Feedback - instructions for platform and feedback admins

This article provides a detailed guide on how to use feedback in HCM Deck.

Table of contents

1. What is it?
2. Why use it?
3. People involved
4. Permissions
5. Feedback cycle stages
6. Create a feedback cycle
7. Editing a cycle
8. Monitoring progress and reporting
9. Archiving a cycle
10. Anonymous feedback
11. Feedback approval
12. Notifications
13. FAQ

What is it?

Feedback is a tool that enables comprehensive management of the feedback collection process within an organization. This feature supports various approaches to feedback, offering flexibility in choosing who provides feedback and which elements are evaluated. This allows you to tailor the process to the specific needs of your organization and its employees.

Why use it?

Feedback as a tool supports the development of employees and the organization through a flexible feedback collection process. Here are the key benefits:

• Employee development – Identify strengths and areas for improvement through self-assessments and feedback from supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates.
• Building a culture of communication – Open or anonymous feedback fosters honesty and trust within the organization.
• Improved team effectiveness – Analysis of multi-directional feedback (90°, 180°, 360°) helps understand and enhance collaboration.
• Personalization – Flexible selection of feedback providers and process configuration according to the organization's needs.
• Better decision-making – Detailed reports and summaries support talent development and action planning.

People involved

1. Participant
   Receives feedback in the selected cycle. When a feedback administrator creates a new cycle, they decide who will receive feedback. Recipients are responsible for tasks such as completing self-assessment sheets and selecting feedback providers.

2. Reviewer
   Responsible for completing feedback sheets for those receiving feedback. Feedback providers don’t necessarily have to receive feedback themselves, although this is often the case. They are selected by the recipients and/or feedback administrators.

3. Approver
   Finalizes the feedback for recipients. By default, feedback is approved by the direct manager Feedback administrators can, however, reassign this role. Approvers typically complete a feedback sheet for the recipient. If the feedback cycle doesn’t require approval, the approver role is not applicable.

4. Feedback administrator
   Responsible for creating, managing, and monitoring feedback cycles. To manage feedback, this person must have a specific permission – the system role: "Feedback – manage."

5. Platform administrator
   Responsible for assigning permissions to feedback administrators and managing competencies.

One person can assume multiple roles within a single feedback cycle. For example, a manager can simultaneously be a participant, a reviewer, and an approver. However, most employees will only receive and/or provide feedback.

Permissions

• To create, manage, and monitor feedback, a person must have the assigned permission (system role): Feedback – manage.
• To provide, receive, and approve feedback, no special permissions are required.
• To manage competencies, a person must have the assigned permission (system role): Administration – portal configuration. Note that this role grants very broad permissions beyond competencies.

Feedback cycle stages

Before starting

1. Assign permissions — Ensure appropriate individuals have been granted feedback management permissions (platform admins).

2. Decide key parameters (feedback administrators).

1. • When the cycle will start and end. Once the start date is set, cycle settings cannot be edited on the platform.
   • Who will provide feedback (self-assessment, managers, direct reports, peers).
   • Whether the cycle will be anonymous.
   • Whether feedback will be given using skill profiles, selected skills, general questions, or a mix of these options.
   • Whether participants can independently select their reviewers.
   • Whether feedback requires approval and final skill levels need to be confirmed by an approver, or if the final skill levels are automatically averaged at the end of the cycle.

2. Verify skill profiles — Ensure skill profiles assigned to participants are correct (platform admins).

3. Create a feedback cycle (feedback administrators).

4. Select participants (feedback administrators).

5. Assign reviewers if participants can't select them independently (feedback administrators).

After starting

1. Reviewer selection (participants)
   If participants are allowed to choose reviewers, they do so at this stage.

2. Feedback forms completion (participants and reviewers)
   Participants and reviewers fill out feedback forms.

3. Progress check (feedback administrators)
   Feedback administrators oversee the process.

After completion

1. Conduct follow-up meetings (approvers and participants)
   Summary discussions are held with participants.

2. Finalize Results (approvers)
   Approvers finalize the feedback results.

3. Reporting (approvers, feedback and platform administrators)
   Reports are generated and reviewed.

Create a feedback cycle

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.

2. Click "Create cycle". Enter a name for the cycle and optionally add a description. You can link materials in the description to help with the process. The description will be visible to everyone involved.

3. Set the start and end dates. You can change the end date later for all or selected participants in the cycle settings.

After the start date:

• Participants can select reviewers and complete self-assessment forms.
• Reviewers complete feedback forms.

After the end date:

• Participants and reviewers can't fill out forms anymore.
• Participants and approvers can view responses.
• Approvers can finalize skill levels after meeting with participants.

4. Decide who will provide feedback. Choose one or more of the following options:

• Feedback from managers (90° feedback)
• Feedback from managers and self-assessment (180° feedback)
• Feedback from multiple sources: managers, direct reports, peers, and self-assessment (360° feedback)

5. Decide on anonymity. Choose whether feedback should be anonymous. No one with access to the responses will know who submitted them. This is recommended when feedback is provided by direct reports to managers, ensuring psychological safety and honest evaluations without fear of retaliation.

6. Select participants in the "Participants" tab, click "Add Participants" and choose individuals or groups from the list.

If you add groups, forms are created only for those in the group at the time of cycle creation, not on the start date. To update participants later, revisit the cycle details and re-add the group.

You can add/remove participants and groups throughout the cycle.

7. Configure the feedback form template in the "Form Template" tab:

 

• Add an introduction or use the default text. This appears when opening the form.
• Decide if questions should be generated based on participants' skill profiles, selected skills, both, or none.
• Add general questions (open-ended or closed).
• Set the question order.

8. Review cycle settings in the "Settings" tab:

• By default, participants can’t choose reviewers, but you can enable this if it aligns with your organization’s process.
• By default, reviewers must leave comments on skill-related questions. You can disable this to speed up form completion.
• If anonymity is enabled, set an anonymity threshold. This is useful when there are few reviewers, making it easier to guess who gave the feedback based on type (e.g., one peer, one direct report, and one manager).

9. Set notifications in the "Notifications" tab:

• • Schedule reminders for participants who haven't completed their forms. These can be sent every few days or a few days before the cycle ends.

10. Edit reviewers. Reviewers are grouped by feedback type for easier analysis:

• Self-assessment
• Peers
• Direct reports
• Managers

Reviewers are added automatically based on the feedback type selected during cycle creation.

• Self-assessment: The participant themselves.
• Peers: Individuals with the same manager as the participant.
• Direct reports: Individuals managed by the participant.
• Managers: The participant’s manager.

You can manually add or remove reviewers and adjust their feedback type.

To remove a reviewer:

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to edit.
3. Find the participant whose reviewers you want to edit, and click their name.
4. Locate the reviewer on the list, click the three dots, and select "Remove reviewer", then confirm.

To add a reviewer:

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to edit.
3. Find the participant whose reviewers you want to edit, and click their name.
4. Click "Add reviewers" and select the feedback type for the person you want to add.
5. Choose individuals from the list and confirm.

To change the feedback type:

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to edit.
3. Find the participant whose reviewers you want to edit, and click their name.
4. Locate the reviewer on the list, click the three dots, and choose the appropriate action:
   • Set as manager feedback
   • Set as direct report feedback
   • Set as peer feedback

11. Finalize and start the cycle

If no further changes are needed, the cycle will begin as scheduled. Users will receive appropriate notifications, which you can review at the end of this guide.

Editing a cycle

All cycle settings can be changed until the start date. Once the start date passes, the settings will be grayed out. The only exception is the end date, which can be adjusted freely for all or selected participants.

Monitoring progress and reporting

Check the percentage of completed forms

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback. In the main list view, you’ll see the percentage of completed forms.
2. Click the cycle you want to review. At the top of the page, you’ll find a tile displaying the number of completed forms as a fraction (number of completed forms / total forms) and as a percentage.

Check the number of participants with approved feedback

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to review. At the top of the page, you’ll find a tile showing the number of participants whose feedback has been approved.

Check feedback status

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to view.
3. To check progress for a specific participant, refer to the Feedback Status column. Possible statuses:
   • Not started – The cycle hasn’t started yet.
   • In progress – The cycle is ongoing.
   • Approved – Feedback has been approved.

Check form completion status

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to view.
3. Find the participant on the list and check the Form Status column. Possible statuses:
   • Completed – The form has been filled out.
   • Not completed – The form hasn’t been submitted.
   • Cycle not started – The cycle hasn’t started yet.

View responses

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the cycle you want to view.
3. Find the participant on the list and click their name.
4. Click View responses.
   • To see specific answers from all authors, select a question/skill from the table and click on it.
   • To view a summary of feedback, including final skill levels selected by the approver, click View feedback summary.

View updated skill levels

1. After feedback is approved, skill levels are updated on the platform.
2. Feedback administrators can view the updated levels and check for any remaining skill gaps.
3. To access this information:
   • Go to Skills > Manage > Employee Skills > Browse Profiles.

Archiving a cycle

Once all feedback has been approved, the cycle is automatically moved from the "Ongoing cycles" section to "Archived cycles" to keep the list organized. Results can still be viewed even after archiving.

If you know that not all feedback will be approved—for example, because a participant is no longer with your organization—you can manually archive the cycle. This action is irreversible, but even archived cycles allow actions like approving feedback.

To manually archive a cycle:

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the three dots in the row of the cycle you want to archive.
3. Select "Archive" and confirm.