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External Recognition Programs

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External Recognition Programs allow customers, vendors, partners, or any third-party to acknowledge employee efforts and service, enriching the recognition culture by combining external feedback with internal recognition initiatives. This article explains how to create and manage an External Recognition Program, covering general configurations, participant management, personalized links, and overall program settings.

 

  1. Create an External Recognition Program
  2. Managing an External Program
  3. External Program Settings
  4. User Experience
  5. Approver Experience

 

Create an External Recognition Program

To begin creating an External Recognition Program:

  1. Select the Admin button at the bottom of the left navigation menu.
  2. From the left navigation menu, select “Recognition,” "Programs," then "External Recognitions.”
  3. Select “New Program.”  

 

Note: If you don’t see the option to access External Recognitions program settings, speak with your Awardco point of contact to get it enabled. 

 

 

General

Edit the following settings on the General tab:

  • Program Title: The program’s name that will display in platform reporting and social feed filters.
  • URL: The slug of the URL; the public-facing website for visitors to leave a recognition for employees.
  • Description: A field that can provide additional instructions for the recognition giver.
  • Customer Label: What the person giving the recognition is called (e.g., Client, Patient).
  • Recipient Label: What the person receiving the recognition is called (e.g., Teammate, Caregiver).
  • Banner Image: An image that will display on the recognition in the social feed.
  • Form Page Logo: A logo that will display on the form submit page.

 

Once finished, click "Next" or click "Save" to return to the main External Recognition Program page.

 

 

Questions

This page allows setting up the questions that are asked to the person submitting an external recognition. Click the pencil icon next to the two default questions to edit their prompts and tailor them to the organization’s voice.


 

 

Click on “Add Question” to add more questions to the recognition form. There are five types of questions that can be created:

  • Single-Select: Functions like a multiple-choice question. Enter the question text and answer options. Type an answer and hit enter to add several answer options.
  • Multi-Select: Allows respondents to choose multiple answers from a list of options. Enter the question text and answer options. Type an answer and hit enter to add several answer options.
  • Short Answer: Prompts respondents to provide concise written responses to open-ended questions. Note: Answer character limit is 600.
  • Long Answer: Prompts respondents to provide detailed written responses to open-ended questions. Note: Answer character limit is 4,000.
  • Signature Field: Prompts respondents to agree to having their comment possibly being shared and posted publicly within an organization’s instance of Awardco.

 

Check the “Participant’s Answer is Required” checkbox to make answering the question mandatory. Click “Save.”
 

Click “Preview” to see what a person submitting a recognition would see. Once finished, click “Next” or click “Save” to be brought back to the main External Recognition Program page.
 

Rewards

To enable people to suggest point amounts for recipients through an external recognition program, toggle the "Reward Points" option to “on.”. These points will be drawn from an allowable access budget that the recognition approver has. The approver can select from any of their allowable access budgets during the approval process.
 

Preset point amounts can be added for reviewers to select. To do this, type an amount in the freeform field and press Enter to add multiple amount options. To enable reviewers to set custom reward amounts, check the box below the preset options.
 

Select the Award Network in which the points can be spent by using the dropdown menu. Click “Manage Award Networks” to view all available and active Award Networks.
 

Once the reward points have been configured, click “Next” to proceed or click “Save” to return to the main External Recognition Program page.

 

 

Notifications

Toggle the ‘Recipient Notifications’ option “on” to have a notification sent to the recipient when they receive an external recognition that gets posted to the feed. Select the email template the recipient will receive from the dropdown menu. Click the “Manage Email Templates” link to access the platform's email template settings. Create an email template specific to this program using the Email Template Easy Editor tool. Ensure the email is classified under the ‘Recognition’ email type.

 

Once finished, click “Next” or click “Save” to be brought back to the main External Recognition Program page.

 

 

Approvers

Use the settings on this page to designate individuals who can approve recognitions in this external program. Assigned approvers will receive email notifications when an approval is pending.
 

Note: Approval is required. If no approvers are specified, approvals will be routed to anyone with the Super Admin role, who will use their allowable access budgets to approve recognitions. Additionally, the approval email sent to the approver currently is not customizable.
 

  • Assigning Supervisors: To have direct supervisors approve recognitions for their direct reports, check the box next to "Assign Supervisor to Approve for direct reports." For this setting to work, recognitions must be submitted via a personal user link (see Personalized Links section). Using the general URL will route the approval to the designated user or to Super Admins if no approver is specified.
  • Designating Specific Individuals: To assign specific individuals as approvers, search and select their names in the field under "Who should be allowed to approve recognitions for this program?" Multiple names can be entered, but note that every approval request will be sent to all selected users.
  • Approving by Metadata: Approvers can be specified based on metadata. Any metadata value input here will route approvers to anyone associated with that tag. It is suggested to enter multiple values to finely define approval criteria. Multiple values within the same metadata input use "or" logic (e.g., Approvers in "Client Success" or "Sales" departments can approve). Multiple metadata inputs use "and" logic (e.g., Approvers in "Client Success" and "Supervisor" job title can approve). Consider using the Metadata Creator to customize approval parameters.


Once finished, click "Next" to proceed, or click "Save" to return to the main External Recognition Program page.

 

 

Participants

This page allows limiting recognition eligibility to specific groups in an organization. If the Limit Eligibility toggle is “off”, the program will be available for all users. If toggled “on”, specify the users or metadata groups eligible to be recognized through the external program.

 

Once finished, click “Next” or click “Save” to be brought back to the main External Recognition Program page.

 

 

Personalized Links

Toggle the "Personal User Link Routing" option to “on” to create personalized recognition links for all participants in this program. Accessing a user's link will bring the recognizer directly to the external recognition form with the recipient pre-selected. Links will display on individual user profile pages in ‘My Account Settings.’

 

Consider the following nuances associated with this feature:

  • Personal links tie to the most recently created program. The program associated with each user's personal link can be viewed in the User Links tab in the External Recognition Program main settings.
  • To have a personalized link for each user eligible to be recognized, this option must be enabled for at least one program. If this option is left off, participants won't have personalized links, and the general recognition URL must be used to access the program.

 

Press “Save” to save all the settings configured on this page.
 

 

Managing an External Program

Before anyone can use an external recognition program, it must be activated. To do this, click the three-dot icon next to the program and select “Activate.” This dropdown menu also presents the following options:

 

  • Edit external program settings
  • Copy the link to access the program
  • Download the QR code for the program
  • Delete the program 

 


 

 

External Program Settings

Reference the sections below for more information on External Recognition program settings.

Programs

This tab shows all created external recognition programs, the link to the program’s question form, and its status. Hover over the link and click on the square icon that appears to copy the link for external users. Click the three dots next to any program to:

 

  • Edit individual program settings (see the Create an External Recognition Program section).
  • Copy the public link URL.
  • Download and view a QR code that directs a recognizer to the external recognition program.
  • Activate or deactivate a program.
  • Delete a program.

 

User Links

The ‘User Links’ tab displays all individual recognition links created for users in an external program (see the ‘Personalized Links’ section). Scroll through or search for a user’s name to find their recognition link. To copy a link, hover over it and click the square icon that appears. This tab also allows for:

 

  • Viewing the program name associated with each link.
  • Previewing what a recognizer would see by clicking the eye icon.
  • Downloading individual QR codes by clicking the QR icon.
  • For easier distribution, click "Download Zip file" to download a zip file containing every user's QR codes and a CSV file with everyone’s personal recognition links.

 

 

Settings

This tab provides the following settings:

 

  • Awardco Intelligence Approval Suggestions: This setting enables AI to assist in the recognition approval process. Utilizing AI helps approvers make quicker decisions, though final approval must still be done by a person. When enabled, recognitions will go through up to three levels of filtering:
    • Moderation: Checks for potentially harmful text. Recognitions failing this filter are automatically declined and will not proceed to the approval queue.
    • Sentiment Analysis: If a recognition passes moderation, AI analyzes its sentiment and recommends to the approver whether it should be approved, declined, or reviewed, providing reasons for the suggestion.
    • Switch the toggle “on” to enable. Be sure to accept the Consent and Privacy notice.
  • Allowed Metadata Fields: This setting allows approvers to effectively recognize large groups based on specific metadata. Determine which metadata fields can be used for external recognition approval. Instead of selecting an individual for approval, the approver can choose a metadata value to approve recognitions for a group.
    • Example: If a recognizer writes, "Aaron and the Sales team were so helpful!" the approver can either select separate individuals in the Sales department or select the "Sales" department metadata if it exists.To configure:
      1. Click “Edit Selected Fields.”
      2. Select the desired metadata values (e.g., department names, job titles).
      3. Click “Save.”
  • Download CSV of Declined Recognitions: Allows for downloading a CSV file containing all declined recognitions. This CSV will include all AI automatic declines as well as recognitions declined manually by an approver.

 

 

User Experience

When someone accesses an external recognition program’s link, they can submit a recognition without authentication.
 

 

If an inactive program URL is clicked, a message will notify that the link is not active.


If an individual’s dedicated link is clicked, the recognition form will queue up a recognition for the individual, bypassing the ‘Recipient to Recognize’ question.
 


Once the recognition is submitted and/or approved, it will appear on the public social feed.
 

 

Approver Experience

Approvers will be notified by email when recognitions are pending. They can review and approve recognitions in the approval queue, which can be accessed by clicking the bell icon on the platform homepage.
 

 



 

 

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

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