Vanderbilt Performance Evaluation System (VPES) & Job Descriptions Database

Summary

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) job performance evaluations are part of an annual cycle called performance development in which supervisors and staff members identify and tackle specific job goals with close attention given to the VUMC mission, credo and job descriptions. Many hospital systems, including VUMC, now desire to base annual salary increases largely on performance evaluation ratings. VPES and the Job Descriptions Database allow performance evaluations to be applied consistently and efficiently across the organization.

Description

While VPES is viewed as a tool for evaluating individuals in a Medical Center, the centralized database allows for global management of the employees via reporting tools. In addition, the tight integration with the Job Descriptions Database and the HR system (PeopleSoft) make the tool extremely user friendly. For example, there is an automatic feed of the staff member's job information (e.g. job code, title, etc.), as well as generic key functions and expected performance measures, which become the backbone of the evaluation.

There are 5 primary sections that make up the entire employee evalu- ation: 1) Evaluation of Key Functions, 2) Rating of the Credo, 3) Check of Compliance Requirements, 4) Development Goals, and 5) Signatures. Key Functions on which employees are evaluated are determined at the enterprise level but can also be customized at the departmental level. This allows for significant flexibility and customization within a structured framework.

Further, the Compliance Requirements will be specific to certain job types, and thus will be consistent at the enterprise level. Note that the Vanderbilt Occupational Health Information System (VOHIS) program tracks not only occupational health issues, but compliance requirements. As such, VPES and VOHIS could be tightly integrated in a robust commercial system.

Target Customer

The Human Resources department of a hospital is clearly the primary target for this technology. However, given that performance evaluation is becoming more accepted and desired, a solution such as VPES will certainly resonate with hospital administration.

Current Competitive Products

There are other products available, but unlike others, VPES is customizable for use. Other evaluation tools may consist of "paper and pencil" evaluations and gathering information in Excel, but such solutions do not support central reporting of overall staff performance.

Strategy

VPES could be delivered to clients via an ASP model with secure web access. However, the VPES database must ultimately connect to the institution's HR system (PeopleSoft in Vanderbilt's case) in order to automatically populate the appropriate tools for the relevant employee.

Value Proposition

VPES allows for a thorough review of staff member's performance by not only evaluating the major functions of the role (the job description), but also evaluating the key behavioral factors that the institution also values (Credo/Leadership Model). The Policy and Safety Compliance page also ensures that staff is familiar with the policies of the institution. Compliance to training/testing is also captured, which is very important for any Medical Center to ensure compliance with JCAHO.

The integration of the three systems (Performance Evaluation System, Job Descriptions Database and the HR system, PeopleSoft) ensures accuracy of data:

1. The direct link to the HR system brings the most current job code and title into the evaluation.

2. The Job Description Database always maintains the most current description for any role.

3. The centralized database allows reporting of employee evaluation status from the institution level down to supervisor level.

Intellectual Property Status

This system has been under development since 1998 with process design by Susan Mezger and Kimberly Akers, and technical development supplied by the vendor, InfoWorks. Vanderbilt owns all titles and rights to the related copyrights. The current web version utilizes an Oracle back-end.