Succession Planning Administration

Working with Succession Plan Templates

Default Succession Plan Template

The default succession plan template is the template used by default for succession plans and allows you to define an applicable approval workflow and succession matrices.

Taleo Performance comes with a default succession plan template, which is always used. When changed, the updated settings apply to all subsequently created succession plans.

The succession plan template is divided into three sections:

The Properties section enables you to select who can be included in a succession plan.

The Approval Workflow section is where you select which users are involved in the approval process and what levels of automated notifications are used.

The Available Matrixes section is used to associate performance matrices with the succession plan.

Defining the Default Succession Plan Template

Defining the default succession plan template consists in specifying the applicable approval workflow and the associated succession plan matrices.

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Succession Planning] Default Succession Plan Template

In the Default Succession Plan Template Management page, you can do the following:

Set the properties. See Setting the Properties for the Succession Plan Template.
Define the workflow approval of the succession plan. See Defining Approval Workflow.
Associate at least one succession matrix to the succession plan template for the matrix view to be available for the plan. See Associating a Matrix to a Succession Plan Template.

The defined approval workflow and succession plan matrices will be listed on the Default Succession Plan Template Management page.

Setting the properties for the Succession Plan Template

The properties section of the Succession Plan Template is used to indicate who can be included in a succession plan. It can also indicate if candidates included in a succession plan can also be associated with a requisition created from that plan.

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Succession Planning] Default Succession Plan Template

Click Edit next to Properties.
In the Properties page, configure the following settings:
- Use Available Successors to select whether current employees, candidates from Taleo Recruiting or both can be included in a succession plan.
- Select Allow matching candidate to requisition to be able to match existing external candidates to a requisition created from a succession plan.
Click Save when complete.

When a succession plan is being configured for a position, the appropriate users can be selected.

Defining an Approval Workflow

Defining an approval workflow provides the ability to determine who will approve a succession, goal or development plan and if more than one approver is set, in which order the approvals are performed and how many days they have to provide their feedback.

Approval path changes can be made at any time and are applied immediately, except for approvals that are currently started; these will be completed according to the initial path. It is important to know that approval paths apply to all users, except HR administrators. HR administrators requesting approval bypass the normal path and get a pop-up asking them to specify the approval workflow.

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Goals Management] Goal Plan Templates

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Development Planning] Default Development Plan Template

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Performance Reviews] Review Cycles

Click Edit next to Approval Workflow and in the Approval Workflow Editor page, set up the approvers by doing any of the following:
- Click Add Roles, select the required roles and click Select to insert them in the Approval Workflow list.
- Click Add Users, select the required users and click Select to insert them in the Approval Workflow list.
- To change the approval order, select Move Down or Move Up for the relevant user.
- To change the Approval (Days), which is the number of working days the approver has to respond to an approval request, enter a whole number of one or more.
- To remove roles or users from the approval workflow, select each unwanted user or role and click Remove.
If you want to send an email message to notify the approvers that an approval task was assigned to them or to notify the requester of the approval that the task was approved, rejected or terminated, specify the desired email message template by selecting it from the Message Template Selector.
Click Save.

All the user roles and/or users selected as approvers display under the Approval Workflow section of the corresponding template page.

Associating a Matrix to a Succession Plan Template

Associating a matrix to a succession plan template allows the administrator to define what matrices will be available for display in succession plans.

Configuration > [Performance] Administration > [Succession Planning] Default Succession Plan Template

In the Default Succession Plan Template Management page, click Add next to Available Matrices.
In the Matrix Selector page, choose the matrix you want to associate to the succession plan template and click Select.
If needed, you can review your choices by changing the selected matrices by clicking Add again or by clicking Remove to delete a matrix from the template.
Click Edit next to Available Matrices to define which matrix is to be displayed by default.

The selected matrix or matrices will be available to managers when they view succession plans page.

Note that once a matrix is associated to a succession plan template, it can no longer be deleted, only duplicated and edited.

Succession Plan User-Defined Fields

Administrators have the ability to add Succession Plan User-Defined Fields (UDF's) to the default Succession Plan template allowing for a new tab and UDF's on the Succession Plan page.

The ability to add UDF's to the Succession Plan allows customers to better track information that is most relevant to them, a position's expiration date or the last reviewed date, for example. The UDF's also improve a customer's ability to track information across plans to aid in facilitating workflow and approvals.

A new tab, Plan Information has been added to the Succession Plan to accommodate the UDF's.

When working with Succession Plan UDF's, keep in mind the following:

When adding a UDF to the Succession Plan template, if Editable is selected, the field will be editable in the Plan Information”tab, else the field will be read-only.
When adding a UDF to the Succession Plan template, if Requires Approval is selected, changing that UDF's information will re-trigger the Succession Plan approval process.
UDF's are at the Succession Plan level; they do not get added to the successors on the plan itself.

Configuration

Settings
Name	Location
User-defined Fields - Succession Planning	Taleo Performance (Configuration) > [Performance] > Administration > [Succession Planning] > User-Defined Fields

Customized Readiness for Succession Plans

Customized Readiness for Succession Plans provides the capability for customers to configure their own list of Successor Readiness values, which are truly tied to their specific business needs.

As delivered, the readiness values are:

Ready now
Ready in under a year
Ready in 1-2 years
Ready in 2+ years

Customers may change these values to represent as many different readiness scales and values that their business processes require.

Note:

The front-end default value is Readiness not specified; this value acts as a null and will always display as an option in the user interface. To avoid confusion, it is recommended that customers do not use this label as one of their customized values. Customers define their own default value, but the system-defined Readiness not specified will remain and cannot be deleted.

A new successor can be added from a people search in the Succession Plan, from the Nomination Slate and from a Talent Pool Search.

When Edit Successor is selected, or when adding a new successor to a Succession Plan, a pop-up window opens. The readiness value will be preset to the default value specified in the configuration. If no default value has been configured, the readiness value defaults to Readiness Not Specified.

The succession readiness values are displayed when nominating for a position from the Talent Profile, Talent Browser and Talent Pools.

Configuration

A configuration page is available in the Administration pages to allow the customization of Successor Readiness values.

Configuration Page
Name	Location
Configurable Readiness	Configuration > [Taleo Performance] > Administration > [Succession Planning] > Readiness List

Incumbent View of Succession Plan

All employees with the proper security permissions can now access their own Succession Plans.

Access to Succession Plans is determined by Job Position Managers. For example, if the Director of Workforce Planning, Howard Nelson, is to see his own Succession Plan, he must also be denoted as the Manager for that Job Position.

The image shows the Job Position configuration page with an example where the Director of Workforce Planning, Howard Nelson, is denoted as the Manager for that Job Position to see his own Succession Plan.

If Howard Nelson is to also see the Succession Plans of his direct and indirect reports, he must have the proper User Type permissions as well.

Note: In order for the incumbent to view their own Succession Plan, it requires the incumbent to be the direct manager of the job position, therefore, the approver for the Succession Plan should not be the "direct manager of the position" to avoid the incumbent having the ability to approve their own Succession Plan. Care should be taken to avoid this scenario.

Configuration

User Type Permission
Name	Location
Job Position Management	Configuration > [SmartOrg] > Administration > [Job Positions] > Job Positions
User Type and Functional Permissions	Configuration > [SmartOrg] > Administration > [Users] > User Accounts - must select user > [User Types] > View Permissions > Performance > Succession Plans If the proper Functional Permissions are not selected, they can be added.

Succession Nominations

This feature makes it easier for people to collaborate on succession plans; through a straight forward process for nominating persons to a nomination slate, validating them, and adding persons from the nomination slate to a plan.

While you need to have access to a succession plan to work with it, you do not need to have access to the plan to nominate someone. Once someone is nominated they are added to the nomination slate for that position. Plan owners can then review the nominees and decide to add them to the plan or reject them. People can be nominated from search results, talent pools, the talent browser and the talent profile. History is kept, recording when a nomination slate is created and when people are added, deleted, or have had their status change.

Taleo Connect Client (TCC) can be used to export a nomination slate. Also a TCC import can be used to reset nomination slates by deleting them.

Configuration

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Settings
Name	Description
Enable Succession Nominations	If enabled, system users can nominate people for succession plans, when they also have the Allow nominations user type permission associated with their account. The setting also enables the nomination slate. By default this setting is disabled.

View and manage user type permissions for succession plans are required for any users that want to work with plans and add people from the nomination slate to the plan.

Configuration > [SmartOrg] Administration > [Users] User Types > Performance > Succession Plans
Name	Description
Allow nominations	Users require this permission for the Nominate for a position... and Nominate for this position options to be available.

Importing Succession Plans via TCC

Succession plans can be created by using TCC and the fields available in the Succession Plan and Succession Plan Option entities.

Along with creating new succession plans and options, you can also update, merge, and delete succession plan options via a TCC import.

Example TCC file structure for creating a succession plan:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<load:load productCode="OR1006" model="http://www.taleo.com/ws/or800/2009/01" root="SuccessionPlan" operation="create" locale="en" header="true" delimiter="," quote="&quot;" xmlns:load="http://www.taleo.com/ws/integration/load">
    <load:columns>
        <load:column parameter="1" type="DATA" path="Position,Code" searchType="SEARCH" searchTarget="." localeType="NONE"/>
    </load:columns>
    <load:processingInstructions/>
</load:load>

Example TCC file structure for importing content into a succession plan:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<load:load productCode="OR1006" model="http://www.taleo.com/ws/or800/2009/01" root="SuccessionPlanOption" operation="create" locale="en" header="true" delimiter="," quote="&quot;" xmlns:load="http://www.taleo.com/ws/integration/load">
    <load:columns>
        <load:column parameter="1" type="DATA" path="SuccessionPlan,Position,Code" searchType="SEARCH" searchTarget=".." localeType="NONE"/>
        <load:column parameter="1" type="DATA" path="Employee,TalentUser,ArUser,EmployeeID" searchType="SEARCH" searchTarget="../.." ignoreEmpty="true" localeType="NONE"/>
        <load:column parameter="1" type="DATA" path="Candidate,TalentUser,Number" searchType="SEARCH" searchTarget=".." ignoreEmpty="true" localeType="NONE"/>
        <load:column parameter="1" path="EmergencyReplacement" searchType="NONE" localeType="NONE" type="DATA"/>
        <load:column parameter="1" path="ReadinessStart" searchType="NONE" localeType="NONE" type="DATA"/>
        <load:column parameter="1" path="ReadinessEnd" searchType="NONE" localeType="NONE" type="DATA"/>
        <load:column parameter="1" path="Sequence" searchType="NONE" localeType="NONE" type="DATA"/>
    </load:columns>
    <load:processingInstructions/>
</load:load>

Working with Matrices

Matrix Mode

The performance matrix enables an organization to better visualize and analyze employees, whether as potential successors in a succession plan or in a talent pool, by presenting employees on a cell matrix using two data points (X and Y axis values).

The most common values used for analysis are the Performance and Potential dimensions, which are the axes set by default. When a matrix is configured and subsequently used, the employees who have been added to the succession plan or talent pool and have data for each of the dimensions (axis values) will fall into a matrix cell. As for those who do not have a data value for one or more of the dimensions that are plotted, they will placed in the Unrated Successors list.

The user has the ability to move employees around from one cell to another. This override functionality is very powerful as the dimension values may not tell the true story. For example, the manager of a succession plan may decide that the original cell placement for an employee overemphasizes his candidacy as a successor. Therefore, he might choose to move that potential successor to a cell of lesser importance/value. Both the original and overridden cell placement are stored in the database.

Typically when an employee is moved from one quadrant to the next in a matrix, it updates metrics for that specific plan or talent pool, however, these changes can be reflected in the employee's talent profile metrics. When you edit a performance matrix, action buttons are provided for updating the metrics for all successors in a matrix or you can select to update individuals.

When an employee has been moved in a matrix, an arrow in the successor's icon indicates their metrics have been overridden. Now you can choose to update employee metrics and commit the change to their person record. When an update has been committed, you cannot automatically return the employee to their original cell, as you could when their metrics had only been changed for that succession plan.

It is important to note that updating employee metrics from a succession plan does not involve succession plan approval workflow. Metrics can be updated regardless of the state of the plan.

A color palette is available to customize a cell's background color in the configuration module. Also cell distribution details can be displayed, showing the percentage breakdown of the total number of matrix members in each cell.

To provide quick and thorough analysis, multiple matrices can be created and associated to the same succession plan template, allowing the manager to easily move from one matrix to another

A performance matrix can contain a maximum of 5 columns (X axis) and 5 rows (Y axis), for a total of 25 cells.

Each matrix can present 2 dimensions, one for each axis, and each axis can correspond to any of the 8 available dimension types:

Review Rating
Potential - this metric is customizable. You select the value you want for each division during configuration and do not set thresholds.
Risk of Loss - this metric is customizable. You select the value you want for each division during configuration and do not set thresholds.
Promotability Readiness - this metric is customizable. You select the value you want for each division during configuration and do not set thresholds.
Years in Management
Years in Industry
Competency Rating
Goal Rating

Furthermore, each cell in the matrix can display key metrics on any rated or unrated successor on the succession plan. The succession matrix can be configured to show or hide any or all of the available employee metrics:

Average Goal % Complete
Bench Strength
Career Plan Indicator
Fit Analysis
Competency Rating
Goal Rating
Performance Review Rating
Risk of Loss
Succession Plan Count

Creating a Matrix

Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [View Modes] Matrices

From the Matrices page, click Create next to the Matrices section header.
In the New Matrix page, specify a code and name for the matrix and check the desired options.

Allow employee metric updates enables an employee's metrics to be updated directly from a succession plan matrix, replacing their existing talent profile metrics with those from the succession matrix.

Show cell distribution includes percentage details in the bottom right of each cell, as a representation of what percentage of the total number of people are in the cell.
1. Click Save when done.
In the specific Matrix page, click Edit next to the X Axis section header to specify the column information.
1. In the Axis Editor page, define the column name of the matrix by selecting one of the listed dimension type.
2. Add or remove columns as needed.
3. Specify the labels for each column of the matrix, as well as the desired threshold for each column.
  
  NOTE: If you select a configurable metric dimension type, you then select a custom value to match the division instead of a threshold. The values available are dependent on how the configurable metric has been set up.
4. Click Save when done.
To define the rows of the matrix, click Edit next to the Y Axis section header.
1. In the Axis Editor page, define the row name of the matrix by selecting one of the listed dimension type.
2. Add or remove rows as needed.
3. Specify the labels for each row of the matrix.
  
  NOTE: If you select a configurable metric dimension type, you then select a custom value to match the division instead of a threshold. The values available are dependent on how the configurable metric has been set up.
4. Click Save when done.
In the Matrix Cells section, click Edit for each cell to which you want to assign a specific label and color, if so required.
1. Click Save to register your changes.
If you want the cell detail to show additional information about the population, you can select various employee metrics to be shown in the cell detail page. To do so, click Add next to the Detail Metrics section header.
In the Metric Selector page, select the metrics you want to show in the cell details.
1. Click Select.
For the metrics to show in the cell or as columns in the cell detail, click Edit next to Detail Metrics and then check the Show in Detail and/or Show in Cell option, as required.
1. Click Save when done.
Next, you can order the selected metrics so that they show in the order you specify. To do so, click Reorder next to the Detail Metrics section header.
1. Select one metric and use the up or down arrow to move the metric to the desired order. Repeat until all metrics are showing in the desired order.
2. Click Save when done.
At last, make sure to activate the matrix if you want it to be available for selection when adding a matrix to a template.

The matrix is now created and activated. A matrix that is activated and included in a template can not be deactivated and only the cell labels and colors can be modified.

Once created and activated, the matrix can be added to a performance review, succession plan or talent pool template.

Employee Metric Calibration

Employee metric calibration provides the ability to compare various groups of employees/candidates and to rate their employee metrics (performance, potential, risk of loss, etc) and current review metrics (current review rating, current review goal rating and current review competency rating) with respect to one another.

The calibration of employee metrics can be performed in the following contexts:

via the matrix or chart view of a talent pool, to adjust the employee metrics of employees or candidates in that pool;
via the chart view of a group of performance reviews, to adjust the employee metrics of the related employees;
via the matrix view of the succession plan, to move successors around in the matrix.

The employee metrics that can be calibrated are drawn for the Employee Metrics section of the Talent Profile and the current review ratings of the Performance Review.

When a metric is adjusted via the chart or matrix, it is important to perform the update action of the metrics for the change to be committed definitively and reflected back in the Talent Profile and Performance Review.

Configuration

User type permissions required to entitle users to calibrate employee metrics via talent pools:

Permissions Configuration > [SmartOrg] Administration > [Users] User Accounts
Permission Name	Setting Description
Performance > Employee Metrics > View	With employee metric viewing permissions, the user is entitled to view employee metrics and to perform calibration on metrics for his own use. That means the calibrated metrics will not be updatable.
Performance > Employee Metrics > Manage	With employee metric managing permissions, the user is entitled to view and manage employee metrics, therefore to perform calibration on metrics and to update the metrics so that the calibrated values are shown in the Talent Profile.
Common > Pools > View	To perform employee metric calibration within the talent pool context, the user need to be entitled to view talent pools.

User type permissions required to entitle users to calibrate employee metrics via performance review management center:

Permissions Configuration > [SmartOrg] Administration > [Users] User Accounts
Permission Name	Setting Description
Performance > Employee Metrics > View	With employee metric viewing permissions, the user is entitled to view employee metrics and to perform calibration on metrics for his own use. That means the calibrated metrics will not be updatable.
Performance > Employee Metrics > Manage	With employee metric managing permissions, the user is entitled to view and manage employee metrics, therefore to perform calibration on metrics and to update the metrics so that the calibrated values are shown in the Talent Profile.
Performance > Performance Reviews > Access via Manager Center	This permission grants the Manager user access to performance reviews via the Navigation bar > More dropdown > Team Reviews link.
Performance > Performance Reviews > View	To perform employee metric calibration within the performance review context, the user need to be entitled to view reviews.

User type permissions required to entitle users to calibrate employee metrics via succession plans:

Permissions Configuration > [SmartOrg] Administration > [Users] User Accounts
Permission Name	Setting Description
Performance > Employee Metrics > View	With employee metric viewing permissions, the user is entitled to view employee metrics and to perform calibration on metrics for his own use. That means the calibrated metrics will not be updatable.
Performance > Employee Metrics > Manage	With employee metric managing permissions, the user is entitled to view and manage employee metrics, therefore to perform calibration on metrics and to update the metrics so that the calibrated values are shown in the Talent Profile.
Performance > Succession Plans > View	To perform employee metric calibration within the succession plans context, the user need to be entitled to view succession plans.

To define the matrix or the chart view modes available in talent pools or in the performance review management view, the associated template must be configured accordingly. The matrices and charts are selected from a list of active matrices or charts, that must have been created and activated first to be available for selection.

Configuration Actions	Paths
To manage existing charts and to create new ones.	Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [View Modes] Charts
To manage existing matrices and to create new ones.	Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [View Modes] Matrices
To define the charts and matrices to be available to users when managing performance reviews.	Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Performance Reviews] Performance Review Template
To define the charts and matrices to be available to users when managing talent pools	Configuration > [Taleo Performance] Administration > [Talent Pools] Talent Pool Template

Matrix Fields

Fields related to succession matrices in Taleo Performance Administration are presented in the following table. Each entry in the table includes a field or button, a description, possible values (when they are predefined), the part of the application to which the field applies and the field's section header.

Field	Description	Applicable to	Header
Allow employee metric updates	This enables an employee's metrics to be updated directly from a succession plan matrix, replacing their existing talent profile metrics with those from the succession matrix.	Matrix	Properties
Code	Code of the succession plan matrix	Matrix	Properties
Dimension Type	Drop-down option that indicates the information on which is based the X and Y axis. The available dimensions are: Performance (default X axis type) - uses the manager's overall rating normalized value of the most recent official performance review Potential (default Y axis type) - uses the rating from the candidate's talent profile and matches to the appropriate cell on the Succession Matrix Risk of Loss - uses the rating from the candidate's talent profile and matches to the appropriate cell on the Succession Matrix Promotability Readiness -compares the promotability readiness rating of the individual to the threshold values established by the administrator and places the individual in the proper cell Years in Management - compares the years in management value of the individual to the threshold values established by the administrator and places the individual in the proper cell Years in Industry - compares the years in industry value of the individual to the threshold values established by the administrator and places the individual in the proper cell	Matrix	Matrix Axises
Division	A division corresponds to a row or a column, depending whether you are in the X or Y axis. Divisions have default labels, which can be changed anytime. In the user interface, the division labels are shown outside of the cells, along the axis.	Matrix	Matrix Axises
Label	Label of the cell.	Matrix	Matrix Cells
Location	Visual indication of where the cell is located exactly in the matrix, with the corresponding dimension values.	Matrix	Matrix Cells
Name	Name of the succession plan matrix.	Matrix	Properties
Name	Name of the metric. The available metrics are: Average Goal % Completed - uses the average completed percentage of all the employee's goals Bench Strength - is a enumeration value based on the number of successors in a succession plan. Possible values are: None (no succession plan exist), Low (no successor has been defined on the existing succession plan for the position), Medium (there is 1 successor) and Good (there are 2 or more successors). Job role in career plan - indicates if the job role associated with the succession plan or talent pool using the matrix is included in the person's career plan Gap Analysis Rating - gap between the requirements of the job position the successor is in versus that employee's current set of competencies Performance Rating - the manager's overall rating normalized value of the most recent official performance review Risk of Loss - the rating from the candidate's talent profile Succession Plan Count - the number of succession plans the employee is on	Matrix	Metrics
Show in Cell	Radio button option that indicates which of the metrics is to be shown in the cell on the online matrix. The selected metric to be shown in the cell will be indicated in the user interface by a message next to the name of the matrix, as “Displaying ...”. Note that only one metric can be seen in the cell itself. The other metrics can be viewed via the detail view.	Matrix	Metrics
Show in Detail	Checkbox option that indicates whether the metric is to be displayed in the Employee Details window.	Matrix	Metrics
Show in Print	Checkbox option that indicates whether the metric is to be displayed in the printed version of the succession matrix.	Matrix	Metrics
Threshold	Values applicable to each cell, which will determines where a successor falls in the matrix.	Matrix	Matrix Axises
Visible	Option that indicates whether the cell label will be displayed or not. For some reason, it might sometimes be necessary to hide some cell labels.	Matrix	Matrix Cells