Performance Management & Survey Modules

The viDesktop software is capable of publishing various types of publications/forms. Listed below are the different types and their uses.

Self Evaluations

This module is used to create and publish self evaluations. A self evaluation is an evaluation where the Evaluator evaluates him/herself once. Typically, a firm will publish a self evaluation once a year.

Group Evaluations (used to be Group Evaluations)

The Group Evaluation module is used to create and publish group

evaluations (Example: Attorney evaluations, staff evaluations, Peer evaluations). Typically, associate evaluations and staff evaluations fall under the Group Evaluation category in the viDesktop software. When publishing Group Evaluations, one of the required steps is to define the evaluatees and the evaluators by selecting the appropriate groups.The diagram below illustrates an attorney evaluation with matters:

An evaluatee is evaluated once by solicited evaluators (one evaluation for all matters assigned to the evaluator if there are matters involved).

The following diagram depicts a staff evaluation without matters:

Same as the Attorney/Associate evaluation, except there are no matters/projects imported into this kind of process.

Solicited (“selected”) evaluators evaluate the evaluatees once. In this example, since there are no matters, the solicitations – the mapping of evaluators

to evaluatees – can be done using one or both of the following methods:

Evaluatees can solicit evaluations from evaluators through the “Update Solicitations” area of the application

viDesktop Administrators can map evaluators to evaluatees through the admin area of the application

Project Based EvaluationsThis type of process is used to handle project based evaluations. So an employee can be evaluated multiple times on the work that the employee has done on a project. The most common use for this process is for evaluating summer associates. Also in some accounting firms, the professionals in this type of firm are evaluated on each engagement. The diagram below illustrates evaluators, evaluating evaluatees based on each matter/project/engagement that the evaluatees have worked on possibly based on an hourly criteria.

For example, if an evaluatee has worked on 3 matters (projects), and all 3 of those matters (projects) have been assigned to 1 evaluator, then that 1 evaluator can evaluate the employee 3 times (essentially 3 evaluation forms) – 1 for each matter (project).

Anonymous EvaluationsThis kind of process is used to publish anonymous evaluations where the evaluators are anonymous (they are not required to identify themselves) but the evaluatees are not anonymous. Anonymous evaluations are similar to Group Evaluations except that the evaluators are not identified (nor can the identity of a specific evaluator be retrieved in any way). This kind of process may be used for anonymous partner peer reviews where partners can evaluate other partners with anonymity. In this type of evaluation, the evaluators are not required to

authenticate or login to the evaluation process since they are anonymous.

Internal SurveyThis kind of process is used to publish surveys. The surveys are accessible within the firm’s network only since most firms install the viDesktop software as an intranet (internal) application rather than an internet (public) application. Surveys are anonymous in that the identity of the participants are not tracked and so they are not required to authenticate/login with a unique account and password. The Survey process can be used to publish Staff Satisfaction surveys, Director/Partner Retreat feedback, and Desktop Support Satisfaction Surveys and many more.

External SurveyThe External Survey process is identical to the Internal Survey process except that it is categorized as external to separate surveys that are internal and surveys that are external for firms that have installed the external survey module or installed the viDesktop software on a publically accessible server. (On the internet)You should check with your internal IT/IS support contact for viDesktop before you publish an externally accessible survey to make sure that it is capable of hosting this kind of survey.

The following diagram depicts a staff evaluation process. Same as the Attorney/Associate evaluation, except there are no matters/projects imported into this kind of process.

Solicited (“selected”) evaluators evaluate the evaluatees once. In this example, since there are no matters, the solicitations – the mapping of evaluators to evaluatees – can be done using one or both of the following methods:

Evaluatees can solicit evaluations from evaluators through the “Update Solicitations” area of the application

viDesktop Administrators can map evaluators to evaluatees through the admin area of the application

Project Based EvaluationsThis type of process is used to handle project based evaluations. So an employee can be evaluated multiple times on the work that the employee has done on a project. The most common use for this process is for evaluating summer associates. Also in some accounting firms, the professionals in this type of firm are evaluated on each engagement. The diagram below illustrates evaluators, evaluating evaluatees based on each matter/project/engagement that the evaluatees have worked on possibly based on an hourly criteria.

For example, if an evaluatee has worked on 3 matters (projects), and all 3 of those matters (projects) have been assigned to 1 evaluator, then that 1 evaluator can evaluate the employee 3 times (essentially 3 evaluation forms) – 1 for each matter (project).

Anonymous EvaluationsThis kind of process is used to publish anonymous evaluations where the evaluators are anonymous (they are not required to identify themselves) but the evaluatees are not anonymous. Anonymous evaluations are similar to Group Evaluations except that the evaluators are not identified (nor can the identity of a specific evaluator be retrieved in any way). This kind of process may be used for anonymous partner peer reviews where partners can evaluate other partners with anonymity. In this type of evaluation, the evaluators are not required to authenticate or login to the evaluation process since they are anonymous.

Internal SurveyThis kind of process is used to publish

surveys. The surveys are accessible within the firm’s network only since most firms install the viDesktop software as an intranet (internal) application rather than an internet (public) application. Surveys are anonymous in that the identity of the participants are not tracked and so they are not required to authenticate/login with a unique account and password. The Survey process can be used to publish Staff Satisfaction surveys, Director/Partner Retreat feedback, and Desktop Support Satisfaction Surveys and many more.

External SurveyThe External Survey process is identical to the Internal Survey process except that it is categorized as external to separate surveys that are internal and surveys that are external for firms that have installed the external survey module or installed the viDesktop software on a publically accessible server. (On the internet)You should check with your internal IT/IS support contact for viDesktop before you publish an externally accessible survey to make sure that it is capable of hosting this kind of survey.

Solicited evaluators evaluate the evaluatees once. In this example, since there are no matters, the solicitations – the mapping of evaluators to evaluatees – can be done using one or both of the following methods:

1. Evaluatees can solicit evaluations from evaluators through the “Update Solicitations” area of the viDesktop application

2. viDesktop Administrators can map evaluators to evaluatees through the admin area of the application

Project Based Evaluations

This module is used to create and publish project based evaluations. The most common use for this module is publishing summer associate evaluations. The diagram below illustrates evaluators, evaluating evaluatees based on each matter (project) that the evaluatees have worked on:

An evaluatee is evaluated once for each matter (project) that has been assigned to the evaluator. For example, if an evaluatee has worked on 3 matters (projects), and all 3 of those matters (projects) have been assigned to 1 evaluator, then that 1 evaluator will be required to fill out 3 evaluation forms – 1 for each matter (project).

Anonymous Evaluations

This module is used to create and publish anonymous evaluations. Anonymous evaluations are similar to Group Evaluations except that the evaluators are not identified (nor can the identity of a specific evaluator be retrieved in any way). This module may be used for anonymous partner peer reviews.

Internal Survey

This module is used to create and publish online surveys accessible on your internal network only. Surveys are anonymous by nature. The evaluators in surveys are not identifiable. The Survey module can be used to

publish Staff Satisfaction surveys, Director/Partner Retreat feedback, etc.

External Survey

The External Survey module is identical to the Internal Survey module except that it is designed to be used on the Internet so that those outside of your internal network may participate in a survey. This component is disabled by default in your viDesktop installation. Please contact the viDesktop support team if you would like to have this component enabled. It requires separate website install on your IIS server that is located on your DMZ.

Tests

This module is used to create and publish online multiple choice tests. Online multiple choice tests are similar to self evaluations except that right and wrong answers can be specified for each test question (for grading purposes).