Automatically populate direct reports for Manager Experience
It is a huge administrative burden to have to manually select someone's direct reports for each manager in the new Manager Experience view. It should automatically be pulling from the Supervisor field in the LMS.
Like others have already mentioned, the "Currently Available" status is not correct. With the latest release we can use the API to populate direct reports, but it's all but automatic unless this is developed by the customer. I see this API solution as a workaround for an issue that should be possible to automate within the LMS itself.
Or tying the Direct Report field to a specific Group that's been created so it can stay constantly updated/current and there is no reliance on individual's correctly identifying a Supervisor, or typos.
Yes, this is a big administrative burden not being able to bulk load or automatically populate the Direct Report field for Manager Experience. This should be included!
The free 'alternative' doesn't address the issue, while the paid 'alternative' shouldn't even be mentioned. It's not like we're not paying customers, so pushing a paid add-on to solve a problem that simply shouldn't exist is shameful.
I am following this Idea and it is showing as Currently Available yet I am not seeing any information confirming that it is. We are still having to manually update Managers in our system. Any information or updates on this would be greatly appreciated.
Agree with all comments- this is a glaring and surprising gap in an otherwise great platform. If Absorb is marketing itself as an LMS which one organization can deploy for multiple large clients, automating the manager/direct report relationship is an essential component of that. Why can't this be accomplished via user import like all other fields? This problem must be resolved if my company is to continue using Absorb.
The manager Experience Step up, should be the same as Admin experience set up. "all", "department" or "Group" and decide their "Roles" and develop the ability to have direct reports and as additional layer.
I wish the Admin Experience had all the exciting elements and add the "direct report capability.
I really wish that Absorb would reconsider here. It's not feasible to use the Manager Experience as is when clients and teams have 10s to 100s of direct reports that change fluidly. An LMS administrator would need to make this their full-time job (of which, it cannot be) to keep on top of all of these with the slow process of inputting or removing a user one at a time. As a concession, can you make it so that the field can accept and parse names that are comma or semi-colon delineated? At least that way, we could format the input data and paste it in to update management teams. It just feels like the answer is essentially, "deal with it or pay money each time you need this done."
I find asking clients to have to either (A) devote time and energy to manually assign and reassign direct reports to the right manager or (B) spend even more money on a feature that should already be covered and automated to really be in poor taste. I really hope the Absorb team reevaluates this request because it is not sustainable for anyone.
What's the point in bulk setting Managers if you still have to manually input direct reports? It would be a full-time job to manually update direct reports for thousands of employees every day
Thanks Robert, but neither are great options. When you are in higher ed, your org structures change frequently, and there isn't a lot of extra budget. Having to choose from a one-time option or a paid option doesn't really work.
Please note that this option is intended to be a one time sync.
The second item is the addition of the Manager module to our Scheduled Data Import available through our Professional Services team.
This new module enables the creation of a data sync between an HR system and the LMS to populate Manager-User relationships.
If you already have a data sync and are interested in leveraging this new module or if you want to learn more about this offering, please reach out to your CSM or Account Manager
This should have been part of the initial implementation. We have 100's of supervisors/managers/directors in the Supervisor group and it would have been so much easier to transfer those users directly to the Manager Experience. With this process being all manual, we're likely to never implement it, especially if we have to add all of the direct reports.
Another +1, we have staff shifting around a lot and it is handled nicely with our ftp uploads but it will be very burdensome to have to manually update the managerial assignments.
Completely agree - this was my first question about the Manager Experience. I'm not sure how the administrative burden will be feasible for a lot of organizations. The Manager Experience is a fantastic tool, but it will become inaccurate pretty quickly unless the LMS Admin is 100% on top of any new hires/transfers/manager switches, which is a lot to keep up with.
I agree with the others. The automation requested is not "Currently available".
Like others have already mentioned, the "Currently Available" status is not correct. With the latest release we can use the API to populate direct reports, but it's all but automatic unless this is developed by the customer. I see this API solution as a workaround for an issue that should be possible to automate within the LMS itself.
Or tying the Direct Report field to a specific Group that's been created so it can stay constantly updated/current and there is no reliance on individual's correctly identifying a Supervisor, or typos.
Yes, this is a big administrative burden not being able to bulk load or automatically populate the Direct Report field for Manager Experience. This should be included!
Agreed that "currently available" is a major misnomer.
This is a glaring omission.
The free 'alternative' doesn't address the issue, while the paid 'alternative' shouldn't even be mentioned. It's not like we're not paying customers, so pushing a paid add-on to solve a problem that simply shouldn't exist is shameful.
Hello,
I am following this Idea and it is showing as Currently Available yet I am not seeing any information confirming that it is. We are still having to manually update Managers in our system. Any information or updates on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Agree with all comments- this is a glaring and surprising gap in an otherwise great platform. If Absorb is marketing itself as an LMS which one organization can deploy for multiple large clients, automating the manager/direct report relationship is an essential component of that. Why can't this be accomplished via user import like all other fields? This problem must be resolved if my company is to continue using Absorb.
The manager Experience Step up, should be the same as Admin experience set up. "all", "department" or "Group" and decide their "Roles" and develop the ability to have direct reports and as additional layer.
I wish the Admin Experience had all the exciting elements and add the "direct report capability.
I really wish that Absorb would reconsider here. It's not feasible to use the Manager Experience as is when clients and teams have 10s to 100s of direct reports that change fluidly. An LMS administrator would need to make this their full-time job (of which, it cannot be) to keep on top of all of these with the slow process of inputting or removing a user one at a time. As a concession, can you make it so that the field can accept and parse names that are comma or semi-colon delineated? At least that way, we could format the input data and paste it in to update management teams. It just feels like the answer is essentially, "deal with it or pay money each time you need this done."
I find asking clients to have to either (A) devote time and energy to manually assign and reassign direct reports to the right manager or (B) spend even more money on a feature that should already be covered and automated to really be in poor taste. I really hope the Absorb team reevaluates this request because it is not sustainable for anyone.
I completely agree that neither of those options are helpful. The hierarchy should be automatically set up based on the Supervisor field.
What's the point in bulk setting Managers if you still have to manually input direct reports? It would be a full-time job to manually update direct reports for thousands of employees every day
Thanks Robert, but neither are great options. When you are in higher ed, your org structures change frequently, and there isn't a lot of extra budget. Having to choose from a one-time option or a paid option doesn't really work.
Hello Folks,
There's 2 items I want to highlight in response to this idea:
The first is the Import Managers functionality which can be accessed from the right-hand menu under Portal Settings.
This enables you to leverage your existing Supervisor hierarchy as a starting point for populating your Manager hierarchy.
There are some caveats and considerations to consider with this, so please review this article before using this function:
https://support.absorblms.com/hc/en-us/articles/13233986016275-Manager-Experience-Import-Managers-Function-
Please note that this option is intended to be a one time sync.
The second item is the addition of the Manager module to our Scheduled Data Import available through our Professional Services team.
This new module enables the creation of a data sync between an HR system and the LMS to populate Manager-User relationships.
If you already have a data sync and are interested in leveraging this new module or if you want to learn more about this offering, please reach out to your CSM or Account Manager
I agree. We have a daily FTP import that updates department and supervisor changes so manually doing this for nearly 1,000 employees is impractical.
This should have been part of the initial implementation. We have 100's of supervisors/managers/directors in the Supervisor group and it would have been so much easier to transfer those users directly to the Manager Experience. With this process being all manual, we're likely to never implement it, especially if we have to add all of the direct reports.
Another +1, we have staff shifting around a lot and it is handled nicely with our ftp uploads but it will be very burdensome to have to manually update the managerial assignments.
Agreed! Plus, it creates unnecessary duplicate entry in the User screen.
Completely agree - this was my first question about the Manager Experience. I'm not sure how the administrative burden will be feasible for a lot of organizations. The Manager Experience is a fantastic tool, but it will become inaccurate pretty quickly unless the LMS Admin is 100% on top of any new hires/transfers/manager switches, which is a lot to keep up with.