Staff Appraiser

If you're in a position where you have to appraise staff, then you probably spend a lot of time completing the necessary forms before an appraisal. While it can't complete an appraisal for you, PlanIT's Staff Appraiser takes a lot of the hard work out of the task.

Staff Appraiser contains four main components: the appraisal writer, an employee information database, an employee log, and advice on completing appraisals. The employee information database holds the personal details needed to complete the appraisal, containing fields like name, job title, appraisal period and start/end.

The application automatically includes this information at the top of the appraisal form. The employee log holds the reviewer's notes about the employee's performance, both good and bad. These would be entered throughout the review period, and used when finally writing the appraisal. Because these two databases contain information about identifiable individuals, they must be registered under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1984. The employee has the right to see the information held in them.

On starting the Appraiser you have three options: start a new appraisal, open a previously started appraisal, or add information to the employee log. If you choose the 'new appraisal' option and you have entries in the employee information database, you're offered a list of names to choose from and the option of adding another employee. If you don't have entries in this database, you're just given the option of adding an employee.

Having entered the details you want included on the appraisal, you choose which appraisal form you're going to complete. There are pre-designed forms for sales and service, clerical, management and production staff, with a universal form for other categories. You can also use a form of your own design. A utility enables you to tailor an existing form to your needs or design a completely new form.

The specified form is then opened, with the employee's information at the top. Other sections of the form, blank at this stage, can include performance elements, employee's comments and acknowledgement, plans for improvement and the reviewer's comments and signature. This form is presented in a WP-like interface and can be edited manually any time.

Superimposed on this form is the Performance Elements dialog box. Listed here will be those performance elements, selected from a list of 25, that the form designer considers are relevant to this job. For example, the clerical form includes job knowledge, quality, quantity, co-operation, problem-solving, dependability, planning and organisation, oral and written communications, initiative and judgement.

Select the element to be reported on and the Elements Rating dialog opens. Displayed below the title of the selected performance element is a list of statements describing the employee's performance in that area; for example, 'Takes responsibility for own actions'.

Against the statement is a row of six radio buttons. These rate the employee on a scale of one to five, or you can select 'Not Applicable'. As the different element sections are dealt with, the resulting text that the application is composing appears in the lower half of the dialog box. The average performance score is also shown.

When you're happy with the selections made, the paragraph of text is copied to the form and inserted at the appropriate place. If you've marked the element high or low, a dialog may appear offering advice about words of explanation that can be added to the report.