Creating a communication round
The communication round is used to manage the release of individual documents or document sets to workers within the Pay Suite application. The documents can contain current information (for instance, performance documentation or compensation statements) or historical records (such as performance reviews from previous years). By releasing documents using a communication round, you get more control over the document release process.
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Communication rounds are available under Workbench> Pay Transparency > Communication Rounds. Access to Workbench depends on your role within the platform. This feature is available for users with the Compensation Admin professional role.
The Communication Rounds section of the Pay Suite platform helps you create and manage communication rounds. The page displays summary tiles: Comm rounds, with the total number of communication rounds, as well as In progress, Open, Draft, Archived, and Closed tiles, denoting the number of rounds in each status.
The page also includes a list of communication rounds with names, codes, start and end dates, owners, and statuses specified, as shown in the figure below:
Communication Rounds page
To see the details of an already created communication round, click the three-dot icon located on the far-right side of the round row in the communication round list, and then select View from the action menu. You can also click the name of the round to be redirected to the View communication round page.
Step 1 - Round details
To create a communication round, proceed as follows:
Click Create communication round in the upper-right part of the Communication Rounds page. The Create communication round form is opened at the first step, Round details, as illustrated in the following picture:
Communication round creation form
Fill in the basic details of the communication round:
Enter a name of the new communication round in the Name field.
Enter a unique code in the Code field.
Check the Include summary documents option if you want to add summary documents for communication managers.
Enter a description for the communication round in the Description field. beqom recommends that you state in this field the purpose of the communication round to avoid any confusion if you are creating multiple rounds in your system.
In the Round visibility section, select the Start date and the End date of your communication round. This is the period when your communication round is available for review in the Planner. Once this period is over, only workers will have access to the documents in the Documents section of their Passport.
If required, select additional owners in the Owners section, by typing their name in the search field, and then clicking the name of the relevant person in the search results. If you do not add additional owners, you will be the only person who can manage the communication round.
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We recommend designating at least one additional owner to serve as a backup in case of unexpected leave or access issues.
Click Next in the progress widget to move to the next step of the communication round creation process: Hierarchy.
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Click Save & exit in the upper-right corner of the application to simply save your changes and finish the creation of the communication round later on.
Step 2 - Hierarchy
In step 2 of the communication round creation form, select the hierarchy from the drop-down list to drive round access. Choose the Line Manager, Matrix Manager, Communication Manager, or Compensation Manager. You may also select a secondary hierarchy from the second drop-down list.
A preview is now available in the Hierarchy preview section.
Click Next in the progress widget on the right side of the form to proceed to the third step: Workflow.
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Click Save & exit in the upper-right corner of the application to simply save your changes and finish the creation later on.
Step 3 - Workflow
Once you have entered the basic information for the communication round, you need to configure approval milestones for the round.
Check the Enable workflow steps box to enable the communication round workflow. When the workflow is not enabled, the communication round then behaves as follows:
The HRBP review and the Hierarchy validation workflow steps are both automatically disabled.
Newly imported documents within the communication round are automatically released to the workers' Documents page in their Passport.
The Workflow step column is not visible in Planner > Documents.
The Workflow step filter is not visible in Planner > Documents.
The Change workflow step button is not available in Planner > Documents.
If you enable the workflow, the HRBPÂ review, Hierarchy validation, and Document review steps are automatically added to your communication round. You have the possibility to disable the HRBP review and/or Hierarchy validation steps. In this case, the communication round behaves as follows:
If both workflow steps are disabled (i.e., you keep only the Document review step):
Newly imported documents within the communication round are placed at the Document review step and their release status is set to Not released.
In case of a document override (re-import of documents, for instance because of errors in the documents), the new documents are placed at the Document review step and their release status is set to Not released.
If previous versions of the documents were released to workers' documents, the override will remove the documents from their Documents page.
The Workflow step filter is visible in Planner > Documents, and has only two options to select: Document review and None.
The Change workflow step button is not available in Planner > Documents.
If one of workflow steps (HRBP review or Hierarchy validation) is enabled:
New imported documents within the communication round are placed at the first enabled workflow step and their release status is set to Not released.
In case of a document override, the new documents are placed at the first enabled workflow step and their release status is set to Not released.
If previous versions of the documents were released to workers' documents, the override will remove the documents from their Documents page.
In the Workflow step filter in Planner > Documents, it is only possible to select the previously enabled workflow step or None.
The Change workflow step button is available in Planner > Documents but only allows to change the workflow to one of the enabled steps.
Click Next in the progress widget on the right side of the form to proceed to the third step: Import PDF documents.
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Click Save & exit in the upper-right corner of the application to simply save your changes and finish the creation of the communication round later on.
Step 4 - Import PDF documents
This step is available after publishing the document. Click Publish in the progress widget. Then, reopen the form and go back to this step.
Once your communication round is published, you can share important PDF documents with other workers in the company. To do that, proceed as follows:
Click the Add document button. A pop-up window will be displayed.
Select the Audience of your document:
All company: the document will be available to everyone in the organization.
Population: select a population from the drop-down list. The document will be available only to workers within this population.
Individual workers: enter the names of workers in the search bar. Only the chosen individuals will be granted access to this document.
Click Upload or drag and drop a file you want to import.
Click Apply. Now your document will be shared with the selected audience. You will be also able to see all the documents attached to this communication round in a list. Click the three-dot icon and then select View, Download or Export recipient details.
Exporting recipient details
Clicking the Export recipient details button allows you to inspect the list of recipients for each imported static document within a communication round, regardless of the audience type. After clicking this button, a CSV file will be downloaded to your device. The file contains a list of all individual recipients tied to that import.
Specifically, the CSV includes important metadata, such as:
Communication round name
Audience type and selection
Document name
Import date and time
Name of the user who performed the import
Total number of recipients
Detailed recipient list: WorkerId, FullName