Trakstar is a star!!

Since installation we have drastically improved the consistency and timeliness of staff reviews. Also love the goals and objectives.

Pros

Customer service/support is great. I haven’t had many issues, but when I did support was fast and even followed up a day later to make sure things were still fine. My issues were user related. The software is solid!

Cons

The reporting is a bit limited. Might be nice to have the ability to create some customized reports.

Easy to use performance management system

Overall, I think it's a great system and so much better than the one we had before. As mentioned, it's easy to use and to navigate, and the customer service team is very quick to respond to any questions. As an administrator, I love being able to log in as others in order to see what they're seeing - it makes my life easier.

Pros

The best feature about this software is its ease of use. A few of our employees aren't very technologically-minded, and they have no problem navigating the system and completing their reviews. It's simple and straightforward and offers a lot of flexibility.

Cons

We're just starting to use the Goals portion of the software, and, as a company, we're a bit on the conservative side, and we'd rather not have the employees be able to create their own measurements. It's great to have that feature, but there should also be a way to turn it off if we don't want it.

TrakStar Review

It has helped to streamline our review process and we are fine-tuning it with each review cycle to reflect what we are really looking for in a review/performance management tool.

Pros

I find the layout of the software/site to be clean and pretty easy to maneuver around.

Cons

I find the software fairly easy to use - but I think it's more because I am one of the administrators and helped to customize it to our needs and the fact that I use it more often than other staff. We are still trying to get staff to use it more often (for notes, etc.) rather than once/twice a year when doing their reviews.

Bad - Horrible UI/UX that you will pay for over and over again

Lot of issues here that I want to point out with this software: 1) This software does not do corrective actions or Performance Improvement Plans, they try to tell you that it does in the sales presentations, but this software does not do it. They will tell you about a work around, but it is so complex and contrived that your managers will never use it, I promise. 2) We were trying to get the software to allow us to do a 6 month check-in, so essentially our managers would be able to meet with our employees halfway to their annual review and check in to see how they were coming along, not to be rated, but just a checkup to see how things were going. Sounds easy, right? Well, you'd be wrong on that too, and so was I. They launched into a super complex work around, which again was way more complex than any of my managers would ever need or be able to use. 3) Whenever I first looked at signing up to use this software, I liked the seemingly easy and simple to use interface that I had seen on demos and on videos on youtube. I thought, well, it's just about loading in positions and job data, then I should be off and running with this system. Well, their estimate for getting setup is typically at least 3 months, that should tell you something. I thought that they would just be doing a lot of hand holding, turns out that what they were really doing is making up for a poor UI and UX in their system. It is next to impossible to anticipate where to go, what to click, etc. They try to make up for it with their training, but it just seemed to frustrate me more that they wouldn't fix the clear weaknesses and complexness of their interface to suit the customer. They would rather spend an hour training you on how to do something super complex, and oh, by the way, if you mention to them that something is complex, unnecessary, or just plain not intuitive, instead of take the feedback, they actually get defensive and back up their reasoning for doing whatever they are doing in a totally illogical and contrived way. They need to take a page from Google and Apple and go back to the drawing board with their system and design something from the ground up that is EASY TO USE. 4) Scoring for employees is extremely complex and contrived, just ask them to show it to you in the sales process, you will see I could write more, but I ran out of room, check out JuvodHR if you are looking for a better solution, that's where I went.

Pros

Not really much to like, to be quite honest

Cons

5) There is this wonderful background jobs pop-up that pops up every time that you do ANYTHING in the application, I'm serious. You have to dismiss it manually every time, it is ridiculous, unnecessary, and very annoying. 6) There is no simple way to have them tie any type of notes or issues with an employee back to a part of their job description that it is supposed to match. Which, is really the basis of why you are keeping records for corrective actions, notices, etc, to protect yourself from an employee if you have to terminate for performance based reasons/issues. 7) If you have employees who don't sit at a desk or have their own computer, this system is not for you. It does not offer you a way to accommodate those employees. Again, they will talk about a solution or work around, but again, don't be fooled, they have no solution here either.

PMPs Made Easy

The employees complain about performance management; but not about trakstar. I always separate the two. They like trakstar. I do a training called "Tips for Better Appraisals" and integrate the use of trakstar into it and how easy it is to ensure that you will get an excellent review if you utilize the great features availble in trakstar such as the notes and goal tracking.

Pros

Ease of use; customer service. The set-up is extremely easy; changing forms is easy.

Cons

Extra cost for the added features - succession planning