Score Calculations

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When the overall score calculates for a completed review, there are a few factors that come in to play: the values in a rating scale, the weights of the sections and elements in the form, and the score formatting set up within the process. Let's take a look at how these all connect!

To start, we're going to go into the Forms tab and select into the Rating Scales tab. You may have one or multiple rating scales that your company uses, but we are going to look at a five-point scale in this example.

When a rating scale is set up, you're able to select the number of levels - this represents the number of ratings that someone can select from. For example, our default rating scale in the image above represents a five-level scale. Furthermore, each level on that rating scale contains a value.

For a five-level scale, the values would ideally be 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100. For a four-point scale, it would be 25, 50, 75, and 100. And for a three-point scale, this would be 33.33, 66.67, and 100. Keep in mind that assigning values like 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 will not work, and review scores will not populate accurately.

You may be wondering, "How do these values play into the final overall score?" These rating scale values provide a raw score out of 100, which would then be modified mathematically on the back end to reflect your desired score formatting.

These backend mathematics within Trakstar are what translates that raw score into the format you and your company prefers - such as if you'd like the final score to reflect as a number from 1-5, or if you'd like for the overall score to reflect terms rather than numbers. Let's take a look at how these values play into the score formatting next!

To locate your score formatting, navigate to the Processes tab. Once there, select edit next to your process, and you can find the Score Formatting tab towards the top of the process.

In the example Annual process, the score formatting is currently set at Numeric and to show a range. This means that the overall score will populate as a number between 1-5, but will also populate a term next to it based on the range.

The range that we see here is what the raw score will fall within - for example, if someone's raw score is 73, they would receive a numerical score from 1-5, but would also fall into the "Highly Effective" category.

In additional to the Numeric score formatting option, you can set this to Reversed, which would make 1 the best score. You can also set this as a percentage, completely hide the score, or use only the range option.

If you're using the Numeric formatting, the system will take the raw score that is provided by the values in the rating scale and will solve for what the score will be out of 5. If an employee receives a raw score of 73, the equation the system would use to find that numeric score would be as follows: 73/100 = x/5. Solving for x would then provide that final, numeric score.

If you're using the Percent formatting, the system will take the raw score and place a percentage on that number.

Now let's jump into the math! We will be using the rating scale and completed review below.

In the above review, the competencies section carries an 80% weight, while the Goals and Objectives section carries a 20% weight. By default, question elements have no weight.

To do the math, we would break down each section and how each element was rated. We would then be able to combine the values of each rating and could convert that into a number out of 100 for that raw score. Here is what this would look like for the Competencies and Goals sections:

Once the sections have been converted in a raw score, they then need to be converted to a score out of 5. For the competencies section, that equation would be 84/100 = x/5. The equation for the Goals and Objectives section would then be 70/100 = x/5. This leads us to the below results:

Competencies Numeric Score: 4.2

Goals Numeric Score: 3.5

Let's put it all together and see if we result in the matching overall score outcome of 4.06 on the review! The final score can be calculated by multiplying each section's numeric score by the section weights and then adding those outcomes together. You will need to use the decimal format of the percentages when calculating this.

4.2 (0.8) + 3.5 (0.2)

3.36 + 0.7 = 4.06 (Highly Effective)

For score calculations using the Percent formatting, you would use the raw scores in the equation instead and add a percentage sign to that raw score. You would also use this equation if you use the Range score formatting.

84 (0.8) + 70 (0.2)

67.2 + 14 = 81.2

Looking back at the range in the Process's Score Formatting, we can see that the raw score of 81.2 falls into the Highly Effective category.

If you have any questions about score calculations, please feel free to reach out to us at perform@trakstar.com! We're here and happy to help.