Set up appraisal templates

The appraisal template is the form an employee and their manager fill in. It has two parts: KPI Assessment (results, for example 60% of the score) and Behavioral Assessment (competencies, for example 40%). You create it, fill it, lock it (which checks the weights) and approve it. Only a locked template can be assigned to employees.

Steps

1. Open HR › Performance › Appraisal Templates

   In the menu on the left, select HR, then Performance, then Appraisal Templates.

   

   1. New Template creates a template.
   2. Counters for all, locked, unlocked and archived templates.
   3. Each card shows the department, whether it's Locked, the KPI/behavioural split, and how many KPIs and headers it has. View opens it; the ⋮ menu also has Duplicate, which copies a template under a new name.
2. Create the template

   Select New Template.

   

   1. Template Name: for example "H1 2027 Finance Performance Review". Required.
   2. Financial Year: only active years are listed. Required.
   3. Department. Required.
   4. Weight Distribution is read-only. It comes from Settings › HR Settings › Performance › Weight Configuration.
   5. Create Template saves it.

   The new template already has two headers: KPI Assessment with an empty "General" section, and Behavioral Assessment with a "Competencies" section holding every active default competency, with the weight split equally between them.

3. Open the template and fill the KPI section

   Select View on the new template.

   

   1. Lock checks the weights and freezes the template (next step).
   2. Approve records HR sign-off; Reject returns it to "not sent". Edit changes the name, year and department; Delete removes it.
   3. Weight Distribution: the KPI and behavioural share of the final score. Redistribute opens the behavioural weights.
   4. The headers, their sections and how many KPIs each holds. Open a section to see and change each KPI's weight, or remove a KPI.
   5. Side panels: Template Summary, Details, Document Structure & Evaluation Layout (an optional form builder), Apply KPI Template, Behavioral Weights, Assignees and Quick Actions.

   Open Apply KPI Template, choose the KPI template for this role and apply it. Its KPIs are added to the General section with their weights and targets.

   

   1. Apply KPI Template. Once KPIs are applied, the button is greyed out: edit the weights in the KPI section, or remove the KPIs to apply a different template.
   2. Assign Employees (in Assignees) is used when you launch the cycle.
   3. Assign Multi-Rater assigns the template to one employee with several appraisers, each with a weight; the weights must add up to 100%.
4. Balance the behavioural weights

   Open Behavioral Weights (or select Redistribute) to change how much each competency counts inside the behavioural part. The weights must add up to 100%.

5. Lock the template

   Select Lock. WbizManager checks that:

   • there is at least one KPI, and the KPI weights add up to exactly 100%;
   • there is at least one competency, and the behavioural weights add up to exactly 100%;
   • no single KPI or competency carries 100% on its own (at least two items in each part).

   If anything is wrong, the message names the template and the problem, for example "KPI item weights sum to 95% (must equal exactly 100%)". A locked template shows Locked and Unlock instead of Lock. It can't be edited until you unlock it.

   

   1. Locked status and the Unlock button.
   2. Approve records HR's sign-off. Approving doesn't lock the template or change who can be assigned; locking does that.
6. Optional: design the printable form

   Document Structure & Evaluation Layout lets you build extra sections for the downloadable appraisal form: free text, rating grids, checkbox groups, signature blocks, label tables, a KPI grid, a score summary or static text. Fields that the employee or manager fills in only appear if Allow Custom Appraisal Items is on in performance settings.

If something goes wrong

Message	What to do
No active KPI weight configuration found…	Set the weights in performance settings.
No active financial years found. Activate one first.	Add or activate a year in Financial Years.
Template '…': KPI item weights sum to …% (must equal exactly 100%).	Change the KPI weights in the KPI section so they total 100%.
Template '…': A single KPI item cannot carry 100% weight.	Add another KPI and split the weight.
Lock the template before assigning it — locking validates the KPI and behavioral weights.	Select Lock first.
The appraisal template is locked (when applying a KPI template)	Unlock it, apply, then lock again.

What employees and managers see

• Employees see the template's KPIs under KPI Assessment and its competencies under Behavioral Assessment, with the weights you set. See Complete your appraisal.
• Line managers score the same rows in Team Appraisals. See Appraise your team.

Next steps

Check who is due for an appraisal: Check appraisal eligibility. Then launch the cycle.