Creating a performance review workflow
A performance review workflow is the sequence a review runs through once it is launched: who fills in which form, in what order, and what happens in between. You build it once and launch it for as many people as you need.
Before you start, publish at least one performance review form. A workflow cannot be published while any of its Form items has no form chosen, and only published forms can be chosen.
Building the workflow
Section titled “Building the workflow”- Go to Administration → Process → Workflows.
- Choose New workflow, then Performance reviews.
- Give the workflow a name.
- Choose Add item and pick what happens first. Form asks someone to fill in a form. Task, Decision, Pause, Notify and Start another workflow carry the rest of the process. Assign training, Create goals, Apply skill ratings and Apply goal scores act on the answers people gave earlier in the review.
- On a Form item, choose the form it opens and set Who’s responsible. Choose Employee for the person the review is about, or Reports to for their manager. If you choose a role, everyone who holds it can act, and How many must sign? sets how many of them must: A number (1 is any one of them) or All.
- Keep adding items in the order they should happen.
- Choose Publish.
Screenshot missingworkflow-editor-first-item
The workflow editor for a new, unsaved performance review workflow with the name filled in and the item drawer open on a Form item. The Form dropdown and the "Who's responsible" dropdown must both be visible, with "Who's responsible" expanded to show Employee, Reports to, Reports to (2 levels up) and Role.
Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/create-a-performance-review-workflow/workflow-editor-first-item.png
Starting another workflow from this one
Section titled “Starting another workflow from this one”A Start another workflow item launches a published workflow partway through this one — for example, a follow-up review when a review ends in a concern. Only workflows this one is allowed to start are offered.
On the item, answer Blocks this workflow?:
- Yes - wait for it — this review cannot finish until the started workflow has finished. While it waits, it shows as Waiting on linked workflow in Live workflows.
- No - runs independently — this review carries on straight away and can finish while the started workflow is still running. This is the default.
What publishing does and does not do
Section titled “What publishing does and does not do”Publishing makes the workflow available to launch. Until then it is a draft and does not appear in the list on the Performance reviews page.
Publishing does not start anything for anybody. Nothing runs until somebody launches the workflow for named people.
You cannot publish a workflow with no items in it.
Changing it later
Section titled “Changing it later”Editing a published workflow that has already been launched creates and publishes a new version rather than changing the one in use. Reviews already under way carry on with the version they started on, so a change you make today does not reach a review somebody is halfway through. The editor tells you how many are affected before you save.
If nothing has ever been launched from it, the published workflow is edited in place and no second version is created.
Choosing between workflows
Section titled “Choosing between workflows”Performance review workflows are picked by name when somebody launches a review. They have no rules deciding which one applies, and no default. If you want a different process for a group of people, build a second workflow and choose it at launch.
For the full rules on what a launch does, see How workflow launch works.