Configuring General Settings

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to identify fields in General Settings.

Performance Form Terminology

After creating a new Performance Review form template, you will decide on several settings related to the performance review form and the process you plan to use. Below is a table with terminology pertaining to performance forms.

Term	Definition
Fields	Component of the form template that defines one type of information to be collected (for example, rating of performance on one goal, comment box for one goal).
Sections	Comprised of fields and defines different parts of the form template designed to collect specific information (e,g., goals section, summary section).
General Settings	Section of the form template where foundational pieces of the template are defined.
Team Overview	Dashboard where managers keep track of employee progress in reviews and can loop in another person to give feedback on that employee.
Button	Option that is turned on/off to be usable on the performance form to end-user raters – for example, send form back a step, delete form, bring in another rater.
Form Template Settings	Configurations that affect the entire form template (for example, a button to send a form back one step is on/off).
Button Permission	Allows buttons to be permissioned as usable to specific roles, at specific steps of the route map. Dependent on whether the switch for a button is enabled/disabled in Form Template Settings.
Calculated Rating	Score provided by the system that averages all section ratings by weights to create one overall score. Ratings that are calculated only include those provided by a manager or other role permissioned to have the rating of record.
Rating of Record	Calculated or manual rating provided in the Overall Summary Section. Often a form subject’s manager is the role permissioned to set the rating of record. The rating of a record is provided prior to the form moving into the Signature stage in the route map.

General Settings

The General Settings section is where the foundational pieces of the template are defined. This section contains fields that affect the form globally, meaning changes here provide the basic settings for the form to function correctly.

There are three elements that are essential for the form to function properly:

In General Settings, a rating scale must be selected.
In General Settings, a route map must be already set. Otherwise, the route map should be assigned to the template in Form Template Settings.
Every goal section must be linked to a goal plan.

Caution

If the Route Map is blank (not set), we should always navigate to Form Template Settings and select the route map associated to our template from there and not from the General Settings, to preserve any permissions.

When creating a new form from an existing one using Save As... the route map and rating scale will be copied over, as well as any existing permissions.

The general settings section is accessed from Manage Templates and clicking on the Performance Review tab. Click on the template name to open it, and select General Settings.

General Settings Table

Field	Description
Name	The title of the template that is going to be visible to end users. An implementation consultant configures language pack translations, but you may modify the translation independently here.
Description	Short description of the form that is only visible in the Manage Templates area to administrators.
Route Map	Directs the workflow of the form during the review cycle and is required before saving the form template. An additional field displays in the Route Map Description for reference purposes, if available. The route map should already be selected; otherwise, make sure to navigate to Form Template Settings to assign the route map to your form instead.
Rating Scale	The default scale for all sections of the performance form. If you choose to have a different scale for another ratable section (e.g., Competencies, Goals, Summary), you may associate a scale to each section individually.
Hide numeric rating values (only show text labels)	When enabled, the start or circle rating bubbles are no longer visible. The rating scale is a simple dropdown list with only the text of each scale anchor (e.g., Exceeds Expectations) visible.
Unable to Rate	Allows an additional selection added to the rating scale that is the equivalent of a Not Applicable score where there is no positive or negative impact to the subject of the form. This field overrides all other sections of the form that are ratable, so if only specific sections should have this option, configure in those respective sections, not General Settings.
Allow managers to stack rank employees on competency sections (Globally or Section by Section)	Allows this section to be available to managers in Team Overview to be stack-ranked. Becomes the default for the entire form where Globally pulls all competency sections into the stack ranker tool, and Section by Section allows sections to be selected or unselected for stack ranker.
Advanced Settings	Links to Form Template Settings where several buttons and general settings that affect the functionality of the form to an end-user are enabled or disabled. Form Template Settings may also be accessed by going to Form Template Settings using Action Search.
Show advanced options…	Allows the Enable Previous Step Button and Enable Delete Button to be enabled and disabled by route map step. Overriding on/off switches for buttons exist in Advanced Settings (which links to Form Template Settings), but permissions of what role can access those buttons by step in the route map are controlled here. In addition, it allows you to configure the feature, Enable Scale Adjusted Calculation.
Enable Previous Step Button	Enables an option that appears from a dropdown list visible on the route map of the form where you may send the form back a step. This button can be permissioned to be available for specific roles at specific route steps.
Enable Delete Button	Enables the ability to delete a form. This button can be permissioned to be available for specific roles and specific route steps.
Enable Scale Adjusted Calculation	This feature allows you to map score minimum and score maximum values to a rating scale value to create a range. Scores in that range can also be mapped to a description. For example, a Score Min Value of .01 and a Score Max Value of 1.49 can be mapped to a score of 1 and a Description of Unacceptable.
Button Permissions	Allows various buttons to be permissioned to specific roles and specific steps of the route map. These buttons are going to be defined later in this guide.
Others’ Rating Tab Permissions	Allows you to define who has access to view the other person’s ratings on the form side-by-side to his or her own ratings.
Ask for Feedback data in Supporting Information Pod Permissions	Allows you to define who has access to view the Ask for Feedback responses from the Supporting information pod in the form.

This is a screenshot of General Settings of a Performance Review template with the key fields.

Administrators can get additional help with Admin Tools by using the Learn More links that can appear on any administrator page. When an administrator selects Learn More, a new tab opens to an SAP Help Portal page to provide more information and links related to the current Admin Tool. Learn More links are enabled by default and always on.

This screenshot in Admin Center, Manage Templates, highlights the Learn More link for Administrator Help.

Hint

The visibility of Ask for Feedback data in Supporting Information Pod Permissions depends on whether the Ask for Feedback functionality and the responses in Supporting Pod are enabled in Form Template Settings. For more information, you can check the Ask For Feedback section in this guide.

Language Translation

The first field in General Settings allows you to give the performance form a new name. Click the icon Add More+ below the Name field to enable additional language pack translations for the form. The Localize PM Template Label window opens, and you then select Add Language in the upper right-hand corner to choose from the list of language packs that are already enabled in the instance.

Language packs are enabled in the back end, meaning a consultant must enable languages for you before you see them available in this area. Customers must also provide translations, as the system only translates system-generated text (typing in a label is not considered system-generated), and it is not the consultant’s responsibility to bring in a third party to translate text. The translation process happens during the implementation, so there may be no need to translate any additional text.

Edit the General Settings Section

Business Example

In this exercise, you will assign the rating scale and route map to your new form template, verify that stack ranker is enabled, and modify some advanced settings from Form Template Settings tool.

Hint

As mentioned previously, notice that the Route Map in this exercise will be selected from Form Template Settings and not from Manage Templates→General Settings.

Setting the Route Map using Form Template Settings preserves the permissions configured on the template, so this is a best practice to avoid losing existing configurations.

ExerciseStart Exercise

Steps

Navigate to Form Template Settings using the Action Search.
Open the template you copied in a previous exercise.
Locate the setting Routing Map and select the route map you created in a previous exercise.
Choose Update Form Template.
Navigate to Manage Templates using the Action Search.
Choose General Settings.
Verify that the route map selected on step 3 shows.
Select the Rating Scale you in a previous exercise.
In the Unable to Rate field, type Too New to Rate and select the Apply button. Choose OK on the Warning popup window to confirm the value is applied to all ratable sections.
Hint
The value entered in the Unable to Rate will "disappear" once it is saved, but this has been applied to all ratable sections as expected.
Verify that the option Allow managers to stack rank employees on competency sections is enabled, with the radio button for Globally. You can leave as-is.
Choose the link Advanced Settings.
In the popup dialog box, set the radio buttons for Default Start Date, Default End Date, and Default Due Date to Fixed. The start date should be the first day of this calendar year (example 01/01/2025), the end date should be the last day of this calendar year (example 12/31/2025), and due date should be the last day of first month in following year (example 01/31/2026) calendar
In the same popup dialog box, select the following options, if not already enabled:
- Enable permission configurations for Ask for Feedback responses
- Display circle icon as rating
- Disable Spell Check On Route
- Disable Legal Scan On Route
- Enable Writing Assistant
- Allow for creator to select anyone as the subject
- Enable form routing to previous step
- Enable Attachments
- Enable Achievements tab in Performance Goal Section (include the option Display Achievement Feedback for Performance Goal Achievements)
- Enable New Confirmation Experience for Sending Forms
- Show Access to Employee's Growth Portfolio on Performance Management Forms
Choose Update Form Template.
You should still be in Manage Templates with your main browser. Choose Save in the upper left-hand corner of the form to save changes to your form template.

Summary

The General Settings section (in Manage Templates) defines the template's foundational pieces. This section contains fields that affect the form globally, meaning changes here provide the basic settings for the form to function correctly.
Three elements are essential for the form to function properly:
- A rating scale must be selected.
- A route map must already be set.
- Every goal section must be linked to a goal plan.
It is possible to have multiple languages in the form, set up in General Settings. To use languages, language packs need to be enabled in the back end by an SAP SuccessFactors consultant first. As the customer, you will provide translations, as the system only translates system-generated text (labels are not system-generated).

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