Calibration
Calibration is the meeting where one manager's generous marking is weighed against another's harsh marking. You see a tier of people side by side, move the scores that need moving, and say why. The original score is never overwritten.
What it is for
Two supervisors appraise fifteen men each. One gives nothing above 3.5 and the other gives nothing below 4. Without a calibration step the second team gets the bonuses, and the first team learns what their supervisor is worth. This screen is how that is fixed, and how the fix is documented.
The board shows a tier of people at once, with each one's actual score, who they report to, their position and department. You type a calibrated score where the meeting decides one is needed, and a comment saying why. The actual score is never changed. Both figures sit side by side afterwards, with the movement between them, which is what makes the decision defensible six months later.
Calibration is not a payout input. The moved figure is recorded as a calibration. Performance Payout pays on the settled score from the appraisal. If the client's policy is that the calibrated figure pays, the moved figure has to reach the appraisal sheet before the payout is generated.
A level is a tier, not a branch. Level 1 is the people reporting directly to whoever is looking, level 2 is two levels down, level 3 is three. That is deliberate: a tier puts peer teams next to each other, which is the comparison the meeting needs. Drilling into one person opens his own tier beneath him, and keeps the cycle and period you were looking at.
A full cycle view combines the halves and weights them by the weight on each period line. It does not list the halves one after the other, and a figure moved at full cycle level does not overwrite either half's own calibration.
Who may see and move what is fixed. HR sees the whole population. Anybody else sees themselves and the people below them, cannot move their own score, and cannot move somebody outside their own reporting line.
Every field, in plain words
What you are looking at
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation Cycle | The round being calibrated | CYC-FY26 | Pick it from the list |
| Period | The half, or the whole round | January to June 2026 | Choosing the whole round combines the halves and weights them |
| Level | How far down the reporting line this board reaches | Level 1 | 1 the people reporting directly to you. 2 two levels down. 3 three levels down. It is a tier, so peers appear together |
| Employee | The person whose team is being looked at | Fills itself when you drill in | |
| Half | Which half the board is showing | Fills itself | |
| Calibrated Score | The figure the meeting settled on for the person drilled into | 3.8 | |
| Remarks | Why it was moved | Required when a score is moved. Say what the meeting decided, not that it decided |
The board
One line per person in the tier.
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line # | Line number | Fills itself | |
| Employee, Name | The person | Fills itself. 10427, Ahsan Raza | |
| Reports To | His manager | Fills itself | This is the column that exposes a generous marker |
| Position Name, Department Name | Where he sits | Fill themselves | |
| Reports | How many people report to him | Fills itself | |
| Actual Score | What his appraisal settled on | Fills itself | Never changed by this screen. Blank means he has not been scored yet |
| Calibrated Score | What the meeting decided instead | 3.8 | Leave the cell empty to make no adjustment at all. Clearing a cell removes an adjustment already made |
| Movement | The difference between the two | Fills itself | |
| Remarks | Why | Marked against a softer line than the rest of the shift | Required when a score is moved |
Objective by objective
When the meeting wants to move one objective rather than the whole score, this grid opens for the person drilled into.
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line # | Line number | Fills itself | |
| Section Name | The part of the form the objective sits in | Fills itself | |
| Name | The objective | Fills itself. Rejection rate at final inspection | |
| Weightage | What it was worth | Fills itself | |
| Meet | The target that was agreed | Fills itself | |
| Achievement | What he recorded | Fills itself | |
| Actual Score | What it scored | Fills itself | |
| Calibrated Score | What the meeting decided for this objective | 3.5 | |
| Remarks | Why |
When objective level figures are entered, the overall calibrated score is worked out from them, and anything typed at the top is replaced.
How to configure it
- Nothing to configure. Set the calibration window and the number of days on the Evaluation Cycle period line, which is where the deadline comes from. Left blank, it is 14 days from the day that person's form was finished.
- When the forms are in, open the screen, pick the cycle and the half, and start at Level 1.
- Look at the Reports To column first. Scores clustering high or low under one manager is the thing calibration exists to find.
- Where the meeting agrees a move, type the calibrated score and the reason. The reason is not optional.
- Drill into a manager to open his own team as a tier, and work down the organisation that way.
- Note anybody whose actual score is blank. Who has not been scored is the first thing the meeting needs to know.
- Where the client's policy is that the calibrated figure pays, make sure the agreed figure reaches the appraisal sheet before Performance Payout is generated.
Scenarios
"One supervisor marks everybody at 4 and the other at 3"
Open Level 2 so both teams appear on one board, sorted by Reports To. The pattern is visible in a glance. Move the scores the meeting agrees to move, with the reason on each line, and both supervisors have a record of what was done and why.
"We want to compare two departments that do not report to each other"
Use the level that contains them both. A level is a tier across the organisation, not one branch of it, which is exactly so that peer teams can be compared.
"The meeting wants to move one objective, not the whole score"
Drill into the person and work on the objective grid. The overall figure is then worked out from the objectives, and the top line is replaced rather than argued with.
"What happens to the man's original score"
Nothing. It stays. Both figures and the movement between them are kept, which is the answer to give an employee who asks whether his manager's marking was overruled.
"We moved a score and the bonus did not change"
It would not. Calibration is a record, not a payout input. The agreed figure has to reach the appraisal sheet before the payout is generated.
What it is connected to
- Employee Goal supplies the actual scores, and is never written to by this screen.
- Evaluation Cycle sets the calibration window and how many days it runs for, and the weights that combine the halves.
- Rating Appeal is the employee's route if he disputes the outcome.
- Performance Payout pays on the appraisal's settled score, not on this board.
If something looks wrong
- "It will not save and asks for a comment" - a calibration needs a reason. Say why the score was moved before saving it.
- "A manager cannot see his own team" - he can see himself and the people below him, and nothing else. Only HR sees the whole population.
- "He cannot change his own score" - nobody can. A man is not in his own calibration document.
- "Somebody's actual score is blank" - his appraisal has not been scored yet. He is shown deliberately, because the meeting needs to know who is missing.
- "The figure we typed was replaced" - objective level figures were entered for that person, and the overall score is worked out from them.
- "The number we typed was refused" - it is outside any rating scale the product uses. Scores live on the one to five ladder.