As of October 9, 2020, SAP has released their documentation for the H2 2020 release. You can view the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here. As a reminder, preview release will be October 16 and production will be released November 20th. For full details on the release cycle, check out the SAP SuccessFactors official product updates blog here. For tips on how to manage a release, check out or blog here. For your convenience, we’ve summarized the highlights of what’s new for 2020 within Continuous Performance Management below!
The latest version of Continuous Performance Management (CPM) was restricted in the H1 2020 release and now will be generally available. The H2 2020 release builds on the redesign of the user interface for CPM that began this year.
There are four new admin opt-ins, two universal updates and one admin opt-in update available when using the latest version of CPM. We will start by reviewing what’s new.
New Admin Opt-ins
Latest Version of Continuous Performance Management using Upgrade Center
The upgrade to the latest version of CPM must be done as an admin opt-in using Upgrade Center. There are some features are automatically applied when upgrading:
- Activities View- which uses a Kanban board for activity management.
- Meeting View – to manage conversations.
- Achievements View – with a new layout that shows activities linked to achievements.
- Ability to link activities to development goals as well performance goals.
- Activities must be used to create achievements.
When upgrading to the latest version, all current CPM users are impacted. It is worth noting if you are contemplating the move to the latest version of CPM, once the latest version is enabled, you can’t go back.
Once the upgrade to the latest version of CPM is completed, there are some additional admin opt-in features that may be enabled.
- “Discussion Topics” replaces “Other Topics“. Any existing content within “Other Topics” gets converted to “Discussion Topics“.
- There is also a new feature called “Meeting Notes“.
- Multiple roles is a new permission based feature which allows users to have 1:1 meetings with anyone in their organization.
- “Enable Activity-Feedback Linking ” to link activities and activities tagged as achievements to feedback.
- Use of the latest version of Continuous Feedback.
- “Disable Deleting Feedback” is a carryover from the prior version that is now available in the latest release which prevents a user from deleting any existing feedback.
Several features are no longer available with the latest version of CPM:
- Achievement Feedback
- Achievement Linking to Goals
- Achievement Linking to Development Goals
- Coaching
Link Activities to Development Goals in Continuous Performance Management
Another new admin opt-in available for CPM is the ability to link an activity to a development goal. In the H1 2020 release of the latest version of CPM, only performance goals could be linked to activities. An example of creating an activity and linking to a development goal is shown below.
Some additional functionality is available as well:
- In addition to viewing activities by status and by goal, the Activities view will now have a tab for development goals.
- When viewing an activity in the Activity Details view, the development goal linked to the activity will display.
- Linked development goals will display in the Meeting view and in the Meeting History page.
- Linked development goals in the Activities Kanban board may have name and details edited.
- Goal linkage may be changed in the Activities Details page.
- Integration with the Career Development Plan and the Development Goals section of a Performance Management form when an activity is tagged as an achievement to a development goal.
Goal Management
If you are using the latest version of Goal Management, Development will no appear in the navigation menu. Instead, performance goals and development goals are housed together within Goals with a tab for each. An example is shown below.
The integration between Goals and CPM allows users to create and view activities within Goal Management. As it already functions for goals, it will now be possible to create and view activities in the Development Goal view.
Multiple Role Support for Continuous Performance Management
The final new admin opt-in feature allows roles beyond the manager/employee hierarchical relationship to use CPM. Currently CPM is limited to the view between a manager and their direct reports. The new Multiple Roles feature allows a user to invite someone else to share a CPM view which contains access to the Achievement, Activity, and Discussion Topic views.
This feature involves a concept called “Channels”. A user invites another user to a channel which contains the CPM Activity view and a Meeting view. An example is shown below.
This feature enables users to have ongoing conversations with those they work with but are outside the traditional employee/manager roles. Users can view achievements and drilldown into individual activities. The Multiple Roles option needs to be enabled in CPM configuration view to use this.
Admin Opt-in Updates
Latest Version of Continuous Feedback for Continuous Performance Management
There is an improved process to request and provide feedback when using the latest version of CPM. Continuous Feedback is not housed within CPM but instead is found in the navigation menu. An example is shown below.
There are tabs for feedback received, feedback given, and feedback requests sent. There are also buttons to ask for feedback and to give feedback.
New is the use of a topic and questions when requesting and giving feedback. Feedback is more targeted and based on questions asked of the feedback provider. Users could select from standard provided questions, admin created questions or allows users to write their own questions.
An example is requesting feedback is shown below.
This flexibility enables users to get constructive feedback on specific topics rather than receiving generic feedback.
Feedback details may also be viewed. An example is shown below.
Filtering of feedback has also been enhanced. Feedback may be filtered by linked activities, shared feedback or feedback by date range. An example is seen below.
Universal Updates
There is two universal updates for latest version of CPM that relates to feedback.
CPM Feedback Data in Goal Plans
Feedback from CPM is now available to display in the performance and development goals plans. The CPM achievements column for a goal currently shows the count of achievements tied to a goal. With the latest version of CPM, achievement related feedback will also display. In the CPM achievements column, clicking on the count will now display the feedback topic title along the topic title and three sets of questions/answers from the Achievements tab.
CPM Feedback Data in Performance Management Forms
The CPM achievements column in the performance and development goal sections of a PM form currently shows the count of achievements tied to a goal. With the latest version of CPM, achievement related feedback will also display. In the CPM achievements column for a goal, clicking on the count will now display the feedback topic title along with the three related feedback question/answers.
Wrap Up
We have now seen what new features you can look forward to utilizing with the latest version of CPM.
Do you need help managing your SuccessFactors Release cycles? Email info@worklogix.com or download our support services brochure to see how we can help!
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