Skill review items in performance activities enable skills to be reviewed, rated or formally assessed within Totara Perform. These items can be configured to gather informal feedback or to update a subject’s skill profile directly. Performance activities must be named as achievement paths for skills to be available for selection.
Skill review items can support two main use cases:
Informal skill feedback – used to collect peer or manager input without affecting official ratings.
Formal skill assessment – used to record final ratings that update the subject’s skill profile.
Informal skill feedback
Informal skill feedback gathers commentary and indicative ratings on selected skills without affecting the subject’s skill profile. This configuration suits 180° and 360° feedback activities, coaching conversations or check-ins where participants provide developmental feedback or qualitative evidence.
Configuration:
Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Enable performance activity rating | Off | When this is off, the final rating element that updates the skill profile is not shown, so only sub-elements (rating scales, text, etc.) apply. |
Selecting participant | Usually the subject | The selecting participant determines which skills appear in the review. In peer feedback or 360° setups, the subject commonly selects their skills for feedback. |
Responding participants | Peers, manager, subject (for comparison) | These roles can respond to the skill sub-elements once selected. Multiple participant types can be added to provide comparative feedback. |
Viewing participants | Subject, manager | These are the typical viewing roles in feedback activities, ensuring the subject and manager can access results while peers can be restricted if needed. |
Sub-elements | Rating scale (Skill), Rating scale (custom), Text field, Aggregation of rating (average) | Each behaves as described: the Skill scale uses the official scale; custom uses an arbitrary scale; text field supports commentary; aggregation can show averages. |
Required behaviour
If the skill review item is marked as required, participants cannot submit the section without selecting at least one skill. If sub-elements are required, they must be completed once a skill has been added. Required sub-elements are not enforced if no skill is selected.
Behaviour in use
When the activity instance is generated, the selecting participant (typically the subject) can choose one or more skills for feedback. Only skills meeting the criteria defined in the activity setup are available for selection.
Responding participants—such as peers or a manager—can then provide unofficial ratings and commentary using the sub-elements provided. Depending on the visibility settings, the subject may see this feedback immediately or after all participants have submitted their responses.
The feedback gathered through this configuration is informational only and does not update the subject’s skill profile. However, it can provide supporting evidence or input for later formal skill assessments.
Formal skill assessment
Formal skill assessments use performance activities to capture ratings that directly update the subject’s skill profile. These assessments are suitable for structured reviews, such as onboarding, annual appraisals or exit assessments.
Note: It is not currently possible to predefine which skills must be reviewed within an activity. Skills must be selected during the activity by the designated participant.
Configuration:
Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Enable performance activity rating | On | This toggle must be enabled for the final rating dropdown to appear, allowing updates to the skill profile. |
Rating participant | Manager or appraiser (most common) | Only participants in roles configured as rating participants can submit the final rating that writes to the skill record. |
Selecting participant | Subject or manager | Either the subject (self-assessment) or manager (structured review) can select the skills for assessment. This matches current functionality. |
Responding participants | Peers, manager, subject (for comparison) | These participants can respond to sub-elements but cannot affect the skill profile unless marked as rating participants. |
Viewing participants | Subject, manager | These are the usual roles with permission to view ratings and commentary. Can vary depending on visibility settings, but this default is accurate. |
Sub-elements | Rating scale (Skill), Rating scale (custom), Text field, Aggregation of rating (average) | All sub-elements are available and functional when Enable performance activity rating is on. The Skill scale aligns with the skill framework’s rating scale, while others add commentary and quantitative support. |
Required behaviour
If the skill review item is required, participants must select at least one skill before submitting the section. If a sub-element is required, it must be completed once a skill is added. Required sub-elements are not enforced when no skill has been selected.
Note: The final rating that updates the skill profile is not subject to required-field settings. This rating is processed independently from other fields and may be applied after the next scheduled cron run.
Behaviour in use
When the activity instance is generated, the selecting participant (usually the subject or manager) can choose one or more skills for assessment. Only skills meeting the setup criteria are available for selection.
The rating participant (for example, the manager or appraiser) is the only person who can view and complete the final rating field. This field alone updates the skill profile when the final rating is submitted. The final rating cannot be changed once submitted, even if the section is still open.
The final rating workflow operates independently from the other sub-elements within the performance activity. This means that profile updates, and updates to the rating shown on the skill review element, may appear after a delay depending on system processing schedules.
If multiple users hold the same relationship—for example, more than one manager or appraiser—only the first submitted rating is recorded.
Other participants can still provide informal ratings or commentary through sub-elements. When multiple formal confirmations are required (for example, manager and appraiser sign-off), duplicate the skill review item and assign each to a different responding and rating participant. Each instance will require the skill to be selected separately.
Related pages
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