the calibration session included talent assessment ratings and the evaluation the calibrated ratings were being published to did not have the Talent Assessment plan component enabled in the Basics > Evaluation Options section, the process would not complete successfully. This situation could arise if the plan had been configured with a Talent Profile workflow state that uses the Talent Assessment page in the Talent Profile to collect the talent assessment ratings instead of the evaluation forms. In this case, the administrator should enable the Talent Assessment plan component and turn off that section of the evaluation forms if they don’t wish to collect the ratings there but still allow the calibrated ratings to be written back to the plan for historical purposes or post-calibration reference. Does the publication process run asynchronously, allowing the user to continue to work on other tasks while the process is running, or will the user’s session be locked until the process completes? The user's session will NOT be locked when the publication process is running, however, he/she cannot run the publication process again until the previous process is completed (a warning message will be displayed alerting him/her if this is the case). Can calibrated ratings be published to evaluations even after the session has been locked due to a previous publication to the Talent Profile? Yes, calibrated ratings can be published to evaluations even after the session has been published to the Talent Profile.
Tips | Publish Results to Evaluation | Can this option be given to only certain roles? Yes, if you would like only users with selected roles to be able to publish calibrated ratings to evaluations, first enable the option in the template, then after publishing the template, enable Design Mode and use the Edit-in-Place tools to adjust the visibility of the evaluation publication and view log buttons, as needed. How will the system know which evaluation process to publish the calibrated results to? When ratings are published from performance evaluations, the system records what process those ratings were assessed in. If those ratings are then calibrated and the user chooses to publish the results to the evaluation, the system will write the calibrated ratings back to the process they came from. What if the talent assessment ratings are being collected using a Talent Profile workflow state that provides access to the Talent Assessment form within a workflow process? When talent assessment ratings are assessed on the Talent Profile > Talent Assessment form configured within a performance evaluation process, the system records what process those ratings were assessed in. If those ratings are then calibrated and the user chooses to publish the results to the evaluation, the system will write the calibrated ratings back to the process they came from. What if the calibrated ratings did not originate from an evaluation, can users still publish the results to an evaluation? Yes, calibrated ratings can be published to an evaluation even when they did not originate from one. In this case, the user will be prompted for the evaluation process or processes they want the calibrated ratings written back to. What if there are employees in the calibration session who were not included in the evaluation? The system will look for matches in each selected evaluation and when an employee in the calibration session is found in the evaluation, his/her ratings will be updated. If a match is not found, a warning is written to the log. Employees in the calibration session who are not participating in any of the selected evaluations will not be automatically initiated into the process. What if there are employees in the calibration session who are participating in more than one of the selected evaluations? The answer depends on the source of each employee’s pre-calibrated ratings. For simplicity sake, let’s assume there is only one employee in the calibration session (the system will be evaluating each person in the session in the same way, so describing the behavior of the publication process for all session employees who may have differing conditions would be troublesome). If the user is prompted for the evaluations they want to publish the calibrated ratings to, that means the system does not have a record of where that employee’s ratings originated from. If the user selects two evaluations and the employee is participating in both, the system will update both of the evaluations. If the user is not prompted for the evaluations they want to publish the calibrated ratings to, that means the system already knows where that employee’s ratings came from and will therefore update only that one evaluation, not both. To better illustrate this, let’s say the mid-year performance ratings were published to the Talent Profile in June and the year-end ratings were published to the Talent Profile in December. The system records the source of the publication each time overwriting the previous value (the audit log keeps track of every rating and its associated source but only one set of current rating and source values are displayed in the Talent Profile and available for calibration). So in our example the source of the last published evaluation was the year-end process in December. If a calibration session was launched in January and the user opts to publish the calibrated ratings to both the mid-year and year-end evaluations, only the year-end evaluation would be updated since that was the source of the last published evaluation. What if the x- and y-axis ratings originated from different assessments, will publishing the calibrated ratings update both processes? Yes. As described above, the system records the source of each rating each time it is published from an evaluation process. If the x-axis rating came from one process (e.g., the Potential rating came from a Talent Review process) and the y-axis rating came from another process (e.g., the Overall Performance rating came from a year-end evaluation process) when each of those ratings were published from their respective processes, the system records their origin. When they are brought in for calibration and then published to the evaluations, the system will update the process they were originally assessed in. Will the calibrated ratings overwrite the original ratings in the evaluation when they are published? No, calibrated ratings are always stored separately from the original ratings collected in the process. This allows the pre- and post-calibration ratings to be compared, as needed. What happens when the same employee’s calibrated ratings are published to an evaluation more than once? The system will overwrite any previously published calibrated ratings in the evaluation so at any point in time, there will only be one calibrated rating for each type of rating assessed (e.g., overall performance, summary goal, summary competency, potential, promotability ratings, etc.). However, the performance evaluation audit logs will store any changes to calibrated ratings published to the evaluations no matter how many times the publication process is run. Are there any conditions that would cause the calibrated ratings to not be published to the selected evaluations? Yes, if the selected evaluations have not been configured to include the type of rating being calibrated, the process will not complete successfully. The user would be informed of such a condition in the evaluation publication log. For example, if the calibration session included talent assessment ratings and the evaluation the calibrated ratings were being published to did not have the Talent Assessment plan component enabled in the Basics > Evaluation Options section, the process would not complete successfully. This situation could arise if the plan had been configured with a Talent Profile workflow state that uses the Talent Assessment page in the Talent Profile to collect the talent assessment ratings instead of the evaluation forms. In this case, the administrator should enable the Talent Assessment plan component and turn off that section of the evaluation forms if they don’t wish to collect the ratings there but still allow the calibrated ratings to be written back to the plan for historical purposes or post-calibration reference. Does the publication process run asynchronously, allowing the user to continue to work on other tasks while the process is running, or will the user’s session be locked until the process completes? The user's session will NOT be locked when the publication process is running, however, he/she cannot run the publication process again until the previous process is completed (a warning message will be displayed alerting him/her if this is the case). Can calibrated ratings be published to evaluations even after the session has been locked due to a previous publication to the Talent Profile? Yes, calibrated ratings can be published to evaluations even after the session has been published to the Talent Profile.
Tips | Publishing employee performance ratings to the Talent Profile | Publishing employee performance ratings to the Talent Profile You may publish performance ratings to the employee's Talent Profile in order to allow easy reference, analysis and reporting. Although all employee performance data is stored in the system and available on the Talent Profile, this option allows the convenience of selecting any single performance plan and publishing the ratings from that performance plan to the Talent Profile for each employee, thus allowing for quick reference. For example, if you would like to make the ratings from a performance plan available on the employee's Talent Profile, you may set this option to 'Yes' for the most current performance plan. Click the "Publish Ratings" button on the Workflow Process Management page. This will ensure that managers and HR personnel viewing the employee's Talent Profile information will have access to the latest performance ratings for each employee on that plan.
Tips | Quick Tips: Using the auto-populate option | Quick Tips: Using the auto-populate option It is recommended that you include a Manager or HR review of nominations while using any of the auto-populate options. If the workflow does not include a review step, the auto-populated nominations will not undergo a formal review process, and the nominees will be notified to begin the process. Typically, a review of nominations is used to verify the system-generated nominees and make manual adjustments, as necessary. The Recent Previous Managers option will populate all managers that the employee reported to during the entire plan period (i.e. between the plan review period start and end dates). This applies for both the final and interim evaluations.
Tips | Rating Scale Display Style: Examples | Rating Scale Display Style: Examples What is a display style? When employees and/or managers enter performance ratings you can choose whether they'll do that in a graphical way (using Stars) or a textual way (using Values). For example, if you have a 3-point rating scale and you choose a display style of Stars, your end-users will see three stars next to the item being rated (each representing one scale value) and be able to click the one that best describes the employee's performance (i.e., 1 star, 2 stars, or 3 stars). If you choose a display style of Values, your end-users will see a drop-down list with three values next to the item being rated and be able to choose the appropriate one (e.g., Does Not Meet Expectations, Meets Expectations, Exceeds Expectations). In either case, a short narrative description for each scale value pops up when you hover over the Stars or Values to clarify the selection. Before you select a display style, be sure to check the scale values of the rating scale. Are they whole numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...) or decimals (0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5...)? It is recommended that you select the Stars display style only if your rating scale uses whole numbers. Using this style for decimals may cause confusion to the user. You may use the Values display style for whole numbers or decimals.
Tips | Removing and initiating participants | When a performance plan is in the locked state, if you unlock the plan and remove all the participants, the plan will continue to stay unlocked. If you re-initiate the participants, you must manually lock the plan again. However, if you remove all the participants from a plan without unlocking it, and re-initiate them again, the plan will automatically enter the locked state. For example: You create performance Plan A and you initiate it (thereby locking the plan). To make additional changes, you have to unlock the plan. While working on the plan, you inadvertently remove all the participants from the plan. The plan will stay in the unlocked state and you cannot lock it again since there are no active participants. So you must initiate the participants into the workflow again and manually lock it. However, if you did not unlock Plan A before removing its participants, you can re-initiate them. This time, you do not have to lock the plan again because you did not unlock it in the beginning.
Tips | Selecting rating scales | Rating scales are defined on the main Rating Scales page. Changes made here will be reflected anywhere the rating scale is used. You can add or modify rating scales. Just be sure that changes made will work in all instances. You can use different rating scales for evaluating goals, competencies and overall ratings. However, it is recommended that you select a rating scale that commonly applies to all participants and evaluation components. This will create a common platform from which all participants and components are evaluated. Note: If you select the 'Values' for the rating scale display style, remember to adjust the field level help text for the 'Rating' field.
Tips | Selecting workflows | While selecting and configuring workflows, complete these steps: decide if there will be a goal setting workflow, evaluation workflow or both determine if all participants can be initiated into the same workflows (it is best to keep the number of workflows to a minimum to avoid additional administrative overheads). identify the stages of goal setting and evaluation processes that suit your business identify a workflow that matches your needs (you may modify existing workflows)
Tips | Setting achievable goals | Effective goal setting is not about setting many goals, but about setting well-defined goals. The ideal number is 3-5 goals, though you can set a smaller number. Write down what you wish to achieve and break them down into tasks.
Tips | Setting dates for interim review cycles | Setting dates for interim review cycles: The default values supplied for the interim review cycles are calculated using the Review Period Start Date and Review Period End Date of the performance plan. These dates and the number of interim ratings are used to calculate the duration of each interim cycle. This means that if you set the start and end dates for the plan and select a certain number of interim cycles, the system will use those dates and number to calculate the duration of each interim cycle, also taking into consideration a final evaluation cycle to set the default values. For example: If the Review Period Start Date is 01/01/2009 and the Review Period End Date is 12/31/2009, with 3 interim cycles. The system will calculate the time between the dates, divided by the number of interim cycles plus one cycle to account for the final review period. So this means: The first interim cycle will run between 01/01/2009 and 03/31/2009. The second interim cycle will run between 04/01/2009 and 06/30/2009. The third interim cycle will run between 07/01/2009 and 09/30/2009. This still leaves the last quarter of the year for the final evaluation. To modify these system-calculated dates, you can manually type in or select another date using the calendar.
Tips | Setting realistic goals | When setting your goals, think carefully about what you will need to make them a reality and how much time will be involved. Avoid setting aside too little time for major tasks. Understand the nature of each task and how much time it will demand. Make sure your goals don't contradict each other. If the expected result of one goal conflicts with that of another goal, you might lose track. Ensure the goals you set match your abilities. Setting unrealistic goals leads to disappointment.
Tips | Setting up Mandated Goals | Mandated goals are goals that are specified and set for employees by the organization through an admin-controlled goal setting process. This process is most useful when you need to associate the same set of mandatory goals to a large group of employees to bring about uniformity. You can start the Mandated Goal Setting process through the Performance Plan Setup pages: On the Goal Options tab, select Yes to the mandated goals prompt. Select all other plan options as required. Under Process Configuration, go to the Goal Setting Process tab and select a Goal Setting Workflow. The Mandated Goal Setting workflows are specifically designed to support a mandated goals process. The Mandated Goal Setting Form Configuration tab allows you to configure the form used by administrators to set the mandated goals. This form should include all form fields used in the Employee goal setting forms to ensure that all data captured here will be reflected on the end user form. So for example, if "Stretch target" is a required field on the end user form, in order for data to be captured in the field for a mandated goal, the field must be included on the Administrator form as well. The Set Mandated Goals tab allows you to set the goals using the form configured in the previous tab. Add all of the goals to the form including all of the required form fields data. Review all of the form fields, data and instructions that will be visible to participants. Select the eligible group of employees using the Eligibility Criteria. The goals you have set will be mandated for these participants. When the mandated goal setting process begins, participants will see the pre-populated goal-setting form containing the mandated goals that you have entered. Remember to remove any unnecessary fields and set the appropriate field permissions of other fields to read-only as required. As with setting up other performance plans, be sure to review all of the associated notifications content, senders and recipients and dashboard related task text.
Tips | Setting up an organizational goal plan | Organizational Goal Plans allow you to define goals for an organization. An organization can be any unit in the company, for example, business unit, department or division. An organizational goal plan can work with any goal setting plan, to allow employees to align individual goals with goals of the organization. To set up an organizational goal plan: Go to the Organizational Goal Plans page. Create an organizational goal plan and select the required organization(s). Go to the Goals tab for the specific organization(s) for which you created the plan. Add goals for the organization(s). On the Performance Plan setup page: Select your options in the Goal Alignment Options container. All Organizational Goal Plans you create will be available for selecting. Complete the usual plan setup process and initiate. Employees in a particular organization will be able to align their goals to the organizational goals associated through the plan.
Tips | Setting up forms for the mandated goal setting process | To configure forms for mandated goal setting: Begin on the Mandated Goal Setting Form Configuration tab. This form is the template which administrators will use to set the mandated goals. Add or remove form fields and modify permissions and form instructions based on which fields should display for participants. On the Set Mandated Goals tab, add the goals to the form configured on the previous tab. Goals added to this form will display to the participant. On the Goal Setting Form Configuration tab, as with any other form configuration, review the forms that will be used by each role. Remember that field permissions on these forms must match the field permission you set on the Mandated Goals Form.
Tips | Stretch goals for improved performance | Setting stretch goals is a way of achieving more than what you expected to. Setting a stretch goal begins with a vision of an ideal situation and working to achieve it. Stretch goals are usually tactical. They aim to make incremental improvements in your performance by ensuring that you stay vigilant and on alert. This helps to achieve greater efficiency. For example: If a task takes 5 days to be complete, the stretch is to complete it in 3 days. Stretch goals add energy and excitement if they are planned well. Be sure to carefully consider all factors associated with the goal before setting a stretch goal.
Tips | The performance review meeting | During the performance review or face-to-face meeting, your manager will discuss details of your performance evaluation. Ratings from your self-evaluation and your manager's ratings will be discussed, highlighting any differences in ratings and reasons for them. ### Receiving feedback from your manager: While receiving feedback, listen carefully and determine the intent behind it. Use positive feedback as encouragement to continue on the same path; use negative feedback to identify opportunities to improve. Ask for examples if you need clarity, but avoid sounding confrontational or challenging to prove a point. Reflect back what you have heard to ensure understanding. After receiving feedback, state your viewpoint respectfully, whether you agree or disagree. ### Things to remember: Listen carefully. Avoid becoming negative or dismissing any negative feedback. Always behave with respect. Think before you respond. Ask your manager to repeat if you did not hear clearly or understand feedback.
Tips | The performance review meeting | The performance review or face-to-face meeting is a good platform for both the employee and the manager to openly discuss work problems, resolve issues and find a good work balance. ### Providing feedback to the employee While providing performance feedback to the employee: Make a clear plan of what you wish to communicate and how. Remember to always be clear, consistent and constructive in your communication. For example: instead of saying "you never take initiative..." you can say "you have some great ideas, but I am looking to you to take some action..." Keep the employee's performance in focus. Instead of making a statement only about the employee's action or behavior, it is best to state the action and add how it impacts performance. For example: "your punctuality has always produced great weekly reports" or "try to avoid making careless errors and your productivity will improve." Avoid making generalized comments. For example "you never finish your work on time" or "you always have a great idea". Instead, you can use examples to illustrate your point. ### Things to remember Avoid providing too much feedback and overwhelming the employee. Illustrate your points with examples. Be prepared to tackle negative attitude if it arises. Focus on sharing information and guidance rather than providing advice. At the end of a meeting, discuss next steps and be sure to follow through. Remember that effective performance management requires a consistent level of feedback through the review period.
Tips | Tracking goals | Tracking goals is critical to success. Review your goals on a weekly or monthly basis. If you find that you will be unable to achieve a goal, or that you need changes an existing goal, be sure to notify your manager as soon as possible. Identify the reasons for requesting the change. Be positive and proactive by suggesting some creative solutions. Implement the change without delay. Effective goal tracking enables you to be proactive instead of reactive.
Tips | Using Eligibility Criteria | Eligibility criteria are used to systematically break up your employee population into groups that can be evaluated using unique business rules. You will need to identify factors or criteria that are common to a set of employees to create a group. Once the group has been identified, you can configure all of the other elements of a performance evaluation process to match their needs. For example: You have 500 employees in your Finance Division. You can choose the criteria of "Org hierarchy" to identify all the employees in that division. Upon closer examination, you realize that out of the 500, 100 are management level and the other 400 are staff. The competencies that you want to use to evaluate management and staff are different. You can then filter on "Management Level" to further break out the population. You can now create two separate performance management plans that will evaluate employees based on different competencies. Alternatively, you could define competencies at the job level and assign competencies to all employees (say in the Finance Division) based on their job and satisfy this requirement with only one performance management plan. For ease of administration, it is recommended that you minimize the number of such evaluation groups if at all possible.
Tips | Using Goal Categories | Goal categories allow you to organize and set goals to focus the entire organization on key strategic initiatives needed to create breakthrough performance and results. Goal categories can reflect best practice methodologies such as a balanced scorecard approach (where specific operational activities of a company are aligned with its company objectives) and will enable better alignment, allowing strategic objectives to cascade down to every individual's day to day activities. Categorizing goals also enables employees to effectively measure their personal contribution against the company's key business drivers. Further focus can be drawn to certain initiatives by weighting those categories higher than the others; keeping employees focused on the company's top priorities. Using goal categories will: Focus the entire organization on the key factors that drive performance. Break down strategic measures to local levels so that department managers and employees can understand how their contributions help to achieve corporate business objectives. Clearly and effectively communicate the company's mission, vision, strategy, and values.
Tips | Using calculated overall ratings | When using calculated overall ratings, keep in mind that the system can auto-calculate overall ratings based on just competencies or just goals. For example, to calculate an overall rating based on competencies only, enter '100' in the competencies field and the system will automatically adjust the percentage. When using calculated overall ratings, the system automatically calculates two overall ratings for the managerï¿½one based on the system-calculated Total Goal and Total Competencies Ratings and the other based on the managerï¿½s calibrated Goal and Competency Ratings. Admins can place one, the other, or both on the evaluation forms to support their companyï¿½s specific business requirements.
Tips | Using individual goal weights, goal grouping and goal group weight options | Using goal weights, grouping and group weight options Shown below are a few examples of how you may want to set up goals, goal weights, goal groups and goal group weights. Each scenario explains a set of combinations and resulting behavior that you can use to model your own business requirements. Scenario 1: Using individual goal weights, no grouping of goals
Plan Options | Resulting Behavior
Assign Weights to Goals? | Group Goals? | Assign Weights to Groups? | Validate Total Individual Weights? | Group Averages Calculation (Green Bars) | Summary Goal Rating Calculation (Blue Bar)
Yes | No Grouping | Not Applicable | Yes | Not Applicable | Weighted Average
Place Goal Weight form field on the goal setting forms. Group Averages (green bars) will not be present. Summary Goal Rating (blue bar) will display sum of weighted ratings. Example: Scenario 2: Not using individual goal weights, no grouping of goals
Plan Options | Resulting Behavior
Assign Weights to Goals? | Group Goals? | Assign Weights to Groups? | Validate Total Individual Weights? | Group Averages Calculation (Green Bars) | Summary Goal Rating Calculation (Blue Bar)
No | No Grouping | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Straight Average
Remove Goal Weight field from goal setting forms. Group Averages (green bars) will not be present. Summary Goal Rating (blue bar) will display straight average of ratings for all goals. Example: Scenario 3: Not using individual goal weights, goals grouped by categories or types, no weights on categories or types
Plan Options | Resulting Behavior
Assign Weights to Goals? | Group Goals? | Assign Weights to Groups? | Validate Total Individual Weights? | Group Averages Calculation (Green Bars) | Summary Goal Rating Calculation (Blue Bar)
No | Group by Category or Group by Type | No | Not Applicable | Straight Average | Straight Average
Remove Goal Weight field from goal setting forms. Group Averages (green bars) will be straight average of the ratings provided for each goal within the group. Summary Goal Rating (blue bar) will be the straight average of all the individual goal ratings. Example: Scenario 4: Not using individual goal weights, grouped by goal categories or types, with weights on categories or types
Plan Options | Resulting Behavior
Assign Weights to Goals? | Group Goals? | Assign Weights to Groups? | Validate Total Individual Weights? | Group Averages Calculation (Green Bars) | Summary Goal Rating Calculation (Blue Bar)
No | Group by Category or Group by Type | Yes | Not Applicable | Straight Average | Weighted Average
Remove Goal Weight field from goal setting forms. Group Averages (green bars) will be straight average of goal ratings within each group. Summary Goal Rating (blue bar) will be weighted average of Group Averages (green bars). Example: Scenario 5: Using individual goal weights, grouped by goal categories, no weights on categories
Plan Options | Resulting Behavior
Assign Weights to Goals? | Group Goals? | Assign Weights to Groups? | Validate Total Individual Weights? | Group Averages Calculation (Green Bars) | Summary Goal Rating Calculation (Blue Bar)
Yes | Group by Category or Group by Type | No | Yes | Weighted Average | Weighted Average
Goal Weight field should be placed on goal setting forms. Group Averages (green bars) will be weighted average of goal ratings within each group. Summary Goal Rating (blue bar) will be weighted average of all goal ratings. Example: Scenario 6: Using individual goal weights, grouped by goal categories, with weights on categories
Plan Options | Resulting Behavior
Assign Weights to Goals? | Group Goals? | Assign Weights to Groups? | Validate Total Individual Weights? | Group Averages Calculation (Green Bars) | Summary Goal Rating Calculation (Blue Bar)
Yes | Group by Category or Group by Type | Yes | Yes | Weighted Average | Weighted Average
Goal Weight field should be placed on goal setting forms. Group Averages (green bars) will be weighted average of goal ratings within each group. Summary Goal Rating (blue bar) will be weighted average of Group Averages (green bars). Example:
Tips | Using the Inclusion and Exclusion option | The eligibility criteria define the rules that make a set of employees eligible to participate in a performance plan. In some instances, however, there may be specific business reasons to either include or exclude individual employees from a plan. For example: The eligibility criteria for a Senior Management team performance management plan may include the CEO and other senior executives. However, there may be specific business reasons to exclude the CEO or any other senior executive from that plan and include them in another plan. The Inclusion and Exclusion feature enables you to add or remove particular employees based on business need. These employees can be moved in or out of plans even if they do not meet the set eligibility criteria.
Tips | Where display name is used |
Tips | Workflow Process Bridges | What’s a Workflow Process Bridge? Workflow Process Bridges allow admins to configure one or more processes to be initiated from almost any action in any workflow state (Initiate and Reopen actions cannot be configured with a bridge). Processes can be bridged within the same plan (e.g., a goal setting process action can initiate an interim evaluation) or across different plans (e.g., a final evaluation process action can initiate a goal setting process for the next year). Employees must still meet the eligibility criteria for bridged processes. For example, when an end-user takes an action that has a workflow process bridge configured for it, the system checks the participant’s eligibility for the process to be initiated and if he/she is not eligible, no initiation into the next process will occur. Participants who do not “cross the bridge” because of ineligibility for the next process are not considered exceptions—this is to be expected when, for example, the population from one process bridges into two or more different processes serving subsections of that same population. Employees are initiated into the bridged processes in "real time" (i.e., no lag time between the time the action is taken and when the next process is initiated, assuming eligibility requirements are met). See additional details about monitoring process bridges on the Workflow Process Management & Workflow Process Bridges pages.
Tips | Workflow Process Bridges | How can I track participants who were initiated into a process via a Workflow Process Bridge? Participants initiated into a process through a Workflow Process Bridge will appear in the Process Log History just as they would if they were initiated by the admin manually or through auto-initiation. Participants initiated into a process through a Workflow Process Bridge, as well as through Auto-Initiation, will appear in the Workflow Process Activity Log with an Actor User of “System”. If any eligible employees fail to be initiated into a bridged process due to one of the conditions below, admins can track this on the Workflow Process Management > Participants grid of the originating process (e.g., if an action in a goal setting process has been configured to bridge to an interim review cycle, the goal setting process would be the originating process). Using two special purpose grid columns, admins can move the workflow process for those participants back to the First Failed Workflow Process Bridge State and take the action(s) again once the First Failed Workflow Process Bridge Error has been resolved (or initiate them directly into the targeted process manually). Process lock – The system was in the process of initiating a large population of employees and was unable to complete the Workflow Process Bridge initiation action simultaneously. Plan configuration issue – There was a problem with the configuration of the performance plan the person was to be initiated into that caused the system not to initiate him/her, e.g., no rating scale was configured, the employee didn’t fall into a defined performance groups, etc. Will admins receive a notification every time a participant crosses over a Workflow Process Bridge? Admins receive email notifications whenever they initiate a process in bulk (either manually or through auto-initiation) with aggregate warning and error condition counts and the same will be true if they take a bulk action on an originating process that has a workflow bridge configured for it—they will receive one email letting them know the target process was initiated. But they will not receive emails for every participant initiated through a bridge during the normal progression of a workflow process due to the high volume of notifications this could generate. Admins should regularly monitor the originating process’s workflow pipeline count details and the target process’s logs to make sure eligible employees are initiating properly. Workflow Process Bridges & Auto-Initiate: How do they work together? Admins can enable auto-initiation for bridged processes but it will not take completion of a prior process into consideration, so all eligible employees will be initiated effective the date auto-initiation is scheduled to begin. Employees will be initiated via the bridge until the auto- initiation start date at which time all eligible employees will be initiated. Note: Employees eligible for a bridged process who did not participate in the previous process will need to be initiated manually or through the auto-initiation process.
Tips | Writing effective goals | A good way to write effective goals is to define where you want to be at the end of the goals cycle. Write down the specific tasks you need to get you there. Next, write the actions you need to take. Having defined targets will keep you focused. Categorize your goals. For example - goals related to technical skills and goals related to soft skills. Break up your tasks into smaller, clearly defined "sub tasks" that you can confidently achieve. Set three to five goals and avoid cramming too many things into a short time frame. Consider adding a stretch goal that will force you out of your comfort zone and lead to greater results.

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## Table 4: Succession Coaching Topics

Topic Type | Topic Name | Content
--- | --- | ---
FAQs | Can I add someone from outside the company? | Can I add someone from outside the company? In some instances, you may not have an internal candidate that meets the requirements of a key position. In that case, you can add individuals from outside the company to build that position's Succession Plan. You can add individuals from outside the company to build a Succession Plan. To do this, go to the Succession Plan for which you wish to include an external candidate and go to Add Successors > How Do You Want to Find Successors > By Name > Add Someone from Outside the Company.
FAQs | Can I add someone to multiple Succession Slates? | Can I add someone to multiple Succession Slates? An individual can be added to multiple Succession slates. However, it is important to avoid over-utilizing people (adding them to numerous Succession slates). Over-utilization can give you a false sense of security regarding your bench health for that position.
FAQs | Can I add someone who is in a Job Pool to a Succession Slate? | Can I add someone who is in a Job Pool to a Succession Slate? You can add an individual from a Job Pool to a Succession Slate. You may add individuals only to Succession Slates associated with the positions or people associated with that job.
FAQs | Can I add someone who is in a Job pool to a Position or Person's Talent Pool? | Can I add someone who is in a Job pool to a Position or Person's Talent Pool? You can add an individual who is in a Job Pool to the Talent Pool for a Position. You can only add individuals to positions that are tied to a job. To do this, go to the relevant Succession Plan and go to Add Successors > How Do You Want to Find Successors > Related Plans and Pools.
FAQs | Can I add someone who is in a Position or Person's Talent Pool to a Succession Slate? | Can I add someone who is in a Position or Person's Talent Pool to a Succession Slate? A Talent Pool typically acts as a staging area before an individual is added to a Succession Slate. You can add a person to a Slate by filtering through a variety sources, including the Talent Pool for that position or person. Note: A person added to a Succession Slate will no longer be available on the Talent Pool for that position or person.
FAQs | Can I add someone who is not in any Talent Pool to a Succession Slate? | Can I add someone who is not in any Talent Pool to a Succession Slate? You can add an individual to a Succession Slate through sources other than Job and Talent Pools. An individual does not need to be on a Job Pool or a Talent Pool in order to be added to a Succession Slate.
FAQs | How can I use the Organization Chart to help with my succession planning? | How can I use the Organization Chart to help with my succession planning? The Org Charts visually display the bench strength for positions or people that have Succession Slating enabled and help identify potential successors. You can also drill down to see details on the source of potential successors and their individual Talent Profiles. The actionable Org Chart provides you quick access to availability and readiness information of successors to key positions.
FAQs | How do I build a Succession slate? | Individuals on a Succession slate can be added directly to the slate or through other sources such as talent pools. To find and add successors directly to a succession slate: Find the position you want to slate for. Click on the Succession Slate tab. Click Add to view options for adding successors. If you know the individual you want to add, select the first option in the Add Successors pop-up and click Next. To search for individuals through other sources, select one of the other options and click Next. To find and add successors through other sources: Find the position you want to slate for; you can start with the org chart. Click on the Succession Slate tab. Click Add to view options for adding successors. The first option allows you to add successors directly. Other options include: Position Talent Pool - allows you to pick an individual already added to the talent pool for the position. Job Talent Pool - allows you to pick an individual already added to the job talent pool. Recommended Sources: Employees who match job requirements. Employees who have matching career aspirations. Manager nominated employees. Current Incumbents. Past Incumbents. Direct reports of current incumbents.
FAQs | How do I enable users to actively participate in succession planning? | How do I enable users to actively participate in succession planning? Users must be in a role with the authority "Can Do Succession Planning" in order to see succession-related areas of Talent Management.
FAQs | How do I know which jobs support Job Pooling? | How do I know which jobs support Job Pooling? Allowing a pool to be built on a job will make it part of the succession planning process. A Job Pool contains individuals being considered for that job and job pool members will display on SmartGrids related to succession planning. If a job does not allow pooling, the Succession tab will not appear in the left hand tabs on the Job page nor will the Job Title be a clickable link to the Succession Plan page from the Succession Dashboard. To enable job pooling for a job: Find the job for which you want to allow pooling by navigating to Organization Data > Jobs and selecting a job from the grid (if you don't have access to the Job page, please ask your system administrator to enable job pooling for you). Click the Details tab. Check the Allow Job Pooling box.
FAQs | How do I know which positions or people support succession slating? | How do I know which positions or people support succession slating? Making a position or person slateable will make them part of the succession planning process. A slateable position or person can have a succession Slate and a Talent Pool associated with them. The position or person will also display on grids related to succession planning. If a position is not slateable, the Succession Slate tab will not appear in the left hand navigation on the Position page nor will the Position Code be a clickable link to the Succession Plan page from the Succession Dashboard. If a person is not slateable, their name will not be a clickable link to the Succession Plan page from the Succession Dashboard. To enable succession slating for a position or person: Find the position you want to slate for; you can start with the Organization Chart > View Position Details or you can navigate to Organization Data > Positions and select a position from the grid by searching on position title or by the name of the position holder. Click the Details tab. Check the Allow Succession Slating box.
FAQs | How do succession candidates get into the Job and Talent Pools? | How do succession candidates get into the Job and Talent Pools? Adding candidates to Talent Pools brings them into the succession planning process. An individual in a Job Pool has qualities and experience complimentary to that job's requirements and would be considered a good fit for that role in the future. Likewise, an individual in a Talent Pool can be considered as a potential successor for that position or person in the future because their skills and abilities are considered a good fit for that particular person or position. To add individuals to a Job or Talent Pool, select an individual from the Succession Plans (By Person) tab, or a position from the Succession Plans (By Position) tab, or a job from the Succession Plans (By Job) tab. Then click the orange Add Successors bar on the right side of the page to select someone by name or from a variety of other sources and add them to the pool.
FAQs | How does the Talent Profile help with succession planning? | How does the Talent Profile help with succession planning? From an employee's Talent Profile, you can view information related to relevant work experience, performance history and development activities. You can also view specific position information and the associated job requirements to assess an employee's potential as a successor. Talent Profiles provide comprehensive information on each employee in a single place and form the basis for critical talent management decisions on succession, career planning, and leadership development.
FAQs | If I have multiple successors for a position, how do I compare their qualifications and career goals? | If I have multiple successors for a position, how do I compare their qualifications and career goals? The Compare option on Succession Slates and Pools allow you to compare successors that have been identified for a specific position, person, or job. This valuable tool allows you to see your top succession candidates compared side by side. You can compare ratings such as Rank, Readiness and see how top ranked successors fare against others. If you want to compare two people in a Talent Pool, select them by checking the box next to their name and clicking the Compare button. You can view information like Title, Readiness and Work Experience or any other attribute you'd like. While reviewing and comparing successors, note their current position title. This might impact your succession planning decision. For example: If you are slating for the position of CFO. The compare view helps you identify people whose positions are closest to that of the CFO, or directly report in to this position. The Position Title and Manager fields will help identify this information. The Readiness row indicates when the person will be ready to fill the position. Check the time period in this row if you are trying to slate a person who will be ready within a specific time period. For example: You are slating for the position of the Sales Manager. On the Talent Pool for the position, you find two people - one who is "Ready Now" but will have to re-locate while another will be ready in 6-12 months and works in the same office. Your decision will depend on how quickly the position should be filled and the impact of not filling it. The Source row helps you identify the source through which the successor was found. For example: If you want to identify all people who were recommended from outside the organization, you can look for "Nominated Outside of Organization". The Work Experience row provides you a quick overview of a person's work history and professional experience. This can be of particular help when you are looking for successors whose skills and experience match what is required for a particular job or position.
FAQs | If I use Ad Hoc Talent search, where do the candidates come from? | If I use Ad Hoc Talent search, where do the candidates come from? While adding to a Job Pool, Talent Pool or Succession Slate, you have the option to conduct an Ad Hoc Search. To conduct an ad hoc search, go to Succession Plan page > Add Successors > How Do You Want to Find Successors? > Ad Hoc Search. The search allows you to find active employees whose Talent Profiles contain keywords you've entered in the Search field or who match specific search criteria you've indicated in the Advanced Search selections.
FAQs | What is Bench Health? | What is Bench Health? Bench Health is a measurement of the actual quality of the members on your Slate. You may have enough players on your bench, but what is the overall quality of all of those players? How soon will they be ready to step up to fill your critical positions? The Bench Health view can provide valuable insight into the quality of the members on your Slates. When assessing the health of your bench, pay special attention to: How many people do you have in the Talent Pool? How many successors are currently on the Slate? How many successors have a readiness rating of "Ready Now"? Do any of your current successors have a Flight Risk rating of "High"? How many Slates are individuals slated for; are they over-utilized? If you have specific areas of concern, you can drill down to the slate member's individual succession Slate, or their Talent Profile to view any other relevant information. You can create a chart to graphically display your Bench Health or create a report to print for management review.
FAQs | What is Bench Strength? | What is Bench Strength? More and more, companies are realizing that the ability to build bench strength results in a competitive advantage. Bench Strength is a measurement used to determine the health of an organization's succession plan and organizational development strategy. Bench strength can be assessed by analyzing various criteria as they relate to particular succession Slates. The Bench Strength view provides quick access to the information you need to determine the effectiveness of your succession plan. You can create a chart to graphically display Bench Strength or create a report to print for management review. Using this view you can: Get a quick status on the strength of the successors you have slated. Easily identify areas of risk. Identify positions with low bench strength. Navigate directly to a Slate to view additional details. When reviewing your bench strength, be sure to: Pay close attention to the number of actual successors on each Slate and the number of members in the Talent Pool. Determine the quality of Slates by analyzing successors' attributes such as Flight Risk and Readiness.
FAQs | What is a Talent Pool? | What is a Talent Pool? Position and People Talent Pools can be used as staging areas for Slates keeping an organization strong and prepared for future leadership challenges. Continuous development and investment in your employees increases employee commitment and engagement. Succession planning is no longer restricted to identifying suitable employees to replace key people, but now provides the foundation for continuous development and investment in your employees' career advancement.
FAQs | What is succession planning? | What is succession planning? Succession Planning is a process of identifying suitable employees to replace key people. Effective succession planning is a proactive effort to encourage individual advancement and ensure business continuity while aligning with the resource requirements of the organization. Effective succession planning involves identifying long range needs and developing internal and external talent to meet the future strategic needs of the organization. By assessing and developing your talent you can ensure that the company has the human capital necessary to meet ever changing business needs. Questions to ask when developing your succession plan: Do we have the talent necessary to ensure business continuity? Have we identified enough successors for critical positions? Do we have plans in place to retain key people beyond the executive suite? Can we readily identify key people who have a high flight risk? Do we have enough internal talent to meet our needs or do we need to look outside the organization? New proactive approach to succession planning requires you to: Identify, engage and retain top-quality talent throughout the organization. Push succession management deeper into the organization. Gain visibility into broader pools of talent. Reach outside of the organization to tap external talent. Make succession management an ongoing activity. Evaluate bench strength (and bench health) for key people and positions.
FAQs | What is the best method for monitoring Bench Strength? | What is the best method for monitoring Bench Strength? When analyzing your bench strength, a variety of views can give you quick access to your most important questions. Consider: Of the positions that are defined with a Loss Impact of "High": Which ones have less than 3 successors on its associated Slate? Which have zero successors? Which ones have no candidates with a Readiness of "Ready Now"? Which ones have an incumbent that has a Flight Risk of "High"? Which ones have no Slates associated with them? Which slateable positions do not have defined successors? Regardless of the position or person to which it is attached, what Slates exist with less than 3 successors or have no successors with a readiness of "Ready Now"? Which positions or people have Slates with no successors that have been with the company more than 2 years?
FAQs | What is the purpose of a Succession Slate? | What is the purpose of a Succession Slate? Succession Slates allow you to build an ongoing supply of well trained, broadly experienced, well-motivated people who are ready and able to step into key roles when necessary. High-potential employees can be added to Slates from Talent Pools, or they can be identified via a search. You can add successors from multiple sources, including external contacts. Be sure to indicate the candidates Readiness and Source when adding to a slate. Succession plans work best when you look deeply and widely at your workforce potential. Research and tap into your employee preferences and then act on that information. The Career Plan tab on the Talent Profile provides valuable insight into the career aspirations of your existing talent. Effective Succession management initiatives leverage all internal talent and focus on managing existing employees to their full potential. By determining the career paths of your most talented people, you can cultivate the skills and abilities necessary to fill your most critical roles.
FAQs | What is utilization? | What is utilization? Utilization is a term used to describe the frequency in which employees appear on succession Slates. This is an important measurement when determining the true health of an organization's succession strategy because over-utilized employees can artificially inflate the metrics associated with bench strength and thus provide a false indication of adequate organizational health.
Tips | Job Competency Match | Job Competencies Match Search Criteria How does the Job Competency Match work? Because competencies can be rated on many different scales (e.g., 3-point, 5-point, 10-point scales, etc.), the competency search needs to normalize those ratings so that each represents the appropriate level of achievement relative to the others. Someone who received a rating of 3 on a 10-point scale hasn’t achieved the same level of expertise as someone who received a rating of 3 on a 3-point scale. Normalizing those ratings shows that the person who received a rating of 3 out of 3 has reached 100% achievement while the person who received a 3 out of 10 has reached a 30% achievement level, making the determination of the stronger candidate clear. Likewise, when you’re setting the Minimum Rating for your search, you’re doing so using numeric values on a global competency rating scale your administrator has selected, but the system is converting the number you choose to a % achievement before it sets out to find employees who meet or exceed that standard. For example, if you select a 3 on a 5-point scale, the system looks for employees who were rated at or above 60% (actually, the system uses the “normalized threshold value” your administrator has associated with that rating which acts as a rounding method so that people whose ratings are leaning toward a 60% would be included as a match—see your administrator if you’d like to know exactly how your thresholds have been set, but typically they represent the mid-point between two scale values so in our example the mid-point between 2 and 3 on a 5-point scale would be 2.5 or 50%). To illustrate how this works, let’s walk through the example below: For simplicity sake, let’s assume all employees were rated on the same scale. When the Minimum Rating is selected using a scale that differs from the one the employees were rated on, the system will retrieve the threshold value associated with that rating from the global scale and return employees whose % achievement for that competency was at or above that value. Let’s say the global scale has 5 points and the employees’ competency rating scale has 4. When 3 is selected as the Minimum Rating (remember this is on the global scale), the system will take the normalized threshold value for 3, which is 50%, and select any employee whose % achievement is greater than or equal to 50%—yielding employees who were rated 2 or higher on the 4-point scale (i.e., ratings of 50% or above).
5-Point Global Scale | 4-Point Competency Scale
What is the Overall Rating Score displayed on the Search Results? The Overall Rating Score is the employee’s average rating for all competencies selected for the search, displayed in terms of their % achievement (rounded to the nearest whole number). Employees with the highest averages are displayed first as they represent the strongest match. For example, if you ran a search based on two competencies, an employee who met your minimum requirements and was rated a 2 on one competency and a 3 on the other (both on a 3-point scale, so 66.67% and 100% achievement, respectively) would have an Overall Rating Score of 83% (66.67 + 100 / 2, rounded to the nearest whole number).
Tips | Job Pools | Job Pools A Job Pool is a collection of individuals who are considered potential successors for the job based on having met certain job requirements or the potential to fill the role after achieving some level of development. The Job Pool tends to be a broader group of individuals than the position or a person's Talent Pool because positions will have more specific criteria associated with them. For example, the Director of Finance Job Pool can contain a number of individuals who meet the basic job requirements identified on the Job Requirements page; however, the position Talent Pool for the Director of Finance in the New York office responsible for all corporate financial reporting may only have a few individuals who have the skill and experience to fill that particular position. You can add someone to the Job Pool from the same sources as the position or person's Talent Pool. To add an individual to a Job Pool: Find the specific job by navigating to Succession Management > Jobs (Succession) or if you have permission, you can navigate to Organization Data > Jobs and click Manage Succession. Ensure that the job has been enabled for job pooling by checking the Allow Job Pooling box on the Job > Details page. Adding Successors: On the Succession Plan page, use an option from the Add Successors > How Do You Want to Find Successors? section. By Name: Select this option, if you have a specific individual in mind. The individual can be an existing employee, in which case you can choose "Select Employee By Name" or you can add an external contact by choosing "Add Someone From Outside the Company." Related Plans and Pools: Select this option to identify individuals who are in Succession Plans of similar roles or Job Pools related to the specific role for which you are planning. From Recommended Sources: You can also add successors by searching a variety of sources including: Job Requirements Match: This source helps you find employees whose information match the job requirements associated with this job. Career Aspirations Match: This source helps you find employees whose career aspirations match the details of the job you are slating for. Manager Nominated: This source helps you find employees whose managers created a career aspiration for them for this job. Current Job Incumbents: This source helps you find individuals who currently hold a position associated with the job you are slating for. Past Job Incumbents: This source helps you find individuals who have held this job in the past. Directs of Job Incumbents: This source helps you find employees who are directly reporting to individuals who currently hold positions associated with this job. Use Ad Hoc Talent Search: Select this option, if you want to search for individuals using specific search criteria.
Tips | Position or Person Talent Pools | Position or Person Talent Pools Talent Pools are used as "short lists" of succession candidates for discussion prior to being added to a slate. The position or person's Talent Pool contains high-potential individuals who, with the right career development and training, can be groomed to fill specific roles within the organization. Adding Successors: You can add successors to the position or person's Talent Pool from multiple sources including external contacts. Be sure to specify the level of Readiness and the Source when adding an individual. To add a successor to the Talent Pool for a position or person: Find the position or person by going to Succession Management > Succession Plan (by Position) or Succession Plan (by Person), by using the Organization Chart > View Position Details action, or by navigating to the Organization Data > Positions option and selecting a position by title or the position holder's name and clicking the Manage Succession button at the bottom of the page. Ensure that the position or person has been designated as "slateable" by checking the Allow Succession Slating box on the Position > Details page. To search for potential successors from multiple sources or to add a contact manually, click the orange Add Successors tab on the right side of the Succession Plan page and use any of the available "How Do You Want to Find Successors?" options: By Name: Select this option, if you have a specific individual in mind. The individual can be an existing employee, in which case you can choose "Select Employee By Name" or you can add an external contact by choosing "Add Someone From Outside the Company." Related Plans and Pools: Select this option to identify individuals who are in Succession Plans of similar roles or Job Pools related to the specific role for which you are planning. From Recommended Sources: You can also add successors by searching a variety of sources including: Job Requirements Match: This source helps you find employees whose information match the job requirements associated with this job. Career Aspirations Match: This source helps you find employees whose career aspirations match the details of the job you are slating for. Manager Nominated: This source helps you find employees whose managers created a career aspiration for them for this job. Current Job Incumbents: This source helps you find individuals who currently hold a position associated with the job you are slating for. Past Job Incumbents: This source helps you find individuals who have held this job in the past. Directs of Job Incumbents: This source helps you find employees who are directly reporting to individuals who currently hold positions associated with this job. Use Ad Hoc Talent Search: Select this option, if you want to search for individuals using specific search criteria.
Tips | Talent Pools and Slates | Talent Pools and Slates Talent pools are groups of individuals with high potential who have been identified as potential successors to critical roles within the organization. Talent pools are available on jobs, positions, and people. Job Pool: The Job Pool is a group of individuals who meet certain job requirements (such as skills, experience, education, etc.) or who have identified a particular job as a career aspiration. These individuals are placed into the Job Pool for consideration as successors for a particular job. Position or People Talent Pools: Position or People Talent Pools are groups of individuals who meet certain position requirements (such as skills, experience, education, etc.) or those who have identified some aspect of this position as a career aspiration. These individuals are placed into the position or person's Talent Pool for consideration as successors for a particular role. Individuals are often pulled from the Job Pool to the Position or Person's Talent Pool for further consideration. Succession Slates: Individuals on a succession slate are considered successors for a position or person. They are often pulled out of the Job Pool to the Position or Person's Talent Pool and then added to the Succession Slate. Moving from Talent Pools to Slates: An individual can be added to a Talent Pool associated with a job, a position, or a person before being added to a Succession Slate. Ideally, an individual could first be added to a Job Pool because they meet certain job requirements, then added to the Position or Person's Talent Pool associated with the job because they met certain requirements for the position or person, and finally added to the Succession Slate. A few things to keep in mind about Job Pools, Position or Person's Talent Pools and Slates: Individuals can be added to a Position or Person's Talent Pool even if they are in the Job Pool and vice versa. Individuals can be on both the Job and Position or Person's Talent Pools simultaneously. Individuals can be added directly to a Slate without being pulled from any existing sources, such as the Position or Person's Talent Pool or Job Pool. Individuals however, cannot stay in a Position or Person's Talent Pool after being added to the same plan's Succession Slate.
Tips | Tips to make your search more effective | Tips to make your search more effective The Job Requirements page enables searching for talent from various sources using simple search methods. While entering tags and selecting search options, remember that: If you enter tags in multiple containers, all those containers will be considered while searching for a specific skill or experience. For example: If you enter tags for the Work Experience, Education Experience and Specialized Knowledge and Skills containers, tags from all three will be searched for. In other words, the search condition for all containers is AND. If you select one option for the "Search for tags in" field, only that option will be considered for search. For example: In the Work Experience container, the "Search for tags in" field will search with only one option - Work Experience and Resume OR Work Experience only. All sections that use check boxes will check if any of the checked boxes match the employee's information. For example: In the Skills and Experience Inventory container, if you select Accountable Reporting, Cost Accounting, Compensation and Benefits, the search will be conducted for employees who have experience with Accountable Reporting OR Cost Accounting OR Compensation and Benefits. All search options are optimized to return the maximum number of relevant results.
Tips | To Enable Job Pooling | To Enable Job Pooling Depending on your permissions, you may enable job pooling for jobs that are currently not Succession-enabled. To do so, remove the Job Pooling Enabled filter to view all jobs; check the select box next to the job(s) for which you wish to enable Succession planning, and click Enable Job Pooling. You will now be able to click the Job Title to access the Job Pool and search for pool members.
Tips | To Enable Succession Slating | To Enable Succession Slating Depending on your permissions, you may enable succession slating for individuals within your span of control and do not yet have a Succession Plan. To do so, remove the Succession Slating Enabled filter to view all employees; check the select box next to their name(s) and click Enable Succession Slating. You will now be able to click the person's name to gain access to his/her Succession Plan and search for successors.
Tips | To Enable Succession Slating | To Enable Succession Slating Depending on your permissions, you may enable succession slating for positions within your span of control and do not yet have a Succession plan. To do so, remove the Succession Slating Enabled filter to view all positions; check the select box next to the Position Title(s) and click Enable Succession Slating. You will now be able to click the Position Title to gain access to the Succession Plan and search for successors.
Tips | Using the Job Requirements page to identify top talent | Using the Job Requirements page to identify top talent The Job Requirements tab on the Job page contains specific information regarding the desired requirements a candidate must meet in order to perform the job effectively. The Job Description tab contains an overall definition of what the job involves. The Job Requirements page, however, outlines the attributes and skills required to do the job. For example, for the Accountant I job, the Description tab would say "Involves maintaining company accounts and entering data on a daily basis". The Job Requirements tab would include details such as "Should have a strong background in financial methods", "Should possess at least 5 years of accounting experience" and so on. You can use the Job Requirements page to identify the required skills and experience necessary to do the job well. Work Experience: Use this section to capture details of the work experience that a person must have to do the job well. For example: "Must have at least 7 years of management experience", "Should have handled large teams in the finance department", etc. This information will be matched with details on the Work History tab of an employee's Talent Profile, to produce search results. Education: Use this section to capture details of the educational experience that a person must have to do the job well. For example: "Should have completed post-graduate studies", "Master of Business Administration preferable", etc. This information will be matched with details on the Education and Skills tab of an employee's Talent Profile, to produce search results. Specialized Knowledge and Skills: Use this section to capture details of specialized skills that a person must have to do the job well. For example: "Must have experience in Six Sigma processes", "Minimum of Six Sigma Green Belt preferred", etc. This information will be matched with details on the Education and Skills tab of an employee's Talent Profile, to produce search results. Skill and Experience Inventory, Travel Requirements, Years of Experience Requirements: Check the boxes that indicate the skills and travel requirement for the job. The details from these sections will be matched with the Work History, Education & Skills and Mobility & Travel tabs from the employee's Talent Profile to produce search results. Licenses and Certifications: Add information pertaining to licenses and / or certifications that would be required, or add additional value when an individual is being considered as a successor for a job.

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## Table 5: Compensation Coaching Topics

Topic Type | Topic Name | Content
--- | --- | ---
FAQs | Can multiple administrators modify one unlocked compensation plan simultaneously? | Untitled document To avoid administrative errors, only one administrator can modify an unlocked plan at a time. If one administrator unlocks a compensation plan to modify it, no other administrator can modify it at the same time. For example: Administrators A and B are responsible for the Annual Compensation Plan. After this plan is initiated, Administrator A logs in to unlock and modify plan settings. If Administrator B logs in simultaneously, this plan will not be editable (i.e. it will be in a read-only state). The second administrator will see the current status of the plan as being in the unlocked state, but will not be able to modify it. Administrator B can unlock and modify the plan after Administrator A locks it.
FAQs | Entering a Budget Adjustment Amount | When you select any option from the I want to field, you must provide an amount to transfer in the How much? field. As you consider making changes to a budget, refer to the summary table at the top of the page to see how funds have already been allocated for the reward cycle. After entering an amount in the How much? field, click outside the field to see how your changes will impact the budgets you are working with. The Account Balances container at the bottom of the page dynamically updates to reflect your changes to the budgets. The compensation administrator may have defined certain restrictions on these budget adjustments, including: A maximum amount that can be processed in a single budget adjustment. The ability to have a negative balance in any budget. Click Apply Adjustment to process the change. You will see a confirmation dialog box that summarizes the changes you are considering if those changes are allowed. Click Cancel Transaction to exit without making any changes. For more information, click the Help icon in the upper right corner of the application. .
FAQs | Selecting the Recipient of Transferred Funds | When you select the Transfer Funds Between My Employees option, the list displayed for this field includes yourself and all managers below you in the reporting hierarchy. After you’ve selected a manager to transfer funds to, that person’s account balance appears in the Account Balances container of the Adjust Budgets dialog box. Click Apply Adjustment to process the change. You will see a confirmation dialog box that summarizes the changes you are considering if those changes are allowed. Click Cancel Transaction to exit without making any changes For more information, click the Help icon in the upper right corner of the application.
FAQs | Transferring Funds Outside of Your Organization | If you have the appropriate authority, when you select the Transfer Funds to Another Department option, the list displayed for this field includes all managers who have a worksheet in the reward cycle. You can transfer funds to anyone in this list. However, you cannot see budget information for these managers in the Account Balances container of the dialog box. Note: Only users with special authority have this ability. By default this includes the Compensation Administrator and HR Executive Compensation roles. After reviewing the Account Balances container, click Apply Adjustment to process the change. You will see a confirmation dialog box that summarizes the changes you are considering if those changes are allowed. Click Cancel Transaction to exit without making any changes For more information, click the Help icon in the upper right corner of the application.
FAQs | Types of Budget Adjustment Transactions | If you are a manager, HR staff, or executive participating in a compensation planning cycle, you can move funds from one worksheet budget pool to another, based on circumstances that may not have been anticipated when the budget was initially defined. You can adjust any type of budget associated with the worksheet including auxiliary budgets, depending on the type of reward cycle you’re working with. You can make these changes to your own budget or the budgets of anyone below you in the reporting hierarchy. Start by opening the worksheet of the manager from whose budget you want to transfer funds. NOTE: The options available to you depend on reward cycle and security configurations. You may have the following options for adjusting budgets: Holdback Funds: Allows you to move funds from the open worksheet to your personal holdbacks account. For example, you might hold back funds from your own budget if you’re anticipating a current employee transferring to your department during the planning process. Holdback funds can include the following possibilities: When working with your own worksheet, you can hold back money from your own budget. When working with the worksheet of one of your managers, you can move money from that worksheet to your own holdbacks account. Distribute Previously Heldback Funds: Allows you to move funds from your holdbacks account to the open worksheet. Transfer Funds Between My Employees: Allows you to move funds from the open worksheet to the worksheet of another manager in your reporting hierarchy. This option might be useful if one department’s work warrants extraordinary recognition over the reward cycle period. This type of fund transfer can include the following possibilities: When working with your own worksheet, you can transfer funds from your own budget to another manager below you. When working with the worksheet of one your managers, you can transfer funds from their budget to yourself or another manager below you in the organization. If you select this option, you must select a recipient in the To Account field by clicking Select a Value. The page that appears displays the managers in your reporting hierarchy. Transfer Funds to Another Department: Allows you to move funds from the open worksheet to the worksheet of a manager outside your department. Only users with special permissions, such as HR specialists and compensation executives, have this option. You might choose to do so to recognize how the efforts of another department aided your own. This type of fund transfer can include the following possibilities: When working with your own worksheet, you can transfer from your budget to any manager. When working with the worksheet of one of your managers, you can transfer from their budget to any manager. If you select this option, you must select a recipient in the To Account field by clicking Select a Value. The page that appears displays any managers included in the reward cycle. After entering an amount in the How much? field, click Apply Adjustment to process the change. You will see a confirmation dialog box that summarizes the changes you have requested if those changes are allowed. Click Cancel Transaction to exit without making any changes For more information, click the Help icon in the upper right corner of the application.
FAQs | Verifying Account Balances | The Account Balances container displays information about the budgets that are going to be affected by the budget adjustment you are considering, as follows: If you are holding back funds, accounts include the budget of the open worksheet the funds would be held back from and your holdbacks budget. If you are distributing hold back funds, accounts include your holdbacks budget and the budget of the open worksheet. If you are transferring funds within your organization, accounts include the budget of the open worksheet and the budget of the worksheet you are transferring funds to. If you are transferring funds outside your organization, only the budget of the open worksheet is displayed. After you enter an amount in the How much? field, the New column updates dynamically to reflect how the budget adjustment will affect these accounts. After reviewing the Account Balances container, click Apply Adjustment to process the change. You will see a confirmation dialog box that summarizes the changes you are considering if those changes are allowed. Click Cancel Transaction to exit without making any changes. For more information, click the Help icon in the upper right corner of the application.
Tips | Alternate Incentive Methods | It is important to use the appropriate method for rewarding good performance. If an employee has performed at an exceptionally high level or achieved a particular business goal, you may consider some alternate form of incentive award. ### Merit increases Merit increases are awarded based on evidence of sustained high quality performance and the employee's current compensation with respect to salary range. Merit increases should not be used to reward performance for a single quarter. Employees who consistently demonstrate high-quality performance should receive merit increases. Be aware, that salary increases should not exceed this year's increase guideline of specified percentage of base compensation. ### Equity awards Equity awards provide an alternate method of rewarding good performance. Granting stock options to employees encourages retention and participation in the long-term success of the company. The Board of Directors determines the incentive stock option budget. ### Cash incentives As an alternate method of reward, cash incentives may be leveraged for an employee that is at or near the maximum salary range and is performing at an exceptional level for the organization. Cash incentives also offer a way to reward employees based on achievement of specific goals. Be sure that your individual bonus pool is allocated appropriately to encourage, motivate and reward top performers. Bonuses are a great way to reward superior performance during a specific quarter. Lump sum bonuses Lump sum bonuses provide immediate recognition to employees that go "above and beyond" expectations. They serve as motivational tools to inspire high-level performance. Bonuses Bonuses allow you to pay out a one-time lump sum payment from a separate bonus pool that will not affect your merit increase budget.
Tips | Data Source Grouping Options | Data Source Grouping Options Worksheet Hierarchy Groupings control the primary grouping and how many levels of worksheet managers to include in the data set. In groupings, org refers to the selected manager's entire reporting hierarchy versus only his or her direct reports. Note that if more than one level of manager is selected for primary grouping, then BIRT design work is required to format analytics. Grouping Dimensions define the fields used to group the data set.
Tips | Locking and unlocking compensation plans | Untitled document The plan lock and unlock feature is designed to help you make modifications to plan settings after a compensation plan is initiated. This feature will unlock settings that are typically locked down when the workflow is initiated. When a compensation plan is initiated for the first time, it is automatically locked (look for the lock icon next to the plan name and the Unlock button at the bottom of the page). You can click this button to unlock the plan and modify plan settings. While modifying plan settings, the plan is in the unlocked state, so you must lock it again (by clicking the Lock Plan button). While it increases flexibility in the plan management process, you should use this feature cautiously.
Tips | Removing and initiating participants in compensation plans | Untitled document When a compensation plan is in the locked state, if you unlock the plan and remove all the participants, the plan will continue to stay unlocked. If you re-initiate the participants, you must manually lock the plan again. However, if you remove all the participants from a plan without unlocking it, and re-initiate them again, the plan will automatically enter the locked state. For example: You create Compensation Plan A and you initiate it (thereby locking the plan). To make additional changes, you have to unlock the plan. While working on the plan, you inadvertently remove all the participants from the plan. The plan will stay in the unlocked state and you cannot lock it again since there are no active participants. So you must initiate the participants into the workflow again and manually lock it. However, if you did not unlock Plan A before removing its participants, you can re-initiate them. This time, you do not have to lock the plan again because you did not unlock it in the beginning.
FAQs | Why should we group tasks? | Why should we group tasks? The grouping of tasks is particularly useful when a user has multiple tasks to complete in an off-cycle award process workflow stage. For example, while granting an off-cycle award to an employee, managers often have multiple tasks to complete. When the task grouping option is enabled, multiple tasks within a workflow state will be 'bundled' together. This provides for a neater user interface, and makes it easier for the user to work through his/her tasks. How are tasks grouped? While grouping tasks, you have the flexibility of bundling tasks from a single reward cycle, or even bundling tasks across off-cycle reward cycles. This is because task grouping is based on the Task Group Text that is entered for each workflow state. If you wish to: Group tasks from different workflow stages under separate task headings: Enter different Task Group Text for each workflow state. Group tasks from different workflow stages together: Enter the same Task Group Text for all workflow states. Group tasks from different off-cycle reward cycles together: Enter the same Task Group Text for all workflow states, across off-cycle reward cycles. Group only some tasks separately: Enter similar text for all workflow states that should be grouped together, and different text for all workflow states where tasks should be grouped separately. Use merge fields in the Task Group Text. Remember to check the final Task Group Text (containing the merge field information). Task grouping will be based on this text, so if you wish to group tasks separately or together, the text should be worded accordingly. Task Text or Task Group Text or both? It's recommended that you provide both Task Text (for individual tasks) and Task Group Text (for grouped tasks) for workflow states where users will have multiple tasks to complete. When a user completes all but one of his tasks, the system will automatically switch to the Task Text and vice versa as the number of tasks increase or decrease. This provides for a flexible system for managing multiple as well as individual tasks.

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