Suggested Steps in Setting up Your System

Setting up and customizing Performance Pro is simple and easy. The time required depends upon how much company specific information you’d like to include. To help make the setup process go smoothly and quickly, we have provided you with a comprehensive User Guide and a more abbreviated Getting Started Guide. These Guides are available to Administrative Users from their Performance Pro Home screen. The Suggested Steps are designed to provide a very brief overview of the setup process. Please review the other documentation for specific details and instructions.

Step 1

Set Up Administrative Security

Two types of security  must be set up before you begin to use Performance Pro. Security is required for Administrative Users to oversee the system and for employees and appraisers to use the system.

Determine and Assign Administrative Security Access Levels

The confidential nature of performance appraisals requires that you begin by determining and assigning which users will administer your system. From the Administration screens you will be able to assign access to those who will access and administer the entire system, as well as those who will only access company or employee information.

Note

Employee and appraiser usernames and passwords will be assigned later after System Setup is completed. (See step 3.)

Step 2

Complete Company Settings

During this phase you will customize Performance Pro to meet your specific company needs.

• Enter Company Settings. From the Company Settings, Appraisal Settings screen you’ll enter your company name, define your rating scale, set the appraisal frequency and cycle, determine your default Goal vs. Factor weight, and activate various features such as Downline, Routing, Multiple-Appraisal, and E-signature.
• Customize Terms and Acknowledgement. The Company Settings, Custom Terms screen allows you to customize the title of the Ready for Meeting screen, abbreviation for Ready for Meeting, title of the Summary Comments screen, terminology to describe Factors, Goals, employees, appraisers, appraisals, Multi-Appraisers, Departments, Locations, Divisions, and text of the appraisal acknowledgement and form acknowledgement.
• Create Company Units. If you desire, you can create Departments, Locations, and Divisions, which may be helpful for reporting purposes. Employees are assigned to those units in Step 3 below.
• Customize Factors and Positions. The Content Customization screens allows you to customize company Factor and Goal levels, Factor definitions, and assign the Factors to your positions.
• Customize Score Levels. You  may customize Factor and Goal level titles, descriptions, rating increments, and final score ranges from the Level Configuration screens.
• Set Up E-mail Alerts. Reminding employees and appraisers of upcoming or past due appraisals is simple with e-mail alerts. Notify users that their signature is required as well. Such notice can be quickly scheduled from the E-mail Alerts screen.
• Review and Edit Forms. Template HR Forms may be customized or new ones created from the Form Builder screen.

Step 3

Set Up Employees

Setting up employee data may be accomplished in two different ways: (1) by entering each employee in the system manually, or, (2) by using the Import feature. The Import feature is especially useful when setting up the system for the first time. It is recommended that you utilize assistance from HRN's customer support team when using the Import feature. Remember that whichever method you choose you should have first completed the Company Setup information in Step 2.

• Enter Employees and Related Data. The Employee Data and Import screens, found under Manage Employees on the main menu, are used to enter employee related information.
• Designate and Assign Appraiser Rights. Appraisers are designated, assigned to employees, and Downline and Multi-Appraiser rights provided on the individual’s Employee Data screen or through the various screens found under System Setup.

Step 4

Review Other Key Performance Pro Features

You’ll want to review several other important features that will help make administering Performance Pro easy.

• Examine Reports. Review the variety of Reports available to help you effectively and simply administer Performance Pro.
• Goal Administration. Goals can easily be assigned to multiple employees or cascaded throughout your organization by using the Goal Administration feature found on the Current and Future Goals screens.
• Manager’s Resources. Resources intended to assist managers in conducting appraisals, dealing with corrective action, and setting Goals can be accessed from each appraiser’s Home screen. A Comment Coaching feature, found on the Evaluate Factors screen, provides comment suggestions for managers to use during the appraisal process.
• Training Materials. If you purchased Performance Pro Train the Trainer materials, they will have been uploaded to your Storage screen at the time your service was activated. Training for employees and appraisers as well as trainers’ guides are included.
• Multi-Appraiser Module. This optional module (available at an additional charge) permits multiple appraisers to evaluate the same employee.

Step 5

Begin Conducting Appraisals

You’re now ready to begin conducting appraisals. The Appraiser and Employee Quickstarts, available from the Administrative User’s Home screen, provide summaries of the steps in completing appraisals.