The performance activities you create essentially act as templates, from which instances will be created for assigned users. There are two types of instances that are created: subject instances and participant instances.
Subject instance refers to the parent instance created for a user assigned to a performance activity, to which a number of participant instances are then attached.
Participant instances are created for users related to the Subject (e.g. their Manager or Appraiser) and the subject themselves. Each participant has their own participant instance, and the progress of each instance contributes to the subject instance completion tracking.
Note that the Manager and Temporary Manager job assignments are treated separately for performance activity instance creation, meaning an instance will be created for both the subject's Manager and Temporary Manager (if one is assigned). If the Temporary Manager assignment has an end date then instances will only be created up until that date. If the Auto-close all participant instances for removed participants setting is enabled then the Temporary Manager's instance will be closed when their assignment ends.
Setting
Description
Notes
Creation range
Select from two options:
Limited: The user selects an opening date and a closing date, between which subject instances for eligible assigned users will be created.
Open-ended: There is no closing date, meaning the activity will generate subject instances for any eligible assigned users from the opening date onward.
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Date type
Select from two options:
Fixed: With fixed dates you simply enter the calendar dates you want to use. You can also select the time zone for the selected date (this will default to the server time zone).
Relative: Relative dates allow you to choose dates relative to when the activity instance is created, e.g. within two weeks. With dynamic dates you can configure the following:
Reference date: Select a reference date from the dropdown menu (e.g. User creation date or Close date of another activity instance)
Activity: If you chose a reference date relating to another activity then you can choose the activity from the dropdown menu here
Use anniversary: On assignment, if the user's calculated start date is in the past, then use their next anniversary as the reference date instead
Start: When you would like the instance creation to start (relative to the reference date). Choose from:
On date
Before date: X days/weeks
After date: X days/weeks
Fixed dates apply to all assigned users, so everyone is bound by the same dates, whereas Relative dates are personal to the assigned user, because it is relative to another date or event in relation to that user.
An example of a Fixed and Limited date range could be:
9 April 2020 Europe/London to 9 December 2020
An example of a Relative and Open-ended date range could be:
2 weeks after Completion date of another activity - Probation appraisal
Creation frequency
Select from two options:
Once: A single instance will be created for each user.
Repeating: As long as the activity is assigned to a user, instances will be created based on the settings selected:
Trigger type: Select the event you wish to use as a trigger, based on the creation, completion, or closure of a previous instance
Trigger: Set the number of days/ weeks relative to the trigger type for the creation to occur, e.g. time since completion of previous instance: X weeks
Repeating limit: Choose whether to set a maximum number of instances per assigned user or have the creation repeat indefinitely
When using you enable Repeating you may want to use each of the available options in the following scenarios.
Every X days/weeks after the creation of their previous instance: Use for activities you know users will complete immediately.
When previous instance is complete, and it was created more than X days/weeks ago: Use when you don't want instances to be created too frequently, for example, if users could complete the activity immediately but you still want to space out instances.
Every X days/weeks after the completion of their previous instance: Use for activities that have a larger window for completion. If you're not sure when the participants will complete the activity then this ensures that users won't have multiple instances created at the same time.
Due date
Select from two options:
Enabled: Enabling this setting allows you to set a due date for the end users to complete the activity. You can set the due date as a number of days or weeks after the instance is created.
Disabled: There is no deadline for submitting responses, meaning users are free to complete the activity at their own pace
Disabled: A single subject instance will be created for each user, drawing participants from all of their job assignments (if applicable)
Enabled: A subject instance will be created for each of a user's job assignments
If this setting is enabled but a user has no job assignments then a subject instance will not be created for the user.
Note that if you select Disabled you will not be able to use Job assignment start date as a reference date for relative scheduling, as the user could have multiple start dates for their different job assignments.
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