An action plan is the follow-up conversation of a performance review, inside Factorial. Once the self review and manager review are submitted, the manager starts the action plan: both sides see the answers side by side, comment on them, agree on action items (which can become goals), request courses, and the manager writes a conclusion. When both submit, Factorial generates a PDF and files it in the employee's documents.

Before you start

• The review must have Allow action plans on (it is on by default).
• The person's Self review and Manager review must be submitted. If the review only has Self review, only the self review is needed and the employee's current manager leads the plan.
• The employee can't start their own action plan.

Steps

Start an action plan (manager)

1. Go to Performance → Reviews and open the review.
2. In the Insights tab, open the Action plans card ("Compare answers and create action items to help achieve shared goals") and click Start or View all.
3. The My agreements panel groups people into Ready to start, Not started and Pending submission.
4. Click Start agreement on a person, or Start all to start every plan that is ready.
5. Confirm in Start action plan: "When you click 'Start', we'll notify <name> and they'll gain access to the answers in this performance review."

Work on the action plan (manager and employee)

1. Open the action plan from the email, your inbox, or My agreements → View agreement.
2. Compare the answers side by side in Questions, Overall performance and Competency assessment. Use Hide/Show to collapse a section. "Missing answer" means a question wasn't answered.
3. Add a comment to an answer if you want to discuss it.
4. In Action items, click Add action item..., write it and save. On an action item you can:
   • Set a goal to create a goal for the employee from it, then See goal to open it;
   • Edit or Delete it.
5. In Suggested courses, click Request new course and choose From catalog or New proposal to ask for a training (requires Trainings).
6. The manager writes the Conclusion with Add conclusion....
7. Use Comments (below Conclusion) for a discussion thread. New comments appear without reloading.
8. Each side clicks Submit action plan. The manager can tick Include the comments in the PDF in the submit dialog.

Rules and behavior

• If the self review and manager review aren't both submitted, then the action plan shows "Not available yet".
• If the manager starts the action plan, then the employee gets the email "Performance action plan started" and can see the self review and manager review answers, even if Restrict results visibility is on.
• If an admin or owner starts the plan, then the person's manager gets the "Employee's action plan started" notification.
• If one side submits, then the other side is notified ("Action plan submitted by <name>" / "Your action plan is ready to submit") and the plan shows "<name> has already submitted the action plan. No edits are allowed."
• If you submitted and the other side hasn't yet, then you can click Edit action plan to make changes; the other party is notified when you submit again.
• If both sides submit, then the plan is locked, the PDF is generated and both are notified. See Action plan PDF and e-signature.
• If either side has submitted, then no new comments can be added.
• If someone comments, then the employee and the reviewer are notified by email and in their inbox.
• Only the employee, their reviewer and the employee's managers can comment.
• If the review has only Self review, then the manager can only write in the Conclusion section.
• If you Set a goal from an action item, then the goal is created in Goals and linked to the item.
• If the reviewer is replaced, then the new reviewer can start and sign the action plan.
• If the manager review has additional reviewers, then any of them can start the action plan and sign the manager side, and they get its notifications. Only one person signs the manager side. See Manage an active review: participation, peers, reviewers and status.

Limitations

• You can't start an action plan from peer or direct report reviews alone.
• You can't edit the plan after both sides submit.
• You can't add other participants (for example HR) to the comment thread.
• You can't request courses without the Trainings module; you see an upgrade message instead.
• You can't delete an action plan once it's started.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: "The action plan says 'Not available yet'." → Cause: the self review or manager review isn't submitted. → Fix: ask the missing reviewer to submit.
• Symptom: "I can't comment any more." → Cause: one side has already submitted. → Fix: the submitter can click Edit action plan to reopen it before the other side submits.
• Symptom: "The employee can't start the action plan." → Cause: only managers, the manager reviewer, owners and admins can start it. → Fix: ask the manager to start it.
• Symptom: "There's no Action plans card." → Cause: Allow action plans is off, or the review has neither the Self review nor the Manager to direct report review type. → Fix: an owner can turn on Allow action plans in Edit > Features before the review is finished.

FAQ

1. Can the action plan start before the review ends?

Yes. As soon as the self review and manager review are submitted.

2. Do action items become goals automatically?

No. Click Set a goal on each action item you want as a goal.

3. Who can see the action plan?

The employee, the reviewer, the employee's managers, review owners and admins.

4. Can we have the review meeting in Factorial instead of offline?

Yes, the Comments thread is for that. Many teams also meet in person and use the plan to record the outcome.