How can I Administer the Appraisals module?

The entirety of the Appraisal cycle can be created and managed in Pentana Risk Browser. This guide will outline the stages of managing Appraisal Forms and Cycles in browser, in addition to creating and editing other items included in Appraisals, such as Command Hierarchies, Competencies, Responsibilities and Questions.

For more information about using the appraisal module please see our 'How do I use the Appraisals module?' guide.

• Permissions
• Managing Existing Appraisal Forms and Cycles in Browser
  • Individual Appraisals Timeline
  • Group/Organisation Appraisals Timeline
• Reassigning Managers in an Active Appraisal Cycle

Permissions

Appraisals has three permissions unique to this module:

• Appraisal_Administrator - Allows the User to edit the Scoring Systems, Competencies, Responsibilities and Questions available on the system.
• Appraisal_Scheduler - Users with this permission will be able to schedule new appraisals. This permission is also a subset of Appraisal Administrator. Users do not need Appraisal Scheduler assigning to them if they already have Appraisal Administrator.
• Organisation_Administrator - Allows the User to edit the command and organisation hierarchies; creating and removing departments, assigning staff to them, changing the manager-employee relationships of all employees on the system.

This guide will indicate where specific permissions are required. 

Managing Existing Appraisal Forms and Cycles in Browser

The Appraisals option gives a list of all Appraisals that have been set up on your site, including all Archived Appraisals. Select an Appraisal's title to view more details on it, including its Appraisees.

There are two ways in which an Appraisal may be displayed. Appraisals with a single Appraisee will open into the Individual Appraisal Notebook view, and Appraisals with multiple Appraisees will open into the Appraisal Timeline view.

Individual Appraisals Timeline

This view shows the progress and deadlines for all contributors to the Appraisee's form, as can be seen in the image below:

All contributors to this Appraisal form are shown in the first column of the details table, with the Appraisee shown in bold. Selecting the Appraisee's name reveals options to view and manage the form.

The progress of the Appraisal Cycle is demonstrated in the rest of the table; with unsubmitted work shown with boxes and submitted work shown with dates for each contributor, at each stage.

More information can be found on the Individual Appraisal Timeline page in the Online Help.

Group/Organisation Appraisals Timeline

This page shows a summary of all Appraisal forms in the selected cycle by way of a timeline showing the number of Appraisees' forms at each stage of the cycle, as can be seen below:

The number of Appraisal forms at each stage can be seen as a numbered badge just to the left of the deadline for each stage. Selecting one of these badges shows a paginated list of all Employees.

Selecting an Employee's name opens a progress table, similar to the Individual Appraisal Timeline view, below the Employees list.

More information can be found in the Appraisal Timeline page in the Online Help.

Reassigning Managers in an Active Appraisal Cycle

Appraisals may be re-assigned to a different manager by deactivating the current manager's user account, and manually reassigning the form to the new manager.

The first step is to deactivate the old managers user account. This is done via the User notebook. The 'Site Admin' permission is needed to deactivate users.

1. Click on the 'Go To..' menu and select 'More' then 'Users'.
2. Search for the managers name, and click on it to open the notebook.
3. Click on their name at the top of the page, and select 'Deactivate this User'.

The second step is to insert the new manager into the command hierarchy. The 'Organisation_ Administrator' permission is needed to do this.

• Click on the 'Go To..' menu, and select 'Appraisals' and then 'Command Hierarchy'.
• If the new manager is a 'top level' employee click on the 'Command Hierarchy' title at the top of the page and select 'New Top Level Employee'.
• If the new manager will be under another employee in the hierarchy, find them in the list and right click. From this menu select 'Add/Remove subordinate employee'.
• The employee will then need to be added under the new manager.

The final step is to reassign current forms to the new manager. The 'Appraisal_Administrator' permission is needed to do this.

• Click on the 'Go To..' menu, and select 'Appraisals'.
• A banner will appear below the search bar stating 'Appraisals or forms require attention from an Administrator'. Click on this to open the actions required screen.

• Find the affected form on the page, and select the employee name. This will open up a pop-up window, allowing you to select a new manager. 

Note:

When you deactivate a member of the Appraisal Command Hierarchy, the following happens:

• Any in progress forms that the member is managing will be sent to an HR Admin to be re-assigned to a new manager.
• Any in progress forms that the member is an employee for will be cancelled as they are no longer available to be appraised. The form will need to be re-initiated after reactivation.
• Any in progress forms that the member is additionally appraising (Grandparent) will be sent to an HR Admin to be reassigned.

Once this form has been signed off, the old manager can be reactivated to assume their position in the command hierarchy. Following this, the old manager will need to have required forms reassigned to their account, which may be done by the HR Admin user.