Staff

The purpose of the staff module is to maintain staff records.

This includes:

• Defining basic details such as role, location, employment type
• Uploading their resume to enable advaise.app to generate a summary of their skills
• AI-assisted evaluation of staff against role competencies
• Customise staff work hours for use in bookings
• Use the intelligent resource finder to search for staff with the right skills and availability for a client proposal or engagement
• Assign staff to a role or engagement
• Managing their goals and development plans
• Managing bookings, timesheets and expenses

Before creating a staff record, the following activities need to be completed:

• Create a role (including creating competencies)
• Complete the setup of financials in the organizations tab. This includes:
  • Define rank hierarchy and associated cost rates
  • Set the work time per day. This is used for cost and utilization calculations
  • Create locations

These are the steps involved in creating and managing a staff record:

1. A staff record is automatically created when someone is added as a member of your organization.

2. Go to the People Category and Staff module, click on a staff member from the list to open their staff record.

3. In the administration tab and summary section, click on the Edit button.

4. Assign a role, location and employment type.
5. Update the manager if required (by default the organization owner is set as the manager for all staff).
6. Upload the staff member's resume.

7. Once the resume is uploaded, click on the Generate Notes button to have the AI create a summary of the staff members experience.

8. Customise work hours if the staff member does not work the standard week for your organization.

9. In the Development tab, when a staff resume is uploaded, the staff skill levels can be assessed against the competencies for their role by clicking on the Evaluate button.. This will be reflected in the competencies graph.

10. To update the skill level against a competency, go to the Competencies section and click on a competency. This will open the pop-up where you can update the level and comments.

11. To manage staff goals, navigate to the Goals section of the Development tab. Click on the + Add button to add a new goal or click on an existing goal to update it.

12. Staff can add notes about their goals from their dashboard. The manager can select a rating for the goal and add comments for details on the goal.

13. The staff development plan can be managed in the development tab. Click on the + Add button to create a new development plan item. Click on a development plan item to update it.

14. The staff member can provide an update on their dashboard.

15. Click on a development plan item to open it and add a progress update.

16. After the staff member has provided an update, the manager can click on the development plan to update the status and add comments.

FAQs for Staff

How do I evaluate competencies for a staff member?

Roles created in advaise.app have required competencies and skill levels assigned to them. Recording and managing competencies against a staff record provides a number of benefits:

1. Ensuring a good fit for the role: advaise.app will automatically assess the staff member's competency and skill level against the requirements for a role and provide feedback on whether they are a good fit.
2. Staff development: Knowing a staff members skill level for a required competency enables managers to plan staff development. This can help the staff member achieve the required skill level to excel in their role and improve employee engagement and advancement.
3. Intelligent resource finder: Finding staff with the right skillset and availability for a proposal or engagement is a crucial activity. advaise.app has an intelligent resource finder to streamline this task. Entering the competency and skill level against a staff record allows the intelligent resource finder to find staff for a project and create a booking.
4. Business needs: Managing staff competencies can also help to identify gaps in the business's skill set. By analysing the competencies of their staff, the business can identify areas where they may need to hire new talent to meet client needs.

Use the generate button to have advaise.app automatically assess the staff members competencies based on the resume uploaded in their staff summary. Ensure these generated competencies and ratings are reviewed and updated if required.

The generate button will only work if there are no competencies assigned to a staff member.

To manually evaluate a competency, select the competency from the dropdown list. Assess the staff members skill level for the competency, ranging from beginner to expert. Add a description of the staff members relevant experience.

If a required competency does not exist in the organization, an owner or administrator will need to create the competency in the organisations module in the metadata tab.

What is a staff development plan?

Setting a staff development plan is essential to create a high-performing team in a professional services business. A development plan is different from a goal in that it outlines the steps required to achieve specific objectives, while a goal is a specific, measurable outcome.

A staff development plan helps identify areas where an individual may need improvement and provides a roadmap for personal and professional growth. It outlines the skills and competencies that the individual should develop and the actions that need to be taken to achieve those goals. By providing a clear path for development, staff members can work towards their goals and enhance their performance, which ultimately contributes to the success of the team and the organization as a whole.

Additionally, a staff development plan can help identify training and development needs and provide a framework for feedback and performance evaluation. It can also help retain top talent by demonstrating a commitment to staff growth and development.

Set a regular cadence to review and discuss the development plan with the staff member, not just on the due date. Remember to come back and update the status and add comments.

What is a staff goal?

Setting staff goals is essential in developing a high-performing team in a professional services business. Goals provide a clear direction for employees to work towards, and help them to focus their efforts on achieving specific outcomes. By setting goals, employees can better understand their role within the organisation, and their contribution towards the overall success of the business.

When staff members have clear goals, they are more likely to stay motivated, engaged, and committed to their work. This, in turn, can lead to higher levels of job satisfaction, increased productivity, and improved performance. Additionally, setting goals allows managers to provide regular feedback and coaching to their staff, which can help employees to develop new skills and grow professionally.

Setting clear goals with due dates and ratings provides a clear framework for performance evaluation. It also helps to align staff member's individual goals with the organisation's overall objectives, leading to a more effective and productive team.

Set a regular cadence to review and discuss goals with the staff member as they progress towards the goal, not just on the due date. Remember to come back and update the rating and add comments and feedback as a record for performance evaluation.

How do I customise the work hours that a staff member is available?

Setting the work hours assists in creating accurate staff bookings and is also used in the intelligent resource finder.

To customize work hours, go to the staff module, open the staff record, in the administration tab open the work hours section.

• For staff who work non-standard hours, set their work hours by changing the enable custom work hours slider to yes.
• Set the number of working hours and minutes for each day. For example, if a staff member has every Wednesday off and ordinary work hours are 8 hours per week day, set 8 hours and 00 minutes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
• When a booking is created for this staff member, it will allocate hours based on the 8 hours available on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

How are staff bookings used and managed?

Tracking staff utilisation is an important aspect of running a professional services business. With advaise.app, you can manage staff utilisation by adding and tracking bookings for your staff members.

• Staff bookings can be made directly against a staff record. They can also be created via the proposals and engagements modules. Any staff bookings creating via proposals or engagements will need to be confirmed on the staff record by their manager.
• To create a booking directly in the staff module, go to the staff record and navigate to the assignments tab. Go to the bookings section and click the +add button.
• Choose a booking code from the dropdown menu. This determines where the costs will be allocated. If it's a billable code, the client will be billed when a timesheet is approved. If the relevant booking code does not exist, you will need to go into the organisations module then the financials tab and create a booking code.
• The start and end dates as well as the expected effort in hours are used in calculating the staff utilisation rate.
• Staff can view their own bookings on their dashboard.
• The bookings are used in the bookings vs utilisation chart and AI analysis. The chart compares bookings to availability and overlays approved timesheets to give a view of forward bookings as well as realised utilization. advaise.app will analyse this information and use AI to generate insights on how effectively your staff members are being utilised and remedial action required.