SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2076076 - Testing Performance form templates prior to launch - Performance Management

Symptom

  • A new Performance Management or 360 template has been created, or a previous template has been updated.
  • What needs to be tested prior to launching forms to users in a performance cycle?
  • Can form template configuration issues be corrected after forms are launched?

Environment

  • SAP SuccessFactors Performance Management
  • SAP SuccessFactors 360 Multi Rater

Resolution

Creating of a new form

Since forms are customized to specific and unique requirements, it is not possible to provide a guide that fits every specific need. The the information in this document should be viewed as a GUIDELINE ONLY, and not as a comprehensive list. It may not contain all aspects specific to your form, alternatively it may contain information not relevant to your process. The purpose of this guide is to provide the most common steps that should be considered before launching forms.

Important

  • Once forms are launched, corrections to template configuration cannot be made. The form template will need to be corrected and the forms will need to be re-launched, so it important that you consider the following.
  • It is not practical for SuccessFactors to fully know your specific and unique expectations, not just for this form, but also for every person you may include in your process. Just because a form does not perform in the manner you may expect does not mean this form is broken from a technical perspective, which is why we would not necessarily know via tests whether it meets your needs. This is why the client is strongly encouraged to perform exhaustive testing before launching any forms.
  • Only you the client can determine whether the form, its elements, the viewing permissions, and reporting is working they way you want it to work. As you will see by the checklist below, the possible scenarios and combinations for permissions for your form values multiplied by each role and each step you may have in a route map can result in well over 100  specific elements to validate. This process could take up to 1 week to test appropriately. We recommend this investment is made as correcting forms (if technically possible) once launched can take 2-4 weeks.
  • Since SuccessFactors has monthly releases, even if your new template is simply a clone of last year’s form with no changes, you should still perform exhaustive testing as the behavior of the forms may be impacted by changes in the products codebase since the last time you launched forms.

RECORDING YOUR TESTS

  • It can be helpful to keep a record or your tests in case we need to refer back to them should an issue arise after you have launched your forms. Please open a word doc. Copy & paste into this word doc screenshots of each step in your test.
  • Note the Doc Ids generated in your tests for later reference.
  • Run excel and dashboard reports and keep a copy of these reports. 

General Housework

  • Please go to admin tools > form templates > open your original form/last years form template to view the current settings. Print out this page that contains the checkboxes for your settings, route map etc.
  • Switch over to your new form template and set the template settings you want to use for the new template.In admin tools > security settings > set permissions for who has permission to create forms 
    • Set dates etc.
    • Go down the list and set the checkboxes as per your original. Turn on/off any features you wish to apply to your new form.
    • Set route map
      • Have you made any changes to your route map? Please test your form against all changes made to a route map. Your template may be hard-coded with route map ids & step names, so any changes to your route map may cause undesired results such as loss of permission at certain steps, or fields may not work as expected, because the form may rely on previous route map information. Changes may need to be made to your template to reflect current route map.

Test users

It is recommended you create a test hierarchy of all roles associated with your process including your route maps and any reporting needs. Most instances come with a set of test users, however if you do not have these, please request a copy of this file from Customer Success.

Identify the ROLES in your process that will ‘touch’ this form. Common roles are Employee, Manager, HR rep, Matrix Manager, and Second Level Manager. (Remember to include any roles not on the route map that forms may be sent to.)

  1. ____________________________________________
  2. ____________________________________________
  3. ____________________________________________
  4. ____________________________________________
  5. ____________________________________________

Roles & Route Map - Process Flow

List  the roles that are included in the process, including any possible scenarios where a user could send the form to anyone outside of the route map (such as in Get Feedback.)

  1. ____________________________________________
  2. ____________________________________________
  3. ____________________________________________
  4. ____________________________________________
  5. ____________________________________________

Document your route map below: 

Step ID

Step Name

Modify,   Signature

Step Type

Start, Due or Exit Dates

Notes & Expectations

1

Discussion

Modify

I E EM

Due Date: 4/31/09

Employee & manager discuss. Employee rates. Can’t move to next step until ratings entered. Must pass validation or warning pops up. Automatically send on due date.
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           


Based on the roles and the route map you have defined above, during QA you will login as each role, during each step in the routemap and evaluate all form elements, behaviors, and expectations.

Testing

  • Using your test users, launch a test form and test it all the way through to completion.
  •  Log in as each participant (do not simply proxy) to confirm that all users are able to see all data at EACH step.
    • We recommend that you launch the form multiple times, with each test being considered from the perspective of 1 specific role. For instance, in your first test, you may launch a form and test all aspects from the Employees perspective only. In your second test you will launch another form, performing the same steps as for employee but paying close attention from the managers perspective.
    • This will help you focus on the expectations of the form for one role at a time, and will prove more effective than trying to review one test for all roles, as that can result in missing something wrong from the perspective of certain roles. 

For each role at each step

  • SECTIONS:
    • Do the appropriate form sections appear in the appropriate step when viewed by this Role?
    • Are any matrix grids or other unwanted sections unexpectedly appearing on your form at any step? Confirm this from the perspective of each role.
    • If you have custom sections, are all aspects within each custom section working as expected?

  • FIELDS:
    • Do the appropriate Fields appear in the appropriate section, during the correct route step for this role?
    • Can this role see data they should not be able to see?

  • RATINGS:
    • Confirm this role is able to set ratings as needed.
    • Do the rating scales contain correct values/description?
    • Do the ratings appear in the appropriate place?
    • Set a variety of rating values confirming the values and scores you set carry over to reports as expected.
    • For Unrated ratings or Not Applicable ratings take special note as to whether these impact overall scores as expected.
    • If ratings are required, is this aspect working as expected?

  • FORM FIELD SECURITY:
    • Is form field security setup correctly?
    • Does the user see, only what they are supposed to?
    • Do they see data they are not supposed to see?
    • Can they edit all the fields they need to?
    • Is this role blocked from editing data they are not supposed to be able to edit?

  • GRAMMAR AND VERBIAGE:
    • Is the verbiage and grammar correct in all form sections, rating scales, competencies etc?            

  • ROUTING:
    • Can the user route the form appropriately?
    • Does the system prevent the user from routing the form?
    • If you have a configuration that includes requirements for ratings or weightings etc to be imputed before it is routed, then test the form with and without these values to confirm you get the correct warnings and or messages.
    • If the form should not route without a certain value at a certain step, confirm it does not.
    • Out of Route Scenarios.
      • If you use get feedback, or get edits features, make sure to test all expectations of the form when sent to any other user outside of the route map.
      • If the person can send this form to anyone outside of the process be sure to make sure that any sensitive data others should or should not be seen works as needed as your security permissions may not apply to others outside of the route map.

    • Enroute Scenarios:
      • Another aspect to test is what is seen by each user role at each step from their enroute folder. Often unexpected results occur from the enroute folder perspective.
      • A role sees something you don’t want them to see enroute, or alternatively does not see something you want them to see while the form is in their enroute folder.
      • We recommend you run a separate test whereby you solely focus on what is occurring for each role, at each step while the form is enroute.
    • Manager Transfer Scenarios:
      • Often we see issues where the form does not behave as expected after a manager transfer occurs. Your form template, the step permissions, and route maps do need to be setup to handle any unique scenarios you need to account for in relation to manager transfers. Since the old manager is no longer the manager, they may become locked out of completing the form or ratings when you expected them to be able to do this. We recommend you run some test examples where at each step in the route map you perform a manager transfer. Take note of the results.
      • Does it stay with the old manager if expected?
      • Does it move to the new manager as expected?
      • Whether the new or old manager holds the form after the transfer, are they able to complete the required actions at that step as expected?
    • Completed Folder Scenarios:
      • Once the form reaches the completed folder do all users see what they are meant to see?
      • Are any roles now seeing a copy of the form that contains data or sections that they should not be seeing?

  • FORM FEATURES:
    • Are all the desired features such as spellcheck, offline form, export, print to pdf, etc. showing as expected?
    • Are any features showing that you don’t want showing for this role at each step?
      • Typical examples are Get feedback button
      • Add or Delete buttons
      • Ability to change due date fields
      • The blue Info button which grants access to the audit history and routing comments.
    • If using Rich Text Editing, is it functioning as you need?

  • APPEARANCE:
    • Does the form visually appear ok, or are there visual blemishes such as wrong color used, or html tags showing up?
    • If you add multiple goals or multiple competencies etc. does the layout remain correct?
    • When you add text to comment boxes, is anything being chopped off?
    • When you add large amounts of text to comment boxes does the layout remain correct?

  • COMPETENCY SECTIONS:
    • Do all competencies you expect to see show correctly on the form in each competency section when launched?
    • Can this role correctly add, delete, or edit competencies?
    • Do they see the appropriate buttons? Confirm this for EACH step in the route map.
    • If this role should not be able to add, edit or delete competencies are the buttons hidden? Confirm this at each step.

  • GOAL SECTIONS:
    • Does the form correctly launch with the expected goals prepopulating from the correct goal plan? Confirm for each goal section on the form.
    • If you have your forms set to auto-sync with your goal plans, when you make changes to the form, are these correctly updating the goal plan?
    • If you update the goal in the goal plan, does it correctly update the form after the form is reopened?
    • If you add or delete a goal from the form does the goal plan update as expected?
    • If you add or delete a goal from the goal plan, does the form update correctly?
    • If your form should not auto-sync with the goal plan, is that occurring based on the above goal section tests?
    • If you are weighting goals, are these correct on the form? Can this role add or edit weights as expected?
    • Are all goal fields visible for this role? Are any goal fields missing? Confirm at each step.
    • Are the goal weightings showing in reports if this is expected?

  • SUMMARY & OVERALL SECTIONS
    • Are summary overall ratings showing correctly?
    • Are these sections hidden correctly for this user at this step if this is expected?
    • Are calculated ratings showing correctly?
    • Are weights correctly impacting the calculated weightings?
  • REPORTS & DASHBOARDS
    • Do all excel reports provide the data you expect?
    • Do dashboards provide the data you expect?
    • Are ratings rounding or not rounding as expected?
    • Are unrated ratings being treated as expected and not skewing scores unexpectedly?
    • Are any matrix grids you use correctly picking up overall scores?
    • Does each role able to run reports see the same correct values?
    • Are the total form counts, competency counts, goal counts, etc correctly reflecting in all valid portlets what was entered on your test forms?
    • Is data from custom sections on your form showing in reports if needed?
    • Are comments entered on the form shown in excel reports as expected?
  • CALIBRATION
    • Is the rating from the summary section pulling in as expected?
    • Are the functionalities you enabled in Calibration template working as expected, e.g. drag and drop?
    • Are the functionalities you enabled in Calibration settings working as expected?
    • Are all employees pulling in the session? Try out different scenarios by changing the Calibration session owner in order to identify any restrictions within permissions. 

    Warning! Do not launch this form to end users until you have confirmed all aspects of the form and reports work as desired as Product Support may not be able to correct forms once they are launched. If there are any issues with the changes made, simply add a note to your support case and we will assess what actions are required. Please let Product Support know if there is anything more we can do to be of assistance.

    Keywords

    SF, success factors, pm, performance form, management, review, testing, test, PMv12a, prior to launch, before, template , KBA , csg_q , sf performance manage templates , sf performance launching forms , LOD-SF-PM-ADM , Admin Center, RBP, Permissions and Settings , LOD-SF-MTR-ADM , Admin Center, RBP, Permissions and Settings , How To

    Product

    SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals all versions