The council needed an online appraisal system to help them to deliver this development programme, specifically with:

• Functionality where employees could be assessed on their progress through feedback provided by their managers and other colleagues within the organisation;
• The ability to facilitate discussions between an employee and their appraising manager;
• A structure that would explain what needs to be done, when and by whom;
• Sophisticated reporting to enable progress of employees to be reviewed effectively by managers.

Somerset County Council already had an enthused, engaged workforce, each month averaging 1,000 completed modules and 4,000 log-ins to ‘The Learning Centre’ (the council’s Totara Learn platform).

Performance Management with Totara Learn

This sophisticated performance management system had existing features that were utilised to provide exactly what was needed and Learning Pool worked in partnership with Somerset County Council to provide direct access to this all-digital appraisals functionality.

The existing appraisals process was adapted and built into the Totara learn platform, enabling effective reporting and team review. The online provision allowed for information already held within the platform to be made use of and the performance ‘loop’ to be closed by the inclusion of a question on the creation of a ‘Personal Development Plan’ – another functionality of the Totara Learn platform.

The council was able to define specific appraisal “stages”, giving the team guidance on when certain actions had to be done, complete with useful automated notifications to keep everyone on track. Performance management within the Totara system is designed to be as flexible as possible, allowing each client to use it in the way that best fits their needs and includes the ability to create goals, appraisal forms and 360° feedback.