Observations (Admin)

The Observations admin screen allows admins to create and manage the templates for observations, including the questions that managers observing their reportee, or ordinary users with the correct permission to carry out observations on the other users in the platform, such as trainers or coaches, must answer. Admins can also see how many times a particular observation has been taken and the answers a manager has given.

Example: You might create templates for different uses cases and types of observations:

Observation templates for managers: You might require managers in your organisation to carry out an observation for each of their reportees to assess their performance and provide constructive feedback on how they can improve in the future.
Observation templates for trainers or coaches: You might have users in training or coaching roles who are required to carry out regular observations of other users to assess their progress without being the direct manager of any user or having access to the full observation-related admin permissions. In this particular case, ordinary users in training or coaching roles can be added to an admin group with the Complete all observations permission enabled, so they can carry out observations on all users on your platform.

For how to create an observation, see Creating an observation.

The following settings are available on the Observations screen.

Setting	Description
Search for observation	Enter the name of an observation to filter displayed observations.
Create a new observation	Click to create a new observation.
Hide published (#) / Show published (#)	Click Hide published (#) to hide all published observations. Click Show published (#) to display all published observations.
Hide draft (#) / Show draft (#)	Click Hide draft (#) to hide all draft observations. Click Show draft (#) to display all draft observations.
Hide archived (#) / Show archived (#)	Click Hide archived (#) to hide all archived observations. Click Show archived (#) to display all archived observations.

The following settings are available for each published observation.

Setting	Description
Share	Share the observation with all users who have access, all users who have not completed the observation, and specific available recipients. To share an observation: Click Share. The Share popup appears. Select one of the following options: All users with access: Shares the observation with all users selected in the User access section of the Access screen. All users who have not replied: Shares the observation with all users selected in the User access section, who have not completed the observation. Specific available recipients: Select one or more specific users you have given access to in the User access section. If you have selected Specific available Users, in the Add user(s) name here field, enter the name of one or more users. If necessary, in the Add a personal message (optional) field, enter a message to be sent to users with the event notification they will receive.The notification each user receives depends on their individual notification settings. To share the observation, click Share. The observation is shared.
Copy to clipboard	Click to copy the observation's URL to the clipboard.
Report	Generate CSV reports containing user information for the observation.
Make copy	Make a copy of the observation. To make a copy of the observation: Click the make copy icon. The copy observation popup appears. If necessary, in the Please write title for observation copy field, edit the observation title. Click Confirm. The copy appears at the top of the draft observations list. All settings and configurations are copied except for User access settings. Click Show draft (#) to view draft observations.
Archive	Archive an observation that is not currently in use. Click to add the observation to the archived observations list. To unarchive an observation, in the archived observations list, click the corresponding Unarchive button.
Access	Edit permissions settings for the published observation.
Activate	Activate the observation. Important After an observation has been published, you must manually activate the observation by clicking the toggle.

The following settings are available for each draft observation.

Setting	Description
Edit	Click to edit the observation details such as name, description, and questions.
Make copy	Make a copy of the observation. To make a copy of the observation: Click the make copy icon. The copy observation popup appears. If necessary, in the Please write title for observation copy field, edit the observation title. Click Confirm. The copy appears in the drafts list. The copy appears at the top of the draft observations list. All settings and configurations are copied except for User access settings. Click Show draft (#) to view draft observations.
Archive	Archive an observation that is not currently in use. Click to add the observation to the archived observations list.
Access	Edit permissions settings for the published observation.
Delete	Delete a draft observation. To delete a draft observation: Click the Delete icon. The Are you sure? popup appears. Click Delete. The observation is deleted.
Publish	Click to publish the observation.

The following settings are available for each archived observation.

Setting	Description
Report	Click to generate a CSV report containing user information for the observation.
Make a copy	Make a copy of the observation. To make a copy of the observation: Click the make a copy icon. The Copy observation popup appears. In the Please write title for observation copy field, enter a title for the copy. Click Confirm. The copy appears in the drafts list. The copy appears at the top of the draft observations list. All settings and configurations are copied except for User access settings. Click Show draft (#) to view draft observations.
Delete	Delete a draft observation. To delete a draft observation: Click the Delete icon. The Are you sure? popup appears. Click Delete. The observation is deleted.
Unarchive	Click to unarchive the observation.

Viewing the answers for a particular observation session

Admins can see how many times a particular observation has been taken and the answers a manager has given for a particular completed observation session by clicking on the Times taken: # link on an observation template.

When searching for a particular observation session, you can:

Filter by a particular manager who has filled out the observation
Filter by a particular reportee, for whom the observation was filled out
Sort the list of completed observations by newest completion or oldest completion

To find a specific observation completion:

On the Observations admin screen, find the template and click the Times taken: # link.
The list of completed observations for that particular template appears.
If the list of observations is very long, you can filter the list by a reportee and manager, as well as filter the list by oldest or newest completion:
Click on the completed observation and the answers to each question in the observation are shown.

Creating new observations

To create new observations, see the following pages:

Important

Viewing the answers for a particular observation session

Creating new observations