Odoo 19 splits performance management across two apps. Appraisals (Enterprise) runs review cycles with self and manager feedback, goals, a final rating and optional 360 feedback through surveys. Skills Management (Community) keeps each employee's skills, certifications and resume, and job positions can list the skills they require. Set up skills first, because appraisals can then review and update them, and switch on automatic appraisal scheduling only after checking every employee's next appraisal date.
Skills Management: types, levels and certifications
Skills Management (hr_skills) is a Community module; tick Skills Management in the Employees settings to install it. It adds the Resume tab on the employee form and a skills section beside it.
The structure is three levels deep, configured under Employees > Configuration > Employee > Skill Types:
- Skill type, for example Languages or Soft Skills (both created by default), or ones you add such as Tally, GST filing, CNC machining or SAP.
- Skills within the type: Tamil, Hindi, English; or Negotiation, Presentation.
- Levels for the type, each with a progress percentage from 0% to 100% and one marked as the default.
A skill type marked as Certification behaves differently: each entry has validity dates, and expired certifications drop out of the current view. That suits forklift licences, first-aid training, ISO auditor certificates or vendor certifications that must be renewed. Employees > Learning > Certifications lists them across the company.
Resumes and required skills on job positions
Resume lines sit in sections. Odoo creates three: Other Experience, Education and Training. Experience inside your own company is built from the employee's version history, one line per job title and period, so HR does not have to type it; this is another reason to record promotions as new versions.
Three small Community bridges feed the resume automatically when the related apps are installed: completed eLearning courses (hr_skills_slides), passed certification surveys (hr_skills_survey) and attended training events (hr_skills_event). Training attendance is listed under Employees > Learning > Training Attendances.
Job positions can also hold the skills and levels they require. With Recruitment installed, hr_recruitment_skills adds skills to applicants so you can compare them with the position. The Reporting > Skills menu in Employees gives an inventory of skills and levels across employees, which is what managers tend to ask for when planning training or succession.
Appraisal plans and campaigns
Appraisals (hr_appraisal) is Enterprise-only. It creates appraisals in two ways.
Appraisal plans are set in Appraisals > Configuration > Settings. The default schedule is a first appraisal 6 months after recruitment, a second 6 months later, then every 12 months. With Appraisals Automation ticked (on by default), a daily job creates appraisals in the Ongoing state when an employee's next appraisal date arrives, with a deadline 8 days later.
Campaigns create a batch of appraisals at once: Launch Campaign lets you pick employees by name, by company, by department or by employee tag, choose a template and a date, and assign either each employee's manager or other named reviewers. This suits companies with an annual cycle, which in India is often April, aligned with the financial year and increments.
Running an appraisal: feedback, goals and ratings
An appraisal moves through Draft, Ongoing and Done. Each one has two feedback areas, one for the employee and one for the manager, pre-filled from the Appraisal Template with the questions you want answered. Each area can be kept hidden from the other party until it is published, so neither side sees the other's answers early. Appraisals created by the automatic plan start with both unpublished.
The manager sets a Final Rating from the Evaluation Scale. The default scale has four levels: Needs improvement, Meets expectations, Exceeds expectations, and Strongly Exceed Expectations. The rating and a private note are not visible to the employee. Schedule Meeting puts the review conversation in both calendars, and Mark as Done closes the appraisal.
Goals are separate records with a deadline, a progression (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%), tags and a description. They can be assigned to one or several employees and reused from the goal Library. We usually keep goals to three to five per person per cycle, reviewed during the appraisal rather than typed into the feedback text, so progress can be reported on.
| Module | Adds | Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Appraisals | Appraisals, templates, goals, evaluation scale, campaigns | Enterprise |
| Appraisal - Survey | 360 Feedback: Ask Feedback sends a survey to colleagues, with answers viewable from the appraisal | Enterprise |
| Appraisal - Skills | Skills reviewed on the appraisal, with previous level, new level and a justification; optional target job | Enterprise, installs automatically |
| Skills Management | Skills, levels, certifications, resume, job skills | Community |
360 feedback and skills inside the appraisal
Tick 360 Feedback in Appraisal settings to install Appraisal - Survey. Each appraisal template can then carry a 360 feedback survey, and Ask Feedback on the appraisal sends it to chosen colleagues. Keep the survey short: five or six questions get answered; twenty get skimmed.
With Appraisal - Skills, the employee's skills appear on the appraisal. The manager records the new level with a justification, and the previous level is kept, so skill growth has a history. Setting a target job on the appraisal adds that job's required skills, which turns a promotion conversation into a concrete gap list.
- Define skill types, levels and certifications, and load current skills for each employee.
- Add required skills to the job positions that matter most.
- Write one appraisal template with the questions you actually use, and adjust the evaluation scale if your policy uses a different one.
- Decide between automatic plans and campaigns; set dates or switch automation off accordingly.
- Run the first cycle for one department, then roll out.
This closes the HR section of the series. Next we move to projects and tasks. If you would like help designing a review cycle that people will actually complete, get in touch.
Questions we get asked
Is the Odoo 19 Appraisals app available in Community?
No. Appraisals, including goals, appraisal templates, campaigns and 360 feedback, is an Enterprise app. Skills Management, which covers skill types, levels, certifications, employee resumes and required skills on job positions, is Community and free to use. A Community database can therefore track skills and certifications but needs another tool, or Enterprise, for formal review cycles.
Does Odoo 19 support 360-degree feedback?
Yes, in Enterprise. Enable 360 Feedback in the Appraisals settings to install the Appraisal - Survey module. Each appraisal template can include a feedback survey, and the Ask Feedback button on an appraisal sends it to selected colleagues. Their answers are collected in the Survey app and can be opened from the appraisal by the manager conducting the review.
How do I schedule annual appraisals for everyone in Odoo 19?
Use Launch Campaign from the Appraisals app. Choose employees by name, company, department or tag, pick an appraisal template and a date, and assign each employee's manager or specific reviewers. If you use campaigns for a fixed annual cycle, consider turning off Appraisals Automation in settings so the daily job does not also create appraisals from individual next appraisal dates.
How do certifications with expiry dates work in Odoo 19?
Mark a skill type as Certification in Skills Management. Each certification added to an employee then has a validity start and stop date, and expired ones no longer count as current. The Certifications menu under Employees, Learning lists them across the company, which helps track renewals such as safety training or professional licences.