What this module does

The Performance module does two jobs. On the Goals screen, measurable goals are set for each employee for a period, approved by the manager, actual values are entered at the end of the period, and the system calculates the goal score. On the Competency Assessment screen, employees use question templates to assess themselves, their manager, their peers or their direct reports.

The two parts are independent. A goal period and a competency period are opened separately.

Roles and permissions

Permissions are assigned from Configuration > Performance > Responsibilities in the left menu. See Responsibility management for details.

Role	Permission	What they can do
Admin	Performance Management Administrator Permission	Creates, edits and deletes goal periods; uses the Goal Groups screen; sees, approves and evaluates every goal in the company; corrects the period score; exports with Download Excel. Manages competency periods, question templates and reports.
Manager	Performance Management Employee Permission + having employees under them in the organization	Besides their own goals, sees their team's goals; if the period allows it, enters goals for the team, approves and revises them, and enters their own actual value at the end of the period.
Employee	Performance Management Employee Permission	Enters own goals, sends them for approval, enters the actual value at the end of the period; fills in the competency evaluations assigned to them.
Permission manager	Performance Module Permission Management	Opens the Manage Permissions and Approval Process screens. This permission is also needed to save goal groups and templates.
Badge admin	Badge Management Permission	Runs badges and recognition for the whole company and changes the badge settings. Does not grant goal period, goal or competency assessment permissions. The company admin and holders of Performance Management Administrator Permission can do the same.

Badges are part of the Performance package. If your company does not want badges, turn off only Badges in the Module features group of Configuration > Company settings > Modules; goals and competency assessments keep working (Turning company modules on and off).

"Manager" is not a separate permission. A person counts as a manager when they are selected in the Manager field of employees' Position Information.

Before you start

Complete these five items before opening the first goal period. They are spread across three screens; if one is missing, goal entry stalls.

Permissions are assigned. Everyone who will enter goals has Performance Management Employee Permission, and the person opening the period has Performance Management Administrator Permission (Responsibility management). Without these, Growth and hiring > Goals does not appear in the menu.
Every employee has a manager. The Manager field under Position Information on the employee card must be filled (Employee module). The goals of an employee without a manager are approved automatically, and their evaluation uses only the value they enter.
The evaluation scale is agreed. The scale is defined in the Target Evaluation Scale section when the period is created (default: 5 levels, 1–5 points). Decide in advance which achievement percentage earns how many points.
Period dates and rules are known. The period start and end, the goal entry window, who enters goals (Goal Entry) and the Minimum Goal Count (Creating a period).
Optional: goal groups and approval process. To offer shared goals as templates, prepare Goal groups and templates. If the end-of-period evaluation must go through approval, define approval steps per department on Configuration > Performance > Approval process (Approval process).

First-time setup

Assign permissions and check employees' managers (the first two items above).
Go to Growth and hiring > Goals in the left menu. If there is no period yet click Create the first period in the middle of the page, otherwise the New Period chip at the end of the period strip.
Enter the period name, dates, goal entry window, the Goal Entry and Success Criteria Entry options, the Minimum Goal Count and the scale, then click Create (Creating a period).
When the goal entry window opens, tell employees and managers to enter their goals.
Optionally, prepare company, branch and department goal templates on Growth and hiring > Goal groups.

Daily workflows

Employee: During the goal entry window, adds goals with Add Goal, brings the weights to 100% and clicks Send to Approval (Entering goals as an employee). After the window closes, enters the actual value (End-of-period evaluation).
Manager: Sees the team's goals in the Employee view, approves incoming goals with Respond or revises and approves them, and enters goals for the team if the period allows it (Team goals as a manager). At the end of the period, enters their own actual value; the score is calculated from this value.
Approver: If an approval process is defined, approves the evaluation with the Approve button on the employee's row in the Employee view when it is their turn.
Admin: Manages periods, monitors all goals, corrects the period score when needed and exports with Download Excel.
Competency assessment: The admin opens a period with the 6-step wizard (Setting up competency assessment); employees fill in evaluations on the Assigned to Me tab (Filling in competency evaluations).
Badges: The badge admin edits the ready-made badges, adds new ones, archives badges that should no longer be given and manages the badge settings on Growth and hiring > Badge management (Badge catalog and badge settings).
Giving badges: The badge admin gives a badge to anyone in the company, a manager to their direct reports, to one or more people with a message. A badge admin approves a badge that needs approval on the Pending Approval tab or rejects it with a reason; an award given by mistake is revoked with a reason (Giving, approving and revoking badges).
Peer recognition: When a badge admin turns it on, employees give badges whose givers are Everyone to a colleague with a message; every employee has a monthly number of recognitions that renews on the first day of the month (Recognising a colleague).
Automatic badges: On the Badge management > Automatic Rules tab the badge admin links an achievement such as years of service, a goal period score, completed goals, a competency score or a number of recognitions to a badge; an employee who meets the condition gets the badge on their own (Automatic badge rules).
Recognition Wall and My Badges: Every employee sees the recognitions in the company on Mine > My badges and leaves a short congratulation; My Badges shows the badges they earned and the recognitions they received, and a manager sees their team's badges on My Team. An employee profile lists the person's public badges (Recognition Wall, My Badges and badges on the profile).
Badge report: On the Badge management > Report tab a badge admin sees recognition counts, the breakdown by badge, source and department and the employees never recognised, and downloads the recognitions to Excel. Badges do not count towards the performance score; the goals screen shows them as information only (Badge report, Excel and monthly summary).

Statuses and what they mean

Period statuses

The period status is set automatically from the dates; it is not started by hand.

Status	Meaning
Draft	The start date has not come yet. The period can be edited and deleted directly.
Active	Today is within the period. Settings cannot be changed, only viewed. Deleting requires SMS verification.
Completed	The end day has passed. The period cannot be edited or deleted.

The lock icon on the period chip shows whether target entry is open or locked; hover over it to read Target entry open or Target entry locked.

Goal statuses

Status	Meaning	Next step
Pending	A goal the employee entered is saved but not sent for approval. It can be edited or deleted. Goals entered by the manager or the admin skip this status and start as Approved.	The employee clicks Send to Approval.
Waiting Approval	The goal is with the manager.	The manager clicks Approve or Revise and Approve.
Approved	The manager approved the goal as it is.	Wait for the entry window to close.
Revised and Approved	The manager changed and approved the goal.	Wait for the entry window to close.
Not Included	The goal was still unapproved when the entry window closed.	A manager or admin can approve it into the evaluation (the employee cannot).
Evaluation Pending	The entry window closed; the actual value is awaited.	The employee enters the actual value.
Evaluated	The employee entered a value; the manager's value is awaited.	The manager enters their own actual value.
Evaluation Waiting Approval	Both values are entered and an approval process is defined. The employee's other goals are still being evaluated.	When all of the employee's goals reach this status, the approval process starts.
Evaluation In Approval	All of the employee's goals for the period are in the approval chain.	The next approver clicks Approve.
Completed	The evaluation is finished and the period score is written.	-

Short flow:

Pending → Waiting Approval → Approved / Revised and Approved
   (entry window closes)
   approved goals → Evaluation Pending
   unapproved goals → Not Included
Evaluation Pending → (employee value) Evaluated → (manager value)
   no approval process → Completed
   approval process → Evaluation Waiting Approval → Evaluation In Approval → (last approval) Completed

The Target Entry End day is part of the window. In the night after the window closes the goal statuses are updated automatically; if the Goals screen is opened before that night job, the update runs when the screen opens.

Award statuses

An award, a badge given to a person, is in one of these statuses (Giving, approving and revoking badges):

Status	Meaning
Active	The award is valid. If its visibility is Public, colleagues see it too; its points count towards the person's total.
Awaiting Approval	The badge needs HR approval and a manager gave it. It does not show on the person's profile or the wall until a badge admin approves it.
Rejected	A badge admin rejected it with a reason. It is never shown to the person; the giver sees the reason.
Revoked	A badge admin took back the active award with a reason. It leaves the wall and the profile and its points no longer count; it stays in the badge management list as Revoked.

Notifications

When	To whom	Channel
An employee sends goals for approval	The employee's manager	Email
An evaluation approval step reaches someone (if an approval process is defined)	The approver of that step	Email
The morning after a goal period ends	Users with Performance Management Administrator Permission, with total, completed and missing evaluation counts	Email
A competency period is published	Everyone who will evaluate	Email
During a competency period, at the selected frequency	People who have not finished their evaluations	Email
An award becomes active (a badge is given or approved)	The person who got it; their manager when Tell the recipient's manager is on	Notification, push; e-mail to the recipient when Send badge e-mails is on
A manager gives a badge that needs approval	The badge admins	Notification, push; e-mail when Send badge e-mails is on
An award is approved or rejected	The person who gave it	Notification, push
An award is revoked	The person who got it	Notification, push
Someone congratulates an award on the Recognition Wall	The person who got it; at most once an hour per award	Notification, push

Mobile differences

The mobile app opens the same screens, but lists are shown as cards. The card view has no manager actual value column, no period score and no Approve button for the evaluation approval. Managers and approvers should do these on a computer, in the table view. Entering goals, sending them for approval, Respond and Enter Result also work on mobile.

Common mistakes and FAQ

"There is no Add Goal button." Goal entry is not open for the selected period, or the Goal Entry setting does not allow you to enter goals. See FAQ and troubleshooting.
"My goal was not included in the evaluation." The goal was not approved before the entry window closed, so it moved to Not Included.
"I have no manager." Your goals are approved automatically; at the end of the period you are scored only on the value you enter.
"Where is the 60%/40% goal/competency weight applied?" The goal/competency weight stored on the competency Settings tab is not used in any score calculation today; the goal score and the competency score are shown separately.

Performance module overview (goals and competency assessment)