Keeping track of which team members report to the Managers and leaders in your organisation, is a key component to achieving a successful skills strategy and developing departments.
Using the Reports To option gives senior team members the chance to control and understand who’s responsible for the growth of key players in your organisation (org). Below are the key areas…
Note✨: The term Line Manager is being used within this article as a way to describe the individual chosen for the Reports To position. It’s not to be confused with the Org User Role of Manager, as any User can be set under Reports To (e.g., some of your team members who are actual Managers offline, may only be Read Only’s on your org’s HowNow workspace).
Users page: Adding Users
When adding Users to your organisation’s workspace, you’ll have the option to include a key player from any of your teams, within the Reports To field. This isn’t a compulsory option, but is the starting point for Managers and Admins to understand who is responsible for gathering information from, or helping to develop, the User about to join.
Invite by Email
Click on Add User to open the invitation pop-up and add your User’s details. From here, you’ll see the Reports To field, with a drop-down menu option.
Select just one team member to be placed as the Reports To contact. No more than a single team member can become a Reports To Line Manager. Just as in most organisations, members will only be assigned a single person to report to.
Both the User and the team member added, will be notified of this update. The same will apply for whenever the Reports To member is later removed.
Bulk Upload Users
Another way to onboard many Users with the correct Line Manager is by setting up the Bulk Upload invite option.
Opening the pop-up from the Add User button, and selecting the Bulk Upload tab, this will allow you to Download Bulk Upload Template. This template is a CSV file (Excel/Google Sheet), where you’d need to add the email addresses of the individuals who you wish to make Report To Line Managers.
Bulk-Add Reports To
For multiple Users who need to be updated, you can use the Bulk assign option for Reports To.
Select the checkbox of the Users you want to update and click on the Bulk Reports To icon, and choose the necessary person.
Note✨: Points to remember at this stage include…
The Maximum number of Users a Line Manager can have reporting to them is 100.
Users originally added by HRIS will have their “Report To” overwritten, should they be updated via sync from the HRIS. For example...
Stacey reports to Michael - this is updated automatically via sync from HRIS
Michael is manually replaced for Gina
The sync runs once again, so Gina is replaced automatically back to Michael
The first time an HRIS syncs with HowNow, there won't be any notification sent.
Any sync updates done after this will send out one notification, to a Manager, for all those multiple Report To updates done, collectively.
The same applies for the Bulk invite option (e.g, "12 new direct reports"), after which all manual updates will trigger individual notifications.
Tip💡: Often team members do collaborate on projects , across an organisation, with key players being paired to work on assignments together. Using Reports To can help Managers/Admins identify those collaborations, and therefore limit the time needed to find out with who they need to follow-up.
For example...
Jane works in Marketing, specialising in research, and Rajit works for the Tech team handling data. They have been paired together by the senior team, to work on a User Research project, to later showcase to the wider business, exactly how customers are using (and feeling about) the company's services.
By setting both of them as Reports To, for one another, this does one of two things...
Allows senior team members to know straight away that the points-of-contact for the project are Jane and Rajit only. If Jane is not available to answer a question, or provide progress, Rajit would be the next person to approach (and vice-versa).
Ensures they both know who their partner on the project is, at any given time. Should Rajit be taken off the project, and be replaced by Helen (a field research consultant to support Jane instead), then updating the Reports To will alert Jane and Rajit, and be a clear indicator that the collaboration has changed (with context also being given to all team members, in addition).
Prevents the need to create a Group, only to add Jane and Rajit as part of the project. It may be necessary to do this, however for organisations that already have a large number of Groups, the Reports To acts as an alternative for 2-people projects.
Reports To column
Management can change at any time, so it’s important to have the flexibility to choose the next most appropriate person to take on the responsibility. This is where the column option allows you to control this process.
Click the Reports To button within the column, to open the drop-down list. Choose your single team member, whose name will then appear within the row of the User who they will be reporting to them.
A key benefit of the Reports To column, is that it allows your organisation to visually verify whether the Line Manager given to a User, is still relevant.
For Example…
Blake and Matilda are both part of the Finance team. He has always reported to Matilda.
3 months later, Matilda moves from their Finance team to Logistics.
Blake is still shown as reporting to Matilda > Matilda then receives performance questions from senior team members, about Blake.
This has now caused confusion as Matilda hasn’t received updates from Blake, for the past 3 months, as he actually reports to Vanessa now.
Note✨: When User's activity changes in the following ways, the expectation is...
Deactivated or deleted Line Manager - they'll be removed from any of their Reports To positions, for Users. In the column, those positions will revert back to the default option to add a Line Manager.
Deactivated then re-activated Users - their Line Manager won't be restored, so the default option to add a Line Manager will be visible, to re-add them or a new team member.
Exports
Collect data on who is responsible for specific Users, by running export reports. From what’s shown in your data table, you’ll be able to quickly share with your wider team, which your Line Managers are, and their reports.
Clicking the Export button triggers the pop-up confirming that your file has been emailed to you.
Once received, you’ll be able to download it, via the link, to see the following CSV sheet…
Filters
Make use of the filter option, to see how many reports a Line Manager has, and combine it with other filters, to meet your objectives.
Select the filter button and choose or search for your Line Manager(s) from the drop-down menu. This will result in the data table showing only the Users who report to them.
You can combine filters in different ways, alongside the Reports To option, and the following are some examples…
Tracking quantity
Line Managers who are focused on specific business objectives, can use a series of combinations with Reports To, allowing them to get quicker information (which can, again, be exported). For example, they could combine it with…
Content Created - Line Managers who are in charge of content creators, could use this filter combination, to see which of their Team members is creating the amount of content agreed upon, as part of their goal.
Job Roles - Professional development means key players growing in their positions. This means Line Managers who are responsible for taking their “Junior Regional Manager”(s), viewing their learning data and then using it to promote them up to “Regional Manager”(s), can do so quickly and efficiently..
Must-do completed - Admins may want to get an overview of all the Users who report to “Frank”, who’ve completed their Compliance, well ahead of the deadline date. This is especially so, if there are Rewards for finishing on time, or penalties: the right Line manager can be approached about this.
Focused & Personalised Learning
Often when too many Users report to the same Line Manager, that person can stretch themselves thin, across many different disciplines, or the objectives set by their organisation. This can lead to a lower quality of training, and lack of focus on the Manager channeling their expertise to a more focused set of team members.
This could quickly be reviewed by combining Reports To with Groups. If there are a multitude of Groups assigned to the one User, then this can be limited to just one or two key Users.
Profile Page
All Users will have a Reports To section within their Profile box. This will show the picture and name of the Line Manager, but is simply a reminder for the User, and is not clickable.
Mobile
For the HowNow mobile app, Users will see their Reports To within the Settings option > General tab. This reflects the same as on the web app’s Profile page.
Where else can you see Reports To?
The following pages will show any added Reports To Line Managers, for the Users in the data table...
Group sub-page > Users Tab
Groups subpage > Learning History sub-page
Content sub-page
Assessment sub-page
Budgets page
Budget: Requests page
Rewards sub-page
Skills sub-page
Job Role sub-page
Bookings sub-page
Tasks Page > Learning Request Tab
Watch the video tutorial below, for a visual walkthrough...