Transforming the Review Process with Workflow Automation

A global defense contractor needed every manager to follow the same performance appraisal and salary review process, and to finish it on time. i3solutions built an online performance appraisal and salary review system on the Microsoft .NET framework, a workflow automation engagement delivered as a custom web application. Human resources defines the review cycles for each business unit and the email notifications that fire when reviews are due; the system tells managers to log in, walks them through the performance review, holds it for approval before the salary review can start, calculates the merit increase range eligible for a given job grade, and tracks each department’s salary budget. The paperwork that used to come with employee reviews is gone, and reviews close on time and inside the pay increase percentage each department was allotted.

The client, a global defense contractor, was facing an issue concerning the consistency and timeliness of its performance appraisal and salary review processes. They had developed a well-defined and complex process for its managers to complete performance and salary reviews, but one of the main concerns was that the processes were not consistently followed by all of the managers and, in some cases, the timeliness of reviews were delayed. In order to streamline this process for managers and, in turn, ensure adherence to the established standards, the company sought to develop an automated web-based system to manage performance appraisals, enforce consistency, and improve the timeliness of reviews.

Our managers do not follow the review process consistently. Can a system fix that?

That was the situation at the company: a well defined but complex review process that managers did not all follow, with some reviews running late. i3solutions replaced the manual steps with an online system that notifies managers when their reviews are due and then takes them through the performance review in order, so the rules the process already specified are enforced by the system rather than by reminders.

Does the system cover salary reviews, not just performance appraisals?

Yes. A completed performance review goes through an approval process before the salary review can begin. Once it is approved, the system calculates the merit increase range eligible for a given job grade and gives that figure to the manager and to human resources. It also maintains a salary budget for each department, so managers stay within the pay increase percentage allotted to them.

What is the system built on, and who administers it day to day?

It is a web-based application built on the Microsoft .NET framework. Human resources administers it: the department defines review cycles for the individual business units and sets up the email notifications for when reviews come due, and the system handles the notifying and sequencing from there.

If your review cycle depends on managers remembering to follow a process, some reviews are late right now and nobody can say which ones. A first conversation walks your current cycle end to end: who defines it, where it stalls, and which rules a system could enforce instead of a reminder email. You leave with a written picture of the process as it actually runs and a list of the specific steps automation would take over, which is what your HR and finance approvers will ask to see before they fund anything. Start the conversation