Applicable Product:

• Talent Management: Performance

Applicable Release:

• ALL

Summary:

A customer reported an issue during their annual review cycle: a performance review was stuck in the Self-Evaluation state. The manager requested moving it back to the Manager Evaluation state to make edits, but this transition was not available due to workflow restrictions. The workflow was intentionally designed to prevent reopening the Self-Evaluation state, likely due to dependencies on recalculations and conditional branching.

After internal discussions, a workaround was implemented by modifying form visibility and using conditional branching to transition the review back to the Manager Evaluation state with recalculation enabled. This allowed the manager to make necessary edits and refresh the overall score.

Overview

In some performance review workflows, certain state transitions such as moving a review from Self Evaluation back to Manager Evaluation may be restricted by design. This article outlines identifying such restrictions and implementing a workaround using form visibility settings and conditional branching.

Symptoms

• A review is in the Self-Evaluation state.
• The option to return it to Manager Evaluation is unavailable.
• The workflow definition includes a "No Reopen" note for the Self Evaluation state.

Root Cause

The workflow was intentionally configured to prevent reopening the Self-Evaluation state. This is often done to preserve data integrity due to:

• Recalculation logic tied to specific states.
• Conditional branching that depends on finalized inputs.

Workaround Options

Option 1: Modify Form Visibility

Allow the manager to edit the Manager Evaluation form while the review is in the Self-Evaluation state.

Steps:

1. Update the form visibility from Read Only to As Configured for the Manager Evaluation form.
2. Proxy in as the manager to confirm they can access and edit the form fields.
3. Ensure that the forms do not share fields to avoid data conflicts.

Option 2: Use Conditional Branching to Force State Transition

Add conditional logic to transition the review back to the Manager Evaluation state with recalculation.

Example Formula:

def employeeSignOffbox = Participant.evaluation.getOverall().getSelfRating().userSelectList1;
if (employeeSignOffbox == "1") {
    return "Manager_Evaluation";
} else {
    return "Next_Review_State";
}

Steps:

1. Add the conditional branching logic to the submit action in the Self-Evaluation state.
2. Submit the review to trigger the transition.
3. Once in the Manager Evaluation state, use the Recalculate option to refresh scores.

Post-Implementation

• Confirm that the manager can make the necessary edits.
• Recalculate the score if needed.
• Submit the review to continue the workflow.

Best Practices

• Document workflow limitations and communicate them to managers during review cycles.
• Consider adding flexibility in future workflow designs to accommodate similar scenarios.
• Always test changes in a staging environment before applying them in production.