Find out ways for an admin to prepare for the launch of yearly performance forms to make it a more meaningful experience for everyone.
The biggest piece of advice; advanced planning is key! Make sure you include the right people in the decision making process early on to improve your performance review process.
You will need to understand the specific performance management needs of your organization. It is imperative to align with the business processes in order to have a successful performance evaluation cycle.
Preparation for the New Plan Year
Set the timeline for the Performance Cycle
Decide on the date range that performance is being evaluated on. Is it based on calendar year, fiscal year, hire date anniversary, or role-based schedule?
Who gets a form? All employees, new hires before a certain date, specific groups of employees?
Include prep time to review last year’s form and make adjustments based on employee and manager feedback
Determine the form launch date
Is there an annual launch for all forms or is launch based on the individual?
Based on the launch date, determined how much time is allotted for each step in the form
Configure the performance template, making sure the form aligns with your organization’s performance cycle, timelines, and evaluation criteria
Start by identifying rules for the form
Can forms be routed back to the prior step?
Do the route map steps have due dates? if so, are forms auto routed to the next step based on step due date?
Can forms be sent to others for feedback?
Can completed forms be sent to others?
Are the instructions clear on the form? Do certain sections need introductory text to guide the employee so they understand what they need to do?
Are there any changes to what is being rated, the rating scale?
Are there new sections to be added to the form?
Any changes to the workflow, any changes to the permissions on which roles can do what and in which step?
Data Tracking and Reporting: Make sure the performance forms are set up to collect data for future reporting and analytics. Use the data for insights into employee performance trends, team dynamics, and organizational development.
Update/Prep the System
Make sure your data is current
Update any reporting relationships so that the forms will flow to the correct employees’ managers. If any managers are on leave, make sure their direct reports have a new reporting relationship.
Make sure any job changes and pending actions are completed so the forms will reflect current titles and reporting relationships.
Test your form in a controlled environment to ensure it works as expected.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Provide communication on the process to managers and employees. Use multiple means of communication. Make sure they are aware of the time frame and what is expected of them each step of the way.
Training
Create training guides for employees and managers alike. Tip sheets, quick reference guides or more detailed references are helpful, especially if you are rolling out a new review process
Conduct manager training sessions. Include how to navigate the system and level set expectations for how to rate employees. Also stress the need to track notes throughout the year in order to be prepared to provide detailed feedback during the process.
Ready for Launch
Review the performance review template one final time and make sure everything is ready to go.
If the template is copied from the prior year, ensure that the correct goal plan is linked to the template and any references to the prior plan year are updated to the new plan year
Make sure the correct route map and rating scale are linked
Make sure the route map has any prior year dates and verbiage updated
Verify step due dates on route map are correct, if using
Make sure the advanced settings reflect the current year
Verify launch date and group of employees that the forms are being launched for
Verify email notifications are enabled and the text contained in the emails is correct and instructional
If forms will auto route to the next step based on the step due date, ensure that the nightly auto route job is set up to run
During the Review Process
Track timely completion of reviews. You can create an ad hoc report to check what steps forms are in. If a step due date is approaching and forms are not moving, it can be a signal to send out communication to remind users to work on their forms.
Provide guidance. Questions will arise and in order to make the process run more smoothly, be prepared to answer questions, route forms and troubleshoot as needed.
Post-Review Follow-up
Once the review cycle is completed, it is time to reflect and prepare for the next cycle.
Gather Analytics on the Review Process
You can track completion rates, ratings distribution, and other key metrics. Use these insights to monitor the success of the performance management process.
Set up custom reports to analyze performance trends across the organization. SuccessFactors provides pre-built reports for evaluating employee performance, ratings, and competencies. This enables you to summarize key findings to leadership.
Customize dashboards and analytics to review performance ratings, goal progress, and development plans at a department or company level.
Collect Feedback on the Review Process
Ask around, what worked and what didn’t? Discover what employees and managers felt bout the form’s usability and effectiveness. Use this feedback to refine your configuration for future cycles.
Prepare for Next Review Cycle
Note updates to make for next year’s template using feedback and changes in the business, employee development needs, or industry best practices.
Regularly assess whether the PM form and process are meeting organizational needs. Be prepared to make adjustments or add new sections based on feedback from users.
Plan for new business needs: As your company evolves, the form may need to adapt, such as adding new competencies, revising goals, or adding new development sections.
By following this checklist, admins can ensure that the year-end performance review process is thorough, efficient, and effective, benefiting both employees and the organization.
Learn the pitfalls to avoid in order to create a performance form that is impactful and provides clarity, evidence, balance, and has a future focus.
Here are some of the ways forms measure the wrong things and here are some tips to improve the performance review process.
What Not to Do #1
Measure behavior not results. Typically attendance, compliance, and soft competencies are scored. Responses are vague and do not provide guidance on what to continue to do and what to work on to improve.
What to Do Instead #1
Connect measures to business outcomes. Do not rate just easily observable behaviors. Include rating for strategic impact, customer value deliverance, growth in role.
What Not to Do #2
Use vague ratings.
Ratings of Does Not Meet Expectations,Meets Expectations and Exceeds Expectations are vague and subjective at best. Two managers could rate an employee completely different using this rating scale.
What to Do Instead #2
Create a scoring system that is well defined with examples for each score. Also provide calibration rules. Tie ratings to business impact and not on personal opinion.
What Not to Do #3
One Size Fits All Form
An organization with sales, marketing, research, and manufacturing cannot rate the varied roles using the same form. Each drives values in a different way. Customize role-specific scorecards based on the work that produces value.
What to Do Instead #3
Use a shared framework that stresses company-wide values, and standards. Have one form style but use different measures per job family.
What Not to Do #4
Make form too long and have too many steps
Some forms ask too many questions and have crazy workflows. This causes employees and managers to feel pressure to complete the forms under tight deadlines which leads to rushed and low quality responses.
What to Do Instead #4
Ask fewer and better questions. Use evidence-based assessment using metrics and outcomes, anything to remove ambiguity. If a question adds no decision making value, it doesn’t belong on the form.
What Not to Do #5
Use of Generic Competency Frameworks
While competencies such as “embraces change”, or “drives innovation” are aspirational, they are hard to rate objectively.
What to Do Instead #5
Competencies should be observable, job-relevant, linked to business outcomes and have defined behaviors for each level.
What Not to Do #6
Have Forms Built for HR
Forms that allow box checking, reporting, and legal defense are great for HR but are not tailored to the manager and employee.
What to Do Instead #6
Optimize form with clear feedback, meaningful coaching conversation and have to have better performance in the next go round with no surprises.
What Not to Do #7
Have Unusable Output
Weak performance forms don’t tie into development plans, pay decisions, drive staffing decisions or shape promotion paths. Don’t heavily lean towards rating subjective skills.
What to Do Instead #7
A well-designed form is operational, in that leaders use the output to allocate talent, managers use it to coach and employees use it to grow.
Overall Tips for a Better From
Make the form operational:
Provide clear, concise feedback
Have a balanced discussion: talk about strengths, but don’t neglect areas that are opportunities for growth
Create a path forward which identifies clear expectations, of view of what success looks like and how it is measured
Be fair and consistent in the assessment; avoid bias, assumptions, and judgments
Have a two way dialog with opportunity to ask questions, discuss challenges, invite reflection
You should now be on your way to crafting a well created performance form. Just remember that it should be comprehensive in that it assess an employee’s performance, encourages their growth, and support the organization’s mission.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
Check out what’s new for Career Development.
Enhancements to the Employee View in the latest Career Worksheet
Employees will see more information on the Role Details page when using the latest Career Worksheet.
Highlights include:
The titles for the Skills and Attributes to Improve and Skills and Attributes You Have sections now include counts
The explanation of how role readiness is calculated displays when selecting the role readiness of a target role
Employee View of Role Readiness
Enhancements to Manager View in Latest Career Worksheet
Managers can also enjoy an enhanced experience when using the latest Career Worksheet.
On the Summary tab of the Team View page in Growth Portfolio, managers have better visibility into employees’ career development, including:
View employees’ unrated skills and attributes
Unrated Skills and Attributes
View employees’ development activities linked to specific skills and attributes
Development Activities linked to Skills and Attributes
View their team’s target roles when granted the private-access permission in the Career Worksheet template.
Option to Disable Legacy Career Worksheet
Once the latest Career Worksheet is enabled, the legacy version may be disabled. Please note, when the legacy version is disabled, the Career Worksheet tab isn’t available in the Development module. If you aren’t using Career Path, Career Explorer or Mentoring, the Development module will not be available in the main navigation menu.
View Development Goals in Latest Career Worksheet
Development goals now appear on a role’s details page in the latest Career Worksheet. However, only development goals from the default development goal plan that have skills or attributes associated with the selected role will be displayed.
The Goal name, associated skills or attributes, and status for each development goal display.
Development Goals on Role Details page
View In-Progress Opportunities in Latest Career Worksheet
Actions and progress that users have made in developing their current or target roles will be viewable.
These in-progress opportunities with skills or attributes associated with the selected role appear in the Opportunities in Progress section. Once an opportunity card is selected, the user is directed to its details page.
In-progress opportunities on role detail page
View Recommended Assignments and Learning Opportunities for Development Goals
The assignments and learning opportunities that match skills and attributes selected for a user’s development goals are now viewable. Users can also link assignments of interest to their development goals.
This feature is available on a user’s own goal details page.
Users can view learning activities not linked to development goals. These activities and learning opportunities can be be added/linked through the Linked Learning section on the goal details page. Assignments then appear in the Linked Assignments section.
Users can bookmark recommended assignments and learning opportunities.
Linked Assignments
Features Now Available with AI units license
With the purchase of the AI units license, there are some additional features available.
AI-Assisted Career Insights for Current Role
Previously available for target roles only, now employees can gain insights into development actions that help them progress in their current role.
There is a new Unlock your potential with AI-powered insights! section on a current role’s details page which includes:
Role name and description
Skills and attributes associated with the role
Current and expected proficiency levels for these skills and attributes
Skills and attributes added to the employee’s Growth Portfolio
AI Career Insights
The insights are grouped into sections:
Summary which is a high-level overview of the employee’s current role
Suggestions for Improvement which identifies two growth areas for upskilling and career development with achievable suggestions for skills and attributes in the category, learning courses keywords, ideal mentor’s position, suggested development goal
Career Directions which are tailored career paths with a link to view recommended job roles
AI-Assisted Writing Available in Custom Learning Activities
Text and Textarea fields for custom learning activities now have AI-assisted writing available.
AI-Assisted Writing
Create Development Goals with AI Based on Roles and Interests
Using AI, users can create personalized goals aligning with specific career roles or skill interests. With the AI-assisted goal creation feature enabled, AI can be used to create development goals based on a current role, target role, or skills and attributes.
Create goals from roles
Create goals from interests
New personalized goal creation options using AI
Data Referenced Section Available in AI-Assisted Career Insights
Using AI, can view information being considered on the Data Referenced section on a target role’s details page in the latest Career Worksheet.
Data Referenced section of target role’s detail page
To learn more and get more details, see the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
Calibration
Auto Activate Calibration Sessions
You may now create job requests to automatically activate Calibration sessions. There is a new setting to enable in Admin Center>>Manage Calibration Templates on the Advanced tab.
A new setting, “Enforce session activation“, has been added under “Auto-activate sessions”. When enabled, if validation errors are found for certain subjects, those subjects will be removed from the corresponding session, allowing the sessions to be activated.
Previously, sessions could not be activated if errors were found for subjects during validation.
Once the Auto-activate sessions option for a template is enabled, set your desired activation date. Next, create the job request at Admin Center>Scheduled Job Manager to auto-activate sessions that use this template. A new job type, Auto-Activate Calibration Sessions on Planned Date, is now available.
Sessions can be auto-activated at the template or session level. If you set an activation date only in the template and do not specify a different date for individual sessions, the sessions will be auto-activated on the date defined in the template.
If you assign a different activation date to individual sessions, that date will take priority. If no activation date is set for either the template or the sessions, the sessions based on the template will not be auto-activated, even if the option is enabled.
When the auto-activation job is completed, you will receive email notifications detailing the results of the activation process. However, if the job runs but finds no sessions to activate, no email notifications will be sent.
Comments from Other Calibration Sessions
In the subject list of a calibration session, the comment icon next to each subject now shows a total count of comments from the current session and other sessions that are based on the same template. When you viewing the comment dialog box,there are separate counts and comments on the From This Session and From Other Sessions tabs.
The counts update automatically when comments are added or deleted from any session.
Comments from this session and other sessions
In order to see this, using Manage Calibration Templates, go the to Advanced tab and select “Enable Roll up comments from the other sessions based on the same template“.
Remove Inactive Subjects from Calibration Sessions
Inactive subjects may now be removed from all calibration sessions using the Remove Subjects from Calibration Sessionsadmin tool. Previously, only active users could be searched for and removed.
Inactive Subjects Removal from Calibration Session
Display Extra Fields in Bin and Matrix Views
The setting “Add an extra field to people card shown in 9-box view” has been updated to “Display extra field for subjects in Bin and Matrix view“. Found under Admin Center>>Manage Calibration Settings >>Global Settings, you can now enable this option and select an extra field to display for subjects in both Bin and Matrix views. Any field that was previously selected for display in the Matrix view will now automatically be visible in the Bin view.
Impact of Using Extra Fields for Views
Track Rating Changes in Calibration Sessions
Rating changes can now be tracked within a calibration session. The update makes it easier to track the rating changes and maintain a record of all adjustments made.
There is a new Rating Change History icon in the upper-right corner of a calibration session. Clicking the icon opens a Rating Change History page.
Here all rating modifications made to subjects within that session are listed. The Old Rating and New Rating columns display the rating label and also includes the corresponding rating value. The user who made the change as well as the modify date/time are noted as well.
View Rating Change History
Bin width adjustments automatically saved
In the Bin view of a calibration session, any adjustments made to the width of each bin are now saved automatically. When accessing the Bin view the next time, the saved widths will be applied. In the past, bin width changes were not saved, and each bin would revert to its default width upon reopening the view.
Changes Auto Saved
Exclude Contingent Workers when Creating Calibration Sessions
Contingent workers can now be automatically removed when you create calibration sessions.
A new setting, Exclude Contingent Workers from Session Creation, is available under Admin Center>Manage Calibration Settings>Global Settings.
Once enabled, contingent workers are automatically removed from the list of participants and subjects when you create sessions using:
Manage Calibration Sessions tool. After searching for users through the org chart or advanced search and then adding the selected users as participants and subjects, a warning message will appear if any contingent workers are included. Message will include which contingent workers been removed
Manager created sessions on the Calibration landing page
Sessions created via a CSV file
For learn more, you can view the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
Continuous Performance Management
There are no major updates for Continuous Performance Management, they are generally available and require no additional updates. Here are a few notable updates.
All Responses shown on Feedback Given tab
The Feedback Given tab for Continuous Feedback page now shows all feedback given, both unsolicited feedback and responses to feedback requests, not just feedback response for the target population for their permission role.
Search for an activity and link to feedback
The word count for Continuous Performance fields is now based on characters instead of bytes.
In addition, several field lengths have been extended:
Users can request and review feedback on their activities in any channels where they are the participant
When a user is the participant in a channel, they can request and view feedback on all their activities. Previously, the feedback functionality was only available for activities recorded in channels between managers and direct reports.
Share Activities Across Channels on Continuous Performance Page
Users are now able to share their activities across channels where they participate, giving relevant users the ability to view and edit these activities for seamless collaboration. These activity sharing records are reportable with Story reports.
Only the channel participant, who is responsible for completing the activities within a channel, can share them with other channels in two ways. They can also control whether the target channel owners can view and add comments on each activity. This setting is pre-selected as the default.
On My Activities with <channel owner’s name> page, select Share Activities button and choose activities that they want to share with another channel in the pop-up dialog.
Share Activity with Another Channel
On the Activity Details page, users may choose channels that they want to share an activity with.
Share Activity within Activity Details
Channel owners can track the source and destination channels of a shared activity through the Channels link in the Shared With: field on the Activity Details page. However, the field and link are only available for activities shared across channels. On the activities overview page, channel owners and participants can see the “shared across channels” icon on the card of activities that have been shared, to distinguish them from those haven’t.
Share Icon Visible for Shared Activities
AI-assisted writing is now available in more text areas on Continuous Performance and Continuous Feedback pages
When the AI units license has been purchased, AI-assisted writing now includes feedback topics and feedback questions for Continuous Performance. All free text areas now support AI assistance. Text areas also include activity names, activity updates, achievement names, meeting notes, discussion topics, and channel invitation notes.
AI Assistance for Writing Tasks
To learn more and get more details, see the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
The SAP SuccessFactors 2H 2025 release focuses on enhancing the user experience and leveraging AI. For your convenience, we’ve summarized the highlights of what’s new for the second half of 2025 release for Performance Management below.
Performance Management
Replacement of Legacy Performance Management Form Experience with Latest Experience
The latest experience of Performance Management forms is replacing the legacy one, which will reach end of development on November 14, 2025 and will be deleted on November 20, 2026.
The latest experience was automatically enabled in the Preview environment for customers using the latest Goal Management in the 1H 2025 release. This is not the case in the Production environment, the latest experience wasn’t enabled by default.
The latest experience has the key features in the legacy version with an enhanced user experience, a more flexible layout, more business rule scenarios, and generative AI features if the AI user license is purchased.
Enhancements to Latest Experience of Performance Management Forms
Some of the new features now available:
EZ rater
Goal comments and learning activities available when printing form
Forms can be printed in custom layout
“Print” button available for form snapshot
Additional fields are available on side panel: unofficial rating, expected rating, rating gap
Goal status colors display in form (if configured)
Help text added for rating field for competency with behaviors
Warning message to appear if proxy user does not have access to missing form content
Read only forms will not show action buttons
Mass Route Ungrouped Forms to a Specific Step
Using the “Route Form” action, forms may be mass routed to a specific step when they are using the same template and route map. In the past, only a group of forms from the same launch could be mass routed, not forms across launches for the same template.
Within the “Route Form” action, search for the forms by specifying the template or uploading form IDs. In the search results, select the forms you wish to move
“Route Forms” action
Once the forms are selected, they can be mass routed using the Move the form to a specific step option in the “Select An Action” step of the routing process.
Move ungrouped forms to a specific step
Enhanced AI-Assisted Writing in Performance Management
With the purchase of the AI units license, the AI-assisted writing actions, Generate Comments and Improve My Feedback are now available for goals, as well as skills, competencies, and behaviors.
When a goal is assigned a rating, users can access the two actions in the comment box for that goal, from the context menu of the AI-assisted writing tool.
New Business Rules
There are some new business rules that may be configured when using the latest experience for Performance Management:
Conditional Field Visibility, Editability, Required/Optional
Create business rules to set specific form fields to visible or hidden, editable or read-only, and required or optional, when certain conditions are met
Creating conditional rules provide flexibility to show form fields differently based on user input. For example, a manager giving a certain rating would require a comment
Add Review Steps upon Form Routing
Business rules may be configured to add steps to the Modify stage of the form based on meeting certain conditions. For example, a certain rating by a manager can trigger an additional step to add another reviewer to the process.
These steps are pre-configured in route maps and marked as Hidden Until Rule Execution. When the conditions defined in the rule are met, and the form with a hidden step is being routed forward, the rule is executed, making the step visible on the form.
All step types are supported
New Business Rules
Add link to People Profile Card View from Performance form
Links can be configured to the latest People Profile cards in the form template when the full profile of the latest People Profile is enabled.
In the Manage Templates admin tool, you can use the new configuration “[[CARDLINK|<cardId>|<displayName>]]” in the description section of a field to a add card link to a form template.
Add card link to a section within the performance template
This allows the ability to link to a card in the latest People Profile when working within an employee’s form where they can view and edit the profile.
Access to Manage Templates to update, download and edit XML templates
A great new feature allows templates to be downloaded, viewed, edited and added via “Manage Templates”. This removes the need to use Provisioning to update the form template XML.
This permission is applicable to performance form templates, 360 form templates, goal plan templates, and development goal plan templates. You can download templates and view template revisions without any configurations.
This does require an update to a role’s role-based permission to a upload new templates and update existing ones. Care should be given to users that will receive this access.
Manage Templates Role Based Permission for Upload and Update XML Templates
Once the role has permission to upload and update XML templates, the user can upload new templates, update existing templates, view historical XML and download the templates via Manage Templates.
Upload and Update Templates in Manage Templates
Goal Management
Here are some of the highlights of updates for Goal Management.
Purge Goals by Goal ID
The admin tool, Data Retention Management, has been used for data purge requests. For goal management, it has been used to purge performance and development goals by selecting the goal plan template in the purge request. This meant the process purged goal data for a specific user’s goal plan, and not just purging a single goal on the plan.
Create Purge Request
Now there is greater flexibility in purging user performance and development goals. In the latest version, the “Purge method” lists two options for purging goals: Purge by goal plan template and the new Purge by goal ID.
Purge by Goal ID or Goal Template
To purge specific goals, use the “Purge by goal ID” purge method. You can download the sample CSV file to get the proper file columns.
Purge by goal ID
You will need to populate a CSV file with the goal ids. Goal IDs can be found by creating a goal management ad hoc report that lists the goal plan template goal name, goal owner and the goal ID.
Sample Purge file by Goal ID
Once the goals to be purged are identified, add the goal IDs to the CSV file and upload to the purge request.
The existing method, to purge by goal plan template will purge all data associated with the template.
Import Goals for Target Population
Within a role based permission role, in the Administrator Permissions section>Manage Goals, there is now an option to specify a target population to import goals for.
Import Goal by Target Population
Previously, a role having permission to import goals would be able to import goals for any active users.
Now if attempting to import goals for users outside their target population, there would be an error message in the goal import email notification.
Minor Goal Management Enhancements
There are some minor goal management enhancements in this release which streamline the goal management experience for users.
For the confirmation message and button label in the confirmation dialog for Edit Performance Goal, Create Performance Goal, Edit Team Goal, Create Team Goal, Edit Development Goal, and Create Development Goal pages. the confirmation dialog was “Are you sure you want to discard the changes?”, and the corresponding button label was “Keep Going”.
This has now changed to “If you’ve made any changes, they won’t be saved. Are you sure you want to discard them?” and the “Keep Going” label is changed to “Cancel”.
Updated Cancellation Confirmation Message
On the Goals landing page, the warning messages for goal number and weight limits are now displayed as message strips. This highlights to users the defined limits of goal number and total goal weight.
Goal Warning Messages
On the Goalslanding page, the goal filter component no longer uses status colors
Goal Status Without Colors
Assigning Team Goals – users can select all loaded goals during the goal selection step in the Assign Team Goal and Cascade Goal dialogs. The number of goals is now increased to 100 from 20, and the checkbox is renamed “Select All Loaded Goals”
Update to Sharing, Unsharing Team Goals – users with the Share Team Goals permission can now share and unshare team goals with anyone in the organization
A more user friendly error message displays when saving goal plan template, it shows the cause of the error and provides a solution
Goal Plan Save Error
Consistency in use of “More”: on the Goals landing page and Manage Team Goals page, the button label “More” is changed to “Show More “
“Show More” replaces “More”
360 Reviews
Here are some notable updates for 360 Reviews.
Add Link to Detailed 360 Report in Email Notifications
A link can be added to the Detailed 360 Report in the “360 Document Complete Notification” email template by using a new tag [[PM360_DETAILED_REPORT_URL]].
When this tag is added to the 360 Document Complete Notification email template, users have immediate access to Detailed 360 Reports from their email.
New Token for 360 Document Complete Notification
How the tag is rendered depends on whether the option Enable HTML email notifications is selected in Company System and Logo Settings:
If selected, the tag appears as a clickable phrase: Detailed 360 Report for {subject user’s full name}.
If not selected, it’s resolved as a clickable URL, preceded by an introductory text: For an overview of raters’ feedback, view {URL}.
New switch to hide Radar Charts on 360 Detailed Reports
In the Advanced Settings for a 360 template in Manage Templates, there is a new option to hide radar charts on the Detailed 360 Report. The switch “Hide Radar Charts on Detailed 360 Report” is turned off by default.
Advanced Settings – Option to Hide Radar Charts on Detailed 360 Report
Minor 360 Review Enhancements
There are new visual and functional enhancements in this release.
The spacing of Competency and Objective sections have been improved
When adding back deleted participants during the Evaluation stage, participant’s original category information is retained and pre-filled in the Add Participants dialog
The Suggestions for Improvement section in Assisted 360 Reviews Insights now includes links to generate development goals
Error messages now explain the issue and provide troubleshooting.when users open, send, save, or perform other actions on a form
Information about behaviors (names, descriptions, ratings) is now used as input for generating comments
Multiple Review Reminders for Upcoming 360 Review Steps
You can now schedule several reminder notifications to prompt participants before a 360 review step is due.
In Manage Templates, in the Advanced Settings for a 360 template, there is a new option, “Series Due Notification Dates (days before due date)“. Using this option enables you to schedule multiple reminders when using step due notifications for the template.
You may set a series of reminders before a step due date. Simply enter the number of days prior to the step due date to define how many days in advance reminders are sent. Separate each number of days with a comma.
New Series Due Notification Dates
Using this option overrides any settings for the existing option Default Due Notification Date (in days), which supports only a single reminder.
To learn more, see the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here.
Performance review periods can extend over several months, and during this time, organizational changes such as reassignments or department shifts may occur. One common scenario involves a manager transition: a situation where an employee’s manager moves to a different department or role. This raises an important question: What happens to the employee’s in-progress performance form? Should the form remain with the original manager, or should it transfer to the new manager?
This article explores the impact of manager changes on performance forms and the system settings that determine which manager will have access to these forms. We will first outline the various trigger events that can cause a manager change, and then discuss the settings within the Performance Management (PM) form template that govern the transfer process.
Manager changes can be triggered by several actions, each of which can prompt a document transfer based on predefined rules. These trigger events include:
Manual Change: Executed via Admin tools under Manage Users > Documents Transfer.
Automated FTP Employee File Import: Transfers are configured during the initial setup of the FTP process and remain unchanged unless manually adjusted.
Manual Employee File Import: This option allows for different settings with each import, potentially leading to varied results.
Employee Change Engine: Beyond standard manager changes, this engine can trigger document transfers based on other criteria such as job code or location changes.
We will examine these trigger events in greater detail later. For now, we turn to the advanced settings within the PM form template that control the outcomes of such changes.
PM Form Template Advanced Settings
The advanced settings within a performance form template provide several options to manage what occurs when a manager change takes place during the review process.
Automatic Manager Transfer Options
These settings are designed to ensure a seamless transition and appropriate document handling. The following are key settings available:
Automatic Insertion of new manager as next document recipient if not already: This option automatically inserts the new manager as the next document recipient, ensuring continuity in the review process. The original manager is removed from future steps.
Automatic Inbox Document Transfer to New Manager: If the form is in the original manager’s inbox at the time of the change, it will be transferred to the new manager’s inbox. The original manager retains a copy, which will not be updated with new information.
Automatic En Route Document Transfer to New Manager: Similar to the inbox transfer, this setting moves the form from the original manager’s En Route folder to the new manager’s folder, again leaving a static copy with the original manager.
Automatic Completed Document Copy to New Manager: This option ensures that all completed documents are copied to the new manager’s Completed folder, providing them with a comprehensive view of the employee’s review history.
Hide Visibility After Manager Transfer: When enabled, this setting removes the original manager’s visibility of the form once it has been transferred, thereby restricting access to only the new manager.
Do Not Transfer Documents
Also found in the form template advanced settings, selecting this option means forms will not transfer when the manager changes regardless of any other settings configured elsewhere.
Document Transfer Tools
Once the appropriate settings have been enabled within the form template, several tools are available to trigger the document transfer upon a manager change. These include:
Employee Import: The employee import function allows for manager updates and works in conjunction with the automatic transfer settings to ensure smooth transitions.
HRIS Sync: This tool updates the manager on the effective date of the Job Info record and synchronizes the change to the appropriate user data.
Manage User: For one-off situations, this tool enables the manual update of an individual employee’s data, prompting a document transfer as needed.
Best Practices and Considerations
Handling manager changes during performance reviews requires careful consideration to maintain the integrity of the review process. It is crucial to align the system settings and transfer tools with your organization’s specific needs and workflows. For instance, the Employee Change Engine can be used to ensure that forms remain with the original manager until the review is completed, avoiding disruptions during critical evaluation periods.
Additionally, enabling the Automatic Fixing of Document Transfer and Change Engine Issues feature can help mitigate risks associated with RBP refresh failures, ensuring that document transfers are not blocked due to system errors.
Conclusion
Manager changes during performance reviews can present challenges, but with the appropriate settings and tools, organizations can effectively manage these transitions. By ensuring that performance forms are properly transferred and that review processes are uninterrupted, businesses can maintain consistency and fairness in employee evaluations.
For assistance in implementing or supporting your SAP SuccessFactors system, please contact us at info@worklogix.com. You can also download our support services brochure or visit our implementation page for more information.
SAP has announced the latest updates and changes for SuccessFactors for the first half of 2023.
Preview release is available on April 28 with the production release scheduled for June 2. You can view the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here. For full details on the release cycle, check out the SAP SuccessFactors official product updates blog.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
Latest Goal Management
General Availability – Universal
Latest Goal Management Now Generally Available
The latest Goal Management is now generally available. It does require an upgrade which cannot be undone. It is best to familiarize yourself with the latest features available and limitations before doing the upgrade.
Latest Goal Management
Once enabled, the latest version is automatically applied to the modules that are integrated with Goal Management. This includes as Performance Management, 360 Reviews,Continuous Performance Management, Career Development and the latest home page.
In prior releases, there were several limitations to the features available in the latest Goal Management. The 1H 2023 release addresses several these restrictions. We will review the most important updates.
Copy goals or create goals from a goal library.
Use milestones in goal plans
Use Advanced People Search to Assign or Cascade Goals using the latest Goal Management
View audit history for goals
Use legal scan
Dynamic Teams Integration with latest Goal Management
Latest Goal Management Updates for iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Create Goals from a Goal Library using the latest Goal Management
One of the best new features of the latest version of Goal Management is the ability to use goal libraries when creating goals. Previously, goals could only be created from scratch or copied from another goal plan.
With proper permissions, when clicking the Create Goal button, the user can now select the “Create from Library” option.
Create Goals from Goal Library
A users can select up to 10 personal goals from a predefined goal library at once.
Manage Milestones for Goals
It is now possible to use milestones (sub-goals) on goal plans. Milestones can be used for personal and team goals.
Milestones on Goal Plans
Use Advanced People Search to Assign or Cascade Goals using the latest Goal Management
When assigning a team goal or cascading a personal goal, the people search was limited to Name. Now an advanced people search is now available. The search now includes department, location, and division.
Advanced Search to Cascade Goals
View Audit History for Goals
When read permission for goal fields is granted, users can now keep track of goal changes. Anytime a goal is created, copied, cascaded, assigned, modified, deleted, or replaced, an audit record is created.
Audit Goal History
Users will be able to see a list of any changes were made. This includes identify who made the changes, and when. A before/after comparison for modified or replaced goals will display previous values and the new values for changed fields.
Details on Audit History
Comments, activities, and learning activities changes are not captured in the Audit History.
Use Legal Scan in the Latest Goal Management
The Legal Scan feature is now available and allows users to check whether their inputs for text and textarea goal fields are in compliance with legal requirements. Comment field are not included.
Dynamic Teams Integration with latest Goal Management
A new major feature integrates Dynamic Teams with Goal Management. This allows team members to link the their dynamic team’s objectives to their performance goals. Dynamic Teams has to be configured and the Enable Linking to Performance Goals setting turned on.
Team members identified as contributors to one key result (ORK) can link a dynamic team’s objective to personal goals.
Contributors may
Use the “display more actions” menu to open the Link to Goals side panel, where you can see linked goals or add a new one.
Use the ‘ Link to goals’ icon to open the Link Goals dialog to select a goal plan and the goals you to link to the objective.
A Linked OKRs section in the goal details has an option to View Details about the linked OKRs in a dialog.
Linked OKRs in Goal Plan
Additional requirements to use this feature include:
Being a member of a dynamic team that has defined its objectives and key results.
Being as a contributor to at least one of the key results for the objective you want to link.
Have permission to view the goal plan that includes the goal you want to link the objective to.
Latest Goal Management Updates for iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Many of the capabilities in the latest Goal Management had not been available for mobile users. The latest release address many of these limitations:
Create Goals from a Goal Library in iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Copy Goals from Goal Plans in iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Leave Comments on Goals in iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Manage Milestones for Goals in iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Performance Management
Updates to performance forms are minimal. We will look at a few of these.
User Experience Enhancements to Performance Management Forms
There have been enhancements to the user experience for PM forms which we will discuss.
Goal Section Updates
In the goal section some enhancements have been made:
Goal Details tab now appears first among all available tabs for a goal. Previously, the first tab was Achievements.
The Goal Name is now in bold font.
Goals on performance form
Page Anchoring
Previously, when the PM form page refreshed, users were anchored to the top of the page. Now when users perform an action on the form page, they’re now anchored to the location where the action was performed.
Toast Messages
Toast Messages provide feedback to users about an action they have taken.
For example, adding or deleting a goal, competency, or learning activity on the form page, a toast message will display confirming the action was performed.
Toast Message
Automatically Fix Document Transfer and Change Engine Issues Caused by RBP Refresh Failures
The Document Transfer and Change Engine issues caused by a RBP refresh failures can now be fixed automatically on a daily basis.
To enable the automatic fixing, select Automatically Fix Document Transfer and Change Engine Issues under Admin Center Performance Management Feature Settings.
Continuous Performance Management
General Availability – Universal
Hide Prior Feedback from the New Manager That Was Requested or Given By the Former Manager
A major update for Employee Central (EC-enabled) instances allows the admin to automatically hide feedback from former managers in Continuous Performance Management (CPM).
Previously, when an employee inherits a new manager, or a manager provides feedback to the employee and leaves the company, the employee had the option to manually hide or delete that feedback from their new manager.
The feature automates the process of hiding feedback given or requested by the prior manager when a manager transfer occurs. The admin will now have the option on the CPM configuration page to automatically hide prior feedback requested.
CPM Configuration
Visibility of Edit and Delete Actions for Continuous Performance Goal Cards Based on User Permissions
Continuous Performance Management goal actions are aligned with Goal Plan action permissions for Goal Management. Employees now have more control over their Performance Goals by creating, editing, or deleting directly in Continuous Performance Management (CPM). When integrated with Goal Management, changes to Performance Goals by the CPM user are reflected in the user’s Goal Plan.
The permissions for available actions on a goal in Continuous Performance Management experience respect Goal Plan configuration. In the previous version of CPM, users were shown both Edit and Delete options for goals. Now employees see actions for edit, delete or edit and delete for Goal cards based on their granted permissions.
There are three different access views of the Goal card: Edit, Delete, Edit and Delete. With this release, the user is only shown the options that they have permissions to use. Previously, Goal cards shown in My Activities view of Continuous Performance allowed all users access to edit or delete actions for the goal.
Now on the My Activities view with the employee’s permission to only edit goals, the Edit icon is what they will see on the Goal cards.
Edit Goals
When an employee’s permission only allows to delete a goal, the delete icon is the only action available on the Goal cards on the My Activities view.
Delete Goals
To modify an Activity linked to a Goal, select that Activity. This opens a new view with Activity Details. Separate Edit and Delete options are available for the selected Activity.
Activity Link to Goal
Use Continuous Feedback in the SAP SuccessFactors App in Microsoft Teams
When SAP SuccessFactors and Microsoft 365 are integrated, a new feature enables allows Continuous Feedback of the latest Continuous Performance Management within Microsoft Teams.
Within Teams, users can enter the SAP SuccessFactors app from the app bar or the compose message area of any chat and perform these tasks:
Request feedback: users can send a feedback request to others to ask for feedback on their performance at work
Give feedback: users who receive a feedback request can provide their feedback and send it back to the requester
Continuous Feedback from Microsoft Teams
Then find and select the person to collect feedback from. Fill in the questions to ask.
Questions for Feedback Provider
Receiver is then notified and can reply in the SF app.
Replacement of Continuous Performance Management Legacy Version with the Continuous Performance Management Latest Version
The legacy version of Continuous Performance Management (CPM) reached end of maintenance on May 20, 2022 and will be deleted as of May 24, 2024.
The replacement is the latest version of CPM is currently available in the Upgrade Center. If no action is taken, your company will be automatically upgraded to the latest version after the deletion date.General Availability – Admin Opt-Ins
Calibration
General Availability – Universal
New Filter Options in Calibration Session
There are now six more filter options to narrow down employees to be displayed in a calibration session.
The new filter options are:
Discussed
Country
New to Position
Future Leader
Key Position,
Matrix Managed
Additional Filters for Calibration Session Employee Search
Discussed is predefined as a default filter. To use the other five filters, enable in Filter Fields from Admin Center >Manage Calibration Settings>Search and Filter Fields.
Calculated Performance Management Ratings Available in List View
You can now view calculated ratings of employees for all performance rating elements in the List view of a calibration session.
By enabling the new admin option Show Calculated Rating from Performance Management in List View at Admin Center >Manage Calibration Templates>Views>List View, calculated ratings of employees can be shown in the List view.
When manual rating for performance elements are enabled, calculated ratings display in the same column as manual ratings. Previously, only manual ratings were shown for the rating element.
When calculated rating for performance elements is enabled, calculated ratings display in the same column as rating labels. Previously, calculated ratings were shown as rating labels defined in rating scales.
Calculated Ratings in Calibration List View
Improved Format of E-mail Notifications Regarding Calibration Rating Changes
Next is a minor update generally available. Columns are left-aligned in e-mail notifications about rating changes in finalized calibration sessions. This update is easier to read. Previously the header and data were not aligned.
Updated Calibration Rating Changes Email
Calibration Configuration Available in Configuration Center
You can now view, download, and transport parts of Calibration configurations using Configuration Center.
Configuration Center
360 Reviews
There are very minor 360 Review updates. Highlights are described below.
Participants are now loaded on demand in the Evaluation Summary section of 360 Reviews forms.
Previously when a 360 form was opened, all participants were all loaded at once. In rare cases where a form had a great number of participants, there was potential to cause performance issues.
With the latest release, if a form has fewer than 100 participants, all the participants are loaded when the form is opened. If the form has more than 100 participants, the first 100 are loaded but users can scroll down to the bottom of the list to trigger further loading.
Deprecation of 360 Reviews v11 Version
The 360 Reviews v11 version will reach the end of maintenance on May 19, 2023 and will be deleted on November 17, 2023.
If you’re using 360 Reviews v11 Version, you should migrate to 360 Reviews – SAP Fiori Version.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
For your convenience, we’ve summarized the highlights of 1H 2023 minor visual enhancements for Performance Management and Career Development.
Visual Enhancements
There were several minor visual enhancements in this release. The visual enhancements for this release provide a more user friendly and consistent experience.
There are four types of changes:
Text changes (labels, error messages, or roll-over texts)
Iconography (new or changed icons)
Interaction pattern (new position of interaction, new order of list, new or changed buttons)
Styling (layout, spacing, or other design changes)
We will review some of the more notable visual enhancements for Performance Management, 360 Reviews, Continuous Performance Management, Calibration and Mentoring.
Performance Management
Search for users to send completed form to
Each set of filters is now below its category name
The Search Users button is below all the filters
Search Users
Create New Form from Performance Inbox
When launching a performance form from a user’s inbox, the date fields are now indented and right aligned.
Form Launch
Form Inbox Tooltips
In the Performance inbox, the tooltip for the icon in the Employee column is “View more information about <employee name>”,
Employee Info Tooltip
The tooltip for the icon in the Action column is “Add <form title> to Outlook”.
ActionTooltip
Cancel button placement updated
The button to cancel an action has been moved to the right.
This change applies to almost all user interfaces in Performance Management, including: Add Objectives from Objective Plans dialog, Send to Next Step page, Ask for Feedback dialog, Stack Ranker page, Comment dialog, Legal Scan dialog, and Print Setup dialog.
Here are some examples.
Adding objectives tot a PM form.
Return to Form button placement
Ask for Feedback dialog
Ask for Feedback Cancel button placement
Stack Ranker
Stack Ranker Cancel button placement
Goal in the goal section or Competency in the competency section
The first column header is Goal in the goal section orCompetencyin the competency section of a performance form. Previously Expand All and Collapse All were inthe first column table header
The Expand All and Collapse All options now appear in the top-left corner above the table
Goal section layout
360 Reviews
Cancel button placement updated for 360 Reviews
The Cancel button has been moved to the right for 360 Reviews.
Changes include opened 360 Reviews form, Goal Weights dialog, Add Participants dialog, Send Back dialog, Find Employee dialog, and Add Competencies dialog.
Here are some examples.
Canceling an opened 360 Reviews form
Cancel button placement on 360 Review
Canceling a participant search
Cancel confirmation to next step
Cancel button on Confirmation
Continuous Performance Management
The icon for the Request Feedback on the latest home page has two intersecting talk balloons.
Request Feedback Quick Action
Previously the icon had talk balloons that included a question mark and an exclamation mark.
Achievements on Mobile Device
On the Android app, the Visible to my manager switch and the Mark as Achievement switch have wider tracks, and new color mappings.
Achievements on Android
Career Development – Mentoring
Successful Enrollment Message
When users sign up for an open enrollment or unsupervised program as a mentee there is a “success” message. The message has been enhanced to now include a reminder for the user that they can contact preferred mentors directly if they don’t hear from the mentors for an extended period of time.
Mentoring Enrollment Message
Mentor Participation Approval Request
The Mentor Participation Approval Requests have been updated.
The Approve and Decline buttons are now closer to the message text. The buttons used to be at the bottom of the page.
Mentor Participation Request
Confirmation for Joining Mentoring Program
When signing up for a mentoring program and a user decides to Save for Later, there is now a confirmation message pop up for them to confirm if they want to save the draft for joining the program for later.
SAP has announced the latest updates and changes for SuccessFactors for the first half of 2023.
Preview release is on April 28 with the production release is scheduled for June 2. You can view the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here. For full details on the release cycle, check out the SAP SuccessFactors official product updates blog.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
For your convenience, we’ve summarized the highlights of what’s new for 1H 2023 Career Development below.
Career Development
There are a few universal updates for Career Development that are reviewed below.
Career Worksheet – General Availability
Career Development Configurations Available in Configuration Center
You can now view, download, and transport Career Development configurations using Configuration Center.
Configuration Center
New Action Available in Action Search
On a career worksheet, View my current role in Career Worksheet action is now available for use in the global search box. Users can enter the exact text of the action or select from suggested actions to navigate to the Career Worksheet page.
Current Role Action
The new action takes users directly to a selected page and eliminates multiple steps to get there.
Career Worksheet Data in Story Reports Now Limited to Target Population
The Career Worksheet data that users can view in Story reports, including current and target roles, is now limited to their target population.
Changed Permission for Users to Show Target Roles in People Profile
Now a user only needs View permission (User Permissions>Employee Data>Preferred Next Move) in order to select the Make public in Live Profile checkbox in Career Worksheet to show target roles in People Profile.
Previously, View and Edit permissions were required. Now a user can select the option to show a role in Career Worksheet. The role then appears in the Career Goals block in People Profile.
Link to Career Goal Block
Mentoring – General Availability – Universal
Approvals for Mentoring Requests on the Latest Home Page
In an open enrollment or unsupervised mentoring program, Mentors can now accept or decline the mentoring requests sent by mentees in the Approvals section on the latest home page.
Accept or Decline Mentoring Requests
View More Recommended Mentors
When a user signs up for a mentoring program as a mentee, they can now view up to 100 recommended mentors. Previously, only 10 mentors were recommended.
While signing up and choosing Show Recommended Mentors, now there will be two rows of recommended mentor cards with the View More link below the cards.
Recommended Mentors
Customize Mentoring Email Notifications
For any customized program type created with text replacement for a Mentoring programs, email notifications for a specific program type may be customized in Email Notification Templates Settings as well.
Customize Mentoring Emails
Approvals for Mentoring Requests on the Latest Home Page in iOS and Android Mobile Apps
SAP SuccessFactors Mobile users can now search for mentors from a recommended mentoring program they haven’t joined in Opportunity Marketplace. Previously, they had to join the program first.
When a user wants to invite someone they found to be their mentor, choose Submit Request on the Mentor or Bookmarks page. They will be prompted with a message guiding them to join the program first.
Mobile Message when Joining
After joining the program, users can submit a mentoring request to their preferred mentor directly on the page.
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