On this tab you can create and manager performance plans. Performance plans are used in performance cycles.

You can create multiple performance plans, each with different attributes and use them in the process as per your requirement. Once a Plan is created it would be available for being mapped to a Cycle, the attributes of the Plan if changed after the mapping will not reflect in the Cycle.

- Click on "Add New Plan" to create a new plan
- Use Edit action button to edit an existing plan
- Use "Hide" button to hide a plan, once a plan is hidden it cannot be used in a cycle
- Use "Manage Template" button to create / manage templates associated with this plan, refer to the article on "Creating Criteria, Groups and Templates" for more details

Creation of a new plan

Steps to be followed

- Update Plan name and Description to help you identify / remember this plan
- Performance management frequency - you can chose from Annual, Half yearly, Quarterly and Monthly frequencies
- Levels of Assessment - you can select if you want one, two or zero levels of assessment, if zero levels of assessments is selected then process will work only between employee and Performance Manager
- Weightage based - if this option is selected then a weightage will have to be specified for each criteria
- Include company values - if you want to include a set of company values in the review process select this option. Refer to article on "Setting up company values" for more details
- Group feature - individual evaluation criteria can be grouped into groups, this is useful if you want to follow a balanced scorecard based PMS process. If you activate the group feature you can further decide if you want to have weightage defined at the group level, in which case the total weightage of the group is fixed
- Scoring based - if you want to quantified the assessment process you can activate this parameter, there are two different types of scoring options and you can read about them in the article on Understanding Ratings, Score and Rankings

Since there are multiple scenarios which can be modeled in setup, the remaining parameters are illustrated with the help of these scenarios

Scenario 1 - Scoring is Weightage based

- Scoring System : select Weightage option
- Capture target for criteria : if yes is selected then for each criteria (except Company Values) a target will have to be defined and during the periodic review process the achievement against this target will have to be updated by the employee
- Automate recommended rating : if selected as yes then the assessor or reviewer do not have to input the recommended rating, it is automatically calculated based on the score
- Rating table : in this table the ratings can be designed and minimum score for each rating specified, the minimum score option is visible only if automate recommended rating feature is activated and if the "Scoring System" is Weightage

Scenario 2 - Scoring is Ranking based

- Ranking range : the minimum and maximum rankings which can be given are specified here, only number range like 0 - 5 or 1 - 4 can be taken
- Number of decimals in Ranking : you can decide how many decimals you want to allow the users to input when updating a ranking
- Automate recommended rating : if selected as yes then the assessor or reviewer do not have to input the recommended rating, it is automatically calculated based on the ranks
- Recommended rating compulsory : this option is visible only if "Automate recommended rating" = Np is selected and this will allow the assessor and reviewer to update the recommended rating manually during the annual review process

Note - if Scoring system = Ranking based and Automate recommended rating = Yes then the Final rating is also given on the same basis as ranks. Number of decimals of the final rating are decided by the parameter shown above.

Selection of other options

- Tracking promotion recommendations : if you want to capture inputs on promotion and recommended salary increment during the annual review stage then this should be selected
- Tracking salary increment recommendations : similar to previous parameter, this will allow the Assessor and Reviewer to recommend an increment percentage during the annual review stage
- Career development plan : selection of this option will allow the HR team to get inputs from the assessor / reviewers on employee's career development plan, refer to the article on Career Development Plan for more details
- Individual development plan : the skill gaps and training needs of an employee can be identified and captured as an Individual Develop Plan during the annual review stage
- Key behavior assessment : using this feature you will be able to evaluated employees on a set of key behaviors which are linked to their job category, refer to the article on Key Behavior Assessment for more details

Goal Setting Process Design

Typically a cutoff date is decided by the company and employees joining after this date are not included in the current performance cycle or they are given a default performance rating. The cut off date for inclusion and initiation of goal setting process can be managed in two different ways -

Manual goal setting: if you select the manual option then whenever a new employee joins the company the Performance Manager will have to release the goal setting process manually. There is no predefined cutoff date for exclusion. Performance Manager gets an indication on Performance page as to how many employees are still to be included in the process and he can manually include or exclude these new joiners employee. Goal setting release in this case has to be managed manually.

Automate goal setting : if you select the automatic option then system will send the alert for goal setting to the employee and assessor automatically. In setup you will have to specify the time period for
a) time period after which the alert is send post date of joining
b) the window which is given to the employee and assessor for finalizing the goals
c) the cutoff date beyond which the employees will not be sent this alert and included in the process

For automatic goal setting to work there are two conditions
1. for a cycle the goal setting should be released manually for the first time
2. if there are multiple cycles and multiple templates then performance manager will have to map these to the employee manually before the goal setting alert can go

Process Setup Design

Parameters which are used to design the PMS process are available on the Process Setup tab.

- Recommended Ratings / Comments at each stage : if this parameter is selected as Yes then four parameters "Recommended Rating (Assessor)", "Recommended Rating (Reviewer)", "Final Comments (Assessor)", "Final Comments (Reviewer)" are shown the periodic review tabs and inputs taken during each stage, otherwise the inputs are taken only at the end of the year during the final stage
- Final comments compulsory : selection of this ensures that the assessor / reviewer have to give some comments for the employee during the annual review cycle (or during each stage if the previous parameter is Yes)
- Allow goal updation by Assessor : If this option is selected as Yes then assessor can update employee goals any time during the annual review - even after the goals have been approved
- Criteria editable by : Employee / Assessor / Performance Manager any or all of these roles can be given the option to "edit" a criteria. Edit power includes changing the text, adding a new criteria and deactivating an existing criteria. If the option is given to employees / assessors then they can make these changes upto Goal setting stage. If this option is given to the Performance Manager then he can make changes at any point of time if the control of Performance sheet is with him. If the option to edit is not given then the criteria would be copied from the performance template which is mapped to the employee
- Weightage editable by : if you want to allow the user to edit the weightage then this parameter can be enabled, this parameter can be checked only if the previous one is checked
- Show timeline column : enabling this would add a column on the Performance Review summary tab where the timelines for achievement of goals can be captured
- Columns visible on periodic review tabs : Group / Criteria / Weightage / Goal / Timeline are different columns which can be shown on the monthly / quarterly / six monthly / annual review tabs. Selection of either Criteria or Goal is compulsory
- Assessment to be done by : the default role of assessor is selected here, the assessor mapping can be changed by the performance manager while releasing the cycle
- Review to be done by : the role of second level reviewer is selected here (not visible if second level review is not activated)
- Minimum level of assessment : employees who are below the seniority level selected in the drop down here will not participate in the goal setting process or self assessment process, on release of the process the alert and control will directly go to their assessor
- Capture feedback from employee : if this parameter is selected then during the annual review cycle the employee would also be able to give his feedback on the questions created here, the response to these questions can be made mandatory

Scoring Setup

- Minimum level of scoring : employees who are below the seniority level selected in the drop down here will not get an option to input their scores against the criteria while doing their self assessment, only their assessor / reviewer will be able to input the scores
- Scoring at the end of each stage : this parameter is not visible for Annual frequency plans, if Yes is selected then system will ask for scoring to be done at the end of each stage of review
- Scoring weightage by role : the weightage to be given to the scores for each type of role is defined here, the total of these weightage should be 100

Visibility Parameters

Through this tab you can control which of the fields are shown to the employee during the review process and when the final rating is released. There are three options
- On Submission : the inputs are shown to employee as soon as the inputs are submitted
- On Results Release : the fields are shown to employee when final results are released
- No : never shown

The parameters are -

- Assessor / Reviewer comments : visibility of comments given during the periodic reviews can controlled
- Assessor / Reviewer ranking (or score) : the scores given by the assessor and reviewer either as a rank or as the score out of the weightage can be hidden from the employees, it will also be hidden from the Performance Review Summary tab of the performance sheet
- Final comments : the final comments given on the summary tab
- Final rating visible to employee : select this as No if you do not want to show the final rating to the employee
- Salary increment % : the increment % recommended during the process can be shown or hidden

There are two parameters which allow you to control what is visible to Assessor / Reviewer.
- Final rating visible to Assessor / Reviewer : if this parameter is selected as No then Assessors / Reviewers cannot see the final rating on the performance sheet
- Hide Reviewer details from Assessor : if this parameter is selected as Yes then Assessors will not be able to see the inputs given by Reviewers. Reviewers will always see inputs given by employee and assessors

Based on these two parameters the data in Rating Summary report is also controlled. If "Final rating  visible to Assessor / Reviewer" is No then only Performance Manager can see the final rating and if "Hide Reviewer details from Assessor" is Yes then only Performance Manager and Reviewer can see the details inputted by Reviewer.