Using Objectives as a Manager
Using Xactly Objectives as a manager typically involves the following steps:
- Log in to Incent as a user that has been assigned a role of Manager.
- Choose Objectives using the Xactly application menu (at the top right of the screen).
- (Optional) Create one or more objectives.
Managers can create new objectives on either the Dashboard or in the My Team area. - Add one or more objectives to an employee’s plan.
- Submit a plan to an employee.
After a plan is ready, managers can submit the plan to an employee for approval. Managers can submit plans on either the Dashboard or in the My Team area. At this stage, an employee can either approve or decline a plan. If an employee declines a plan, managers can revise and resubmit the plan to the employee. - Evaluate the plan.
Two weeks prior to the end of the period, the quarter enters the Measure phase.
note: Both managers and employees have the ability to evaluate plans during the period. - Complete the plan.
After completing the final measurements, managers can submit the plan for payment.
Understanding Email Notifications
Xactly Objectives automatically sends a series of email notifications between managers and employees that communicates changes in the current status of plans.
note: One or more of these email notifications might be disabled by the administrator.
The following outlines the email notifications following specific actions:
- A manager submits a plan to an employee for approval.
In the case, the employee receives an email notification. - An employee approves the plan.
Following this action, both the manager and the employee receive an email notification. - An employee declines a plan.
An email notification is delivered to the manager. - A manager submits a plan for payout.
An email is delivered to both the manager and the employee.
note: In this final case, employees do not receive an email notification if their manager’s scoring is hidden.
The email message contains a button allowing recipients to click to log into Xactly Objectives.
Objectives Dashboard
You can use the Dashboard to check which items are due next, and take action, as necessary.
Screen
Objectives Dashboard
How to…
This section describes how to use the Dashboard.
Manage the To Do List
1. Click the Dashboard tab. The Dashboard appears.
2. Click a link (identified by bold) to initiate an action to complete the task.
For example, click the word “Submit” in the following To Do List entry: Submit Tony’s plan for approval
3. Complete the task, as required.
What You Can Do
Employees and managers can complete the following tasks on the Dashboard:
- Check which action items are due
- Display an overview of your team’s objectives (managers)
- Display an overview of your objectives (employees, and managers who are assigned objectives)
Display the Calendar
You can use the calendar to graphically check for upcoming events and deadlines.
1. Click the Dashboard tab. The Dashboard appears.
2. Click the View Calendar button on the orange (or red) calendar alert. The calendar appears as an overlay showing events and deadlines as icons.
Hover over an icon to display a tooltip showing its meaning.
3. Click the left and right arrow buttons to navigate to the previous and next month respectively.
Manage My Team’s Objectives
Managers can use the My Team’s Objectives section to display an overview of their team’s objectives, organized by period.
note: The visibility of a period is controlled by Objectives administrators.
1. Click the Dashboard tab. The Dashboard appears.
2. Scroll to the My Team’s Objectives section, and click a period to expand the panel to show more details about the period.
The information you see depends whether you are in the Create, Track, or Measure phase for the period.
Click the period title again to hide details about the period.
3. Check the progress indicator for the period.
In the Create phase, the progress indicator shows how many employees have completed and approved plans. In the Measure phase, the progress indicator shows how many employees have been completely measured and approved.
4. Click the icon of a person. The My Team screen appears.
The range of possible actions depends on the steps assigned to the manager in the plan workflow. For example, you might be able to add an objective to the plan of the person, or create a new objective.
note: The individual status for each person can be different than the status that appears on the button.
5. If available, click the 
button to display a dialog allowing you to choose the person to whom you want to submit the plan.
Click the icon of the person. The My Team screen appears. Alternatively, hover over the icon of the person directly on the Dashboard to display the available actions, which include the following:
• Details—Click to display the My Team > Review Plan screen for the person.
• Estimate—Click to display the My Team > Estimate screen for the person.
6. Click the 
button to display a dialog allowing you to choose the person whose objectives you want to measure.
Click the icon of the person. The My Team > Measure screen appears for the person.
My Team Objectives
Managers can use the My Team area to manage their team members’ plans, adding objectives, as necessary, and displaying objective details and estimating achievements. Managers can also create new objectives, setting quantitative targets (if appropriate) and specifying how objectives are to be measured.
Managers can share the plan with an employee, giving the person full access to the plan to add, modify, or remove objectives, as well as adjust objective weightings. This allows managers to include employees in the plan definition process, soliciting their input before submitting the plan to them for approval.
Managers can complete the following tasks in the My Team area:
- Display a team member’s objectives
- Add objectives to plans
- Display details of specific objectives
- Estimate the achievement of objectives
- Create new objectives, and set quantitative targets, if appropriate
- Specify how objectives are measured
- Share plans with employees to solicit input
- Submit plans for approval
Screen
My Team Screen
How to…
This section describes how to manage your team.
Display a Person’s Plan Information
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
4. Click the button 
or 
button to open or close the team member panel respectively (near the top of the screen).
Add an Objective to a Plan
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
4. Click the Add An Objective For <Person> button. The Add Objective screen appears.
note: This option is only available for plans that have not been submitted.
The default list of objectives displayed includes all published company objectives for the plan period as well as any published individual objectives.
5. (Optional) To find specific objectives, type part of the name in the Find Objectives text box, and click the 
button. The search results appear.
Click the 
button to clear the Find Objectives text box and reset the search results.
6. (Optional) To filter objectives, select the appropriate radio button in the Additional Filters section.
You can filter objectives based on the following criteria:
• Published Objectives—All published objectives
• Created by Me—All objectives created by the manager
• Company Objectives—All published company objectives for the period associated with the plan
• All Objectives—All individual objectives created by the manager (published and unpublished), all published individual objectives (not restricted to the period), and all published company objectives for the period
Use the page navigation buttons to navigate between the pages of objective results.
7. (Optional) To view an objective, hover over the objective, and click the View button that appears. The View Objective screen appears showing details about the objective.
8. (Optional) To edit an objective that you have created, hover over the objective, and click the Edit button that appears. The Edit Objective screen appears allowing you to change the objective.
Modify the objective, as required, and click the 
button. Alternatively, click the 
button to dismiss the screen.
9. (Optional) To delete an objective that you have created, hover over the objective, and click the Delete button that appears. A confirmation dialog appears.
10. Select the objectives you want to add to the plan by checking the corresponding Select checkboxes.
11. Click the 
button. The objectives are added to the plan.
12. To add other objectives, click the 
button and select the corresponding objects, as appropriate.
Create a New Objective
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. Click the Create New Objective button. The Create Objective screen appears.
3. In the Title field, type a title for the objective.
4. (Optional) In the Description field, type a detailed description of the objective.
Although the Description field is optional, the description is very important to convey the definition of the objective to employees.
5. In the Icon field, select the icon to use with the objective.
The icon is a visual identifier, and appears with the objective on the plan.
6. (Optional) In the Aligns With field, choose the high-level organizational goal to which the objective contributes, if appropriate.
7. In the Self Evaluation field, select whether to allow employees to view and enter their own evaluation of this objective.
When disabled, an employee no longer sees the option to enter an evaluation for the objective.
8. (Optional) In the Employee’s Contribution field, type the employee’s individual contribution or responsibility (if the objective is a group goal).
9. In the Target field, select either the 
or 
button to indicated whether the objective has a quantitative target.
If you selected the Yes button, complete the following steps:
a. In the Units field, specify the units for the quantitative target.
Select one of the following:
• Money—Select the unit type using the drop-down list
• Percentage—Specifies a percentage value
• Other—Select another option using the drop-down list (the options are defined as Unit Types in Xactly Incent)
b. In the Target Number field, type the numeric value associated with the unit you selected in the previous step.
c. Select whether Higher numbers are better or Higher numbers are worse using the corresponding radio button.
10. In the Measurement field, select how the objective is to be measured at the end of the period.
Select one of the following:
• Yes/No
• Percent
• Rating Scale
If you select Rating Scale, you can customize the rating scale by adding or deleting values, as appropriate.
11. In the Publish field, specify whether to publish the objective (using the drop-down list).
Choosing Published allows all users to view the objective. Choosing Not Published, in contrast, ensures that only you can view the objective and add it to plans. By default, individual objectives are set to Not Published.
note: Leaving an objective unpublished (Not Published) prevents other managers from seeing or using the objective, while still allowing the manager that created the objective to add it to plans.
12. Click the 
button. Alternatively, click the button to dismiss the screen without creating the new objective.
Copy a Plan
You can quickly create a new plan by copying an existing plan from another employee.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo.
4. Click the Copy Another Plan button. The Copy Plan from dialog appears.
5. Choose a period using the drop-down menu.
The dialog displays the people from which you can copy a plan.
6. Select the person from which you want copy the plan. The team member’s plan is saved automatically.
All objectives are copied with the plan. You can manually remove objectives from the copied plan, as needed.
note: Plan discussions are not copied to the new plan.
Copy an Objective to Another User’s Plan
You can quickly create objectives for employees by copying existing objectives defined for other employees.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
4. Hover over the objective you want to copy, and click the Copy button. The Copy Objective to… dialog appears showing the people to which you can copy the objective.
5. Choose a period, as appropriate, using the drop-down menu.
For a period to appear in the menu, there needs to be at least one plan in the period that has not yet been submitted and the period must be set as visible for the manager (in the Plan Design > Periods area).
6. Select the person to which you want copy the objective. The objective is added to the person’s plan for the selected period.
The selected person’s plan is saved automatically. If you make a mistake, navigate to the person’s plan and manually remove the objective from the plan.
Managers can share a plan with an employee, giving the person full access to the plan to add, modify, or remove objectives. After a manager shares a plan, the employee receives an email notification. Employees can then review and modify the plan in the My Objectives area.
note: A manager can only share a plan (that has not been submitted) with an employee associated with the plan.
After sharing a plan, the manager retains responsibility for submitting the plan to the employee for approval.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
4. Click the 
button. The Share Plan dialog appears allowing you to add a message to the Discuss This Plan section.
5. (Optional) In the Message field, type a custom message.
There is a 250 character limit for each message (Objectives displays the number of remaining characters below the text box as you type). If you choose not to include a custom message, Objectives adds a standard message to the Discuss This Plan section indicating that the manager has shared the plan with the employee.
6. Click the
button.
Objectives posts the message to the Discuss This Plan section and sends an email notification to the employee.
Submit a Plan
Managers can submit a plan to an employee for approval.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
4. Click the 
button. The Submit plan for employee review dialog appears.
5. (Optional) In the Message field, type a message related to the plan submission.
There is a 250 character limit for each message (Objectives displays the number of remaining characters below the text box as you type).
6. Click the 
button.
Objectives posts the message to the Discuss This Plan section and sends an email notification to the employee.
Evaluate Objectives
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
Objectives displays a notice indicating whether the scores and comments are visible to the team member.
note: Comments in the discussion area (on the right side of the screen) are always visible to employees.
4. Hover over an objective in the plan and click the Estimate or Measure button that appears.
5. Estimate or measure the objective, as appropriate. Optionally, type a comment in the Comments text box.
6. Click the button.
note: In some cases, the sum of individual objectives values might be slightly different than the total payout value. This is due to the rounding of display values in Objectives. Non-rounded objective amounts, however, are always used to perform the actual calculations for the total payout, ensuring correct results in all circumstances.
Submit for Payout
You can submit a plan for payout after all objectives have been estimated or measured.
note: It is not possible for managers or employees to make any changes to a plan after it has been submitted for payout.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
4. Click the 
button. The Submit plan for payout dialog appears.
5. (Optional) In the Message field, type a custom message.
There is a 250 character limit for each message (Objectives displays the number of remaining characters below the text box as you type). If you choose not to include a custom message, Objectives adds a standard message to the Discuss This Plan section indicating that the manager has submitted the plan for payout.
6. Click the button.
Objectives posts the message to the Discuss This Plan section and sends an email notification to the employee.
Upload Scoring
You can update the scoring for your entire team in a single operation by downloading the existing scoring to your local machine, updating the file using Microsoft Excel, and uploading the saved file.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. In the Period field, choose the period to display using the drop-down menu.
3. Click the 
button. The Upload Team Scoring dialog appears.
4. Click the Click here link to download the scoring information for your team.
Depending on your browser, a dialog might appear allowing you to specify where to save the file. Save the file on your local machine.
note: The downloaded team data corresponds to the period you selected.
5. Edit the file using Excel, modifying scoring and comments, as required. Save the
file.
You can edit the following columns:
• Manager Score—For numeric targets, enter the value. For Yes/No settings, enter 100 for Yes and 0 for No. For percentages, enter a positive percentage value. For rating scales, enter the appropriate rating scale label (for example, Acceptable).
• Manager Comment—Enter your comments. Note that this value overwrites any previously-entered comments.
• Manager Payout Override—Enter a numeric percentage value to override the calculated Manager Payout %. Otherwise, leave the field blank.
6. Click the
button and select the file you saved.
7. Click the 
button.
Alternatively, click the button to dismiss the dialog without uploading the file. The dialog displays any errors encountered.
note: You can only upload data for a period that has at least one plan in estimate or measure phase.
Reset the Plan Status
Depending on the workflow, managers might be able to reset a plan after it has been submitted for approval, allowing you to edit the plan, if necessary, and resubmit the plan to employees for approval.
note: Resetting a plan reverts the status of the plan back to Created. Both managers and employees receive notification emails alerting that the plan has been reset, and a note appears in the Discuss This Plan section. All existing discussion and estimation comments remain in place when a plan is reset.
1. Click the My Team tab. The My Team screen appears.
2. Select a team member by clicking the corresponding photo. The plan for the team member appears.
3. Click the 
button. The Reset Plan Status dialog appears.
4. (Optional) In the Message field, type a message explaining why the plan is being reset.
There is a 250 character limit for each message (Objectives displays the number of remaining characters below the text box as you type).
5. Click the 
button. The plan status is reset.