The definition!
The terminology used by SAP for one of its Personnel Development components refers to a module which supports you in Creating appraisal systems AND Planning, Implementing and Reporting on Appraisals.
The question?
“But what precisely such creation, planning, implementation & reporting means for an organization?” is a question which appeared in my mind when I was assigned to design, develop & implement the Assessment Processes across the business, using SAP’s Appraisal Systems.
From reading Instruction Manual to Test Drive and finally becoming a licensed driver is an initial effort which is required before you drive… I applied the same formula for Appraisal Systems, how? I’ve explained it below, please read.
I studied the tool thoroughly, tried to understand the business requirements, designed the processes, configured & tested a very basic Appraisal template initially (leading me to configure more than 500 templates later on) and executing the appraisal process. Time passed by and I didn’t notice that the application worked for the business amazingly and helped organization in formalizing & standardizing the assessment processes, until I received a ‘Thank You’ note recently from one of the key users of application. He appreciated my support for his department and ‘flattered’ me with very nice words.
Thanks SAP, it was easy to master…
To read the message, I just thought how nice was the SAP Application which was easy to develop and align with the business requirements. Hadn’t it be so easy, probably I would have spent ‘ages’ in covering all / most aspects of Appraisal System as a whole. Yes, thanks goes to SAP for introducing the ‘Best-Practices’ being practiced along the globe, providing documentation on both the ‘Business Processes’ and ‘How-to’ steps.
Blogging Appraisal Systems – Multiple discussions within Appraisal Systems, I’ve split the blog
I thought to write a little about Appraisals but it seems the “little one” itself is quite big. So I’ve split it in 3: Scenario, Config and Practical Usage.
I intend to write on these topics as follows:
- The need – current blog, which identifies the scenarios in which Appraisal is created,
- The set-up, for you to experiment setting-up an Appraisal Template yourself, most probably my next week blog,
- The Process: The Appraisal Creation going through the process in business context covering the Preparation, Holding and Completing the Appraisal process. This would be last in series and therefore within May, I hope!
So please read the ‘need for Appraisal’ the first in series of my upcoming blogs. So here are some scenarios:
Scenarios
Before leaving the restaurant after a great dinner OR impressed with a nice service somewhere you fill a ‘customer satisfaction survey’ to appreciate the services offered by someone. You’ve marked all the points with high ranking and even have filled the comments section which is usually left blank. And you know why you’ve done so; you expect the person (behind the services) to be given reward for the nice services he has offered.
Yes, a Restaurant / any other organization may have a mechanism to measure the progress its employees are making to grow the business. The form you’ve just filled, therefore counts. You’ve always filled such forms, sometime with good / sometimes with bad ranking for the services you were happy / upset. For a small scale customer services business, using such paper forms may be a good choice but for medium to large-scale organization, the process needs to be formalized.
SAP tool – the Appraisal Systems is a component which supports you NOT ONLY in Creating Appraisal Systems BUT ALSO in Planning, Implementing and Reporting on Appraisals.
