Self KPI is a collaborative feature within the Appraisal module that lets employees propose their own KPI questions and targets before a review cycle begins. Instead of an admin defining every question top-down, Self KPI follows a suggest-then-approve workflow: the employee drafts the KPIs they believe they should be measured on, their manager reviews and approves (or rejects with feedback), and only then does the full appraisal review cycle unlock for all parties.
How Self KPI Differs from a Standard Appraisal
- Standard appraisal: The admin defines every question in advance, and the employee simply responds.
- Self KPI: The employee co-authors the questions for specific sections of the form. Admin-defined sections on the same form continue to work as normal.
To officially use the Self-KPI feature, there are six phases that need to be completed before it can be fully implemented and used in the appraisal process.
Phase 1 — Admin Sets Up the Form
- Go to Forms and create or edit an appraisal form
- Add a form category and enable the "Allow employee(s) to submit their own KPI" toggle. This marks the category as a Self KPI category — only the employee can fill in the questions for this section.
- Optionally, enable "Allow edit after approval" on the same category. When turned on, the employee can revise their KPI questions even after the manager has approved them, as long as the Self KPI deadline has not yet passed.
Once all categories have been added, Publish the form to make it available for use in the next phases.
Important Note — Self KPI does not require any company-level feature flag or subscription toggle. It activates purely through the form category configuration described above. |
Phase 2 — Admin Creates a Review Cycle
- Create a review cycle using the form that contains Self KPI categories.
- In the cycle's Notifications step, set a Self KPI End Date — this is the hard deadline by which employees must submit their proposed KPIs. This date must be on or before the overall review cycle due date.
- Save the cycle and assign employees. The system automatically creates KPI assignment records for each employee, linking them to their designated Manager reviewer as the KPI approver. No separate approver setting is required.
Phase 3 — Employee Proposes Their KPIs
- Open the Appraisal module and go to the Key-Performance Indicator (KPI) tab.
- Go to My KPI subtab to view the review cycles where Self-KPI submission is allowed. Initially the status of this cycle is Draft. Click the pencil icon to start submitting the questions for your evaluation.
- On the Edit Form page, select the category where you want to add a question and click the blue Add Question button.
- Enter the Question Title, Description, and Tooltip if needed, select the Answer Type, then tick Allow Comment and/or Allow Attachment if applicable, and click Save.
A success message, “Question added successfully,” will appear in the upper-right corner of the screen.
- On the Edit Form page, click Preview Form to review the form,
or click Submit if you have finished adding all questions. A confirmation message, “Success, update successfully,” will appear, and you will be redirected to the My KPI subtab.
- The review cycle status will change from Draft to Pending once the Self-KPI form has been submitted.
Tip — While your submission is in Pending status, you cannot edit your KPIs. Editing is only possible again if your manager rejects the submission and sends it back to you. |
Phase 4 — Manager Reviews and Decides
- The manager opens the Appraisal module and goes to the My Dashboard menu.
- Go to the Key-Performance Indicator (KPI) tab and navigates to the My Team sub-tab.
- The screen will display a list of all pending KPIs submitted by employees, with the status shown as Pending; click the eye icon to review and validate the submitted KPI.
In the Self KPI for Approval window, you will see the name of the staff member who submitted the KPI, the questions they added, and the answer type provided for each question;
The manager selects one of two actions:
- Approve — the KPIs are locked in and the review cycle gate is released for all reviewers.
-
Reject — the manager must provide a rejection reason. The employee is notified and can revise and resubmit.
Click Approve; a Success message will appear in the upper-right corner of the screen confirming the approval.
Phase 5 — Gate Release and Review Cycle Begins
Once the manager approves the employee's KPIs, the full review cycle unlocks for all reviewer types. The following reviews all become visible and actionable:
- Employee self-review
- Manager review
- Indirect manager reviews
- Upward reviews
- Peer reviews
Before approval, none of these review rows appear in anyone's Review Cycles tab — the Self KPI approval is the gate that must be passed first. The only exception is the manager, who can access the cycle for their own review independently of the approval status.
Employee view in Appraisal>My Dashboard>Reviews Tab
Phase 6 — Standard Review Process Continues
Once the gate is released, all reviewers can fill in their responses as normal. The employee’s approved KPI questions will become the basis for scoring in the Self KPI categories, using the answer type selected for the employee’s KPI questions as the basis for the scoring engine. No additional steps are required from the admin—approval itself makes the KPIs official.
Here is a guide on how staff can submit their responses - End-user Guide on Submitting Appraisals
KPI Status Lifecycle
| Status | What it means | Who can act next |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Employee has not yet submitted their KPIs | Employee |
| Pending | Employee has submitted; awaiting manager review | Manager |
| Approved | Manager approved; review cycle is unlocked for all reviewers | All reviewers |
| Rejected | Manager rejected with a reason; employee can revise and resubmit | Employee |
Key Configuration Settings
| Setting | Where to find it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Allow employee(s) to submit their own KPI | Form category settings | Master switch that activates Self KPI for that category |
| Allow edit after approval | Form category settings | Lets the employee edit KPIs after manager approval, up to the Self KPI End Date |
| Self KPI End Date | Review cycle notification/timeline step | Hard deadline for KPI submission and editing; must be on or before the overall cycle due date |
| KPI Approver | Automatically assigned | Always the designated Manager reviewer in the cycle — no separate setting required |
Reports and Outputs
- Only Approved KPIs appear in reports. Draft, Pending, or Rejected KPIs are excluded from all appraisal reports and 360-degree views.
- No separate report is needed. Approved Self KPI scores appear automatically in your standard appraisal reports alongside all other KPI scores.
- Non-Self-KPI categories on the same form display the standard admin-defined questions as normal — Self KPI only affects the categories where the toggle is enabled.