Creating and Managing Recognition Programs (Legacy)

Using the recognition programs feature, you have the ability to add many recognition program types to your Awardco recognition platform such as holiday programs, employee of the month, wellness programs, and many more. There are very few limits to what kind of programs you can create. This article will show you how to add new recognition programs, manage existing ones, and change the settings in the recognition programs feature. 
 

This feature allows you to have a great deal of customization at your fingertips and ensures your programs operate exactly as you need. We strongly recommend discussing the setup of new programs with your Awardco Client Success Manager. We can help you understand the intricacies of this feature and help make sure everything is set before your recognition programs go live. 
 

Consider reviewing the Recognition Programs Sampler to explore the different programs being used across Awardco's client base. The video below gives a simple walkthrough of building a simple recognition program. Also, view the Building a Non Monetary Peer to Peer Program article for additional instruction. 

1. Accessing Recognition Program Settings
2. Editing, Archiving and Duplicating Your Existing Recognition Programs
3. Adding an Automated Recognition Program
4. Creating a New Recognition Program
   • General
   • Rules
   • Display
   • Questions
   • Notifications
5. Additional Recognition Program Settings 
   • Advanced Settings

Accessing Recognition Program Settings

Locate the recognition programs settings page by logging into your Awardco account, navigating to the platform admin section by clicking the "Admin" button under your name, clicking into the settings tab, and by clicking the recognition programs sub-tab. On this page, you will see all active programs.

Editing, Archiving and Duplicating Your Existing Recognition Programs

Once your programs are created and displayed on the Recognition Programs page, you can manage them as follows:

Editing Programs

To edit an existing program, click on the program you want to modify. This will open its program settings pages. Make the necessary adjustments on the appropriate settings page, then navigate through the subsequent pages to save your changes.

Archiving Programs

To archive a program, click the three-dot menu icon next to the desired program on the main Recognition Programs page and select "Archive". Alternatively, you can open the program, set its end date to a past date, and save your changes. This action will automatically move the program to the archived section of your platform.

Duplicating Programs

To duplicate a program, click the ellipses icon next to the program you want to replicate, then select "Duplicate". You’ll be prompted to provide a name for the new program and set a launch date. The duplicated program will inherit the settings of the original program.

Adding an Automated Recognition Program

Automated recognition programs will need to be used with the Automated Service Award and Automated Birthday Award features. Please see these articles for more information on the creation of automated programs. 
 

Creating A New Recognition Program

To get started with creating a new recognition program, click the "Add Program" button at the top of the page. This will direct you to a recognition creation interface with several pages of settings configuration. These pages govern the general program settings, program rules, the submission form display, the questions the submitter will respond to, and the notifications the program will generate.
 

Please note, these programs can be difficult to configure. Your Client Success Manager is a wonderful resource for you as you consider the creation of a new recognition program. Feel free to schedule a call to walkthrough the process of creating a new recognition program. 
 

General

On this page, you will configure the basics of your recognition program including program name, program runtime, the tile image associated with the program, and a section that explains the program. 
 

• Name - The name of your program. This is the display name employees will see. This name is also used in several reporting functions. You can name the program whatever you like. The name has a 30 character limit.
• Status - The start and end date of your program. While a start date is required, the end date is not. If you would like to make an ongoing program leave end date blank. If you include an end date, the program will be automatically archived on the date listed and will no longer be available for use in your platform. 
• Image - You can upload a custom image or GIF that users will see as the header image for the program when they select the recognition type. We have a selection of recommended images available to you, or you can select and upload your own. Image dimensions for this tile are 1200px by 600px.
• Text
  • Description - A brief description of the program that helps users identify and select the program they are looking for. The description has a 125 character limit. 

• "Learn More" Link Message - Additional information accessed by selecting the “learn more” option for each program. This message can further aid users in selecting the correct program for nominations and recognitions. This section has a 2,000 character limit.
• FAQ - The FAQ feature, when enabled, displays a link on the recognition submission page which will generate a pop-up window that can be used to outline program guidelines that users should take into consideration when submitting the award. Click "Edit" to change what users see. If any value is entered in the "Display" field, the FAQ link will be shown on the submission screen, even if the message is blank. The HTML box contains the content that will be shown in the pop-up window when the link is clicked. Using HTML here allows you to host images, PDFs, or other custom documents in the pop-up window. To use this feature, contact your Client Success Manager. 

Click "Next" to save your settings and continue to the next step.
 

Rules

The rules settings govern program participation, recognition limits, budget policy, program approval requirements, and the award network to which the program will be tied. 
 

Configure the settings, section by section, using the guidelines below. 

• External Program - If you have any recognition programs that are administered outside Awardco by another platform, you can link them here. If enabled, you will be required to input a URL for the outside program. This feature allows for the consolidation of your recognition programs. If you use this feature, employees will see this program in Awardco, and when clicked, the system will forward them to the URL you provide. 
• Eligibility Limits 
  • Nominator Eligibility - Select which users are eligible to nominate others for this program. These users can be designated by group, metadata tag, or by explicitly listing individual users. 
  • Recipient Eligibility - Select which users are eligible to receive nominations for this program. As with the nominator eligibility, these users can be designated by group, metadata tag, or by explicitly listing individual users. Additionally, you can select "Category Same as Nominator" to indicate that recipient can only be awarded someone with the same metadata tag. 
• Nomination Limits - Nomination limits are added as rules, meaning you will have to configure the limit and then save the individual rule. Each rule can be configured using the following fields:
  • Limit Period Based On -Limits can be defined to start on the first of the current period (ie first of the year, month, qtr, etc) based on the calendar, or be based on the listed program start date. If the latter is selected, limits will be based on the most recent anniversary of the start date (ie if today is 4/12/21 and program start date is 6/23/19, most recent anniversary is 6/23/20; if program start date is 3/23/15, most recent anniversary is 3/23/21.) 
  • Nominator
    • All Users- Applies the limit to all recipients in the program.
    • Role- Specify a specific role to nominate (Admin, Executive Manager, Group Manager, or Employee)
  • Recipient - Select the group of recipients to which this nomination rule will apply. 
    • All Users - Enable all users to nominate.
    • Role- Specify a specific role to nominate (Admin, Executive Manager, Group Manager, or Employee)
    • Same User- Sets a rule that limits a certain number of nominations from the same user. To ensure nominators can only award the same user up to a certain limit, make sure Recipient = Same User and Nominator = All Users or Role. 

• Frequency | Amount - Determine if you would like to limit by frequency or the monetary amount of the collective nominations submitted through this program. This limit is for a set amount of time - every 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year. 
• Show Rule - When "Yes" is selected, the remaining number of recognitions available to the user submitting the a recognition will be shown on their recognition submission form. This is based on the limit rules you establish. For example, when enabled, if you allow users to submit 4 recognitions each quarter, users will see how many recognitions they have remaining for the quarter on the submission page. 
• Don’t forget to click on "Add Rule" to ensure your changes are saved.
• Payment Method
  • Show Budget Amounts - Choose if you would like the balance of budgets to be shown on the recognition submission page. This can be helpful if nominators have the ability to select from multiple budgets when submitting their award. If the program is assigned a 'Central Budget,' as explained below, we do not recommend showing budget balances.  

• Budget Access - Determine which budgets will be accessed by this program. With the central budget option, all awards from this program will be funded by a single budget, assigned here. With the allowable access budgets option, awards from this program will be funded by budgets to which nominators have been assigned access.  
  • Central Budget
    • Allowed Budget - Select the single budget from which all funds awarded through this program will be sourced. 
  • Allowable Access Budgets
    • All - If the "All" option is selected, any budget to which an individual nominator has access will be available for use in this program. For example, if a sales manager has access to the organization's "Culture Award" and "Quota Award" budgets, when set to "Allowable Access Budgets = All" the manager would be able to access both budgets in the program. 
    • Limited - When "Limited" is selected, you are able to designate a range of budgets from which a nominator can attach points. For example, if you are creating one culture award for the whole company but there is a culture budget assigned to each department, you would use this option to link the individual departmental culture budgets to the program. This would ensure no budgets other than the approved culture budgets would be used in the culture program. If you have several budgets to add, you are able to bulk upload these budgets via a .csv file with a single column of all budget IDs you'd like to include. 
  • Recipient Based Budget Group
    • A budget structure that doesn't require an individual direct access to give from the budget, rather, access is given automatically based on where an individual is able to receive from. Meaning, if a budget is defined by #Department, and an individual (User X) is in #Department = Marketing, if User A recognizes User X funds will be pulled from the Metadata Recipient Grouping based on “Department” > Marketing budget. User A does not need explicit access to this budget to send points to User X.Recipient based budget groupings must be tied to a Recipient based program. Select the budget group from the drop-down menu.
• Funding - Who will fund the awards sent in this program? 
  • Allow Nominator to Suggest Amount - When nominator funded is set to no, this designates whether the individual submitting the award will be able to submit a recommended value for the award. 
• Award Network - The award network designated here controls the redemption options available to the points awarded through this program. In most cases, "Standard" is the appropriate designation. If you would like to examine restricting the redemption options available to points awarded through this program, as outlined in the Smart Award Networks article, please reach out to your Awardco Client Success Manager. Separate award networks must be configured by an Awardco representative. 
• Approval - Like the nomination limits above, the approval option is a rule that must be configured and saved. Remember to click "Add Approval" after you're done configuring each rule for the rule to be saved to this program. Please note, through this feature it is possible to configure up to four levels of approval. For example, you could designate level 1 to be for awards valued $5-20 and have level 1 route to the award recipient's direct manager; level 2 to be for awards valued $20-50 and route to the department head for approval; level 3 to be for awards valued $50 and route to middle management; level four to be for awards $75+ and route to the VP level. It is also possible to have multiple people review the same award by creating a rule for the same value at multiple levels (e.g. Level 1 at $0+, Level 2 at $0+, etc.). When multiple approval levels are configured, the recognitions will pass through the levels one at level at a time, beginning with level 1. These tiered levels must be saved as separate rules. Please note, managers will not be asked to approve awards for which they are the listed recipient. In this case, their award will be passed to their immediate manager for approval. Please contact your Awardco Client Success representative for any questions on the topic.  
  • Points | Funds - Designate the point value at which the approval rule will activate. If the award is non-monetary and you would like it to pass through an approval process, enter a $0 value. 
  • Level - Designate this rule's approval level as explained above. 
  • Approver - Select who will approve the award for this rule. 
    • Supervisor - If supervisor is selected, the system will use the hierarchy in the user file to identify the nominator or recipient supervisor based on the value selected in the supervisor of section. 
    • Metadata - Utilizing the metadata option will allow you to become quite specific in identifying the approving party. When used, the approval system will follow the manager hierarchy - for the nominator or recipient based on your selection in the supervisor of section - until the system finds a user who matches the metadata value you specify. For example, if you would like this level of approval to go to users with the role of department head, you could include "Job Title" in your file metadata and select "Department Head" here. This means the system would look for the nominator or recipient's department head and send the approval to them. If the system is unable to identify an individual matching the metadata entered here in the proper supervisor hierarchy, the approval will go to the admins. 
    • Association - With this setting, approvals can be approved by users who are not direct managers of either the nominator of the recipient. To use this approval flow, you must have an Associated Metadata Column added to the user file (see Formatting User Files article). If Association is selected as the Approval rule, only Associated Metadata values will populate in the Metadata field drop-down menu. 
    • Specific User(s) - Assign specific users to approve awards routed to this rule.
    • Manual Override - This option allows for you to designate a specific approver for each employee in the platform. Manual override must be configured by an Awardco representative. 
  • Supervisor of - Designate whether the approval rule will follow the nominator or the recipient's manager hierarchy. For example, if "Nominator" is selected, and the approval is set to go to a supervisor, the award will be routed to the nominator's supervisor for approval. 

For additional information please refer to our Approval Configuration Options article. 

Click "Next" to continue to the next settings page and save your changes.
 

Display

Display settings determine how your program's recognition form appears to users in your platform. 

Configure the settings, section by section, using the guidelines below. 

• Post to Social Feed - Select whether or not you would like recognitions from this program to be posted in the social feed. When "Off" is selected, recognitions submitted through this platform will not be visible to any users in the platform and will only be visible in platform reporting. 
• Banner Image - When enabled, you'll be able to set a banner image to recognitions in the feed, it's another way to add visual stimulus around recognitions within the platform. The Banner image also has an identifier that can help you distinguish Doug from Sales and Doug from Operations, the identifier can be chosen and adjusted in the "Feed" tab under Admin Settings. 
• Allow Scheduled Recognitions - When enabled, users will be able to delay the submission of their recognition/award to a later date. There is no limit to how far into the future the recognition may be scheduled. The time displayed in the scheduler is in the platform user's local time zone. If the recognition requires approval, the approval will be requested on the scheduled date and the recognition will be automatically released once it has been approved. Once the recognition is scheduled, it will be displayed on the submitting user's "Recognize" page until the "Scheduled for" date and time when it will be sent. The scheduled recognition may be deleted up until the recognition is sent at which point the submitting user could delete the submitted recognition if the platform settings allow for this. 
• Units - This section allows you to select how the recognition amount options will be shown on the submission page. Currency will display the value of the award in local currency. Points will show the point value of the award in the platform. Labels will use custom labels defined on this page. If "Labels" is selected, you will need to input values below in "Preset Amount Labels."
• Preset Amounts - This section establishes the award value buttons shown to users on the submission page. For example, if you would like users to choose from $5, $10, and $15 when submitting an award in this program, you would enter those values here. 
  • Preset USD and Points Amounts - Enter the monetary value you would like displayed. You will only need to enter values in the currency or points input fields. The system will automatically convert the entry from currency to points or from points to currency. You will enter values in this field even if you are only displaying labels on the recognition submission screen. This section tells the system how much value to assign to the buttons displayed to the users submitting awards. 
  • Labels - Labels should be used when there is a special award tier or meaning associated with the amount being awarded. This meaning should be widely known and explained in training documents dispersed internally as the platform is rolled out. The labels entered in this field will be matched, one-by-one, with the values in the currency and points amounts field directly above it. For example, if you've chosen "Labels" in the Units section and entered 5, 10, and 15 points in the points field and "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold" in the labels field, the program will only show the "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold" labels at a value of 5, 10, and 15 points respectively to the user submitting the award. 
• Custom Amounts - Enable or disable custom amounts in this program. When enabled, there will be a field in which the user submitting the recognition can enter any amount, provided they have sufficient funding in the budget being used for the recognition. You have the ability to designate minimum and maximum custom amounts. 
• Tags - Using the Tags section, you can make company values or other identifiers available for users submitting awards to select and attach to the award. If you are using tags to track usage or generate data, by selecting "Required (1)" and enabling only one tag, the system will automatically attach the tag to each recognition processed through this program. Edit the tags available in your platform by clicking the "Hashtags" sub-tab in Settings. Toggling Display Tag Icon on will allow the Tag image to show on the feed. Toggling "Display Tag Text" on will write out the tags below the recognition text. If both Display Tag Icon and Display Tag Text are toggled off, no tag information will show in the feed. Tags will still show on the recognition form and in reporting.

Click "Next" to save your settings and continue to the next step.
 

Questions

The "Questions" settings page allows you to select what questions the submitting user will be presented with when submitting a recognition through this program. 
 

The default question for each program is “Reason for recognition,” but you can modify this open ended question with text specific to your program. For example, “Why are you nominating this person for employee of the month?” Using the "Add Question" button, you can add additional questions to the program submission form. While you are able to create as many questions as you like, keeping the submission page short and simple is one of the easiest ways to drive up employee engagement with your recognition platform. 

• "Reason for recognition" Edit - After selecting the "Edit" button, you will be able to edit the prompt text. Although there is a 600 character maximum, we recommend keeping this question relatively short. 
• Add Question by Type - Remember to click "Save" after configuring each additional question.
  • Multiple Choice
    • Question - Enter the question you would like posed to the respondents. 
    • Answers - When entering the multiple choice answers, type the answer and hit enter to log the entry and begin entering the next answer. Your entries will be displayed exactly as they are entered so remember to perform basic spelling and grammar checks on your entries. 
  • Short Answer - The short answer option allows you to type a prompt and allow an open text box for the response collection, much the same as the "Reason for recognition" option above. Enter a minimum or maximum character count to prompt your users to enter longer or shorter answers.
  • Media - The media option allows users to enhance recognitions by adding icons, GIFs, images, or videos. If the program permits public recognitions, any media added will appear on your company's social feed, creating a more vibrant and engaging atmosphere.
    • Allow User Uploaded Images: Enable this option to let users upload their own images when submitting recognitions.
    • Allow User to Select Images from Image Library: Toggle this option to give users access to a preselected image library. If enabled, choose the categories of images available for recognition submissions. You can manage these images and categories through the Image Library. If multiple categories are selected, you can feature one category by clicking the star icon next to it, making it appear first.
    • Allow User-Selected GIFs (Powered by GIPHY): Enable this option to let users attach GIFs to recognitions. Ensure the "Allow GIFs as a Media Type" option is enabled on the main Recognition Programs settings page.
    • Allow User Uploaded Videos: Enable this option to allow users to upload their own videos to accompany their recognition submissions. Videos must be 1:00 minute or less in duration and no larger than 50 MB.
    • You can also decide whether media submission is required or optional by toggling the "Is media required or optional?" setting. However, if you wish to make media submissions mandatory, the Image Library must be enabled.
  • Date - This question type allows recognition submitters to select a date from a pop-up calendar; the date selected must be the day of submission or in the past. Possible questions for this prompt could be: "When did the event mentioned in this recognition happen?" or "On which date did the exemplary behavior occur?" The answers to these questions will show was additional question columns on reports such as the Recognition Status report.

Click "Next" to save your settings and continue to the next step.
 

Notifications

On the notification settings page, configure the automated notification templates you would like to send with each recognition program you create. Work with your Awardco Client Success Manager to create and upload custom email templates with your branding and user guidelines. Each of these notification fields are optional and an email does not have to be sent. To opt out of sending notifications, leave the fields blank and click "Finish."

Configure the email templates, type by type, using the guidelines below. 

• Needs Approval - This is the template that will be sent to approvers as soon as a recognition enter's their approval queue. Use this template to highlight the importance of a quick response to keep your programs running smoothly. 
• Declined Nomination - This is the template sent to nominators when a nomination has been declined by an approver. This template can be configured to include the message entered by the approver when the recognition was declined. 
• Approved Nomination - This is the template sent to nominators when a nomination has been approved, letting them know that their recognition was successful. 
• Recognition - This is the template sent to recipients of recognitions through this program. These emails are sent at the time of recognition if the program does not have approvals, or if the program does have an approvals process, the email will be sent when the approver at the top of the approval process approves the award. 

Click "Finish" to save the notification settings page and complete the setup of your recognition program.

Additional Recognition Program Settings

Additional settings are available on the main Programs page by selecting the "Settings" tab at the top. These settings offer further customization options for user interactions with recognition programs:

• Recognition Programs: Enable this setting to activate recognition programs and allow employees to recognize each other. This should be turned on only once setup is complete, as it makes the Recognize tab visible on the homepage.
• Page Title: Enter the name displayed in the navigation bar on the homepage and in the page header.
• Question: Customize the prompt on the recipient search page. By default, the question is set to “Who do you want to recognize?”
• Recognize a Large Group
  • File Upload: Enabling this feature displays an “Upload a CSV” option on the recipient selection page, allowing users to upload a single-column CSV file with employee IDs or emails, streamlining bulk recognitions.
  • Allow Groups in Recognize Search: When enabled, options like Peers, Direct Reports, and All Reports become available for selection on the Recognize page.
  • Allowed Metadata Fields: Specify metadata fields available in data imports to support group recognitions by clicking Edit Selected Fields.
• Giver Settings: If your recognition program has approvals in place, you're able to determine if users submitting recognitions can see the status of their recognition and who is pending its approval.
  • Giver Can See ‘My Submissions’ Approval Tab: When enabled, this setting allows users to view recognitions submitted by them while they are in a pending state in the approval queue.
  • Giver Can See Names of Approvers: Enabling this option lets users see the name of the current assigned approver in their pending approvals queue.
  • Giver Can See Reason for Declined Recognitions: This setting allows users to view reasons for any declined recognitions.
• Recognition Assistant: Enable to activate AI-powered recognition assistance. Givers select a value, describe a moment, and explain the impact. The AI refines the message based on the recipient's past recognitions. Admins must accept the Consent and Privacy Notice to enable this feature. Once activated, the Recognition Assistant can be added to individual recognition programs. Reference this article for instructions. 
• Approval Reassignment: This setting enables automatic reassignment of approvals based on the Supervisor ID field in the user file. If toggled on, any pending approval in an archived user’s queue will reroute to the appropriate approver according to updated information in the user file.
• Reporting: Display programs with identical names as one: If multiple programs share the same name, enabling this option will group them in reporting views for a consolidated display.
• Allow GIFs as a Media Type: Enable GIFs as a media type for recognition program questions. This feature is powered by GIPHY, and only GIFs with a "G" content rating will be displayed. After enabling GIFs, you must configure them in individual program settings under the Questions tab by clicking "Add Question," selecting "Media" as the question type, filling out the question text, toggling "Allow User Selected GIFs (powered by GIPHY)" on, and clicking "Save."
• Advanced Settings
  • Allow Others to Be Notified of Recognitions: Activate this feature to add a new field to the recognition flow where givers can select additional people to be notified via email that a recognition has been given.
    • Allow External Email Addresses - Turning this on will allow recognition givers to add any external email address to be notified of the recognition.
    • Enable Grouped Recognition Notification Email Option - Enabling this will allow givers the option to send a grouped email where notified people and recognition recipients can replay all in an email chain
    • Grouped Notification Recipient Limit - Set the maximum number of recipients in a grouped notification. Once this limit is hit, emails will automatically switch to indiviudal notifications to reduce email fatigue. Max: 30
    • Exclude programs from allowing others to be notified - Excluded programs will not allow recognition givers to select additional user to be notified of the recognitions
  • Thank You: Toggle this option on to have a recognition suggestion appear upon redemption of points awarded from particular recognition programs. Then, select the program from which the recognitions thanking users for their points would be sent from. Detailed instructions on this setting can be found in this support article. 
    • Once enabled, users will receive a notice when they place an order prompting them to thank the specific users that awarded them points allowing them to make that redemption. Once they press “Send a Thank you”, the user will be brought to a recognition form with the user(s) already selected for recognition.

To edit or archive an existing rule, click the stacked dots icon next to the rule and select Archive or Edit. Archived rules can be restored by clicking Restore in the Archived tab. For more detailed guidance on editing global receiving limits, refer to the Determining How Many Points Users Receive with Global Receiving Limits support article.

If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.