SAP Learning Journey

Configuring the Competency Sections

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Configure the competency sections

Competencies

The competency section is one of the main working sections of a performance management form. It lists the competencies or competency behaviors to be evaluated during a review.

A form can have one or more competency sections, but each competency ID can only appear once in a form. If there is an overlap, the competency only appears in the first (topmost) section of the performance form.

Competency sections can begin in one of the following ways:

  • Blank, in which case the user manually adds the competencies to be reviewed.
  • With relevant competencies already identified and listed in the form.

Types of Competencies

Competencies can automatically be populated into a performance form or added manually by the user. Depending on the way a competency is populated in a section of the performance form, there are four different competency types:

Select each competency type to learn more about each and how they can be used to meet customer requirements.

The Competency ID

The ID is a unique identifier for a competency; when hard coding competencies, the competency ID is used to define the competencies to be populated. Even though a form can have more than one competency section, each competency ID can only appear once in a form. The GUID (Global Unified Identifier) also identifies competencies. If a company has multiple locales, this unique number is what ties the same competency in different languages together and identifies them as being identical.

To Find the Competency ID

Steps

  1. Log in to the instance as the administrator and navigate to Manage Competencies from the Action Search bar.

  2. Select the appropriate competency library.

  3. In the library, you see a list of competencies, each with its associated ID and GUID. Whether you use the ID or GUID is dependent on your language settings, as follows:

    Example

    • If your language is English, use the ID, regardless of whether or not language packs are enabled.

    • If your language is not English, and language packs are enabled, use the GUID.

    • If the customer has language packs installed, and has modified the competency library in the appropriate languages, then the IDs and GUIDs are no longer in sync. In this instance, use the GUID.

Configuration of Job Specific Competency Section

Before competencies can be populated by job code, you must ensure the following three prerequisites are met: 

  • The employee data file must have job codes for each employee. 
  • Job roles must be set up with the exact job codes as appear in the data file. 
  • Competencies must be mapped to those roles.  

If the prerequisites are met, configure the competencies to be populated based on job code either in Manage Templates or in XML.

Configure Competencies Based on Job Code using Manage Templates

Watch this video to learn how to configure the job specific competency section in Manage Templates. 

Configure Competencies Based on Job Code using XML

In the <competency-sect> attribute list, add the following code: use-jobcode="true". This populates all the subject’s job-specific competencies.

Competencies can be further filtered by categories. To add only the job-specific competencies from certain categories, set thecategory-filter-opt into "specified-category" and add the <comp-category> sub-element under </fm-sect-scale>. Remember that the category name is case and space sensitive and can be retrieved from the competency library. 

Note
Specifying that job specific competencies should be pulled only from specific categories is not yet supported within the instance.

Configuration of the Core Competency Section

Before core competencies can be populated on a performance form they must be flagged as "core" within the competency library. This can be configured either in Manage Templates or XML. 

Configuration of Core Competency Section using Manage Templates

Watch this video to learn how to configure the core competency section in Manage Templates.

Configuration of Core Competency Section using XML

In the <competency-sect>attribute list, add the following code use-core-comp="true".

Configuration of Custom Competency Sections

Custom competencies can be hard coded in a competency section of the form template. This can be configured in either Manage Templates or in XML. 

Configure Custom Competency Sections using Manage Templates

Watch this video to learn how to configure the custom competency section in Manage Templates.

Hard-coded competencies will now appear below the section type in Manage Templates.

Configure Custom Competency Sections using XML

When hard coding competencies, add sub-element <fm-competency> to the <competency- sect> element, below </fm-sect-scale>, as shown in the figure Hard Coding Competencies in XML.

Elements and Attributes:

The table titled Hard Coding in XML: Elements and Attributes shows the XML elements and attributes of most relevance to hard coding.

Hard Coding in XML: Elements and Attributes

Element or AttributeDescription
IndexIndex refers to the location of the section in the template; in this case, a competency with index="0" appears first in the list of competencies within that competency section.
RemovableWhen the removable attribute is set to "true", any permissioned user is able to remove the competency from the form using the Remove Competency button on the form. When the attribute is set to "false", no user can remove that competency. 
<fm-comp-id>This is the ID or GUID of the competency to be hard coded.
<fm-comp-name>The name of the competency as it appears in the competency library is populated to the form. This field can be used to add more details, but does not display in the instance.
<fm-comp-desc>Similar to <fm-comp-name>, this element allows for additional details about the competency that do not display in the instance. 
Note
Weights can also be added to each <fm-competency> sub-element, but this is not recommended practice as weighting individual competencies causes the overall calculated rating to be too granular. 

Populate Ad Hoc Competencies

Competencies can be manually added on a form. The Add Competency button needs to be enabled for the end user. This can be configured in both Manage Templates and in XML. 

Watch this video to learn how to enable users to add competencies in a competency section using Manage Templates. 

Populate Ad Hoc Competencies using XML

To populate ad hoc competencies with XML, add the following code in the <competency- sect> attribute list: configurable="true". 

Configuration of the Competency Section

Select a button to learn how to configure the Competency section in Manage Templates and XML.

Configuration of General Settings in the XML Template

Set Ability to Rate

There are a couple of attributes that control ability to rate: no-rate and rating-opt.

If you set the no-rate attribute to "false", all users can rate the item within the section.

The rating-opt attribute controls how the rating box appears, as shown in the table, Rating-Opt Settings. Each of the options can be further controlled by permissioning.

Rating-Opt Settings

CodeDescription
rating-opt="0"One rating appears, accessible to every user with access to the form. This is the rating of record, and also the item-rating.
rating-opt="1"Individual employees also have a rating that is accessible only to them. The top rating is still accessible to everyone and remains the rating of record and item-rating.
rating-opt="2"Every user that has access to the form in edit mode has their own rating box. The top rating box still appears and remains the rating of record and item-rating. Permissions are typically set so that only a manager can write to the top rating box.
rating-opt="3"This option is also called side-by-side rating. The manager rating remains the rating of record and item-rating, but does not need to be permissioned. Only the manager can edit the manager rating and only the employee can edit the employee rating (subject-item-rating). This is the recommended option.

Individual and Overall Comments

You control individual and overall comments using the same attribute: cmt-opt.

XML to Show or Hide Comments

XMLDescription
cmt-opt="0"Show both item and section comments
cmt-opt="1"Show section comments only, no item comments
cmt-opt="2"Show item comments only, no section comments
cmt-opt="3"Do not show any comments for items or sections

Expected Ratings for Competencies and Behaviors at the Item Level

Expected ratings provide insight into how the employee should be performing based on a defined job role or job profile. It is used to help calculate the gap between expected and actual performance. Expected ratings were previously available only in the Summary section. This PM v12 Acceleration enhancement makes them available at the item level as well.

You configure expected ratings in the Performance Management form XML template, using the following tags:

<show-comp-expected-rating="true" show-behavior-expected-rating="true">

Note
You can enable "Show expected Competency rating" from Manage Templates, to display expected ratings. However, if you rate at the behavior level and want to display expected ratings per behavior, you will need to set show-behavior-expected-rating="true" (default value is "false") from XML, as the option is not available in Manage Templates.

Configuration of Item Weights for Competency Sections

It is not recommended that you assign item weights within competency sections because it makes the overall rating too granular. However, if a customer requests that items within the section are weighted, you can accommodate this request.

The following two <competency-sect> attributes control weight configuration in a competency section: 

  • no-weight
    • If no-weight="true", all items are weighted equally in the section. 
    • If no-weight="false", items are weighted according to the weights that you enter for each item. 
  • lock-item-weights
    • If lock-item-weights="true", you cannot edit the weights. 
    • If lock-item-weights="false", you can edit the weights. 

You can set item weights to have a minimum ("floor") and maximum ("ceiling") acceptable value within a section. You can configure these limits by adding the sub-element <item- weights> to the <fm-sect-config> element.

Caution
Be sure to check the Order of Elements document, DTD, and Implementation Guide to ensure that you are entering this code in the correct place. 

Warnings for Item Weights

If an item weight falls outside of the parameters, a warning appears, though it does not prevent a user from routing the form to the next step. The item weight is determined in the <fm-meta> element, using the <meta-item-weight-floor-ceiling-option> sub-element. To enforce these limits (or to not allow the form to move to the next step), replace the word "warning" with the word "error".

<meta-item-weight-floor-ceiling-option>warning</meta-item-weight-floor- ceiling-option>

If the item weights within a section add up to anything other than 100%, a warning appears by default, though it does not prevent a user from routing a form to the next step. The item weight is determined by the <weight-total-option> sub-element in the section’s <fm-sect-config>. 

<weight-total><![CDATA [100.0]]></weight-total> 

To enforce these limits (and not allow the form to move to the next step), replace the word "warn" with the word "enforce". We recommend that all item weights within a section total 100%. 

<weight-total-option><!CDATA[warn]]</weight-total-option> 

Configure the Competency Section

Business Example

You need to configure the competency sections of the Performance Management form.

Learn how to configure the Competency sections from Manage Templates and XML.

ExerciseStart Exercise

Task 1: Create a Core Competency Section

Steps

  1. Designate the competencies Showing Community and Social Responsibility and Leveraging Opportunities as custom competencies in the instance.

    1. Navigate to Manage Templates using Action Search. Select the Performance Review tab, to display your performance form template list.

    2. Select your Performance Management form.

    3. Select to expand Edit Fields and Sections from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen, and select Core Values.

    4. In the Section Type:, select the Custom checkbox.

    5. Select Show advanced options..., and select 0 Custom Competency defined. Click to modify.

      Result

      A dialog box appears.

    6. Select +Add Another.

    7. For each custom competency, in the Category field, select SuccessFactors Premium Library from the dropdown menu.

    8. In the Competency field, select Showing Community and Social Responsibility and Leveraging Opportunities respectively.

    9. Ensure the Removable checkbox is not selected, and select Done.

  2. Configure the Core Competencies section so that its relative weight is set to 25% and make some other changes:

    1. Log in to the Instance and navigate to Manage Templates using Action Search. Select the Performance Review tab, to display your performance form template list.

    2. Select your Performance Management form.

    3. Select to expand Edit Fields and Sections from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen, and select Core Values.

    4. In the Core Values section, enter Core Competencies in the Section Name field.

    5. Select Show advanced options..., and select the following option: Hide numeric rating values (only show text labels) .

    6. Disable the option Show expected Competency rating

    7. Select Summary Section, and ensure that the Core Competencies field is set to 25%.

      This is the relative weight that will be used to create the overall calculated rating of the form in the Summary section.

Task 2: Configure the Job-Specific Competency section

This task relies the competencies mapped to the Manager and Individual Contributor roles which was verified in a previous exercise.

Steps

  1. Configure the job-specific competencies section so that its relative weight is set to 25%, and enable the following features in the Instance:

    Allow users to add competencies

    1. Log in to the Instance and navigate to Manage Templates using Action Search. Select the Performance Review tab, to display your performance form template list.

    2. Select your Performance Management form.

    3. Expand Edit Fields and Sections from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen, and select Role-Specific Competencies.

    4. In the Section Name, enter Job Specific Competencies.

    5. Choose Show advanced options... and select the checkbox as indicated above.

    6. Select Overall Summary Section and ensure that the Job Specific Competencies field is set to 25%.

    7. Choose Save to save all your changes.

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