The iedex 360 feedback tool operator's guide

Section 1: Overview

Introduction for consultants

The iedex 360 feedback online program is specifically built for use by consultants who do not want to use a full service third party provider or incur the costs of developing their own 360 online software.

All elements of the process and all 360 reports can contain YOUR badging/logo. iedex will not intervene in the relationship between you and your clients if you chose to use a badged version of the 360. We provide you with the means to do a better job for your clients.

This Operator's Guide contains details on how to use the iedex system from end to end. You will probably only need to use it once because the system is so simple.

Key functionality

The iedex 360 feedback online program will enable you to manage all aspects of 360 feedback design, development, application and reporting:

1. Design a 360 feedback questionnaire online or transfer a pre-existing questionnaire into the system.
2. Edit your questionnaire if you want to change it.
3. Register participants on a 360 feedback process.
4. Enable you to authorise participants to invite others to rate them (their peers, staff, manager, customers, etc). Option 1
5. Allow you to register raters on behalf of participants (in cases where you want to specify which peers, staff, manager, customers, etc should respond). Option 2
6. Check and correct email addresses.
7. Specify the due date for responses, after which you will close the system and print reports for participants.
8. View progress with the responses by raters - exactly who has responded and who hasn't.
9. Print reports for participants.
10. Print a group report containing the average results for all participants.
11. Delete old/draft 360 programs.

This is all done using completely automated data handling (database, data manipulation, data analysis), and automated report generation to print ready format.

Confidentiality features

The iedex 360 tool has several confidentiality features:

Non-responses:

Raters who did not respond are not identified in the report that the participant receives. Raters should have the right not to rate the participant and the participant should not be told who has or has not responded. This prevents the participant from pressuring a rater to explain why they were not willing to rate them.

Feature:

Participant's reports state who was invited to respond and how many of these responded, but not who they were.

Identified responses

The scores given by any single rater should not be identifiable. (Does not apply to managers scores - managers should be prepared to give direct, open feedback to their staff).

Feature:

Raters responses are aggregated for each category (peers, staff). Because the report specifies the highest and lowest scores for peers and staff, at least 3 responses are required in each category to preserve the confidentiality of raters.

Comments:

Written comments made by raters should not be tagged to them.

Feature:

Raters comments do not appear in the same order as the list of invited raters in the participant's report. Raters are also reminded not to use identifying language when entering written comments on the questionnaire.

Security features

As an Administrator you should understand the security features of the iedex system.

The 360 system provides secure, password-free access for all raters and the participant.

Invitations for feedback require a combination of security and confidentiality. iedex employs a ticketing system that combines a unique ticket number with a secure ticket access code. Raters providing feedback do not need to enter a special access code or password. They simply click on a link within their invitation for feedback and our web server identifies their ticket and access code automatically.

By the use of an SQL database, results are collated and stored accurately as soon as they are submitted by the rater on the web form. Reports can be printed from the moment there are enough respondents to ensure anonymity by aggregate. Aggregation and report creation is automated to ensure data consistency and integrity.

Web-based entry means that there is no risk contributed by laborious data entry processes.

Section 2: Accessing the 360 feedback system and resources

Go to the iedex Home Page at www.iedex.com.au and click on   .

Options

You will be presented with 4 options.

1. About the iedex online 360 tool
2. 360 feedback resources
3. Create a new 360 feedback program
4. View an existing 360 feedback program

Option 1: About the iedex online 360 tool

Contains the latest version of this Operators Guide and other information on how the iedex tool works, including:

• An executive summary of the features and process of the iedex online 360 tool (flash animation);
• Prices and payment policy;
• A model of the iedex 360 feedback process (diagram);
• Detailed features of the iedex 360 feedback tool;
• Sample 360 report;
• Debrief notes for facilitators;
• The iedex Catalogue of 1200 behaviours for use in 360 questionnaires;
• Preferred questionnaire formats for the iedex 360 feedback tool.

Option 2: 360 feedback resources

Contains information useful to plan, support and implement a 360 feedback process:

• The benefits and pitfalls of 360 feedback;
• Assessing 360 readiness;
• Developing a good 360 questionnaire;
• How to communicate about a 360 program to all stakeholders;
• Catalogue of over 1200 behaviour statements;
• Glossary of common 360 terms.

Option 3: Create a new 360 feedback program

Use this link to construct your 360 questionnaire, invite participants, monitor progress via your own Administration Panel and print reports.

"Section 3: Creating a new 360 program" contains full details on how to perform all of these functions - the end-to-end 360 process.

Option 4: View an existing 360 feedback program

Use this link to view the details of each 360 program you are currently administering (selecting this option takes you to your Administration Panel).

More detail on the functionality of this option is provided in "Section 4: Viewing and managing and existing 360 program".

Login to the system/logout

Login

When you are in the 360 Home Page, if you want to "create a new 360 program" you will be asked to login to the system by entering you email address. Do this and hit the "continue" button.

You will be asked to supply some personal details - first name and surname - and to create a password for yourself.

Once you have clicked "Continue", you will receive acknowledgement that your details have been received and entered into the system. Click "continue" to start creating your 360 feedback program.

If you want to or 'view and existing 360 program' you will login to the system by entering your email address and password. The system will recognise you and take you straight to your Administration Panel (See Section 5).

Logout

You can log out of the system from the Home Page. It is preferable but not essential to use this logout. Simply shutting down your browser will automatically log you out.

Section 3: Creating a new 360 feedback program

This enables you to develop a new 360 from scratch or copy an existing one (not currently on the iedex system) into the system.

Creating a new 360 program is a four (4) step process.

Step 1: Logon to the system

For details of the login process see Section 2 above.

Step 2: Choosing the name and deadline for your feedback program

Name of the feedback program: you can accept the default name allocated by the system or you can change it by deleting the default name and inserting another name.

Deadline for submission of feedback by raters: The default deadline is 2 weeks. You can change this by deleting the default deadline and inserting another deadline.

Step 3: Creating a 360 questionnaire

You can choose from a range of pre-existing questionnaires in our database all of which can be edited to suit your needs or you can choose to develop one from scratch, which includes the option to transfer one of your own questionnaires into the iedex system.

For pre-existing questionnaires

You can view each of the pre-existing questionnaires by clicking the "preview" link next to the one you want to see. A preview of the questionnaire will appear in a new window. When you have made your decision click continue.

For developing a questionnaire from scratch

You will be presented with a blank template into which you can enter your own questionnaire. Some key points to note are:

Most 360 questionnaires have three levels of data - Capabilities, Attributes and Behaviours (known as the CAB hierarchy).

For more information on the CAB framework follow the link: Questionnaire formats for the iedex 360 feedback tool.

If you do not wish to use all three levels in your questionnaire, simply use one overall capability with a general name (eg 'Executive Capabilities', 'ACME Corp Capabilities'). You might wish to do this if, for example, your entire questionnaire is about leadership (ie. there is only one Capability - leadership) but you wish to test several Attributes of this Capability (such as communications, conflict management, vision, performance management, etc).

Entering Capabilities, Attributes and Behaviours into the new questionnaire template

There are some important rules for entering Capabilities, Attributes and Behaviours into the new questionnaire template:

1. If you do not want to use all three levels (Capabilities, Attributes and Behaviours) simply use a general name for your main Capability or Attribute in the template.
2. 2After you have typed in the first Capability, it's Attributes and Behaviours, to create a new Capability, Attribute or Behaviour simply place your cursor in the relevant box, type it in and hit the "return"/ "enter" key on your computer. That is:
   • With your cursor in the Capability box, entering the Capability name and hitting the "return"/ "enter" key on your computer will generate a blank Attribute box and the first Behaviour box for that Attribute.
   • If you need to create another Behaviour, place your cursor in the last Behaviour box, type your behaviour and hit the "return"/ "enter" key on your computer. If you decide not to use a blank box, this is OK - the system ignores all blank boxes.
3. You must save changes before exiting this screen or your work may be lost.
4. You will be able to view your questionnaire and edit it further during the next stage of the process, if you require.

To transfer one of your own questionnaires into the iedex system, you copy and paste each item individually into the relevant part of the template ie. each Capability, Attribute and Behaviour. You cannot import the entire questionnaire as a single file into the system.

When you are finished creating your questionnaire, save your changes then hit the "go to Administration panel" button.

Step 4: Manage the 360 process end-to-end

This is achieved through the Admin Panel. The Admin Panel is the heart of the iedex system. The use of the panel is contained in Section 5.

Section 4: Viewing and managing an existing 360 program.

After logging in you will be shown the 360 programs you are currently administering. You can either:

• View the details of each 360 program you are currently administering (selecting this option takes you to your Administration Panel - see Section 5 below), or
• Create a new 360 program (see Section 3 of this Guide above), or
• Log out.

Section 5: Using the Administration Panel

Overview of Administration functions

The Admin Panel allows you to perform ten (10) different functions to operate and manage the entire 360 feedback process:

Function 1: Participants

This function allows you to see who all participants are, who they have invited to respond as raters (manager/s, peers and staff), who has responded and who hasn't and whether reports are ready for printing or not (ie. have enough raters responded to preserve confidentiality).

Note: Although it appears first in the Admin Panel (because you will end up using it more than the other functions) it will be discussed last in this section (because you need to know how to register participants and raters before you can administer them).

Detailed instructions below

Function 2: Help desk

This button is located in the Administration Panel just below the 360 feedback logo. Use this function to send a query directly to the iedex help desk.

Function 3: Register participants

You can use this function to register participants (or register more participants) to receive 360 degree feedback.

Detailed instructions below

Function 4: Register participants AND raters

You can use this function to register participants and all their raters (manager/s peers and staff).

Detailed instructions below

Function 5: View the questionnaire

You can use this function to view the questionnaire as raters will see it (a series of randomised statements).

Function 6: View the structure of the questionnaire

This will show you the structure of the questionnaire in terms of Capabilities, Attributes and Behaviours.

Function 7: Make a copy of the questionnaire

You can use this function to make a copy of the questionnaire.

Function 8: Edit the questionnaire

You can use this function to make changes to the questionnaire.

These changes can only be made before you invite anyone to participate in the 360 process. Once invitations have been sent (explained later in this Guide) the questionnaire becomes "locked" to prevent different raters getting different versions.

If you click on this button after invitations have been sent you will get a message telling you that you can't make any edits. However you can:

Contact iedex to clear any invitations and scores received - allowing you to start again. OR

Make a copy of the questionnaire. This will allow you to edit the copy and restart the process of inviting participants (and their raters if necessary).

Function 9: Change the due date

You can use this function to change the date that responses are due.

For example, if response rates are lower than required and you need more time to allow people to complete the questionnaire.

Function 10: Delete this entire 360 program

You can delete this 360 program entirely by clicking on the button below. This can be useful to remove old/draft 360s used for testing purposes.

Registering participants into the 360 program (Functions 3 and 4)

This process is accessed through the Administration Panel.

Option 1 Register participants

You should use this function to register participants (or register more participants) to receive 360 degree feedback.

Steps to register participants:

1. Click on the button "register participants" in the Administration Panel. This will provide you with the option to enter up to 30 participants.

   

2. Enter the participants details in the table provided [first name - last name - email address]
3. Hit the "continue" button. You will be asked to check the email addresses of participants. This is very important. An incorrect email address means that the person concerned cannot invite raters or complete the questionnaire.
   
   

   Note: incorrect emails will bounce back to iedex who will post them in your 360 Home Page

4. Fix incorrect email addresses by selecting the "click here as changes are needed" button. OR
   Progress to the next step by clicking the "continue" button.
   
   

   Note: If an email is completely invalid the continue button will not appear, see the section: Checking email addresses, below for more information.

   
   You will now see a page informing you that "emails have now been sent to participants".
   You may also receive a warning if you have already invited a participant before in the same program "you have already invited the following participants. A new invitation HAS NOT BEEN SENT". Make a copy of your existing program if you wish to re-test.
   
   

   Warning: The 360 process has now been initiated. From this point no change is possible to the questionnaire.

5. Select "return to the Admin Panel" to complete other Administrative functions or to go to the Home Page to log out.

Option 2: Register participants AND raters

You should use this function to register participants (or register more participants) and all their raters (manager/s peers and staff).

Steps to register participants AND raters:

1. Click on the button "register participants AND raters" in the Administration Panel. This will provide you with the option to enter the names of the first participant.

   

2. Select the "continue" button and you will be asked to provide the details of the participant's:
   • Manager/s (up to 2 managers can be entered). Make sure the "manager" is the person to whom the participant reports. If you need to enter more than 2 managers, see point 3 below.
   • Peers (up to 10 peers can be entered) If you need to enter more than 10 peers, see point 3 below.
   • Staff (up to 10 staff can be entered) If you need to enter more than 10 staff, see point 3 below.
3. If you need to enter more than 2 managers, 10 peers or staff as raters for a participant, you must return to the Administration Panel, select the "details" button for the participant. This will show you the details of the persons you have already selected as raters and, at the bottom of the screen, provide you with the option to "add more raters". Select the category you want to add to (manager/s, peers, staff) and complete the details as before.

Checking email addresses

Every time you submit email addresses into the system (for participants, manager/s, peers or staff), the system will check the format of these and give you a warning if it finds a probable error and will not let you continue if the address is invalid. Invalid means:

• Addresses without the "@" sign;
• Addresses without a domain i.e ".com", ".org", etc;
• Addresses containing more than one "@" sign;

Probable errors are common mistakes people make when entering addresses that may be valid:

• Addresses containing commas - (,) ;
• Addresses containing slashes - (/);
• Addresses containing double dots - (..);
• Addresses containing a dot (.) before the "@" sign;

You will also be prompted to check emails before hitting the submit button.

These checks are essential because the system relies heavily on emailing for:

• Delivering the unique URL/link to all raters (including self rating) to complete the 360 questionnaire;
• Reminding raters that they have not responded - every three working days (default).

View and change details of participants and raters (Function 1)

The first table in the Administration Panel contains a list of all participants registered in a 360 program.

The table allows you to perform the following functions:

1. View all participants - check names against your list to ensure you have enrolled everyone.
2. See how many raters have responded.
3. Access the details of all raters - manager/s, peers and staff - select the "Details" button to:
   • See whether each rater is a manager, peer or staff member;
   • Confirm the email address of the rater;
   • Identify if they have completed to the questionnaire or not;

   

   On this same screen, if you hit the "Change" button, you will be able to modify the email address details of the rater. [If you have allocated a person as a staff member when in fact they are a peer, contact iedex to fix this problem].

View/print 360 feedback reports

The first table in the Admin Panel contains a "view reports" function. By selecting this button you will be able to see the actual results for each participant:

Grey colour button means the report is not ready for printing because there are not enough responses;

Green colour button means ready for printing. It does not mean all raters have responded, only that enough have responded to maintain confidentiality. Wait until the due date has been reached or until all raters have responded before printing.

The "group report" button gives you access to the aggregate results for everyone in the 360 program. This button turns green when at least 2 participants have green buttons.

Reminders to respond

Reminders are sent out automatically by the system. Reminders are only sent those who have not completed their questionnaire. If this raises questions about the confidentiality of responses, remind the participants that completion statistics are only kept with access tickets for the system. Additionally, scores from the feedback program are stored separately to information about participants and raters.