We're excited to introduce a dedicated eNPS Survey creation experience, making it easier to launch eNPS surveys using the Peoplebox Engagement Framework. Along with this, we've enhanced the overall survey creation experience with smarter validations, benchmark visibility, improved question management, and a refreshed survey builder workflow.

What's New?

Dedicated eNPS Survey Creation:

• Create an eNPS survey directly from the Create Survey flow.
• Select eNPS Survey as the survey type.
• Anonymous responses are enabled by default.
• Surveys are automatically populated with the mandatory eNPS question and recommended questions from the Peoplebox Engagement Framework.
• The mandatory eNPS question cannot be deleted, ensuring every eNPS survey includes the core eNPS question.

Smarter Survey Validations:

• Receive warnings when recommended drivers or questions are removed.
• Get reminders when adding custom questions, as benchmarking may not apply.
• Encourage the use of recommended engagement drivers for more comprehensive reporting and insights.

Benchmark Questions:

• Benchmark tags are displayed for eligible standard questions.
• Benchmark indicators are visible in both the question library and question details.
• Questions are automatically sorted by reuse, making frequently used questions easier to discover.

Improved Question Management:

• Standard questions cannot be edited and require confirmation before deletion.
• Custom questions can be edited or deleted.
• A new Clear All Questions option is available with confirmation safeguards.
• Improved filtering makes it easier to find and manage questions.

We're excited to introduce a new Goals setting that gives admins more control over how integrated goals are updated.

What's New?

Admins can now choose to disable manual check-ins for integrated goals directly from the Goals Settings page.

When this setting is enabled:

• Users cannot manually check in on goals linked through a single integration or bulk integration.
• Goal progress can only be updated through the connected integration source.
• Manual overrides are prevented, ensuring data accuracy and consistency.

We're excited to introduce Relationship-Based Custom Reviewers, a new capability that automatically assigns reviewers based on employee relationships, helping you reduce manual effort and streamline review cycle setup.

What's New?

With Relationship-Based Custom Reviewers, you can:

• Automatically assign reviewers based on relationships such as Skip Manager (L2 Manager), L3 Manager, and other supported custom relationships.
• Support both calculated relationships (e.g., Skip Manager, L3 Manager) and custom relationships uploaded by admins.
• Automatically resolve reviewer assignments whenever reviewees are added to a cycle—whether through automation, manual addition, or CSV import.
• Continue to manually override reviewer assignments whenever needed for added flexibility.

We're excited to announce the launch of Peer Reviewer Selection Limits, a new feature designed to help organizations distribute peer review requests more fairly and prevent reviewer overload during performance reviews.

What's New?

Administrators can now configure an optional cycle-wide limit on the number of times an employee can be selected as a peer reviewer.

Key capabilities include:

• Set a maximum number of peer review requests an employee can receive within a review cycle.
• Once the limit is reached, the employee becomes unavailable for further peer selection.
• Employees who have reached the limit appear disabled in the peer selection list with a tooltip indicating that the peer limit has been reached.
• Applies consistently across all peer selection workflows, including self-selection, manager selection, volunteer reviews, and admin or bulk imports.
• Employees who have reached their limit are automatically excluded from peer selection within Slack.
• Both pending and approved peer assignments count toward the configured limit. Removed or rejected assignments free up reviewer capacity, allowing the employee to be selected again if they fall below the limit.

• The default setting remains No Limit, ensuring existing review cycles remain unaffected unless the feature is enabled.

We're excited to announce the launch of Goal Percentage Formula, a new enhancement that gives organizations greater flexibility in how goal progress is calculated.

Previously, all goals followed a single default calculation method. With this release, administrators can enable custom percentage formulas, allowing employees to define how progress should be measured for individual goals while still retaining the option to use the default formula.

What's New?

Custom Goal Progress Calculations:

Employees can now configure a custom percentage calculation formula for individual goals based on their specific business requirements.

Benefits include:

• Greater flexibility in measuring goal progress
• Support for unique goal-tracking methodologies
• Ability to continue using the default calculation when preferred

AI-Assisted Formula Generation:

Creating formulas is now easier with AI assistance.

Users can:

• Describe how they want progress to be calculated in plain language
• Let AI generate the corresponding formula automatically
• Review and modify the generated formula before saving

This makes advanced goal calculations accessible without requiring technical expertise.

Supported Variables:

Currently, AI-generated formulas support the following variables:

• Current Progress
• Progress Start
• Progress Target
• Weight

Formulas that require additional variables or external data sources are not supported at this time.

Bulk Goal Upload Support:

To simplify large-scale goal management, we have added a new column to the Goal Upload template: Percent Formula (custom_percent_formula)

This allows administrators and HR teams to:

• Upload goals with predefined percentage formulas
• Configure custom calculations in bulk
• Eliminate the need for manual setup after importing goals

Example:

Default Formula:

((Progress - Progress Start) / (Progress Target - Progress Start)) * 100

Custom Formula Example:

User Request:

Calculate progress as the percentage of the target achieved from the starting value, but cap the result at 100%.

AI-Generated Formula:

MIN(((current_progress - progress_start) / (progress_target - progress_start)) * 100, 100)

This ensures that progress never exceeds 100%, even if the target is surpassed.

✅ Important Notes

• The Goal Percentage Formula feature must be enabled by an administrator before employees can create custom formulas.
• Goals can continue using the default calculation formula if no custom formula is provided.
• Formulas uploaded through the Goal Upload template are validated before being saved.
• Invalid formulas or formulas containing unsupported variables will be rejected.

We're excited to announce support for Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) as a source database for Goals Integration.

With this enhancement, organizations can now connect their MSSQL databases and seamlessly import goal check-ins into Peoplebox, expanding integration capabilities beyond MySQL and making goal progress tracking even more flexible and automated.

What's New?

MSSQL as a Goals Integration Source:

Admins can now connect Microsoft SQL Server databases directly to Peoplebox for goal progress updates.

Support for Manual and Scheduled Syncs:

Choose the integration approach that best fits your workflow:

• Run manual syncs when needed
• Automate updates with scheduled syncs

Bulk Goal Integrations:

A single integration setup can update multiple goals, reducing configuration effort and simplifying large-scale goal management.

Historical and Current Check-In Support:

Import both:

• Backdated check-ins for historical tracking
• Current-date check-ins for ongoing progress updates

This ensures accurate visibility into goal performance over time.

Enhanced Monitoring and Troubleshooting:

Continue to leverage:

• Integration sync history
• Downloadable sync reports

These tools provide greater transparency into integration performance and make troubleshooting easier when needed.

We're excited to announce the launch of Calibration Cycles — a dedicated workspace that helps organizations calibrate manager performance ratings through structured workflows, approval hierarchies, and distribution guidance.

What's New?

Dedicated Calibration Cycles:

Create standalone calibration cycles linked to one or more performance review cycles. Administrators can configure their own calibration workflow, approval hierarchy, and participant structure independently of the original review process.

Calibrate Manager Summary Ratings:

Managers and calibrators can review and adjust employee ratings captured through the Manager Summary Rating question.

For every employee, calibrators can view:

• Original Rating
• Calibrated Rating
• Calibration Notes

This ensures a complete audit trail while preserving the manager's original assessment.

Bring Performance Data into Compensation Cycles:

Compensation cycles can now include performance review data alongside compensation planning.

Organizations can:

• Surface performance ratings and review information directly within compensation workflows
• Provide decision-makers with relevant context without switching modules
• Calibrate manager summary ratings directly within compensation cycles

Bell Curve & Distribution Guidance:

Support fair and consistent rating distributions with configurable calibration guidelines. Organizations can:

• Define target rating distributions
• Configure soft or hard quota enforcement
• Apply quota rules to specific employee populations
• Track real-time distribution progress during calibration

Flexible Workflow Management:

Build calibration hierarchies that align with your organization's processes using Central Approval Flow.

Approval rules can be configured based on:

• Manager of Participant
• Skip-Level Manager of Participant
• Custom Approvers

Once participants are added, Central Approval Flow automatically generates the approval hierarchy, ensuring every employee follows the appropriate calibration process.

Additional capabilities include:

• Multi-level approval chains
• Calibration group management
• Submission status tracking across levels
• Workflow updates when organizational structures change

Custom Employee Context:

Bring additional business context into calibration discussions with custom columns and uploaded data, enabling more informed calibration decisions.

Improved Calibration Workspace:

Calibrators now have access to a dedicated workspace featuring:

• Distribution tracking cards
• Advanced search and filtering
• Side-by-side comparison of original and calibrated ratings
• Complete change history for rating updates

Reporting & Visibility:

After calibration is complete:

• Calibrated ratings become the primary ratings displayed across Peoplebox
• Original manager ratings remain available for audit and reporting
• Review summaries and exports reflect calibrated outcomes

We're pleased to announce enhancements to the Survey Bot experience, designed to provide greater flexibility for respondents and a more personalized experience for organizations.

Edit Survey Responses

Users can now edit their most recent survey response directly within the Survey Bot.

Key improvements include:

• Edit the most recent response directly from the Survey Bot.
• Responses and comments can be updated within a single editing workflow.
• Updated responses can be submitted directly from the edit screen.
• To ensure data consistency, subsequent survey questions will be temporarily unavailable while a response is being edited.

Account Logo Support

Survey Bot now supports organization branding by displaying your configured company logo.

• If a custom logo has been configured under General Settings, it will automatically appear in the Survey Bot.
• This creates a more consistent and branded experience for employees across the platform.

We're excited to introduce configurable decimal precision for review scores, giving admins greater control over how calculated scores are displayed across a review cycle.

What's New?

Per-Review-Cycle Decimal Precision

Admins can now configure the number of decimal places displayed for calculated scores at the review cycle level. This setting is managed from a single location and is applied consistently throughout the entire review cycle.

The configured precision applies to:

• Competency Scores
• Goal Scores
• Section Scores
• Overall Calculated Scores

Consistent Score Formatting Across the Platform

All calculated and aggregated scores now follow the same rounding and formatting rules, ensuring a consistent experience across:

• Web App
• PDF Exports
• Calibration Screens
• Slack Notifications

Backward Compatible by Default

Existing review cycles will continue to use a default precision of 2 decimal places, ensuring there is no impact on current review processes unless admins choose to customize the setting.

Organizations can now configure and manage their own SMTP server directly from the platform UI for all outbound emails.

What’s Included?

• Configure SMTP Directly from the UI: Admins can now set up: SMTP host, Port, Username and password, Authentication type, TLS/SSL encryption settings.

• Built-In SMTP Testing: Validate SMTP connectivity and credentials before enabling the configuration. Instant feedback helps identify authentication or connectivity issues early.

• One-Click Enablement: Once enabled, all outgoing emails for the account will be routed through the configured SMTP server automatically.

• Greater Control & Compliance:

1. Use your organization’s mail infrastructure.
2. Align with internal security and compliance policies.
3. Maintain sender reputation and email monitoring within your own systems.

• Flexible Management: Admins can update SMTP settings anytime or disable custom SMTP to switch back to the default email provider.

Where to Configure?

• Navigate to: Settings → Email Configuration
• Supported configurations include: TLS/SSL encryption, Custom SMTP ports, Authentication-based SMTP providers.

⚠️Important Notes:

Once enabled, all outgoing emails will be sent through the configured SMTP server.

Incorrect credentials or connectivity issues may impact email delivery.

We recommend testing the configuration before enabling it in production.