Private Equity Organisation: Performance Management Process Converted to Online System
New Online Performance Appraisal process yields demonstrable savings in time and cost.
Since their formation in 1968, Montagu Private Equity has invested in hundreds of companies, across many different industry sectors – manufacturing, transport, logistics, healthcare, waste management, business services, web-hosting services and many many more.
Today Montagu Private Equity is focused on arranging and investing in buyouts of businesses headquartered in Northern Europe.
The Challenge
The highly developed in-house performance appraisal process was perfectly fit-for-purpose except for one key aspect; the time and resource required to set up, administer, process the vast amount of data and report on the outcomes accurately.
Also, in such a highly dynamic sector the need to maintain staff details at each new deployment of the appraisal, particularly things like the Employee:Manager relationships, was an area where a system with database capabilities was a clear opportunity to gain better control of the process.
Being a financial sector organisation, compliance is a fundamental requirement of any business process, particularly the recent GDPR regulations.
Converting a well entrenched, semi-electronic process with all the associated and familiar feedback forms and reports into a fully web based system with comprehensive in-house administration capabilities, in such a way as to minimise disturbance within the organisation was clearly evident and a fundamental requirement of the project.
The Solution
The SurveyShack team invested heavily in consulting with the Montagu HR stakeholders to fully understand the existing process and map the comprehensive list of forms and supporting documentation.
Throughout the consultation phase, multiple opportunities to simplify and add efficiencies to the Performance Appraisal process became evident.
A series of system specification iterations followed, which included mock-ups of critical user interfacing, before a detailed specification was arrived at, signed of by all parties and then converted to a development team build specification.
As the agile build progressed, further optimisations became apparent which were communicated to the client by the account manager and project manager during regular review meetings, and if agreed to by the Montagu stakeholders, these were added to the dynamic project specification.
The system meets all the fundamental requirements by providing the following features:
- Fully custom (Montagu) branded, web-based performance appraisal system
- Highly secure (fully encrypted) administration of all organisational and user details
- Email-driven launch and reminder communications
- Clear and intuitive HR Admin dashboard where the status of each user’s activity is easily drilled down into
- Multiple participant feedback phases of the highly developed process provided for
- Look and feel of all original forms replicated but adapted and optimised for the online environment
- A range of specialised reports provide the system administrators with high-level system status, user profile details and organisation-wide appraisal results
- Online Help where all users can direct their enquiries to either the in-house administrators of the system, or the SurveyShack technical support team
- EU-based cloud hosting ensures full compliance with all system security and data protection (including GDPR) requirements.
The Benefits
The conversion to an online system has future-proofed the performance appraisal process, allowing the HR team to focus on supporting the growth and adaptation of the business to new markets and business opportunities.The careful re-creation of the familiar look-and-feel of the various appraisal input forms when being viewed on-screen played a key part in the smooth roll out of the new system. Users were easily able to undertake their appraisals and progress through the various input phases, Managers did not need to adapt their approach to processing their teams and the HR stakeholders were easily able to support the organisation.
“Preserving the familiar appraisal form and report formats when presenting these on-screen made the conversion to the new system so much easier for all users and stakeholders.”With all data now contained within a secure database, additional management reporting has since been developed and added to the HR admin suite of reports, thus drawing further management insight from the appraisal process. Being able to click and download this type of strategic information in mere seconds, as opposed to hours or days of working with raw data and Excel spreadsheets, possibly Word and Powerpoint also, continues to benefit the organisation in terms of time and resources saved.
Client Testimonials
"I have had the pleasure of working with the team at Utegra for the last 10 years and can highly recommend them. Nothing is too much trouble, the level of service received throughout any project that I partnered on was outstanding. Their 360 was the easiest system that I have implemented and of great value to the organisation. Always above and beyond. If you are looking for a trusted partnership, I would look no further, I can’t recommend Mike and the team highly enough."
Alison Horner
Organisational Development Consultant, Nacro
"I have been extremely pleased with the look of the Questionnaire and the generated Report. The administration is run very professionally which then has a knock-on effect to me when I am feeding back the results to my client."
Diane Moisley-Mason
DMM Training and Development
"We had challenging time scales and volumes and the 360 Managed Solution was the best option for us with regard to these demanding factors. The team was extremely flexible and efficient, great value for money and very responsive."
Home Group
Leading provider of UK affordable housing
"The use of the tool was perfect. We were updated regularly on the progress of collecting responses. Reports were even re-run where feedback came in past the deadline. The service was brilliant and response was always timely and solution focused. Great working with you!"
James Freeman
Marks and Spencer
"I would like to express our gratitude to both Mike and Trevor for all your help …... I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you both and building a great tool."
Kirsty Fraser
Claranet Ltd, London
"Thank you for undertaking this 360 development for us. The data is impressive, especially around the trends highlighted. I would like to convey my thanks to you, and your colleagues for this."
Louise Dunwell
Newcastle Colleges Group
"The team is really easy to work with and they’ve added a great deal of value. We’ve been impressed with the way the technology supports our processes rather than making life unnecessarily complicated. Seeing their reports has provided the stimulus for participants to take charge of their own development. Great new conversations have happened, and we’ve seen the positive impact of our people communicating more honestly, yet constructively, with their peers."
Mike Vinsen
Learning and Development Manager, M&S
"The team at Utegra can be trusted to make the whole custom 360-degree feedback process completely flexible and very easy for Biffa and so free me to focus on my people and their learning. The actual report produced has provided individuals with valuable insights around their strengths and areas for development, initiating excellent conversations around performance behaviours and individual development plans."
Rob Gosney
Group L&D Manager, Biffa