Introduction
Succession planning is not just about identifying potential successors; it is equally important to assess whether they are ready to take on future leadership or critical business roles. A structured assessment helps managers evaluate employees based on their readiness, skills, retention potential, performance, and development requirements.
uKnowva HRMS provides a comprehensive succession assessment framework that allows managers to rate potential successors, compare their current skills against target role requirements, review KRA ratings, edit assessments whenever required, and initiate Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for employee growth.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to rate a potential successor, review saved assessments, update existing ratings, view KRA team ratings, and raise an Individual Development Plan (IDP) directly from the Succession Planning module.
Step 1: Open the Successor Assessment Screen
Before proceeding, ensure that you have already identified and opened the list of potential successors. If you need help locating potential successors, you can refer to this dedicated tutorial before continuing.
Begin by opening the list of potential successors for the employee whose succession plan you want to manage.
Under the Action column, click on the Pencil icon.
This opens the editable succession assessment page for the selected incumbent-candidate pair.
The assessment page allows you to evaluate the successor using multiple parameters, including overall ratings, readiness, retention potential, target role selection, remarks, justification, structured skill gap analysis, and any custom fields configured by your administrator.
If required, you can also access the employee's historical appraisal information by clicking Open KRA Team Ratings.
This opens the employee's appraisal ratings for the selected appraisal cycle. You can change the Rating Period to review performance ratings from different appraisal cycles before completing your succession assessment.
Reviewing historical performance ratings helps managers make more informed succession decisions by considering both current capability and long-term performance trends.
Step 2: Complete the Overall Successor Assessment
After opening the assessment page, begin filling in the overall succession assessment details.
Start by entering the Overall Rating, which represents your overall evaluation of the candidate's suitability for future responsibilities.
Next, select the appropriate Target Role or designation for which the employee is being evaluated.
You can then enter your observations in the Remarks section to document your assessment and provide additional context for future reference.
The next field is Readiness for Change, where you need to indicate how prepared the employee is for the target role. You can choose from Ready Now, Within 1 Year, or Within 3–5 Years, depending on the employee's current capability and development requirements.
You should also assess the employee's Retention Potential by selecting High, Medium, or Low. This helps the organization understand how likely the employee is to remain with the company and supports long-term succession planning.
Finally, enter a detailed Justification explaining the reasoning behind your assessment. This documentation provides transparency and helps HR and senior leadership understand the basis of succession decisions.
Step 3: Configure the Structured Skill Gap Assessment
Below the overall assessment section, you will find the Structured Skill Gap section.
This optional section allows managers to evaluate the employee's current skills against the skills required for the selected target role.
The system visually categorizes skills to make comparison easier. Skills that belong only to the employee's Current Designation appear in one color, skills that belong only to the Target Role appear in another color, while skills that are common to both the current and target roles are displayed using a separate color.
This visual distinction helps managers quickly identify strengths, transferable skills, and development gaps.
To assess additional competencies, enter values under the available columns for Skill, Current Proficiency, and Desired Proficiency.
If additional skills need to be evaluated, click the + icon to add another row.
Similarly, if an entry is no longer required, click the Bin icon to remove the row.
Once all the required skills have been evaluated, click the Save button.
A confirmation dialog appears asking you to confirm the save operation.
If your administrator has enabled the appropriate configuration in Succession Planning settings, the system also asks whether you want to update the employee's Skills & Endorsements profile with the assessed current proficiency values. Confirming this option automatically synchronizes eligible skills from the succession assessment to the employee's Skills & Endorsements profile, reducing duplicate data entry and ensuring consistency across the system.
Step 4: View the Saved Successor Assessment
After saving the assessment, you can review the completed evaluation at any time.
Locate the successor in the list and click on the Eye icon available under the Action column.
This opens a read-only view of the saved succession assessment.
Here you can review the overall rating, readiness level, retention potential, remarks, justification, structured skill gap summary, and any custom fields configured within your organization.
This page serves as a complete snapshot of the saved succession assessment and allows managers to verify previously submitted evaluations without making changes.
From this page, you can also access options to Edit Rating, Raise IDP, or Open KRA Team Ratings whenever required.
Step 5: Edit an Existing Successor Rating
If additional information becomes available or the employee's readiness changes over time, you can update the assessment.
Click the Pencil icon available under the Action column.
The editable succession assessment page opens again, allowing you to modify the overall rating, target role, readiness level, retention potential, remarks, justification, structured skill gap, and any administrator-configured custom fields.
After making the necessary updates, click the Save button to apply the changes.
Once saved, you can immediately review the updated assessment by clicking View Rating or access the employee's appraisal information through Open KRA Team Ratings.
Regularly updating succession assessments ensures that succession decisions remain aligned with employees' current performance, skills, and career development.
Step 6: Raise an Individual Development Plan (IDP)
Succession planning is most effective when assessments are followed by structured employee development.
To create an Individual Development Plan (IDP), click the + icon available under the Action column.
This opens the IDP creation window.
The employee's name is automatically populated.
Enter the Start Date, End Date, Review Frequency, and select the appropriate Review Mentor who will guide the employee throughout the development process.
After entering all the required information, click the Submit button.
The IDP is created successfully and becomes available within the Individual Development Plan module for ongoing monitoring and progress tracking.
If you would like to learn more about creating and managing Individual Development Plans, you can refer to the dedicated IDP Manual available.
Conclusion
That’s it!
You’ve now successfully learned how to rate potential successors, assess their readiness, identify skill gaps, and raise Individual Development Plans (IDPs) in uKnowva HRMS.
By following this process, you can make informed succession decisions, develop future leaders, and strengthen your organization’s succession pipeline.
If you have any questions or need additional support, feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..