Scoring and grades

Cadre turns the actuals recorded against each KPI into a score for every person, team and the organisation, then bands the score into a grade. You decide the rules: how credit is earned, how team scores are made, and what each grade leads to when the cycle locks. Cadre does the arithmetic.

Who can change the scoring scheme and grade scale: Owner, HR admin.

Who can score their direct reports and manage their plans: Owner, HR admin, Manager.

Before you start

Open Performance and choose the Settings tab. If scoring has not been set up, Cadre offers Set up performance scoring. Click Set up defaults to create a scoring scheme and a grade scale you can then change. Only what is missing is created.

How a score is made

For each KPI:

1. Attainment is the actual as a percentage of the target. For a KPI where lower is better, it is the other way round.
2. Below the threshold (if the KPI has one), the KPI earns no credit.
3. Credit is the attainment, capped at the stretch level. Where the KPI sets no stretch of its own, the scheme’s Default stretch (% of target) applies. A lower-is-better KPI with a stretch of 0 (the best result is none at all) is capped at the default stretch too.
4. A KPI with no actual recorded earns no credit and is flagged Missing actuals on the scorecard.

Each KPI’s credit is weighted by its goal’s weight and its own weight. The score is the sum, rounded to the scheme’s decimal places before it is banded, so the score you see is the score that was graded.

When every KPI hits its target exactly, the score is 100. A score can go above 100 because credit runs up to the stretch level.

The scoring scheme

In the Scoring scheme card:

• Name.
• Formula: Linear to target (zero below threshold, capped at stretch).
• Default stretch (% of target): where credit is capped when a KPI sets no stretch of its own. The default is 120%.
• Score decimal places: the default is one.
• Team score: how a team’s score is made. See Team scores.
• Team KPI weight in a blend (%): used only when the team score is a blend.

Click Save scheme.

The grade scale

The grade scale bands scores into grades. The default scale is a starting template that every organisation edits, not a rule:

Grade	Score	At lock
Exceeds	100 and above	Recognition
Meets	85 to under 100	No action (the expected grade)
Developing	55 to under 85	Coaching plan
Below	Under 55	Improvement plan of 30 to 60 days

Change the bands

1. In the Grade scale card, list the bands highest first.

2. For each band, set the Label, From score, and what happens At lock: No action, Recognition, Coaching plan or Improvement plan. For an improvement plan, set Plan length from (days) and Plan length to (days). Add a Descriptor if you want.

3. Turn on Expected grade for exactly one band. The dashboard lists anyone graded below it.

4. The lowest band must start at 0. Use Add band and Remove band as needed.

5. Click Save grade scale.

Caution

Changing the bands never changes a locked cycle. A cycle that is not yet locked must be scored again before it can lock, so its grades match the new bands.

Team scores

A team is a department or a worksite. The Team score setting decides how it is scored:

• The team’s own KPIs only: the team goals’ score.
• The members’ average score: each member counts equally, using their final score (calibrated where calibrated).
• A blend of team KPIs and the members’ average: the Team KPI weight in a blend (%) goes to the team’s KPIs and the rest to the members’ average. The default is 60% team KPIs and 40% members. When one part is missing, the other is used alone and the scorecard says so.

Team and organisation scores are scored by HR. A manager scores only their direct reports.

Score a cycle

Scoring is available once HR has moved the cycle to Scoring. See Performance cycles.

1. Open Performance and choose the Scorecards tab.

2. Choose the Cycle.

3. Click Score cycle.

Cadre shows what it scored and anything it skipped, with the reason. HR scores everyone: each person with approved individual goals, every team, and the organisation if it has goals. Only approved goal sets count, and excluded sets are left out.

You can score again as often as you need while the cycle is in Scoring or Calibration. Each person has one scorecard, updated in place. A manager’s comment and any calibration are kept when you score again.

Read a scorecard

The Scorecards list shows each subject, whether it is an Individual, Team or Organisation, the Computed and Final score and grade, the Outcome at lock, any Missing actuals, and flags: Calibrated, Recognition and Missing actuals.

Click Details (the eye) to open a scorecard. It shows the final score and grade, the outcome at lock, any calibration and its reason, how a team score was made, and each KPI’s target, actual, attainment, credit (with its cap), weight and contribution.

A manager, or HR, can write a Manager’s comment on a person’s scorecard while the cycle is in Scoring or Calibration. HR calibrates a score during calibration. See Calibration.

What happens when a cycle locks

When HR locks a cycle, each person’s final grade is applied:

• Recognition: the person is flagged for recognition on their scorecard.
• Coaching plan: a coaching plan is created in Draft, for their manager.
• Improvement plan: an improvement plan is created in Draft, with the band’s allowed length.

Plans are listed under Performance → Plans, on the Improvement plans and Coaching plans tabs.

Nobody manages their own plan, HR included. A plan is managed by HR, or by the person’s current manager. After a reorganisation, the new manager takes the plan over and the former one no longer sees it.

Coaching plans

1. On the Coaching plans tab, click Open on the person’s plan.

2. Add Focus areas and Check-in dates, and any Notes. Click Save.

3. Click Start. The plan becomes active and the employee can see it.

4. When it is done, click Complete (with an optional closing note), or Cancel plan (a reason is required). Either closes the plan for good.

Improvement plans

1. On the Improvement plans tab, click Open on the person’s plan.

2. Under Terms, set when it Starts and Ends. The length must be within the range the grade band allows. Add the Objectives, and click Save terms.

3. Click Issue to employee, then Issue. The dates and objectives can no longer change. The plan waits as Awaiting acknowledgement until the employee acknowledges it, then becomes Active.

4. While it runs, record each check-in with its Date and a Note, and click Add check-in.

5. At the end, click Record outcome and choose Completed: the plan was met, Extended to a later end date (with a New end date; the plan stays active) or Not met. Completed and not met close the plan, and it cannot be reopened.

Caution

Once issued, an improvement plan’s dates and objectives cannot change. Check the terms before you click Issue.

Trends and the dashboard

The Dashboard tab shows a cycle at a glance: how many members were scored, the average score, how many KPIs have an actual, the grade distribution, and anyone graded below the expected grade. Filter by department, and sort the member list by score or by movement since the previous cycle. A person’s score history follows the person, not a single engagement.

Related

• Goals and KPIs
• Performance cycles
• Calibration
• Your team’s goals