| Features |
Benefits |
| Built
on the latest Microsoft ASP.NET platform. |
Dramatically
improves system performance, capacity, scalability,
security and reliability compared to other programming
software. |
Operates
on Corporate Intranets or over the Internet as a
hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS/Cloud) application.
|
Provides
access from anywhere in the world via any Web Browser;
even from your home computer or laptop (24/7/365
access; 99.99% guaranteed uptime).
The SaaS/Cloud model means that there is no need
for you to have or maintain any servers, or to download/install
any software, whilst having the latest version of
the Appraisal Smart software immediately available
to you as it gets updated (which happen frequently).
However, some larger organizations may prefer to
have Appraisal Smart installed on their own Intranet
servers. |
| Secured
by 256-bit SSL Encryption and a Hardware Firewall. |
Secures
data communication over the web. Data sent via an
SSL connection is protected by encryption, a mechanism
that prevents eavesdropping and tampering with any
transmitted data. A Hardware Firewall ensures advanced
network protection against hacking attacks, intrusions,
worms, and viruses. |
| Handles
from only 15 to thousands of employees, covering
all staff and managerial levels, at multiple worldwide
locations. |
Being
fully scalable, there is no limit as to the number
of employees an organization may have on the system
- now or in the future. |
| Competitively
priced, especially considering its diverse and unique
functionalities. |
Many
performance management system vendors will not sell
their system to organizations having below a certain
minimum number of employees (typically 200 to 300
minimum). Or otherwise their pricing is so prohibitive
that it puts it out of reach of most smaller organizations.
Not so with Appraisal Smart. Our pricing model makes
it affordable for companies with as few as 15 employees. |
Appraisal
Smart accommodates the following Performance Cycle
alternatives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 12-monthly performance
appraisals, as well as employee anniversary-based.
|
You
are not limited to any system-prescribed performance
management cycle (e.g. annual only). You can also
change this cycle at any time as necessary, or have
different categories of staff on different cycles. |
| Ad-Hoc
Appraisals. |
Apart
from "regular" employee performance appraisals,
you can also administer any kind of ad-hoc appraisal
on the system, such as for Probation, Promotions,
Succession, and Performance Improvement. |
| Accommodates
any kind of Performance Measure such as Goals, Objectives,
Key Performance Indicators, Competencies, and Values |
Many
online appraisal systems limit the Performance Measures
to Competencies only. With Appraisal Smart there
are no restrictions as to the kind of Performance
Measures you wish to use - you can even use a mixture. |
| Performance
Measures can be weighted according to their relative
importance and priority. |
The
Performance Measures of a specific position/role
cannot all be equally important. With Appraisal
Smart you can prescribe their individual importance
weightings in relation to each other. This indicates
to employees where they should spend their biggest
effort and energy. |
| Handy
calculators are provided to aid many different KPI
performance-level calculations. |
These
facilitate the easy calculation of sub-scales in
pre-agreed Rating Scales, which would otherwise
be very cumbersome to work out. |
| Organizations
can create a centralized Appraisal Template Database
(for all job/role titles in the organization). |
This
facilitates the easy creation of Performance Agreements
with position-specific Goals, Objectives, KPIs,
Competencies, and/or Values. Templates get downloaded
for individual employees at the click of a button,
and then customized by managers (if necessary) to
provide for local circumstances and individual employee
role requirements. They can also be locked to prevent
editing by managers once downloaded.
This unique functionality of Appraisal Smart ensures
the standardization of performance requirements
for the same Job Category/Title throughout the organization,
prevents the reinvention of the wheel wherever a
position is duplicated, saves eons of time, and
ensures a fairer performance management dispensation. |
| Numerous
Generic Competencies are available in a central
system library to select from and download into
Appraisal Templates and/or Performance Agreements. |
The
concept of Competencies can be daunting for many
organizations. Appraisal Smart has numerous Generic
Competencies available for those clients not having
their own.
Larger organizations frequently have their own Competency
Frameworks. These can be imported into the Appraisal
Smart Competency Library. |
| Several
standard Rating Keys are available, but client organizations
can also add their own. The system even accommodates
different Rating Keys in one appraisal form, to
cater for different types of Performance Measures. |
Facilitates
easy rating of Actual Performance against Agreed
Performance Measures and Standards/Targets. The
system also allows flexible use of Rating Keys to
suit different kinds of measures. |
|
Any number of System Administrators can be appointed.
System Administrators are typically Human Resources
staff, but can also be any other selected individual/s
such as PA's or administrative personnel. No special
skills are required to manage the system, and
detailed help files and tutorials are available
by mouse-click.
|
Larger
organizations should typically appoint a primary
Corporate System Administrator, and a Divisional
System Administrator for each division (or region/branch/location).
This way the burden of monitoring appraisals and
updating user records does not fall on one person
only, but gets shared logically as dictated by the
organization structure or its geographical spread
- even internationally.
Divisional System Administrators are only allowed
to see and manage the employee and appraisal records
of those units, branches, regions, or locations
that were assigned to them in the system. |
Automatically
calculates an overall Performance Percentage for
each employee (or the system can be set to calculate
Rating Averages instead).
|
Performance
Percentages or Rating Averages can be used as a
basis for performance-based compensation, in a fair
and transparent way.
It also enables HR and Line to rank employees and
compare their performance, especially those from
the same job category. Star performers can thus
be easily identified for appropriate reward and
other kinds of recognition, while poor performers
can be identified for appropriate training/coaching,
or other suitable interventions to improve their
performance. |
| Scans
all entries by Appraisors with a Language-Sensitivity/Legal
Checker. |
The
Corporate System Administrator enters inappropriate,
non-compliant, and other insensitive words and phrases
into a system filter to disallow their use by Appraisors.
This aims to protect the organization against litigious
employees. |
|
Appraisors (line managers) and Appraisees (at
all levels) can enter performance record notes
into the system at any time, 24/7. They can also
attach supporting documents (such as spreadsheets
and emails) to these notes as proof of the performance
or behavioral incidents happening. At appraisal
time, all these notes are accessed with just one
click, with the system automatically sorting them
according to the performance measures they are
linked to.
|
This
is the solution to significantly reduce the potential
for differences of opinion as to what has actually
happened over a performance period.
By keeping a record of such performance notes of
actual performance and behavioral incidents (highlights.
general, or lowlights), managers and staff do not
have to rely on their memories that much as to what
the Appraisee has achieved (or not achieved) over
the performance period. |
| Powerful
Multirater Functionality.
NOTE: The Multirater Module is different from
the Smart360 Module/System.
For more details on our 360-degree feedback system,
click
here
|
Up to five other managers, peers, direct reports
and/or internal customers, an employee has worked
with during a performance period, can be invited
to provide online feedback about the employee.
The results are output as averaged ratings, and
graphical and narrative reports.
This is valuable additional information on an
employee's work performance and behavior, used
by their managers at appraisal time.
|
Email
reminders are sent automatically to inform line
managers and employees of pending and overdue appraisals.
System Administrators can also create, save and
send bulk emails to all or selected units/sub-units
to e.g. provide them with relevant appraisal instructions
or information. Such emails can be sent instantly
or set to go out on specific/scheduled days/months. |
Ensures
that line and staff are prompted/notified as needed
to continue progressing with the appraisal process. |
|
Unique 'Appraisal Manager' page and dashboards. |
Allow
easy monitoring of the status of appraisals. |
| Appraisals
include a Performance Optimization Plan (which includes
earmarked training and development) for each employee. |
No
appraisal should end without a discussion and written
Action Plan as to how Line Managers can assist their
direct reports in performing their jobs better,
and how the latter can improve their own performance
- plus any training and development they could benefit
from.
This is probably the most important part of a performance
appraisal: namely how to use lessons learnt over
the previous performance period to improve performance
in the next. This philosophy and practice will lead
to a truly continuously improving and 'Learning
Organization'.
The Performance Optimization Plan can then be used
as crucial input into the Learning and Development
discussion, to decide what Learning Activities the
employee can benefit from, and to add that into
their Personal Development Plan (PDP).
For more details on our Learning
Management Module, click
here |
| 'Bulk-Create
Appraisals' functionality |
Create
Appraisals (Performance Agreements) for ALL employees
in your organization, each with their own unique
positional Performance Measures, WITH ONE MOUSE
CLICK.
This amazing functionality gives full control to
the Corporate System Administrator to ensure that
all employees have the correct Appraisal for their
relevant Job Titles. |
| There
are three system interfaces: System Administrator
(Corporate and Divisional), Appraisor, and Appraisee,
each with specified system access privileges. |
Users
log in with their own User ID's and Passwords to
ensure sufficient security and privacy. Each type
of user only sees what are relevant to them and
what they are allowed according to their set system
access settings. |
| Detailed
records of all previous appraisals are stored in
a click-accessible system archive (lifetime archiving,
i.e. records get never deleted). |
Provides
instant access to previous appraisals, which is
also useful in tracking an employee's performance
progress over time.
It is legally crucial to have a documentary audit
trail of someone's performance over time. Without
this it will be difficult to dismiss employees based
on persistent poor performance.
Indispensable in defending your organization against
litigious ex-employees. |
| Job/Role
Description Functionality |
Create
all your Job/Role Descriptions within Appraisal
Smart, and give online access to it so managers
can view those of their direct and indirect reports,
and staff members can view their own (by mere mouse-click).
As you update/edit your Job Descriptions centrally
in the system, everybody has instant access to the
latest versions.
Job Descriptions can be linked to Appraisal Templates
to ensure perfect alignment between them. |
A
range of advanced tabular and graphical reports
(by filtering any combination of Job Title, Appraisor,
Appraisee, Unit, Location and Performance Measure).
|
Facilitates
the ranking of employees based on ratings per measure,
or their overall performance percentages or rating
averages.
Graphical presentation of ratings and performance
percentages simplifies staff performance comparisons.
Appraisal Smart also allows you to identify the
poorest performers in any performance measure (e.g.
the Competency "Leadership", or the KPI
"Sales") so that such people can be targeted
for needs-based training, development and coaching
interventions.
The Trend Report measures employee performance over
successive performance periods. |
|
The system has an online Knowledge Base containing
detailed User Guides, Flash Tutorials, FAQs and
other resources.
|
Assists
greatly in getting users up to speed with Performance
Management and the Appraisal Smart System in the
shortest possible time.
Add to this our free email, online and telephone
support as per the Client License and Service Level
Agreement. |
| Excel/CSV
Spreadsheet importing of User Files, and updating
of existing User Files. |
Fast
upload (and easy maintenance/updating) of employee
data. |
|
To view the Goal Management Module details,
click
here
To view the Smart360-feedback system details,
click
here
To view the Learning Management Module
details, click
here
To compare an online Performance Appraisal
System to the traditional paper-based method,
click
here
To go back to the Home Page, click
here
|
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