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Performance management

Published on June 14, 2022

Last update on Aug. 8, 2022

Table of contents

PMDS is the online system for managing employee performance management. There are three PMDS stages:

  • the Goal Setting Stage
  • the Mid-Year Review Stage
  • End of Year Review Stage

Each employee receives an email alerting them to the beginning of each phase. Employees can access PMDS and complete their forms by clicking the link in the email notification.

To make sure everyone completes these stages, PMDS will email automatic reminders to staff at the right time during the year. PMDS for staff with no access to the Government network should be managed locally.

The Local HR unit’s primary role with PMDS is to promote staff engagement, monitor compliance, and manage escalated cases.

The NSSO administers PMDS and provides a dedicated customer service or helpdesk to address any PMDS requests or queries.

If you have any queries related to the following, you should contact the NSSO PMDS team by submitting a question through the case management system.

Performance management policy role

If you have any questions about performance management policy, please contact:

PM Policy Unit, Department of Public Expenditure & Reform, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion St., Dublin 2.

For more information about PMDS, see the user guide.

Re-opening form after a PMDS Stage is closed/’signed off’

If you sign off by mistake or have forgotten to include something after completing your PMDS form and signing off, you should raise a case on the Case Management System (CMS). NSSO will then re-open your form and email you when it’s accessible again.

Archiving current form and restart the stage

PMDS includes an archive of previous PMDS forms. For example, if you have completed the goal setting stage in your existing position, but are now moving to a new role, you may want to keep your old PMDS form as it could be relevant to your end of year performance evaluation. To do this, you should raise a case on the Case Management System and request that your existing goal setting form is ‘archived’ and a new form is ‘restarted’. Then complete your new goal setting form and submit it to your new manager.

Employee early access to the form [for example: long-term leave – maternity leave/career break etc.]

If you have arranged long-term leave and will not be available to complete your end of year review form, you should raise a case on the Case Management System. NSSO will release your PMDS Form and you should then complete and submit this to your manager.

Deactivate an employee’s form [for example: long-term absence]

As a manager, you will get email notifications and reminders to complete and submit your employees’ PMDS forms. If one of your staff has a long-term unscheduled absence, you will need to ask NSSO to stop or ‘deactivate’ this employee’s form.

When that employee returns to work, the manager should ask NSSO to reactivate their PMDS form. The system will then send a form to the employee for them to fill out.