Conversations v2 in Perform & Engage 365: create and launch conversation campaigns

Introduction

Conversation campaigns are used to assign conversation templates to employees and control when conversations are created. A campaign determines who participates, which template is used, how reviewers are assigned, and when conversations are generated.

Once a campaign is launched, Conversations creates individual conversations for the selected participants based on the campaign configuration and timing settings.

Before you start

Before creating a campaign, you must:

Be a Conversation or Super admin.
Have access to the Conversations v2 feature.
Have at least one published conversation template.

Understanding conversation campaigns

A campaign defines:

Which conversation template will be used.
Who will receive conversations.
Which employees become focus persons.
How reviewers are assigned.
When conversations are created.

A single template can be used by multiple campaigns, enabling you to run different review programs using the same conversation design.

Navigate to conversation campaigns

1. Go to Organization > Conversations. The Conversation Plans Configuration page opens.

2. Select Explore Campaigns near the top of the page. The Campaigns tab opens on a separate page.

Here, you can see all your existing campaigns on the All tab. The other tabs show Scheduled, Live, Completed, Draft, and Closed campaigns.

You can edit draft campaigns. To edit a draft campaign, select Edit in the Actions column.

Campaigns that have been launched are read only and can't be edited.

Create a conversation campaign

1. Navigate to conversation campaigns.

2. Select Create Campaign. The campaign wizard opens on the Template page.

3. Complete the campaign wizard.

IMPORTANT

When creating a campaign, you must complete the setup in a single session. Campaigns can't be saved as drafts during creation. If you select Cancel and then confirm by selecting Discard and exit, the campaign isn't created and any changes you've made will be lost.

The campaign wizard consists of five steps. You must complete each step in turn before you can move on to the next step.

Step 1: Select a template
Step 2: Configure campaign details
Step 3: Select participants
Step 4: Configure the timeline
Step 5: Review the summary.

When you successfully complete a step and move to the next one, a checkmark is displayed next to the completed step in the left-hand navigation panel. If you try to move to the next step without completing the previous one, an x is displayed here instead.

You can move back and forward between steps by selecting Next and Previous at the bottom of the screen.

4. Review the campaign settings.

5. Select Launch or Save as draft, and confirm actions where necessary.

Step 1: Select a template

This step enables you to choose the conversation template the campaign will use.

1. On the opened Template page of the wizard, select the required template.

Only templates with a Published status are available. Draft templates aren't available.

The Title, Description, and Details of available templates are displayed.

2. Before choosing a template, you can select Preview to check it in read-only mode.

3. Use the Search for template field to find the required template. The search runs on the content of the Title and Description fields.

4. Select the radio button next to the conversation template you want to use in the campaign.

5. Select Next at the bottom of the screen.

Step 2: Configure campaign details

Enter the campaign information on the opened Campaign details page of the wizard.

1. Enter a unique Campaign name.

2. Optionally enter a Description to help admins understand the purpose of the campaign.

Choose the campaign name and description carefully because these values can't be changed after the campaign has been launched.

3. Select Next at the bottom of the screen.

Step 3: Select participants

Carefully managing participants helps ensure conversations are delivered to the correct people and follow your organization's review process.

Choose the participants for the campaign on the opened Who should receive this Campaign? page of the wizard.

You can add participants by selecting one of the following options and following the on-screen prompts.

Everyone in the company
Specific people
A group or team
Create an advanced rule.

Anyone included becomes eligible to receive conversations generated by the campaign.

As you build the participant list, the campaign wizard displays:

A recipient Preview. Select this to see the number of proposed participants on the Preview participants panel.
The total number of recipients.

Once you've selected the participants, review the participant list carefully before launching the campaign because participants can't be added, removed, or changed after launch.

Select Next at the bottom of the screen.

Everyone in the company

Select Everyone in the company to add all employees at your organization as participants.

The number of participants currently included is displayed below the options, for example 30 selected employees. This number might change, depending on the underlying employee data.

Specific people

Select Specific people to manually select individual employees at your organization as participants.

This approach can be used when you want the campaign to target specific users and is useful for:

Small pilot programs
Executive reviews
Targeted development discussions.

1. In the Employees field, enter all or part of employee names then select them.

2. To remove them, select the x next to the required name, or Clear all.

The number of participants added is displayed below the options, for example 2 selected employees. This number might change, depending on the underlying employee data.

A group or team

Select A group or team to select participants based on group membership.

Teams consist of a manager and their direct reports. Departments enable you to include larger groups of employees based on organizational structure.

Team-based selection is useful when:

Running manager-level review processes.
Launching department-wide one-to-one programs.
Conducting recurring review cycles.

Department-based selection is useful when:

Running organization-wide reviews.
Conducting engagement discussions.
Launching large-scale feedback programs.

1. From the Filter drop-down, select the method of adding participants. The options are Department, Team, and Role. Role is a person property.

2. In the Value field, enter all or part of a group name related to the selected filter. For example, if you select the Department filter, you might enter Project Management to add all members of that department as participants.

3. To remove them, select the x next to the required name, or Clear all.

The number of participants added is displayed below the options, for example 7 selected employees. This number might change, depending on the underlying employee data.

Create advanced rule

Select Create advanced rule or team to select participants using conditions based on employee details.

You can add filters to two sections:

Include. Adds campaign participants to the campaign according to the selected filters and values.
Exclude. Excludes specified people or groups from the campaign according to the selected filters and values.

You can exclude people, teams, or departments from a campaign.

Excluded recipients are removed from the final participant list, even if they were added through an Include rule.

You might want to exclude:

Employees on leave
Temporary staff
Executive teams
Pilot groups that shouldn't participate in a specific campaign.

You can add filters to both the Include and Exclude sections to prepare a precise, refined set of campaign participants. For example, you can include multiple departments, but exclude specific people in those departments.

The following filters are available in both the Include and Exclude sections:

Specific people
Department
Team
Role. This is a person property.

The Everyone in the company filter is available only in the Include section.

1. In the relevant section, select an option from the Filter drop-down.

2. In the Value field, enter all or part of a name related to the selected filter. For example, if you select the Department filter, you might enter Project Management to add all members of that department as participants.

3. To remove them, select the x next to the required name, or Clear all.

4. Select Add filter in the relevant section to add more filters.

The number of participants added is displayed below the options, for example 7 selected employees. This number might change, depending on the underlying employee data.

Step 4: Configure the timeline

Choose when your campaign should run and the conversation period.

Timing settings can't be changed after the campaign has been launched.

Choose when the campaign should run

Choose when you want to run the campaign by selecting an option from the Type drop-down list in the When should this Campaign run? section.

Dates you enter relate to your organization's time zone, not your browser's.

Specific date

Use Specific date when you want conversations to be created for a single review cycle.

Enter the Start date and End date for the campaign.

Campaigns start and end at midnight on the selected dates.

Recurring

Generates conversations automatically on a repeating schedule. For more information about recurring campaigns, see the Recurring campaigns section in this article.

Ad-hoc

Conversations are created manually as needed after the campaign is launched. For more information about ad-hoc campaigns, see the Ad-hoc campaigns section in this article.

Person property

Generates conversations based on an employee profile date. For more information about person property campaigns, see the Person property campaigns section in this article.

Configure the conversation period

The Conversation period defines the time span covered by the conversation. Any data that is included or any responses that are provided relate only to events that occur within this period. The period begins on the date the conversation is created and lasts for the duration selected in the Conversation period drop-down list.

Choose the Conversation period for the campaign from the drop-down list in the What should the conversation period be for this Campaign? section. The options are 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. 12 months is the default option.

Step 5: Review the summary

The Summary step displays all campaign settings.

Review the campaign summary carefully before launching it.

After a campaign is launched, its configuration becomes read-only. Campaign settings, participant lists, timing settings, and the selected template can't be changed.

If changes are required after launch, close the campaign and create a new campaign with the correct configuration.

Ensure the information in each of the following sections correct before proceeding:

Template
Details
Participants
Timing.

You can move back and forward between steps to change any settings by selecting Next and Previous at the bottom of the screen.

When you're happy with the campaign settings, you can choose what to do next.

Launch a campaign or save as draft

When you're happy with the campaign settings, you can choose to save the campaign as a draft or launch it.

Choose the required option at the bottom of the screen:

Save as draft. Saves the campaign without activating it. No conversations are created while the campaign remains in Draft status. Draft campaigns can be edited, updated, launched, or closed later.
Launch. This activates the campaign. The campaign becomes Scheduled if the start date is in the future, or Live if conversations can begin immediately.

What happens when a campaign is launched?

When a campaign is launched:

The campaign uses the published conversation template selected during setup.
Conversations are generated according to the campaign schedule.
Participants receive conversations when they are created.
The campaign configuration becomes read only.
For ad-hoc campaigns, participants create conversations manually.

Campaign settings, participant lists, timing configuration, and the selected template can't be changed after launch.