Entering Comments and Ratings on Evaluations

This chapter provides an overview of evaluation data entry and discusses how to:

Record preliminary ratings.
Record performance notes.
Update evaluations.

Understanding Evaluation Data Entry

ePerformance is designed to support the complete performance and development process from planning to evaluation. An enterprise can implement the complete process or just portions of it. This chapter focuses on the part of the process where participants evaluate the employee's performance or development needs against the evaluation criteria.

This diagram shows the flow of the evaluation data entry process, assuming that you implement all options:

Evaluation data entry process

Preliminary Ratings

The capability to enter preliminary ratings for employees is available to managers only. These ratings are entered before the official rating data is entered in the manager's evaluation, and they are not entered on the evaluation—they are entered on the Preliminary Ratings page. This enables the manager to enter preliminary ratings at any time after the document is created, including during the Establish Criteria and Nomination steps.

Only documents that are In Progress appear on the Preliminary Ratings page.

Preliminary ratings are used to generate the Ratings Distribution Summary report, which enables managers and HR administrators to compare preliminary ratings with desired and actual rating distributions. Employees cannot see preliminary ratings.

To enable the entry of preliminary ratings, select the Preliminary Rating check box for the Overall Summary section on the document template.

See Recording Preliminary Ratings.

Performance Notes

Managers and employees can record notes about an employee's performance and accomplishments in two ways:

During the Establish Criteria step.

The Add Note link appears on a section or item during the Establish Criteria process if enabled on the document template. Notes that are added during this step are directly linked to the section and item to which they apply.
At any time, by navigating to the Performance Notes page.

Employees can create records of events, activities, and accomplishments that they can later use to complete their performance evaluations. Similarly, managers can record details of an employee's performance for use when they complete the employee's evaluation. These notes are dated, and are available only to the author of a note. In other words, the manager cannot see notes that the employee enters and vice versa.

Note. There is not a separate page for development notes. The Performance Notes page is used to record any comment, and these notes are available for inclusion in either performance or development documents. The Performance Notes page is located under the Performance Management menu item and do not fall under the Performance Documents or Development Documents sub-menus.

See Entering Performance Notes.

Ratings and Comments

The performance document template setup enables you to configure evaluations for each role (employee, manager, and multi-participant) to include only sections, items, and features that are appropriate for the role to evaluate. For example, on a project review, you might include the Goals, Initiatives, Competencies, and Overall Summary sections on the manager and employee evaluations and enable them to enter ratings and comments on all sections. However, you might include only the Competencies and Overall Summary sections on multi-participant evaluations.

To evaluate an employee's performance, participants can enter and update ratings and comments as permitted by the template at any time during the performance period. This evaluation information is visible to employees and managers only after the evaluations are completed.

Note. A manager can include comments that other evaluators entered on a section or item only if the manager also has comments enables for the same section and item.

See Updating Evaluations.

Advisor Tools

Depending on the capabilities granted to the participant's role on the document template, any evaluation participant might have access to the Development Tips or Results Writer tools. These tools provide suggestions for incorporating into comments. Actual usage of these tools most often occurs when the manager role consolidates feedback and finalizes evaluations.

See Working with Writing Tools.

Finalization Activities

After evaluations are complete, the manager consolidates feedback and ratings into the manager evaluation. The manager conducts a review with the employee (if a review process is required) and submits the evaluation for approval (if an approval process is required).

See Managing Reviews and Approvals.

See Also

Defining Document Templates

Modifying Evaluation Criteria

Recording Preliminary Ratings

This section provides and overview of preliminary ratings and discusses how to enter preliminary ratings.

Page Used to Record Preliminary Ratings

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Enter Preliminary Ratings	EP_APPR_SELECT	Manager Self Service, ePerformance, My Performance Documents, Administrative Tasks, Enter Preliminary Ratings, Enter Preliminary Ratings	Select one or more employees for whom to enter preliminary ratings.
Preliminary Ratings	EP_APPR_PRELIM	Click the Continue button on the Enter Preliminary Ratings page.	Enter preliminary ratings for selected employees.

Entering Preliminary Ratings

Access the Preliminary Ratings page.

Preliminary Rating

Enter a preliminary rating. The list of ratings from which you select is defined by the rating model that is associated with the Overall Summary section of the document.

See Also

Defining Rating Models

Entering Performance Notes

This section lists pages used to enter performance notes.

See Also

Configuring the HR Notepad

Pages Used to Enter Performance Notes

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Performance Notes My Performance Notes	HR_NP_NOTE_SRCH	Manager Self Service, Performance Management, Maintain Performance Notes, Performance Notes Self-Service, Performance Management, Performance Notes, My Performance Notes	Search for and enter performance notes.
Performance Notes - New Note Performance Notes - Selected Note	HR_NP_NOTE	Click the Add a New Note button on the Performance Notes or the My Performance Notes page.	Enter a new performance note. You can also view and modify an existing performance note on this page.
Performance Notes - Confirm Delete	HR_NP_MESSAGE	Click the Delete button on the Performance Notes or the My Performance Notes page.	Confirm a delete of a performance note.
Person Search - Simple	HR_PSS_SEARCH	Click the Transfer button on the Performance Notes or the My Performance Notes page.	Search for and select a recipient manager for a performance note transfer.

Accessing Notes

Access the My Performance Notes page or the Performance Notes page.

Note. These two pages work similarly, except that the My Performance Notes page enables employees to search for and enter notes on their own performance and the Performance Notes page enables managers to search for and enter notes on other employees.

Selection Criteria

To add or view performance notes for a specific employee, enter an ID and, optionally, an Earliest Note Date and End date. If you do not specify dates, all notes for the employee regardless of date entered appear in the Existing Performance Notes for this Employee grid

Note. The ID field appears only on the manager version of this page, since employees can only view their own notes.

Search	Click to view a list of performance notes that meet the search criteria.
Add New Note	Click to access the Performance Notes Detail page, where you can create a new note.

Existing Performance Notes for this Employee

This section lists all the performance notes that meet the search criteria. Click the note link to view and modify the details of the note, or select one or more notes to delete or transfer.

Selected Note(s)

Select one or more listed notes and click the Delete button to remove them from the system or the Transfer button to transfer them to another manager.

Entering Performance Notes

Access the Performance Notes - New Note page.

Note. If you are viewing an existing note, the page title changes to Performance Notes - Selected Note, as shown below

Subject

Enter the note subject in the Comments text box, or enter a new note.

The note date for new notes is the current date and you cannot change the date.

Updating Evaluations

This section lists prerequisites and discusses how to enter and maintain evaluation data.

Note. In this section, a page or field title with a word in brackets indicates that the page takes its name from the context in which it appears.

Prerequisites

Before entering evaluation data as a manager or employee, you must complete the Establish Criteria step, if it is specified on the document template. To enter evaluation data as another participant, you must have received and accepted a nomination to participate in the evaluation.

See Also

Modifying Evaluation Criteria

Nominating and Tracking Multi-Source Participants

Pages Used to Update Evaluations

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Manager Evaluation	EP_APPR_MAIN1	Manager Self Service, Performance Management, Performance Documents, Current Documents On the Current Documents page, click the link in the Document Type column for a listed document. On the Document Details page, click the Start link or the Edit link, whichever appears, for the Complete Manager Evaluation step.	Enter and maintain evaluation data for an employee.
Employee Evaluation	EP_APPR_MAIN1	Self Service, Performance Management, My Performance Documents, Current Documents On the Current Documents page, click the link in the Document Type column for a listed document. On the Document Details page, click the Start link or the Edit link, whichever appears, for the Complete Self Evaluation step.	Enter and maintain self evaluation data.
Peer Evaluation	EP_APPR_MAIN1	Self Service, Performance Management, Other's Performance Documents, Current Documents On the My Current Evaluations for Others page, click the link in the Document Type column for a listed document.	Enter and maintain evaluation data, pursuant to the participant role.
<section> Detail	EP_APPR_EDIT5	Click the Edit Detail link on any Details box on an evaluation.	Update item details such as title, description, due date, owner, supports, status, reminder date, percent complete, and flags indicating critical items.
View Other Authors Selection	EP_APPR_SEC_ROLES1	Click the View Other Authors link on the <role> Evaluation page.	Select other evaluation authors to view the comments that they entered.
Add <item>	EP_APPR_EDIT3	Click the Add <item> link on the <role> Evaluation page.	Add an item to the section. You can add either a coded or a free-form item.
Add a Competency	EP_APPR_EDIT4	Click the Add link on the <role> Evaluation page.	Add an item to the section.
Add a Competency Behavior	EP_APPR_EDIT7	Click the Add Behavior link that appears for a competency item.	Select a behavior to add to the competency or enter a free-form behavior.
Edit Competency Behavior	EP_APPR_EDIT8	Click a listed behavior link for a competency.	Modify the behavior description for a competency.

Entering and Maintaining Evaluation Data

Access the Manager Evaluation, Employee Evaluation, or Peer Evaluation page.

Note. The examples shown are from a manager's evaluation.

Each role evaluation contains header information that identifies the role and the person who is evaluated. The header information also contains instructional text that changes depending on the role. The instructional text is system data that is supplied with ePerformance, but you can modify this text by using the Text Catalog.

See Working with Common Components.

Sections, Items, and SubItems

Evaluations are divided into sections, with each section containing a different type of content. Sections contain the items and subitems against which an employee's performance is evaluated and can include mission statement, goals and objectives, responsibilities, competencies and sub-competencies, employee comments, manager comments, an overall summary, signature lines, or organization-specific sections that you define.

The specific information that appears on an evaluation is determined by the selections that you make on the Structure page of the document template.

For a section to appear, you must add the section to this page.
For an item to appear within a section, you must select the Enable Items check box in the Items page region and either:
- Select a prompt table that defines the item.
- Select the Free-Form Allowed check box and enter the item description on the Content page.
For a subitem to appear within an item, you must select the Enable subitems check box in the subitems page region and either:
- Select a prompt table that defines the subitem.
- Select Free-Form Allowedand enter the item description on the Content page.

The page shot that is shown here is from the Competencies section of a manager document. It is typical of sections that contain items and subitems.

Sections are organized in this manner:

The section header identifies the section sequence within the evaluation and the section title. It is followed by each section item that is defined on the template. Each section item is followed by the sub items that apply to it, in a tree-like structure. A section summary appears at the end of the section.

The Manager Comments section, the Employee Comments section, and the Overall Summary section are delivered without items defined for them.

These fields and links can appear in evaluations.

View Other Authors	Click this link to view the evaluation data that other roles entered on this section for the employee.
Details	Expand this page section to view the item's detail information, including the description, measurement, due date, status, and percent complete. This detail information is established on the Content page of the document template.
Edit Details	Click this link to edit the item's detail information. See Updating Section Item Details.
Comments	Enter comments about the employee's performance or development needs in this text box. The comments section always has access to a spell checker and optionally has access to writing tools.
Writing Tools	Click this link to access the Suggested Results page. The Suggested Results page displays a list of text entries that can include Performance Notes, Other Evaluator Comments, Results Writer, and Development Tips statements, and enables you to choose one or more entries for inclusion in the Comments section. The Writing Tools link appears for a role if the role is enabled on the document template to view Results Writer and Development Tips suggestions for the section or item. Any performance notes that the employee or manager recorded from within the Establish Criteria about the employee also appear in this list, but are restricted to the document role. Employees do not see notes that the manager has recorded about them and managers do not see employee notes. The manager can also view comments from other evaluators for the item or section they are evaluating if it was enabled on the document template.
	Click to check spelling for the comment.
Rating	View or enter ratings. The action that is permitted depends on the level (subitem, item, section) where the field occurs if calculation is enabled in the document template, and the user actions that the template definition permits. For example, at the overall summary and section summary levels, the rating field is read-only unless the role has permission to override system-calculated ratings or calculate field was not enabled on the document template.
Weight	Enter the weight of an item relative to the other items in the same section or relative to other sections in the evaluation. Note. The sum of the weights for all items in a section or all sections in a document, must equal 100 percent in the manager's document.
Comments	Enter free-form text to describe an employee performance relative to the corresponding item or section. This field can appear at the item level or the section summary level.
Add Behavior	Click to add a behavior to a competency item. Note. To modify the behavior description, click the behavior title.
	Click to delete the behavior from the competency.
Add <item>, Delete <item>	Click this link to add or delete an item in this section of the evaluation.
	Click to calculate ratings. This button appears at both the section summary and the overall summary levels.
Override Rating	Click to override a system-calculated rating or remove an existing override. The button appears at the following levels on the performance review page, depending on the template definition: At the item level within a section, to override the system-calculated average of individual subitem ratings. At the section summary level to override the system-calculated average of individual item ratings. At the overall performance review summary level, to override the system-calculated average of individual section ratings. Note. An override that you enter remains in place until you remove it. To have the system recalculate the rating, remove the override.

This table lists the document template conditions that you must set for information to appear in sections, items, or subitems:

Field	Roles	Appears at Level	Appears If
Details	Any	Item	Any of these fields are selected for the section: Description, Due Date, Mandatory, Ownership, Supports, Status, Measures, Reminder Date, Critical, Percentage Completed.
Edit Details	Any	Item	The Details area appears on the evaluation and the Update check box is selected for the role in the Section Roles grid, Item tab for the section.
View Other Authors	Manager	Section	The View Other check box is selected Section Roles grid, Section tab.
Comments	Any	Section Item	The Comments check box is selected in the Section Roles grid, Section tab or Item tab.
Writing Tools	Any	Section Item	The Comments check box and at least one writing tool are selected for the role in the Section Roles grid, Section or Item tab.
Rating	Any	Section Item Sub Item	The Rate check box is selected for the section and the applicable Rate Section, Rate Item, or Rate subitem check box is selected in the Section Roles grid, Rate/Weight tab.
Weight	Any	Section Item	The Weight check box is selected for the section and the applicable Weight Section or Weight Item check box is selected in the Section Roles grid, Rate/Weight tab.
Add <item>	Any	Section	The Add check box is selected on the Section Roles grid, Item tab.
Delete <item>	Any	Section	The Mandatory check box is not selected for the item on the Template Definition - Content page.
Add Behavior	Any	Item (Competency only)	Subitems are enabled on the Template Definition - Structure page.

Evaluation-Level Actions

The final part of every evaluation contains the buttons that act on the evaluation as a whole. This screenshot shows a representative sampling of the buttons that you can make available to an evaluator. Other buttons that are not shown here are also available and are documented below.

Check Language

Select to run the Language Checker tool. The Language Checker tool enables you to check a performance review for inappropriate language that is used in the manager's document. When inappropriate words are identified, the Language Checker tool suggests alternative words or phases that are more acceptable from an organization's perspective.

Calculate All Ratings

Click to calculate all of the item and section ratings, as well as the overall rating that appears on the performance document. Ratings are not calculated for items, sections, or summaries that are overridden.

Cancel Evaluation

Click to move the current evaluation from a status of In Progress to a status of Cancelled.

Save

Click to save the evaluation and return to it later. The system calculates, according to template rules, all ratings were entered prior to saving the review to the database.

Available for Review

Click to submit the document for review by the employee, according to the review and approval rules.

Review Held

Click to record the fact that a review of the evaluation was held.

Submit for Approval

Click to submit the evaluation to the designated approver, according to the approval rules.

View Printable Evaluation

Click this link to view a printable version of the performance document. Use the browser's Print command to print a hard copy of the document.

Notify

Click this link to enter and address an ad-hoc notification message.

This table lists the conditions under which each specific button appears on the evaluation:

Button	Role(s)	Appears When
Check Language	Any	The Language Checker button is selected on the General page of the document template.
Cancel Evaluation	Manager	Always appears.
Available for Review	Manager	The review process that is selected in the Manager Evaluation region of document template's the Process page specifies that an employee review is required and you have entered all required information
Submit for Approval	Manager	The review process that is selected in the Manager Evaluation region of document template's the Process page specifies that an approval is required.
Review Held	Manager Employee	The review process specifies that an employee review is required and the employee has review the manager's finalized evaluation.
Acknowledged	Manager	The review process specifies that an employee review is required and the employee has review the manager's finalized evaluation.
Complete	Manager	Always appears.
Reopen	Manager HR Admin	The document is Complete.
Calculate All Ratings	Any	You have entered ratings for sections, items, or subitems.
Save	Any	Appears on an evaluation when the evaluation status is In Progress.
Cancel	Any	Always appears.
View Printable Evaluation	Any	Always appears.
Notify	Any	Always appears.

Overall Summary Section

Summary

Managers enter free-form text to summarize overall performance and accomplishments, or to discuss future actions or expectations for the next performance period.

Employee Comments and Manager Comments Sections

ePerformance delivers predefined employee comments and manager comments sections that you can optionally add to a document template.

Comments

Managers enter free-form text commenting on the employee's performance, or addressing comments or concerns that the employee expresses in the employee comments section.

Employees enter free-form text commenting on the manager's document. Employees can use this text box to record comments about anything, including the performance process, agreement or disagreement with the manager's evaluation, issues, concerns, and so forth.

Signature Section

You can optionally add a predefined signature section to a document template.

Signatures

This section includes lines for the manager's and employee's signatures and dates. At this time, ePerformance does not support a true electronic signature.

See Also

Defining Document Templates

Setting Up Text for Advisor Tools

Updating Section Item Details

Access the <Section> Detail page.

Use this page to change the evaluation details for the item. You can configure the document template to enable an evaluator to change the value of any field except the Title, Description, or Measurement. The evaluator can modify these fields only if the item is not coded (stored in a system table).

The value that initially appears for a detail field is set on the Content page of the document template.

Description	This field displays a brief description of the performance item or subitem. You can change the description of free-form items as needed.
Measurement	This field can display a description of the criteria for measuring an employee's success at meeting this goal or objective. For example, if the goal is to reduce customer complaints by 5 percent, the measurement might be: “Based on the number of complaints received by Customer Support through December 31, as compared to complaints made in the previous year.” You can change the information for free-form items, as needed.
Supports Item	This field displays the names of the performance items in the evaluation from the linked section. Typically, this field is used to link goals to initiatives, or competencies to responsibilities, initiatives or goals
Minimum Weight	If you're permitted to change the weight of the item or section, you cannot enter a value that's below the minimum weight that appears here.
Ownership	Select Manager or Employee to indicate who owns the item.
Due Date	Enter the date when a particular goal should be completed.
Reminder Date	Enter a date for informational purposes.
Status	Identify the status of the item. Possible values are Complete, In Progress, N/A (not applicable).
Percent Complete	Enter the completion percentage for an item that appears on the performance document.
Critical	Select Y (yes) if the corresponding item in the section is considered critical for the job or N. if it is not. No special processing occurs for items considered critical.

Check Language	Select to run the Language Checker tool. The Language Checker tool enables you to check a performance review for inappropriate language that is used in the manager's document. When inappropriate words are identified, the Language Checker tool suggests alternative words or phases that are more acceptable from an organization's perspective.
Calculate All Ratings	Click to calculate all of the item and section ratings, as well as the overall rating that appears on the performance document. Ratings are not calculated for items, sections, or summaries that are overridden.
Cancel Evaluation	Click to move the current evaluation from a status of In Progress to a status of Cancelled.
Save	Click to save the evaluation and return to it later. The system calculates, according to template rules, all ratings were entered prior to saving the review to the database.
Available for Review	Click to submit the document for review by the employee, according to the review and approval rules.
Review Held	Click to record the fact that a review of the evaluation was held.
Submit for Approval	Click to submit the evaluation to the designated approver, according to the approval rules.
View Printable Evaluation	Click this link to view a printable version of the performance document. Use the browser's Print command to print a hard copy of the document.
Notify	Click this link to enter and address an ad-hoc notification message.