Preparing for review cycles (admin)

Here is a checklist to assist you as you prepare to launch a new review cycle.

Update Employee Data

A lot can happen between cycles, so it’s important to check that the employee data in PerformYard is up-to-date. 

  • Update the list of active employees

All new hires and employees who have left the organization should be added and deactivated, respectively, before each cycle. If you’re using an integration with your HRIS, check the integration page to quickly confirm or ignore the additions and terminations you’ve made to your system of record.

  • Update reporting relationships

Reporting relationships are one of the key drivers of what forms an individual will be asked to author and sign. Use the Org Chart to see what relationships you have in PerformYard and update them as necessary. Alternatively, you can also upload a CSV file with all your current reporting relationships (pro tip: download the employee list CSV first so you can copy the format).

  • Update employee groups

If you’re using groups to organize employee cycles, you’ll want to double-check that all employees are in the right groups. You can see this on the groups page in the admin section, or by downloading the employee list CSV and checking the groups column. Don’t forget to look for who is missing a group in addition to who may be in the wrong group, as those are the ones that most often slip through. While you're updating data, it is a good time to review other employee data fields and make sure everything is up to date.

Helpful resources: 

  • Article on how to create an individual employee
  • Article on the purpose of Groups and how to manage them (Groups are case sensitive, you can manage with a CSV)
  • Video on creating data fields and managing data with a CSV
  • Article on managing employee data with a CSV
  • Video on how to deactivate, reactivate, and find employees
  • Article on how to manage employees within your HRIS integration

Review Your Forms 

While your forms may not change much from cycle to cycle, it is good practice to read them over before sending them out to the organization.

  • Update any references to time

One of the most common "typos" we see are references to a specific time period that aren’t updated before a new cycle. If you include a reference to the period in either the title of your form or in the body of the form, be sure to update these before launching your cycle.

  • Read over your questions

Questions can become dated or irrelevant with time, so it helps to quickly read through them before each cycle. Maybe your questions reference an initiative, goal, person, place or something else that it no longer makes sense to include.

  • Double-check your forms in Preview Mode

Your employees will be seeing your forms as they appear in Preview Mode. Check that the formatting is intuitive and consider additional helper text where it makes sense.

Helpful resources: 

  • Article on forms, templates, and cycles
  • Article on building forms in the Administration page
  • Article on question types and article on goal specific questions
  • Video on creating and editing review forms

Prep Your Template(s)

A few small changes to your template can make your life easier when you launch a new cycle.

  • Update any references to time

As with your forms, if the title of your template includes the name of the time period, be sure to update it.

  • Double-check your steps

If you’ve made any changes to your process be sure to update all the templates the change will impact. If you’ve created new forms, be sure those forms are included in your template.

  • Update the Days to Complete

The days to complete for both authors and signers may need to change from year to year depending on when you want to launch reviews, weekend timing, and when holidays fall. Check your plan for this review against the timing in your template. You can update these dates when you launch a cycle, but it is helpful to have it done ahead of time. Once you've done this, you'll be ready to set up your review cycle, preferably at least a few days before the cycle starts.

Helpful resources: 

  • Article on review template building
  • Article on 360 reviews
  • Article on redact author function
  • Video on creating and editing review templates

Check for Active Review Cycles

It's important to make sure outstanding review are wrapped up before you start on your next cycle, see the article on Closing a Review Cycle.

Plan Your Communications to Employees 

A few well-timed emails to your employees can make a big difference in the success of your review cycle.

  • The "It's time to start thinking about reviews" email

This is optional, but we find that an announcement 2-4 weeks before your cycle starts can be a great way to get the organization thinking about performance over the period and give employees time to compile their achievements.

  • Re-share any PerformYard trainings

If you are not running frequent cycles, some of your employees may have forgotten the basics of using PerformYard. We find that re-sharing the employee training can be a nice way to remind employees of that resource should they need it. If you’ve misplaced a past employee training video, your customer success manager may be able to help.

  • Announce the start of the cycle

PerformYard will send automated emails to all first actors on forms when the cycle begins; however, we find that an additional email from someone at your organization will go a long way to increasing engagement with the process.

Get a Second Set of Eyes 

It always helps to have someone else look over your account.

  • Reconnect with your Customer Success Manager

We would love to check-in with you before your next cycle to review your setup and catch up on your business.