Development Plans in HCM Deck help structure the employee development process and translate outcomes from development conversations into specific, measurable actions. As a result, development is no longer a one-time event but an ongoing process that supports both employees and business goals.
In this article
- How do Development Plans work in HCM Deck?
- Roles in the process
- Creating a Plan Template by the Admin
- Development Plan for Users
- List of Plans
⚙️ How do Development Plans work in HCM Deck?
- A Plan Template is created in which the Admin defines the goal structure, instructions, and rules – including who initiates the plan: the employee or the leader.
- Instructions are added to the template to help employees and leaders prepare plans in a consistent way.
- The template is shared with selected Assigned users who will be required to create a Development Plan.
- Employees and leaders create Development Plans by adding Goals and Action steps based on the 70-20-10 model within the platform (70 = Experience, 20 = Exposure, 10 = Education).
- After discussing the goals, the plan is jointly approved.
- During the plan cycle, development conversations take place. Key agreements are saved, and goal statuses are updated.
- At the end of the cycle, the plan is reviewed. The leader and employee assess the completion of individual goals and the overall process.
👉 Link to the demo with the full development plan process.
🧩 Roles in the process
User - creates goals and action steps, updates progress, records agreements from conversations, and at the end defines the goal status.
Plan Supervisor - refines goals, sets priorities, approves the plan, and supports its execution. At the end, summarizes the results.
⚒️ By default, this is the direct manager. The Plan Supervisor can be changed at any time before the plan is completed.
Admin - designs the process, creates templates, defines visibility and rules, sends reminders, and monitors progress.
⚒️ Has system permission to manage Development Plans.
HRBP / L&D Partner / Mentor - monitors the process and provides substantive support. Has view-only access to plans without editing rights.
⚒️ Has object-level permissions allowing them to review plans.
Creating a Plan Template
A Plan Template is the starting point for managing development within the organization. The Admin defines the structure, rules, and flow of the entire process here.
An Admin with the system permission “manage development plans” can:
- define sections and fields within the plan
- set the duration of the development cycle
- decide who can create plans and who initiates them – User or Plan Supervisor
- define instructions and guidelines for users
A well-designed template ensures process consistency across the organization and makes it easier for employees and leaders to prepare valuable plans.
You can also use ready-made templates prepared by HCM Deck L&D experts, such as succession plans, performance improvement plans, competency-based plans, or business goal-based plans. Each template can be edited and adjusted to organizational needs.
When creating a new template, complete the name, description visible during template selection, and dates:
- Start date – from this day, Assigned users receive a notification and can create plans.
- End date – the closing date of the cycle. After this date, no new plans can be created from this template, but existing ones can still be edited.
Goal fields
The template defines goal fields available when creating new plans. Each field can include Instructions explaining how to complete it.
For the “Goal description” field, you can set a default value. When adding a new goal, the field will automatically include predefined content showing how a goal should be formulated.
70-20-10 Action steps
The template can specify whether goals must include Action steps. This breaks goals into concrete actions, making planning and progress tracking easier.
The 70-20-10 model supports development planning across three categories:
70% – Experience – learning by doing (projects, new responsibilities)
20% – Exposure – learning from others (mentoring, feedback, collaboration)
10% – Education – training, courses, learning materials
Business area
In the template, you can enable assigning goals to a Business area and define the available list.
Each goal in a Development Plan can be linked to a selected Business area, helping align development activities with organizational priorities.
When creating a plan, the User selects the appropriate Business area from the list.
Who creates the plans
The template defines who initiates the Development Plan:
- User for themselves – after the template is shared, employees independently create a plan and send it to the Plan Supervisor for approval.
-
Plan Supervisor for team members – the direct manager creates the plan and sends it to the employee. The employee can edit and supplement goals before sending the plan for final approval.
After the template start date, the notification about plan creation is sent to the party defined as the process initiator.
Sharing the template with users
A template can be shared with entire groups or selected users.
If shared with a group, every person who joins during the active cycle will be able to create a plan. If a user is removed from the group, they cannot create a new plan but retain access to previously started ones.
Important: users should have a direct manager assigned in the organizational structure. By default, this person becomes the Plan Supervisor.
If a user does not have a manager assigned, they can create a plan but cannot send it for approval.
If the Plan Supervisor is responsible for creating plans and the user has no assigned manager, the plan will not be created – appropriate information will appear on the list of Assigned users.
The Plan Supervisor can be changed at any time before the plan is completed from the list of all plans.
Notifications
The platform sends automatic notifications on the template start date and at key stages of working with the plan, such as submitting it for approval or review. Depending on the stage, the message is sent to the User or Plan Supervisor.
Additionally, in the Notifications tab, you can send manual reminders to selected groups, for example users with a specific Plan status. This helps remind them to update progress or submit the plan for review.
Development Plan for Users
Users who have access to an active template can create their own Development Plans within the cycle.
In the plan, users can add, edit, and delete Goals. After preparation, the User submits the plan to the Plan Supervisor for approval.
During execution, both the User and the Plan Supervisor can edit goals, update their status, and mark completion of Action steps.
Integration with feedback and competencies
When creating a Development Plan, both the User and the Plan Supervisor can view recent feedback and competency assessment results. This ensures that goals directly address identified development needs.
If the template requires the Plan Supervisor to create plans, the plan list additionally displays the competency matrix for employees for whom plans can be initiated. This helps prioritize and plan development activities within the team.
Comments and agreements from conversations
Each development conversation can be saved in the plan as a Comment. Users can also add comments when making significant changes, such as editing or deleting a goal, updating statuses, submitting the plan for approval, or recording new agreements.
All comments are saved in the plan’s Checkpoints, creating a clear history of decisions, progress, and modifications throughout the development cycle.
Monitoring plan progress
The module also includes a progress monitoring view that allows you to check the number of active plans, the completion level of goals and action steps, and see which plans were recently updated.
The view can be filtered by Plan Supervisor, team, or additional fields, making it easier to analyze data from selected perspectives. This helps identify plans progressing as expected and those that may require additional support or reminders.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.