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Peakon
Last Updated: 2024-08-09
Concept: Hierarchical Attributes

Concept: Hierarchical Attributes

Hierarchical attributes enable you to connect multiple attributes to help Peakon understand the hierarchy of your organization. In an attribute hierarchy, you set the higher attribute as the parent attribute, and a lower attribute as the child attribute. Example:
Region
 would be the parent attribute of the
Country
 attribute. Any leader that is a manager of a parent segment automatically has full managing access to its child segments too.
The segment heat map displays parent segments with their child segments, enabling you to expand an increased level of granularity when viewing your results. Any changes to segments that are part of a hierarchy automatically reflect in the Child segments section of the heat map, also during live rounds.

Background

Hierarchy Level
Description
Child attribute
A child attribute is the lower attribute. Example: if connecting
Region
 and
Country
,
Country
 is the child attribute.
A child attribute can also be a parent attribute in another hierarchical relationship. Example: if connecting
Country
 and
Department
,
Country
 is the parent attribute.
Parent attribute
A parent attribute is the higher attribute. Example: if connecting
Region
 and
Country
,
Region
 is the parent attribute.
A parent attribute can also be a child attribute in another hierarchical relationship. Example: if connecting
Entity
 and
Region
,
Region
 is the child attribute.
Example of a typical hierarchy:
Entity
Region
Country
Business Unit
Department
Team
Manager
.
In the
Entity
Country
 relationship,
Country
 is the child attribute, but in the
Country
Business Unit
 relationship
Country
 is the parent attribute.

Access

A leader with access to a parent segment can view child segments of that hierarchy in 2 ways.
  • They can search for the child segment through the context switcher, and switch their context to it.
  • They can add the parent segment to the heat map, and expand the downward arrow to reveal its child segments. If an employee import makes changes to an automatically updating hierarchy, the segment heat map reflects the changes in the
    Child segments
     section automatically.
Leaders can only view parent segments and their child segments if they’re the segment manager of the parent segment. These segments must individually meet the data visibility thresholds in order to display survey data.
Leaders who don’t manage a parent segment can still benefit from the hierarchy. Their heat map will display the parent and child segments, with those employees who they manage from within those segments. They can't switch their context to the full parent or child segments if they aren’t the segment managers of the parent segment.
Child segments that the company created during or after the survey round won't display in hierarchies until the next survey round. Additionally, empty segments won't display in hierarchies.

Considerations

Activity
Consideration
Managing hierarchies
Security:
Manage segments
 and
Manage attributes
 settings in the
Administer
 section. These settings are only available on
All employees
 group types.
Attribute types
Only option type attributes can create hierarchies. Each attribute exists in multiple hierarchies.
Automatically suggesting segments
When you set up a hierarchy, we recommend using the segments Peakon suggests. Peakon suggests only child segments that contain more than 2 employees and where every single employee is also part of the parent segment. Example: If connecting Department and Country, Peakon won’t set Marketing as a child segment of France, if there are Marketing employees in other Countries too.
It’s also possible to connect child segments and parent segments manually. Manually adding segments that aren’t in the hierarchy can create inconsistencies, and providing access to segments that shouldn't be available.
If Peakon doesn’t suggest a child segment you need, check whether there are any employees that aren't in the parent attribute.
Automatically updating hierarchies
Hierarchies update automatically when employee changes take place. When you create a new hierarchy, you can select whether it should update automatically or manually.
  • Automatically updating hierarchies: The hierarchy will automatically update and it isn’t possible to add to or edit the hierarchy manually.
  • Manually updating hierarchies: The hierarchy becomes outdated if segment relationships change after an employee update. The administrator needs to update the hierarchy to reflect the latest data set. It’s always possible to add segments or edit segments on manual hierarchies manually.
We recommend enabling Peakon to update hierarchies automatically. Manually updating hierarchies can lead to inconsistencies and admin burden.
Deleting hierarchies
When deleting and readding a hierarchy, you won't lose any data, except for any manual edits.
Restricting segments
A leader who is the segment manager of a parent segment is able to see its child segments, even if you restrict the attribute or segment. Peakon assumes that managers should have access to the segments they manage, even if you restrict them or their child segments.