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Facilitieshttp://knoxblogs.com/rantsraves/category/business-facilities-magazine-rankings/

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Unit 13 Breakdown(Sadeq, Motasem, Fattah Zubaidi)

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Unit 13 Breakdown(Sadeq, Motasem, Fattah Zubaidi)

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Secrets of success in 8 words_ 3 minutes _ Richard

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10 Things Successful People Do Every Morning

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Case Study: First Reliance Bank

The issue:

First Reliance Bank wanted a performance management system that would enable them,

among other things, to quickly identify core competencies by employee role and allow the

managers to set goals and measure against them in a disciplined, structured setting.

They wanted to use this application to gather pertinent information, conduct employee

evaluations and create a compensation plan that was tied to performance appropriately.

The solution:

First Reliance Bank used Success Factors Performance &amp; Goals solution to more easily

measure and track progress toward employee goals. The company is conducting their

annual performance reviews with supplemental monthly updates on goals and

milestones.

The result:

First Reliance Bank gained a stronger understanding of employees&#39; perception of

individual and group performance, including gaps in communication. This helped the

company to align communication and expectations - and from there, more resourcefully

ascertain and target areas for improvement.

Their employees were more accountable for their performance with the increased

visibility of goals and resources and management had the tools to clearly measure

associates growth and properly allocate compensation based on performance.

&quot;One element that&#39;s given us insight into staff performance has been the notes section.

This helps keep track of feedback that comes in about an associate… These notes are

extremely valuable because as time passes, they help us record a history of our people,

our culture and our company. This ultimately has lead to stronger identification and

understanding of our company&#39;s mission and goals.&quot;

Pamela Anderson

Sr. Vice-President of People Management

First Reliance Bank

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* VOCABULARY
PERFORMANCE: arts; artistic presentation: a presentation of an artistic work to an audience for example, a play or piece of music

manner of functioning: the manner in which something or somebody functions, operates, or behaves

.

performance appraisal:

employee assessment ; the assessment of an employee’s effectiveness, usually as undertaken at regular

SCHEME secret plot: a secret and cunning plan, especially one designed to cause damage or harm

U.K. government or business program: a plan, policy, or program carried out by a government or business

  training scheme

..

MOTIVATED : interested or enthusiastic: having enough interest or incentive to do something

FELIXIBLE:

able to adapt to new situation: able to change or be changed according to circumstances

PATIENT: able to tolerate difficult circumstances: able to tolerate being hurt, provoked, or annoyed without complaint or loss of temper

.

HELPFUL:

providing help: providing or willing to provide assistance, information, or other aid

.

HARDWORKING

DEPENDABLE:

reliable: able to be trusted to act in the way required or expected

.

DEDICATED:

1. devoted: wholeheartedly devoted or committed to a goal, cause, or job

2. intended only for one purpose: designed to carry out only one task, or set aside for a purpose

.

reference:

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

ADAPT: vti change something to meet requirements: to change, or change something, to suit different conditions or a different purpose

.

RELAXING spend time at ease: to spend time resting or doing things for pleasure, especially in contrast to or as a relief from the effort and stress of everyday life

AMBITIOUS

CONFIDENT private and secret: carried out or revealed in the expectation that anything done or revealed will be kept private

.

CREATIVE new and original: using or showing use of the imagination to create new ideas or things

APPRASISAL evaluation: a judgment or opinion of something or somebody, especially one that assesses how effective or useful something or

MORE VOCAB:

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GRAMMAR

past perfect

We use the verb had and the past participle for the past perfect:I had finished the work.
She had gone .The past perfect continuous is formed with had been and the -ing form of the verb:I had been finishing the work
She had been going.The past perfect is used in the same way as the present perfect, but it refers to a time in the past, not the present.We use the past perfect tense:

for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past:

When George died he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years.
She didn’t want to move. She had lived in Liverpool all her life.

We normally use the past perfect continuous for this:

She didn’t want to move. She had been living in Liverpool all her life.
Everything was wet. It had been raining for hours.

for something we had done several times up to a point in the past and continued to do after that point:

He was a wonderful guitarist. He had been playing ever since he was a teenager.
He had written three books and he was working on another one.
I had been watching the programme every week, but I missed the last episode.

We often use a clause with since to show when something started in the past:

They had been staying with us since the previous week.
I was sorry when the factory closed. I had worked there since I left school.
I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode.

when we are reporting our experience and including up to the (then) present:

My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had ever had.
I was pleased to meet George. I hadn’t met him before, even though I had met his wife several times.

for something that happened in the past but is important at the time of reporting:

I couldn’t get into the house. I had lost my keys.
Teresa wasn’t at home. She had gone shopping.

We use the past perfect to talk about the past in conditions, hypotheses and wishes:

I would have helped him if he had asked.
It was very dangerous. What if you had got lost?
I wish I hadn’t spent so much money last month.

English Grammar

‹ past continuous

up

perfective aspect ›

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Comments

confusedperfect...replied on 4 May, 2017 - 21:14 Netherlands

PERMALINKHello!
I have some questions. Even though I have a CAE certificate, I took the exam last year and was awarded an A grade, I still struggle quite a bit with Past Simple vs. Perfect tenses... If there are keywords mentioned I know perfectly well what to do and which tense to use, but in some cases I keep going back and forth between two options, doubting myself... I would greatly apprecite it if someone could tell me which of the following sentences are the correct ones, and why:
-"My father was angry because he heard I hadn't come home till 3am." vs. "My father was angry because he had heard I hadn't come home till 3am."
-"We already knew he was coming to visit." vs. "We had already known he was coming to visit." (I personally find it very unnatural to use the simple past tense with 'already')
-"After I left a message, he immediately called me back." vs. "After I had left a message, he immediately called me back." (Is the simple past used twice here because of the word 'immediately' which indicates that the two events happen soon after another?"
-"I had been watching that programme every week since it started." vs. "I hade been watching that programme every week since it had started." (past tense)
-"I've been watching that programme ever since it started." vs. "I've been watching that programme ever since it has started." (present tense)
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
Best regards,
confusedperfectionist

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Kirkreplied on 6 May, 2017 - 08:05 Spain

PERMALINKHello confusedperfectionist,It would take me a very long time to explain all of what you ask! I'll explain one of the pairs of sentences you ask about, and let's see if that helps you. If you want to ask us about another pair of sentences another day, then we can help with you with that, but for comprehensive analysis and practice of this, it might be a good idea to look for an English teacher to speak with.Let's take your first pairs of sentences, about your father being angry. Both are correct and both describe the same event, but suggest a different perspective on it or a different situation. The first sentence could be used in many situations. The second one is a bit more specific because of the past perfect ('had heard'). The past perfect signals that your father heard about your late arrival before the moment in time in which he was angry. This is only logical, of course, but by using the past perfect tense, you make the sequence of him hearing the news and then him getting angry very clear. Your first sentence doesn't specify this sequence. Logic dictates that the sequence had to be this way, and so the sentence is intelligible, but the verb forms themselves do not indicate the sequence in the way that the second sentence does.I hope that makes sense and that it helps you.All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

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hospitalitymanreplied on 2 May, 2017 - 16:12 Russia

PERMALINKHello Learn English!I have a question which has stumped me. I am an English teacher in Russia who is American, so I have come across some variances in the language...but this one is not simply a matter of a British or American usage. Searching your website only confirms my initial thoughts, but some insight would be most appreciated!In short, I came across since with present simple. "How long is it since you phoned your grandmother?" Immediately I told the class it SHOULD read "How long has it been since you phoned your grandmother?" I searched and searched for "since" with present simple, and I found one example of an original text with "How long is it since..." which was copyrighted 1846. Is this an archaic usage, or is it still valid in Britain? Thank you for your time.

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Peter Mreplied on 3 May, 2017 - 06:22 Poland

PERMALINKHello hospitalityman,As a Brit myself I can tell you that this is quite common. A search for 'How long is it since' on an English language corpus such as this one will give you some examples, though this is primarily a form used in spoken English and so is under-represented in written texts.I also did a search using a corpus of American English and found some examples there. The present perfect was used in most cases ('How long is it since you've...') but there were some examples with the past simple, including 'How long is it since the pain started?' and 'How long is it since your man passed away?'One example I came across is probably familiar to you:

How long is it since Saruman bought you?

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Widescreenreplied on 12 March, 2017 - 14:12 United Kingdom (Great Britain)

PERMALINKHi team,I've got these two sentences which I am not sure which tense to use :
1. Jack was born in 1900. He was influenced by his father who SPENT (or "had spent) years working in England.
SInce this sentence is clearly about the past (story happened in 1900) so past tense " spent" makes sense to me. But if we look at the whole sentence, I also think past perfect "had spent " also makes sense as the act of spend had happended before the act of influence.2. Mary moved into her house in 1985 and John had lived (or has lived) next door since he came to the area in 1980Can I use either tense ? If past perfect is used, does it emphasis the fact the John had lived there before mary moved in ? And if present perfect is used, does it emphasis that he still lives there now ?thank you

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Widescreenreplied on 15 March, 2017 - 14:52 United Kingdom (Great Britain)

PERMALINKThank you for your clarification.

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Peter Mreplied on 14 March, 2017 - 06:52 Poland

PERMALINKHello Widescreen,It is often the case that more than one form is possible in a given sentence, particularly with regard to aspect (perfective and continuous). In your first example both the past simple and the past perfect are possible. Which is desired depends upon the context (which we do not have) and the speaker's intention (which we do not know). In general, the past perfect shows some relationship between a past even and an earlier event; the past simple shows simply two completed events in the past.The same is true of the second example. The past pefect may be appropriate if the action being described (living in the house) was related in some way (influenced in some way) another event, either within the sentence or in the broader context. The same is true of the present perfect, but it would need to relate to the present, from the speaker's perspective. Again, this context is not known to us. Best wishes,PeterThe LearnEnglish Team

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The Meaning Of Success To You - Motivational Video

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Grammar 4

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Grammar 3

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Successful Workers: 10 Things The Best Employees Do Differently

Every office has employees who are, simply put, more successful than everyone else. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them, but for the most part, we all hope we can be just like them.

Being successful and productive at your job doesn't only make you happier, but it also helps motivate others around you. And while we may get annoyed at employees who seem to have everything go their way, often their success reflects their characteristics.

"There was a time when success was measured by the title you held at work, the size of your home or the make of your car," says Sheryl Connolly, expert on global consumer trends and futuring for Ford Motor Company in Canada. "But it seems society has been moving away from these traditional markers of success and making way for much more individual expressions of success."

Connolly says these days it doesn't matter how much money you have in your bank account (which for most part is still the biggest determinant of success), but rather what makes employees proud or happy, connected to others and the feeling of having work life balance.

While some may argue that a work-life balance does not exist, Connolly says this can be measured by work, play and loving what you do on a personal level.

"Juggling these three balls is easier if you keep in mind that the act of balancing requires constant re-calibration," she says.

Whether you're a full-time worker, part-time worker, intern or a volunteer at an organization, showing initiative and passion for what you do will help you in the long run — from getting a promotion to landing a full-time job.

So what is it that makes successful people stand out? Why does it seem like everything always goes in their favor? Here are Connolly's 10 rules on how to be more successful at what you do.

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SpaceX 1

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Space X

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Tesla

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Tesla 1

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Cause marketing campa

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Cause Marketing Campaigns to Watch This Summer

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SocialEarth School is out, and summer vacation is officially here. For many large brands and agencies, the cause marketing campaign season is starting to heat up as well. For cause-marketing geeks like me, summertime and back-to-school campaigns couldn't come soon enough.

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Cause marketing $

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Proven Cause Marketing Examples

If you are new to cause marketing, this list of best-in-class cause marketing examples should give you a good lay of the land. Though we have chosen to use large recognizable brands for the examples, many of these strategies can be executed by small brands with great success. Looking for ideas for a campaign? This list of successful cause marketing examples is sure to get your creative juices flowing. We've included one representative example of each of the types of cause marketing campaigns to help you envision how each might apply to your company or nonprofit.

For the past seven years, Starbucks has teamed up with (RED) to raise funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS on World AIDS Day. As part of the campaign, Starbucks committed to donating 10 cents for every handcrafted beverage sold in participating U.S. and Canada stores, and raised a whopping $12 million in donations. The red cup ensures that consumers take note of the commitment, resulting in an increase in brand loyalty.

Like so many rising social enterprises, Warby Parker has integrated the buy one give one model into very core of their business strategy. For every pair of glasses Warby Parker sells, they donate a pair of glasses to their nonprofit partners-with over 1 million glasses distributed so far. The nonprofits then train individuals to sell the glasses to people in need at extremely affordable prices. This modified model ensures the glasses remain high quality while attempting to address the concerns that donated items may disrupt local economies.

Walmart and Sam's Club have both supported the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals for over 27 years and in the process they have managed to raise over $750 million in donations. For six weeks of the year, Walmart employees solicit donations for the cause from customers at checkout. For a dollar donation or more, consumers can put their name on a Miracle Balloon or dedicate it to a loved one. In 2012, this effective cause marketing example was calculated to raise an astonishing $122 per minute.

Jeep established the S.A.F.E. Return fund to provide secure transport of troops and supplies, aid for transition to civilian life, freedom-celebrating homecoming events, and enduring care of wounded veterans. In total, Jeep has given over $1 million in donations and vehicles to the USO. In 2013, Jeep created a heartfelt Super Bowl commercial to help raise awareness of their commitment to the troops and their families.

The Avon 39 Walk to End Breast Cancer is a 39 mile walk held annually to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer. Reebok serves as the national sponsor of the events, awarding them significant brand visibility with walk participants. Through their events, Avon 39 has managed to raise over $500 million dollars for breast cancer prevention and research.

Subway was the first fast food restaurant to meet the American Heart Association Heart-Check Meal Certification Program's strict standards and gain the right to bear the Heart Healthy Meal seal. With an increasingly health-conscious customer base, associating themselves with this certification surely lead to a rise in sales. The annual cost of getting a single product certified by the American Heart Association is $5,000.

After a study by Dove showed that only only 2% of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful, Dove decided to launch the Campaign for Real Beauty to address the fact that society's depiction of beauty in advertising had become unattainable. This well-executed cause marketing example received considerable attention and praise, raising Dove's brand ethos with consumers and earning them droves of new customers. Since the campaign's launch in 2004, sales have impressively increased over 60%.

In an effort to support the conservation of the polar bears they have used as an unofficial mascot for years, Coke launched the Arctic Home campaign in partnership with WWF in 2011. Since launch, the campaign has raised significant awareness and over $3 million in donations through a variety of multimedia avenues. The execution of the prominent digital engagement component of the campaign has been particularly impressive-utilizing the web, apps, social media, text messaging, and other technology to create engaging digital experiences and successfully drive brand volume. If you have a suggestion for an even more successful campaign to include in the cause marketing examples above, don't hesitate to let us know.

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Best Cause Marketing Examples | Successful Campaigns

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Countable and uncountable nouns ( rules and examples)

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Speaking part ( How to make a suggestions)

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Making suggestions is easy - 03 - English at Work shows you how

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Hybrid worksp

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Workplace transformation is not something that can be accomplished in a matter of months or even a year. Rather, it's a continuous journey of evolution and learning that aligns your workplace with your company's larger objectives. If your company is just starting out on this journey, you've certainly realized that it's impossible to modernize your entire portfolio at once. That's why, among all the buzz about the modern workplace, the term "hybrid workspace" is beginning to emerge.

What is a hybrid workspace? Let's start with what it's not: an end in and of itself. Hybrid represents an iterative process of moving from traditional to agile, modern environments that support the changing nature of work.

What are the goals behind workplace transformation?

Why is your company looking to begin modernizing your office portfolio with hybrid workspace? Chances are, the stats about wasted space in corporate offices and the staggering amount of money you can save by optimizing space got your attention initially.

However, most companies quickly realize that moving toward hybrid workspace has even bigger benefits. While cost savings in the tens of millions (or more) are often realized by moving to this new environment, smart organizations are re-investing a portion of that savings back into the workplace. They are adding features that support employees, which leads to productivity improvements that drive better top line results.

Learn more: Agile Working Benefits: Moving Beyond the Dollars

Enabling collaboration

First and foremost, workplace must help to transform the way companies operate. Today's knowledge economy demands unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation for companies to stay competitive. Markets are being disrupted by new players with better ideas, and even the most well-established firms must up their game to maintain their position.

The fact is, innovation rarely comes from a solitary worker in an enclosed cubicle. Collaboration is the fuel that drives more and better ideas, which requires a significant cultural shift from your workforce. Teamwork needs to become the new standard operating procedure.

The biggest benefit of the modern workplace is creating environments that encourage people to work together. The hybrid workplace begins to break down barriers between teams by removing the physical barriers. Designs include open spaces like atriums, shared workspaces in common areas, staircases with seating, and even outdoor workspace. The design of the modern office encourages movement by locating desirable amenities in diverse locations, as well as making access easier with features like staircases. These modern spaces facilitate "casual collisions" throughout the workday to promote teamwork and increase collaboration. The physical environment mirrors and supports the cultural changes happening in the organization.

What does that look like? Watch these videos to see examples of workplaces that encourage collaboration:

Minter Ellison Workplace, Sydney
World's Greenest Office Building Is Dutch: The Edge

Attracting and retaining talent

"The war for talent" is one just about every company is battling. Those that are winning are doing so with a powerful weapon: modern workplaces. According to CBRE, talent now trumps cost as the top consideration in workplace strategy.

Learn more: 3 Workplace Strategies for Attracting Top Talent

Even companies without a fully agile portfolio can attract and retain talent with hybrid workspaces. Workers from all generations are looking for physical spaces that offer attractive design, natural light, greenery, comfortable furnishings for different work styles, and the latest technology, as well as amenities like cafes, gyms and wellness features. An inviting, modern workplace becomes one more tick in the competition for talent. You're no longer competing with other firms for top candidates based on salary alone, since you can offer a welcoming, efficient and effective workplace where people want to collaborate with others and accomplish their work. Your modern workplace can provide value that others can't match.

Here are some of the types of environments that are attracting top talent for progressive companies:

The LEGO Group shares plans for new office building in Billund, Denmark
Salesforce Video Wall

Hybrid workspace: planning your journey from traditional to modern workspace

With a global portfolio and a workforce in the tens of thousands at least, change takes time. And it's not only the physical transformation of space, but the strategic planning and change management that are required to ensure you achieve the desired outcomes.

That's where the hybrid workspace comes into play: smart companies are transforming space in stages and using each project as a learning experience that feeds the next transformation.

With so many other companies on this journey, it might be tempting to plan your transformation around what other successful companies have done. The problem with this strategy is that every company is different. Even looking at what another company in your own industry is doing will not guarantee that the same strategy will work for you. This is an essential lesson we've learned firsthand supporting clients who are leading the way in implementing modern workplaces.

Instead, you need to discover the workplace strategy that will best benefit your business and your people. How do you do that? With thorough research and reliable data about what your people need and how they work best.

Read more about how to do that: Activity-Based Workplace Design: Why One Size Does Not Fit All

How can companies get started implementing the hybrid workspace?

While it is possible to transform your workplace a few floors at a time, the best results will come from starting with one building. That's because it's very difficult to achieve the cultural changes that are needed on a smaller scale. Your workforce needs to be immersed in the experience to truly embrace the new way of working.

That being said, while you're in the process of planning and building your hybrid workspace, you can build excitement and help teams adjust to the new work style by setting up smaller pilots or "experience centers." These could be a floor or two redesigned for non-assigned seating and activity-based working, where impacted teams can take turns working for a month or so prior to the big move to the new building.

Here are a couple of tips to help you get started planning your first workplace transformation.

Choose your location carefully

A new, modern workplace is exciting for your workforce, and many who are not slated to work there will be curious about the new space. There's sometimes a risk of unassigned workers flocking to the new building, which can affect the working conditions and the outcome if you have 20% more people using the space than you planned for. So, for your first hybrid workspace it's smart to avoid choosing a building that's one of several in the same complex or even in the same neighborhood. Instead, choose a location that's not too close to your other facilities.

Make it a learning experience

Remember that your hybrid workspace is just the first step to a fully agile, modern workplace portfolio. Your first efforts need to be chosen carefully so you can learn from the experience and apply that intelligence to future projects. So, make sure that the teams you choose to locate in the new space are a good representation of your organization. It won't help you plan future spaces if you choose a homogenous group that is very different from the rest of your organization.

Also, remember that not every worker and every job function is well suited to working in an agile, collaborative space. For example, customer service or call center workers who spend most of their time on the phone may not have much to gain from the new setting. When choosing teams to work in the new hybrid workspace, be mindful of their daily tasks and work style and choose those will benefit most from working collaboratively.

In an upcoming blog, we'll address the issue of understanding the needs of your workforce in order to design the right environments for each team. Don't miss it!

In the meantime, read this guide for more tips for developing your hybrid workspace: Best Practices for the Modern Workplace.

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Modern Workspaces: Getting Started With a Hybrid Workspace - Serraview

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Workplace transformation is not something that can be accomplished in a matter of months or even a year. Rather, it's a continuous journey of evolution and learning that aligns your workplace with your company's larger objectives. If your company is just starting out on this journey, you've certainly realized that it's impossible to modernize your entire portfolio at once.

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https://www.iitutor.com Operations refers to the business processes that transform inputs into outputs, value adding occurs as inputs are transformed, and the operations function overlaps with the marketing, finance and human resources functions. Operations Inputs are raw materials, land, humans, machinery, money, information, time and skill. Operations outputs are products, goods and service.

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Business performance management is a set of performance management and analytic processes that enables the management of an organization's performance to achieve one or more pre-selected goals. Synonyms for "business performance management" include "corporate performance management (CPM)"[1] and "enterprise performance management".[2][3]Business performance management is contained within approaches to business process management.[4]Business performance management has three main activities:selection of goals,consolidation of measurement information relevant to an organization’s progress against these goals, andinterventions made by managers in light of this information with a view to improving future performance against these goals.Although presented here sequentially, typically all three activities will run concurrently, with interventions by managers affecting the choice of goals, the measurement information monitored, and the activities being undertaken by the organization.Because business performance management activities in large organizations often involve the collation and reporting of large volumes of data, many software vendors, particularly those offering business intelligence tools, market products intended to assist in this process. As a result of this marketing effort, business performance management is often incorrectly understood as an activity that necessarily relies on software systems to work, and many definitions of business performance management explicitly suggest software as being a definitive component of the approach.[5]This interest in business performance management from the software community is sales-driven[citation needed] - "The biggest growth area in operational BI analysis is in the area of business performance management."[6]Since 1992, business performance management has been strongly influenced by the rise of the balanced scorecard framework. It is common for managers to use the balanced scorecard framework to clarify the goals of an organization, to identify how to track them, and to structure the mechanisms by which interventions will be triggered. These steps are the same as those that are found in BPM, and as a result balanced scorecard is often used as the basis for business performance management activity with organizations.[citation needed]In the past, owners have sought to drive strategy down and across their organizations, transform these strategies into actionable metrics and use analytics to expose the cause-and-effect relationships that, if understood, could give insight into decision-making.Contents  [hide] 1	History2	Definition and scope3	Frameworks4	Metrics and key performance indicators5	Application software types6	Design and implementation7	See also8	References9	Further reading10	External linksHistory[edit]Reference to non-business performance management occurs[citation needed] in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Sun Tzu claims that to succeed in war, one should have full knowledge of one's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of one's enemies. Lack of either set of knowledge might result in defeat.[7] Parallels between the challenges in business and those of war include[citation needed]:collecting data - both internal and externaldiscerning patterns and meaning in the data (analyzing)responding to the resultant informationPrior to the start of the Information Age in the late 20th century, businesses sometimes took the trouble to laboriously collect data from non-automated sources. As they lacked computing resources to properly analyze the data, they often made commercial decisions primarily on the basis of intuition.As businesses started automating more and more systems, more and more data became available. However, collection often remained a challenge due to a lack of infrastructure for data exchange or due to incompatibilities between systems. Reports on the data gathered sometimes took months to generate. Such reports allowed informed long-term strategic decision-making. However, short-term tactical decision-making often continued to rely on intuition.In 1989 Howard Dresner, a research analyst at Gartner, popularized "business intelligence" (BI) as an umbrella term to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using fact-based support systems. Performance management builds on a foundation of BI, but marries it to the planning-and-control cycle of the enterprise - with enterprise planning, consolidation and modeling capabilities.Increasing standards, automation, and technologies have led to vast amounts of data becoming available. Data warehouse technologies have allowed the building of repositories to store this data. Improved ETL and enterprise application integration tools have increased the timely collecting of data. OLAP reporting technologies have allowed faster generation of new reports which analyze the data. As of 2010, business intelligence has become the art of sieving through large amounts of data, extracting useful information and turning that information into actionable knowledge.[citation needed]Definition and scope[edit]Business performance management consists of a set of management and analytic processes, supported by technology, that enable businesses to define strategic goals and then measure and manage performance against those goals. Core business performance management processes include financial planning, operational planning, business modeling, consolidation and reporting, analysis, and monitoring of key performance indicators linked to strategy.Business performance management involves consolidation of data from various sources, querying, and analysis of the data, and putting the results into practice.Frameworks[edit]Various frameworks for implementing business performance management exist. The discipline gives companies a top-down framework by which to align planning and execution, strategy and tactics, and business-unit and enterprise objectives. Reactions may include the Six Sigma strategy, balanced scorecard, activity-based costing (ABC), Objectives and Key Results (OKR), Total Quality Management, economic value-add, integrated strategic measurement and Theory of Constraints.The balanced scorecard is the most widely adopted[citation needed] performance management framework.Metrics and key performance indicators[edit]Some of the areas from which bank management may gain knowledge by using business performance management include:customer-related numbers:new customers acquiredstatus of existing customersattrition of customers (including breakup by reason for attrition)turnover generated by segments of the customers - possibly using demographic filtersoutstanding balances held by segments of customers and terms of payment - possibly using demographic filterscollection of bad debts within customer relationshipsdemographic analysis of individuals (potential customers) applying to become customers, and the levels of approval, rejections and pending numbersdelinquency analysis of customers behind on paymentsprofitability of customers by demographic segments and segmentation of customers by profitabilitycampaign managementreal-time dashboard on key operational metricsoverall equipment effectivenessclickstream analysis on a websitekey product portfolio trackersmarketing-channel analysissales-data analysis by product segmentscallcenter metricsThough the above list describes what a bank might monitor, it could refer to a telephone company or to a similar service-sector company.Items of generic importance include:consistent and correct KPI-related data providing insights into operational aspects of a companytimely availability of KPI-related dataKPIs designed to directly reflect the efficiency and effectiveness of a businessinformation presented in a format which aids decision-making for management and decision-makersability to discern patterns or trends from organized informationBusiness performance management integrates the company's processes with CRM or[citation needed] ERP. Companies should become better able to gauge customer satisfaction, control customer trends and influence shareholder value.[citation needed]Application software types[edit]People working in business intelligence have developed tools that ease the work of business performance management, especially when the business-intelligence task involves gathering and analyzing large amounts of unstructured data.Tool categories commonly used for business performance management include:MOLAP — Multidimensional online analytical processing, sometimes simply called "analytics" (based on dimensional analysis and the so-called "hypercube" or "cube")scorecarding, dashboarding and data visualizationdata warehousesdocument warehousestext miningDM — data miningBPO — business performance optimizationEPM — enterprise performance managementEIS — executive information systemsDSS — decision support systemsMIS — management information systemsSEMS — strategic enterprise management softwareEOI — Operational intelligence Enterprise Operational Intelligence SoftwareDesign and implementation[edit]Questions asked when implementing a business performance management program include:Goal-alignment queriesDetermine the short- and medium-term purpose of the program. What strategic goal(s) of the organization will the program address? What organizational mission/vision does it relate to? A hypothesis needs to be crafted that details how this initiative will eventually improve results / performance (i.e. a strategy map).Baseline queriesAssess current information-gathering competency. Does the organization have the capability to monitor important sources of information? What data is being collected and how is it being stored? What are the statistical parameters of this data, e.g., how much random variation does it contain? Is this being measured?Cost and risk queriesEstimate the financial consequences of a new BI initiative. Assess the cost of the present operations and the increase in costs associated with the BPM initiative. What is the risk that the initiative will fail? This risk assessment should be converted into a financial metric and included in the planning.Customer and stakeholder queriesDetermine who will benefit from the initiative and who will pay. Who has a stake in the current procedure? What kinds of customers / stakeholders will benefit directly from this initiative? Who will benefit indirectly? What quantitative / qualitative benefits follow? Is the specified initiative the best or only way to increase satisfaction for all kinds of customers? How will customer benefits be monitored? What about employees, shareholders, and distribution channel members?Metrics-related queriesInformation requirements need operationalization into clearly defined metrics. Decide which metrics to use for each piece of information being gathered. Are these the best metrics and why? How many metrics need to be tracked? If this is a large number (it usually is), what kind of system can track them? Are the metrics standardized, so they can be benchmarked against performance in other organizations? What are the industry standard metrics available?Measurement methodology-related queriesEstablish a methodology or a procedure to determine the best (or acceptable) way of measuring the required metrics. How frequently will data be collected? Are there any industry standards for this? Is this the best way to do the measurements? How do we know that?Results-related queriesMonitor the BPM program to ensure that it meets objectives. The program itself may require adjusting. The program should be tested for accuracy, reliability, and validity. How can it be demonstrated that the BI initiative, and not something else, contributed to a change in results? How much of the change was probably random?See also[edit]Business process managementIntegrated business planningData Presentation ArchitectureList of management topicsElectronic performance support systemsOperational Performance ManagementReferences[edit]Jump up ^ "Introducing the CPM Suites Magic Quadrant", Lee Geishecker and Frank Buytendijk, 2 October 2002, www.gartner.com, M-17-4718Jump up ^ Frolick, Mark N.; Thilini R. Ariyachandra (Winter 2006). "Business performance management: one truth" (PDF). Information Systems Management. www.ism-journal.com: 41–48. Retrieved 2010-02-21. Business Performance Management (BPM) [...] is also known and identified by other names, such as corporate performance management and enterprise performance management.Jump up ^ Sana Mojdeh (2005-12-20). Technology-enabled Business Performance Management: Concept, Framework, and Technology (PDF). 3rd International Management Conference. pp. 1–9. Retrieved 2010-02-21. Confusion also arises because industry experts can not agree what to call BPM, let alone how to define it, META Group and IDC use the term 'Business Performance Management', Gartner Group prefers 'Corporate Performance Management', and others favor 'Enterprise Performance Management'.Jump up ^ vom Brocke, J. & Rosemann, M. (2010), Handbook on Business Process Management: Strategic Alignment, Governance, People and Culture (International Handbooks on Information Systems). Berlin: SpringerJump up ^ BPM Mag, What is BPM? Archived December 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.Jump up ^ The Next Generation of Business Intelligence: Operational BI White, Colin (May 2005). "The Next Generation of Business Intelligence: Operational BI". Information Management Magazine. Retrieved 2010-02-21. The biggest growth area in operational BI analysis is in the area of business performance management (BPM).Jump up ^ http://ctext.org/art-of-war/attack-by-stratagem/zh?en=on#n20929 paragraph 6.

# data[].attributes.subject
Business performance management is a set of performance management and analytic processes that enables the management of an organization's performance to achieve one or more pre-selected goals. Synonyms for "business performance management" include "corporate performance management (CPM)"[1] and "enterprise performance management".[2][3]Business performance management is contained within approaches to business process management.[4]Business performance management has three main activities:selection of goals,consolidation of measurement information relevant to an organization’s progress against these goals, andinterventions made by managers in light of this information with a view to improving future performance against these goals.Although presented here sequentially, typically all three activities will run concurrently, with interventions by managers affecting the choice of goals, the measurement information monitored, and the activities being undertaken by the organization.Because business performance management activities in large organizations often involve the collation and reporting of large volumes of data, many software vendors, particularly those offering business intelligence tools, market products intended to assist in this process. As a result of this marketing effort, business performance management is often incorrectly understood as an activity that necessarily relies on software systems to work, and many definitions of business performance management explicitly suggest software as being a definitive component of the approach.[5]This interest in business performance management from the software community is sales-driven[citation needed] - "The biggest growth area in operational BI analysis is in the area of business performance management."[6]Since 1992, business performance management has been strongly influenced by the rise of the balanced scorecard framework. It is common for managers to use the balanced scorecard framework to clarify the goals of an organization, to identify how to track them, and to structure the mechanisms by which interventions will be triggered. These steps are the same as those that are found in BPM, and as a result balanced scorecard is often used as the basis for business performance management activity with organizations.[citation needed]In the past, owners have sought to drive strategy down and across their organizations, transform these strategies into actionable metrics and use analytics to expose the cause-and-effect relationships that, if understood, could give insight into decision-making.Contents  [hide] 1	History2	Definition and scope3	Frameworks4	Metrics and key performance indicators5	Application software types6	Design and implementation7	See also8	References9	Further reading10	External linksHistory[edit]Reference to non-business performance management occurs[citation needed] in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Sun Tzu claims that to succeed in war, one should have full knowledge of one's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of one's enemies. Lack of either set of knowledge might result in defeat.[7] Parallels between the challenges in business and those of war include[citation needed]:collecting data - both internal and externaldiscerning patterns and meaning in the data (analyzing)responding to the resultant informationPrior to the start of the Information Age in the late 20th century, businesses sometimes took the trouble to laboriously collect data from non-automated sources. As they lacked computing resources to properly analyze the data, they often made commercial decisions primarily on the basis of intuition.As businesses started automating more and more systems, more and more data became available. However, collection often remained a challenge due to a lack of infrastructure for data exchange or due to incompatibilities between systems. Reports on the data gathered sometimes took months to generate. Such reports allowed informed long-term strategic decision-making. However, short-term tactical decision-making often continued to rely on intuition.In 1989 Howard Dresner, a research analyst at Gartner, popularized "business intelligence" (BI) as an umbrella term to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using fact-based support systems. Performance management builds on a foundation of BI, but marries it to the planning-and-control cycle of the enterprise - with enterprise planning, consolidation and modeling capabilities.Increasing standards, automation, and technologies have led to vast amounts of data becoming available. Data warehouse technologies have allowed the building of repositories to store this data. Improved ETL and enterprise application integration tools have increased the timely collecting of data. OLAP reporting technologies have allowed faster generation of new reports which analyze the data. As of 2010, business intelligence has become the art of sieving through large amounts of data, extracting useful information and turning that information into actionable knowledge.[citation needed]Definition and scope[edit]Business performance management consists of a set of management and analytic processes, supported by technology, that enable businesses to define strategic goals and then measure and manage performance against those goals. Core business performance management processes include financial planning, operational planning, business modeling, consolidation and reporting, analysis, and monitoring of key performance indicators linked to strategy.Business performance management involves consolidation of data from various sources, querying, and analysis of the data, and putting the results into practice.Frameworks[edit]Various frameworks for implementing business performance management exist. The discipline gives companies a top-down framework by which to align planning and execution, strategy and tactics, and business-unit and enterprise objectives. Reactions may include the Six Sigma strategy, balanced scorecard, activity-based costing (ABC), Objectives and Key Results (OKR), Total Quality Management, economic value-add, integrated strategic measurement and Theory of Constraints.The balanced scorecard is the most widely adopted[citation needed] performance management framework.Metrics and key performance indicators[edit]Some of the areas from which bank management may gain knowledge by using business performance management include:customer-related numbers:new customers acquiredstatus of existing customersattrition of customers (including breakup by reason for attrition)turnover generated by segments of the customers - possibly using demographic filtersoutstanding balances held by segments of customers and terms of payment - possibly using demographic filterscollection of bad debts within customer relationshipsdemographic analysis of individuals (potential customers) applying to become customers, and the levels of approval, rejections and pending numbersdelinquency analysis of customers behind on paymentsprofitability of customers by demographic segments and segmentation of customers by profitabilitycampaign managementreal-time dashboard on key operational metricsoverall equipment effectivenessclickstream analysis on a websitekey product portfolio trackersmarketing-channel analysissales-data analysis by product segmentscallcenter metricsThough the above list describes what a bank might monitor, it could refer to a telephone company or to a similar service-sector company.Items of generic importance include:consistent and correct KPI-related data providing insights into operational aspects of a companytimely availability of KPI-related dataKPIs designed to directly reflect the efficiency and effectiveness of a businessinformation presented in a format which aids decision-making for management and decision-makersability to discern patterns or trends from organized informationBusiness performance management integrates the company's processes with CRM or[citation needed] ERP. Companies should become better able to gauge customer satisfaction, control customer trends and influence shareholder value.[citation needed]Application software types[edit]People working in business intelligence have developed tools that ease the work of business performance management, especially when the business-intelligence task involves gathering and analyzing large amounts of unstructured data.Tool categories commonly used for business performance management include:MOLAP — Multidimensional online analytical processing, sometimes simply called "analytics" (based on dimensional analysis and the so-called "hypercube" or "cube")scorecarding, dashboarding and data visualizationdata warehousesdocument warehousestext miningDM — data miningBPO — business performance optimizationEPM — enterprise performance managementEIS — executive information systemsDSS — decision support systemsMIS — management information systemsSEMS — strategic enterprise management softwareEOI — Operational intelligence Enterprise Operational Intelligence SoftwareDesign and implementation[edit]Questions asked when implementing a business performance management program include:Goal-alignment queriesDetermine the short- and medium-term purpose of the program. What strategic goal(s) of the organization will the program address? What organizational mission/vision does it relate to? A hypothesis needs to be crafted that details how this initiative will eventually improve results / performance (i.e. a strategy map).Baseline queriesAssess current information-gathering competency. Does the organization have the capability to monitor important sources of information? What data is being collected and how is it being stored? What are the statistical parameters of this data, e.g., how much random variation does it contain? Is this being measured?Cost and risk queriesEstimate the financial consequences of a new BI initiative. Assess the cost of the present operations and the increase in costs associated with the BPM initiative. What is the risk that the initiative will fail? This risk assessment should be converted into a financial metric and included in the planning.Customer and stakeholder queriesDetermine who will benefit from the initiative and who will pay. Who has a stake in the current procedure? What kinds of customers / stakeholders will benefit directly from this initiative? Who will benefit indirectly? What quantitative / qualitative benefits follow? Is the specified initiative the best or only way to increase satisfaction for all kinds of customers? How will customer benefits be monitored? What about employees, shareholders, and distribution channel members?Metrics-related queriesInformation requirements need operationalization into clearly defined metrics. Decide which metrics to use for each piece of information being gathered. Are these the best metrics and why? How many metrics need to be tracked? If this is a large number (it usually is), what kind of system can track them? Are the metrics standardized, so they can be benchmarked against performance in other organizations? What are the industry standard metrics available?Measurement methodology-related queriesEstablish a methodology or a procedure to determine the best (or acceptable) way of measuring the required metrics. How frequently will data be collected? Are there any industry standards for this? Is this the best way to do the measurements? How do we know that?Results-related queriesMonitor the BPM program to ensure that it meets objectives. The program itself may require adjusting. The program should be tested for accuracy, reliability, and validity. How can it be demonstrated that the BI initiative, and not something else, contributed to a change in results? How much of the change was probably random?See also[edit]Business process managementIntegrated business planningData Presentation ArchitectureList of management topicsElectronic performance support systemsOperational Performance ManagementReferences[edit]Jump up ^ "Introducing the CPM Suites Magic Quadrant", Lee Geishecker and Frank Buytendijk, 2 October 2002, www.gartner.com, M-17-4718Jump up ^ Frolick, Mark N.; Thilini R. Ariyachandra (Winter 2006). "Business performance management: one truth" (PDF). Information Systems Management. www.ism-journal.com: 41–48. Retrieved 2010-02-21. Business Performance Management (BPM) [...] is also known and identified by other names, such as corporate performance management and enterprise performance management.Jump up ^ Sana Mojdeh (2005-12-20). Technology-enabled Business Performance Management: Concept, Framework, and Technology (PDF). 3rd International Management Conference. pp. 1–9. Retrieved 2010-02-21. Confusion also arises because industry experts can not agree what to call BPM, let alone how to define it, META Group and IDC use the term 'Business Performance Management', Gartner Group prefers 'Corporate Performance Management', and others favor 'Enterprise Performance Management'.Jump up ^ vom Brocke, J. & Rosemann, M. (2010), Handbook on Business Process Management: Strategic Alignment, Governance, People and Culture (International Handbooks on Information Systems). Berlin: SpringerJump up ^ BPM Mag, What is BPM? Archived December 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.Jump up ^ The Next Generation of Business Intelligence: Operational BI White, Colin (May 2005). "The Next Generation of Business Intelligence: Operational BI". Information Management Magazine. Retrieved 2010-02-21. The biggest growth area in operational BI analysis is in the area of business performance management (BPM).Jump up ^ http://ctext.org/art-of-war/attack-by-stratagem/zh?en=on#n20929 paragraph 6.

# data[].attributes.body
SAMPLE PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

The rating scale for Performance Planning and Review is made up of five factors: Poor,

Needs Improvement, Meets Requirements, Exceeds Requirements, and Outstanding.

Any factor rated poor or needs improvement MUST have performance comments. For

any factor, performance comments should support the rating given.

If there have been counseling sessions, letters of commendation or reprimand, or

unofficial performance reviews within the rating period, the supervisor should keep

documentation on file and site these occurrences in the performance comments on the

official rating.

Below are examples of comments that would support individual ratings. These are

generic in nature and examples only. Performance comments should be tailored to the

individual employee and be based on the employee&#39;s individual performance

expectations.

Good Luck!

Work Product

Dependability

Cooperativeness

Adaptability

Communication

Daily Decision Making/Problem Solving

Service to Clients/Public

Use of Equipment and Materials

Project Planning and Implementation

Work Group Management

Performance Planning and Review

WORK PRODUCT - The quality and quantity of

work produced by the employee.

Poor:

 Has made frequent errors that are harmful to business operations.

 The supervisor/department head has received numerous complaints about the

quality of work.

 The quality of work produced is unacceptable.

 Does not complete required paperwork.

Needs Improvement:

 Is not as careful in checking work product for errors as he/she could be.

 Tends to miss small errors in work product.

 Required paperwork is completed late or is only partially complete.

Meets Requirements:

 Does not require constant supervision.

 Error rate is acceptable, and all work is completed timely.

 Forms and required paperwork are completed on time with minimal errors.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Managers and co-workers have commented on high levels of accuracy and work

productivity.

 Takes pride in work and strives to improve work performance.

 All memos, reports, forms and correspondence are completed on time with no

errors.

Outstanding:

 Has less than a 1% error rate on work product.

 Accuracy is excellent.

 Quantity of work produced is outstanding.

DEPENDABILITY - Being where he/she should

be doing what he/she is supposed to do.

Poor:

 Often calls in to work without prior approval, resulting in excessive unscheduled

absences.

 Leaves the work area unattended to run personal errands.

 Is frequently late to work

 Frequently leaves work early.

Needs Improvement:

 Occasionally calls in to work without prior approval, resulting in unscheduled

absences.

 Occasionally arrives late to work.

 Sometimes does not make sure all work is completed before leaving for the day.

 Occasionally leaves work early.

Meets Requirements:

 Consistently arrives to work on time.

 Makes sure work area is covered at all times.

 Has had no unscheduled absences, except for documented emergencies.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Has a good attendance record.

 Can always be counted on to work overtime when necessary without complaint.

Outstanding:

 Always at work and on time.

 Never misses work without prior approval and appropriate notification.

 Has had no unscheduled absences during the rating period.

COOPERATIVENESS - Working with people.

Poor:

 Projects an attitude of superiority that turns off other employees.

 Not cooperative and frequently criticizes others.

 Displays excessive negativity when working with others.

Needs Improvement:

 Displays occasional negativity when working with others.

 Rarely offers to assist others in the office.

 Makes negative comments that affect working relationships with others.

Meets Requirements:

 Is usually able to answer customer questions.

 Maintains good working relationships with coworkers.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Demonstrates “team player” behavior views individual success as imperative to

group success.

 Direct, straightforward, honest and polite.

Outstanding:

 Always cordial and willing to help coworkers, students, and clients.

 Enthusiastic, energetic and displays positive behavior.

ADAPTABILITY - Adjusting to change.

Poor:

 Usually needs direct supervision, even for mundane and everyday tasks.

 Is not able to think independently or to deal with unexpected occurrences.

Needs Improvement:

 Gets flustered in unusual situations.

 Does not always make the best decisions to fit the situation.

Meets Requirements:

 Usually adjusts well to changes in the work place.

 Maintains good customer service relations, even under stress.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Looks for ways to streamline procedures to improve efficiency and customer service.

 Sets priorities and adjusts them as needed when unexpected situations arise.

Outstanding:

 Adapted to new systems and processes well and seeks out training to enhance

knowledge, skills and abilities.

 Always seems to know when to ask questions and when to seek guidance.

COMMUNICATION - Giving and receiving

information.

Poor:

 Reports, forms, memos and correspondence are often completed late or not at all.

 Uses a condescending tone when talking to others in the office.

Needs Improvement:

 The supervisor/department head has received a few complaints about contradictory

or bad information being given out by the employee.

 Phone messages are often unclear or incomplete.

Meets Requirements:

 Takes messages, writes correspondence, deals with customers and coworkers with

sufficient attention to detail.

 Reports are accurate and well written using proper grammar and punctuation.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Students and coworkers feel comfortable coming to this employee with questions

and comments.

 Comes to supervisor/department head with any questions that employee does not

know off-hand

Outstanding:

 Always asks questions and seeks guidance when not sure of what to do.

 Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills.

DAILY DECISION MAKING/ PROBLEM

SOLVING - Thinking on the job.

Poor:

 Frequently comes to the wrong conclusions and assumes things.

 Did not make sure that all subordinates were productive at all times, which is a daily

requirement of this job.

Needs Improvement:

 Needs to develop analytical skills necessary to weigh options and choose the best

way to deal with situations.

 Spends too much time focusing on less important aspects of daily job.

Meets Requirements:

 Often offers workable solutions to problems.

 Uses good judgment in solving problems and working with others.

 Uses PPR ratings in making decisions related to new hires, promotions and merit

increases.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Can zero in on the cause of problems and offer creative solutions.

 Displays strong analytical skills.

Outstanding:

 Always offers ideas to solve problems based on good information and sound

judgment.

 Displays initiative and enthusiasm during everyday work.

 Conducts research or seeks counsel of experts to gather information needed in

making actual decisions.

SERVICE TO CLIENTS/PUBLIC

Poor:

 Frequently rude and impolite.

 Demonstrates poor customer relations skills.

 Frequently carries on personal conversations in person or on the phone while clients

and customers wait.

Needs Improvement:

 Gets annoyed with clients who ask too many questions.

 Frequently forgets to follow through on customer requests.

Meets Requirements:

 Usually maintains a competent and professional demeanor in dealing with clients

and the public.

 Courteous and knowledgeable.

 Tries to be helpful.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Answers all questions promptly and accurately.

 Forwards any complaints or problems to supervisor immediately.

Outstanding:

 Always follows through and finds the answers to any questions and reports back to

the customer promptly.

 Employee has received numerous letters of commendation for excellent customer

service.

USE OF EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

Poor:

 Has destroyed equipment through misuse during this rating period.

 Wastes supplies.

 Deleted required software in error.

 Never services equipment.

Needs Improvement:

 Doesn&#39;t heed warning messages on equipment.

 Sometimes forgets to turn equipment off at the end of the day.

 Doesn&#39;t always get equipment serviced as recommended by the manufacturer.

Meets Requirements:

 Takes good care of equipment and uses supplies efficiently.

 Turns off and secures all equipment at the end of the shift.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Quickly learns new software programs.

 Uses queries and reports to maximize efficiency in the office and find errors.

Outstanding:

 Is able to troubleshoot and solves all work related problems quickly and efficiently.

 Reports problems immediately if to the appropriate personnel.

PROJECT PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

Poor:

 Work projects have suffered from lack of follow-through.

 Important documentation for projects has been lost or destroyed erroneously.

 Does not plan ahead to meet work deadlines.

Needs Improvement:

 Does not keep supervisor informed of potential problems as they arise.

 Project plans are poorly designed.

 Project plans are not carried out as assigned or on time.

Meets Requirements:

 Prepares project plans on time and in sufficient detail.

 End of year statements are complete and accurate.

 Maintains and monitors progress of project plan in order to stay on target.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Gets the most out of scarce resources.

 Projects normally are within budget and are well planned.

Outstanding:

 Anticipates problems before they occur.

 Provides meaningful information to decision makers that helps in the preparation

and implementation of projects.

 Plans projects and carries them out so that projects are completed ahead of

schedule and under budget.

WORK GROUP MANAGEMENT

Poor:

 Dictates to others rather than involving them in the decision making.

 Has reduced subordinates to tears.

 Yells and screams at subordinates.

Needs Improvement:

 Assumes others should know what to do and how to do it with little or no training.

 Frequently becomes impatient when things aren&#39;t done their way.

Meets Requirements:

 Draws on the knowledge and skills of others.

 Available when needed and has an open door policy for subordinates.

 Assigns work fairly and resolves disputes and grievances of subordinates fairly.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Very supportive of coworkers and subordinates attempts at improvement.

 Sets an example for subordinates in following departmental and university policy

and procedures.

Outstanding:

 Outstanding ability to explain and teach.

 Inspires others to do better.

PERFORMANCE PLANNING AND REVIEW

Poor:

 Had one unrated Performance Planning and Review rating in this rating year.

 Did not conduct timely planning sessions on all subordinates.

Needs Improvement:

 Although planning sessions were completed, they were not completed within Civil

Service mandated timelines.

 Did not meet personally with the employee to go over appraisals.

Meets Requirements:

 All PPR&#39;s were completed by the anniversary dates of all subordinates.

 Works with employees in setting mutual goals.

 Makes an effort to counsel employees and document performance (both positive

and negative) throughout the year.

 Maintains a supervisor file that contains documentation of performance on each

subordinate throughout the year.

 Has had no unrated PPR&#39;s or untimely planning sessions in this rating year. Always

completes PPR&#39;s well within the 60 day deadline date.

Exceeds Requirements:

 Is proactive in performance evaluations.

 Has an open door policy for all subordinates.

Outstanding:

 Encourages employees to improve knowledge, abilities and skills.

 Maintains detailed written performance documentation that needs no explanation.

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If you're a regular Google user (65% of you globally) then you'll have noticed some changes, both good and bad.
I won't debate the merits of these improvements, we've done that already here: Google kills Right Hand Side Ads and here: Google launches Accelerated Mobile Pages, but there's a definite feeling of vexation that appears to be coming to a head.

Deep breath...

As the paid search space increases in 'top-heaviness', as organic results get pushed further off the first SERP, as the Knowledge Graph scrapes more and more publisher content and continues to make it pointless to click through to a website, and as our longstanding feelings of unfairness over Google's monopoly and tax balance become more acute, now more than ever we feel there should be another, viable search engine alternative.

There was a point not that long ago when you could easily divide people between those that used Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and AltaVista. Now it's got to the point where if you're not using Google, you're not really using the internet properly.

Right now though maybe we should be paying more attention to the alternatives. Maybe our daily lives and, for some of us, careers shouldn't need to balance on the fickle algorithm changes of the world's most valuable company.

Let's see what else is out there in the non-Google world. It's not that scary, I promise. Although you may want to bring a coat.
Please note: this is an update of an article published on SEW in May 2014, we felt like it needed sprucing up especially many of the listed engines (Blekko, Topsy) are no longer with us.
Bing

Microsoft's search engine is the second most popular search engine in the world, with 15.8% of the search market.

But why should you use Bing? Lifehacker has some great articles where they try to convince themselves as much as anyone else why Bing is a serious contender to Google. Plus points include:

Bing's video search is significantly better than Google's, giving you a grid of large thumbnails that you can click on to play or preview if you hover over them.

Bing often gives twice as many autocomplete suggestions than Google does.

Bing can predict when airfares are about to go up or down if you're searching for flights.

Bing also has a feature where if you type linkfromdomain:[site name] it will highlight the best ranked outgoing links from that site, helping you figure out which other sites your chosen site links to the most.

Also note that Bing powers Yahoo's search engine.

DuckDuckGo

The key feature of DuckDuckGo is that it doesn't retain its users' data, so it won't track you or manipulate results based on your behaviour. So if you're particularly spooked by Google's all-seeing, all-knowing eye, this might be the one for you.

There's lots more info on DuckDuckGo's performance here.

Quora

As Google gets better and better at answering more complicated questions, it will never be able to match the personal touch available with Quora.

Ask any question and its erudite community will offer their replies. Or you can choose from any similar queries previously asked.

Dogpile

Dogpile may look like a search engine you cobbled together with clip-art, but that's rather the point as it pulls in and 'curates' results from various different engines including Google, Yandex and Yahoo, but removes all the ads.

Vimeo

Of course if you're going to give up Google, then you'll also have to give up YouTube, which can be a terrifying prospect. But there is an alternative. And a pretty good one at that... Vimeo. The professional's choice of video-sharing site, which has lots of HD video and no ads.

Yandex

This is a Russian portal, offering many similar products and services as Google, and it's the dominant search engine in Russia.

As you can see it offers results in a nice logical format, replete with favicons so you can clearly see the various channels for your branded queries.

Boardreader

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of a subject with a variety of different points of view away from the major publications, Boardreader surfaces results purely from forums, message boards and, of course, Reddit.

WolframAlpha

WolframAlpha is a 'computational knowledge engine', or super clever nerd to you and me. Ask it to calculate any data or ask it about any fact and it will give you the answer. Plus it does this awesome 'computing' thing while it thinks about your answer (which can take a short while.)

It's not always successful, you have to practice how to get the best from it. But at least it's aware of the terrible 90s television show The Dinosaurs.

StartPage

Another search engine that puts privacy at the forefront, StartPage (originally Ixquick) was the first search engine to allow its users to search privately.

With StartPage, none of your details are stored (including your IP address) and no cookies are used, save for a single, anonymous cookie that's used to remember your preferences. (For those who want to go "cookie-free", StartPage has a URL generator alternative to save your settings).

Uniquely, StartPage also offers a proxy for those who want to not just search, but browse, the web in full privacy.

Ask.com

Oh look... Ask Jeeves is still around. Also he's no longer a Wodehousian butler, but a computer generated bank manager. Weird.

It's still a slightly mediocre search engine pretending to be a question and answer site, but the 'Popular Q&A' results found on the right hand side are very handy if Jeeves himself can't satisfy your query. And what a good use of the right-hand side space, huh Google.

SlideShare

SlideShare is a really handy place to source information from presentations, slide decks, webinars and whatever else you may have missed from not attending a conference.

You'll also be surprised what information you can find there.

Addict-o-matic

"Inhale the web" with the friendly looking hoover guy by creating your own topic page, which you can bookmark and see results from a huge number of channels in that one page (including Google, Bing News, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr).

Creative Commons Search

CC Search is particularly handy if you need to find copyright free images for your website (as discussed in this post on image optimisation for SEO). Just type your query in then click on your chosen site you want to search.

Giphy

Because really, when it comes down to it, we could imagine a worse dystopian future than one in which we all communicate entirely in Gifs.

Christopher Ratcliff is the editor of Methods Unsound and former editor of SEW

Related reading

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Say goodbye to Google: 14 alternative search engines

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If you're a regular Google user (65% of you globally) then you'll have noticed some changes, both good and bad. I won't debate the merits of these improvements, we've done that already here: Google kills Right Hand Side Ads and here: Google launches Accelerated Mobile Pages, but there's a definite feeling of vexation that appears to be coming to a head.