Moving your account onto positions

Switching positions on moves everyone in your account onto your own list of positions. From then on, a person’s job always comes from that list: nobody can type in a combination of job title, department and location that is not on it. Set up positions walks you through the move in three steps, and nothing changes for anybody until the last one.

How positions work explains what a position is before you start.

Before you start: import your people first

If you are bringing people in from a spreadsheet or an HR system, do that before you switch positions on. The setup uses the managers people already have to work out who reports to whom, so an import that includes managers saves you most of the second step.

Opening Set up positions

1. Choose Admin at the top of the page, then People in the left-hand menu and Settings.
2. Under Positions, choose Set up positions.

Your choices are saved as you make them, so you can leave the page and come back later. Start again clears every choice you have made; nothing has been applied, so it affects nobody. Each choice is also recorded in the audit trail as it is made, for example Set Sales Director to report to HR Manager in the positions setup, so you can see later who chose what.

Step 1: naming your positions

Each row is a job Learnient worked out from people’s job title, department, location and company, with how many people are in it. Jobs still to decide are listed first, under To decide. Once you decide one, it moves down to Decided. The biggest come first in each.

When a job has exactly the same job title, department, location and company as one of your existing positions, the setup merges it into that position for you and marks it Matched to an existing position. You can still choose something else for it. If two of your positions have the same job, the setup leaves it for you to decide rather than guessing.

For each job, choose What happens to it:

• Name it keeps it as a real position, with its people in it. Give it a name your organisation recognises, such as Bar Staff - Riverside.
• Merge into another position moves its people into a position you already have, or one you are naming in this setup. Use this when two rows are really the same job, for example because some people were never given a department. The list of positions to merge into is split into New in this setup and Existing positions.

A count at the top shows how many people are still on a position you have not decided. That number has to reach zero before you can switch positions on.

Screenshot missingpositions-setup-step-1

The Name positions step with three rows: one set to Name it with a name typed in, one set to Merge into another position with a target chosen, and one still marked To decide.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/move-your-account-onto-positions/positions-setup-step-1.png

Note: If somebody new is added while you are part-way through, their job appears as a new row to decide. Nothing slips through because the list moved underneath you.

Step 2: confirming who reports to whom

Each position reports to another position, and whoever holds that position manages the people in it. Learnient has filled these in from the managers people have today. Check each one, and change any that are wrong.

The list is split in two. No reporting line comes first, because nobody will manage the people in those positions. Reporting line set follows, and any line you change here is marked Chosen here. The top of your structure, such as General Manager, is the one position that should have no line.

Screenshot missingpositions-setup-lines

The Reporting lines step with two sections: No reporting line, with two positions and their Reports to boxes empty, and Reporting line set, where one position shows the Chosen here chip and its Reports to list is open, grouped into New in this setup and Existing positions.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/move-your-account-onto-positions/positions-setup-lines.png

You can also choose an Escalation contact for vacant reporting lines. If every position above somebody is empty, they report to this person. Leave it empty to use your earliest-added active admin.

A line that would loop back on itself, such as two positions reporting to each other, is refused.

Signup codes in the setup

If people can sign themselves up, every active signup code has to name a position once positions are on, or the people using it would start with no job. The last step lists your active codes. A code whose job title, department, location and company match a position is matched for you, including a job you are naming or merging in this setup. A matched code is marked Matched from the job this code sets. If a code’s job is one you have not decided yet in the first step, it waits until you do. For any other code, choose a position or Switch this code off. The positions to choose from are split into New in this setup and Existing positions, each A to Z. You cannot switch positions on until every code is decided.

If you switch positions off again later, each code goes back to setting the job title, department, location and company of the position it named.

Step 3: switching positions on

The last step shows what will happen: how many positions are named and merged, how many people move position, and how many reporting lines are set. Choose Switch positions on to apply it all at once.

If anything is still undecided, the button is not available and the page says why.

If any position people will hold has no reporting line, the last step warns you and lists them, with how many people are in each. It does not stop you switching on: the top of your organisation should have no line. For any other position on the list, go back to Reporting lines and set one, or the people in it will have no manager.

Everything in your setup is applied together, so either all of it happens or none of it does. For a large organisation, especially one where you merged jobs and many people move, this can take a few minutes. The page shows Switching positions on while it runs, and your setup cannot be changed until it finishes. You can leave the page and come back: it opens on the last step while the switch is still running, and takes you to Positions when it is done.

Screenshot missingpositions-setup-switching-on

The last step of Set up positions while positions are being switched on: the figures for positions named, merged, people moving and reporting lines, the "Switching positions on" note, and the button reading "Switching on…" and unavailable.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/move-your-account-onto-positions/positions-setup-switching-on.png

Why did switching positions on fail?

If the switch cannot finish, nothing in your account changes and the last step says why. The most common reason is that someone joined, or changed job, on a job that is not decided yet while the switch was waiting to start. Decide that job in step 1, then choose Switch positions on again. If the page says only that nothing was changed, choose Switch positions on again, and contact support if it fails a second time.

What happens next

Positions appears in the People menu, and every person holds a position from your list. Their manager in each job is whoever holds the position above it. See Setting up positions to add new positions and change reporting lines from here on.

Can I switch positions off again?

Yes, as long as nobody holds more than one position. Switching off moves everyone back onto the job their job title, department, location and company describe, and each person keeps the manager they had. The positions you named are kept, unused. When you switch back on, every job that matches one of them is merged into it for you, so the setup is a quick check rather than starting again.