Publishing a Process makes it ready to use — assigning it puts it to work. When you assign a Process, you set its dates, decide who is allowed to make assignments, and pair each Observer with the Observees they will observe. Only then does the Process appear on the dashboards of the people who will carry it out.
This article walks through the whole assignment flow, from the Assign button on the Published tab to a finished list of Observer-and-Observee pairings. To publish a Process in the first place, see Publishing and Managing Processes; to build the Steps inside a Process, see How to Build Process Steps.
Who Is This Article For?
Assigning a Process is shared between two roles. A Process Manager sets the dates and can either make the assignments directly or name Assignment Managers to do it. An Assignment Manager is a User the Process Manager has empowered to pair Observers and Observees on a particular Process. Either role can be any User level. If you cannot assign a Process, ask your administrator whether you have been added as a Process Manager or Assignment Manager. For more on Process Managers, see Observations Settings.
This article is for these User levels, when they have been named a Process Manager or Assignment Manager:
User
Admin
Super Admin
Account Owner
Before You Begin
A Process must be Published before it can be assigned. On the Published tab, each Process row ends with an Assign button that shows its current state:
Unassigned (red) — no Observers or Observees have been added yet.
Assigned (#/#) (green) — the Process has assignments, with the counts showing how many Observers and Observees are in place.
The same row also shows a Managers count and the Start Date and Due Date you set during assignment (a dash appears until the Process is assigned). If the Process you want is still on the Unpublished tab, publish it first — see Publishing and Managing Processes.
Start an Assignment
From the Published tab, click the Assign button on the Process you want to assign.
The first time a Process is unassigned, a short prompt appears titled Assign Observers:
"Looks like you're starting to assign Observers. Did you mean to do this or would you like to assign Assignment Managers to do this for you?"
This is asking how you want to proceed:
Assign Observers — you will pair Observers and Observees yourself.
Assign Managers — you will instead name the Assignment Managers who are allowed to make those pairings.
A Don't show this again checkbox lets you skip this prompt in the future. The prompt appears only while the button still reads Unassigned; once a Process has assignments, clicking Assigned (#/#) takes you straight in.
Whichever path you choose, the first screen is the same: setting the dates.
Set the Process and Step Dates
Both paths open the Assign Users to Process - Management page, where you set the timeline for the Process and its Steps.
At the top right, set the Process Start and Process Due dates (MM/DD/YYYY). Setting these fills in a matching Start and Due date for every Step in the Entire Process table below, which lists each Step with its Description, Start and Due dates, a Form column (a Form icon appears only on Steps that contain a Form), and Max value. You can adjust any individual Step's dates from there if a Step should run on a tighter window than the Process as a whole.
When the dates are set, click Next. From here the two paths diverge: choosing Assign Managers opens the Manager page below, while choosing Assign Observers opens the Observer-and-Observee page in the section after that.
Select Assignment Managers
If you chose Assign Managers, the next page is Assign Managers, described as "Select which Users can assign Observers, Observees, and Viewers." This is where you name the people allowed to make the actual Observer-and-Observee pairings for this Process.
The page has two panels:
Possible Assignment Managers on the left lists everyone eligible, with an # Eligible count, a search box, and an All Roles filter. Each person shows their name, email, and role. The Account Owner is listed first, followed by Super Admins in alphabetical order. Check anyone you want to add.
Selected Assignment Managers on the right shows who you have added, with a # Selected count and a remove icon on each row. Until you add someone, it reads "No Assignment Managers selected. Select people from the left to add them as Assignment Managers here."
When your list is set, click Done to save. Use Back to return to the dates, or Cancel to leave without saving. The Process row's Managers count updates to reflect who you added. Those Assignment Managers can now open the Process and assign Observers and Observees using the steps below.
Assign Observers and Observees
If you chose Assign Observers — or you are an Assignment Manager opening a Process you have been given — clicking Next opens the assignment page, where you build your list of Observer-and-Observee pairings.
Choose Who the Observers Are
The page opens with the Select Observers and Viewers window: "Check the Users who will be Observers and click the finished button." This defines the pool of Observers you will draw from. You can reopen this window at any time using the gear icon next to Observer on the assignment page.
In the window:
Use Search Observer to find a User, then check each person who will serve as an Observer.
Optionally give an Observer one or more Viewers — people who can see the Observation without taking part — using the Select Viewer dropdown on that Observer's row, or assign the same Viewers to everyone at once with Assign viewers to all # selected.
Click Finished. A "Observers and viewers saved successfully." message confirms it.
Pair Observers with Observees
Back on the assignment page, the Possible Assignees panel on the left lists the Users you can assign as Observees. Use Select Observees to search the list. Each row has a checkbox and a Select Observer dropdown.
To assign one Observee:
Check the box next to the person you want to make an Observee. This enables that row's Select Observer dropdown — it stays greyed out until the row is checked.
Open the Select Observer dropdown. It has a search box, an Unassign option, and a checkbox for each Observer in your pool. Check the Observer (or Observers) who will observe this person.
Click Assign.
To assign several Observees to the same Observer at once:
Check the box next to each person you want to assign. As soon as more than one row is checked, a green Assignees (#) bar appears at the top of the Possible Assignees panel with a single Select Observer dropdown.
Open the Select Observer dropdown in that green bar and check the Observer (or Observers) who will observe everyone you selected.
Click Assign.
The same Observer is assigned to all of the checked Observees in one step, and they are grouped together as a single Set on the Assigned List.
Whether you assign one at a time or in a batch, each pairing moves to the Assigned List on the right, and assigned people are removed from the Possible Assignees list so they cannot be assigned twice. Use Unassign in either Select Observer dropdown if you need to undo a pairing.
Review the Assigned List and Sets
The Assigned List on the right shows every pairing you have made, with an Observees: # count at the top and three columns: Observer, Viewer, and Observee. Pairings are grouped into Sets — Set 1, Set 2, and so on — so you can manage related assignments together.
Hovering over a Set's header shows a ⋯ menu with three options:
Edit Observers — reopens the Select Observers and Viewers window to change the Observers or Viewers.
Edit Observees — returns to the Observee list to add or remove the people in the Set.
Delete Set or Archive Set — removes the Set. Which one you see depends on whether the assignment has been saved yet: while you are still building it (before you click Done), the option reads Delete Set and removes the Set outright, since nothing has been created on the back end. Once you have saved the assignment and reopened it, the option reads Archive Set — the assignment is now a record of work, so it is set aside rather than deleted, and you can find it under Archived > Assignments.
When your assignments are complete, click Done. Back on the Published tab, the Process's Assign button now reads Assigned (#/#) in green, and the Observers and Observees you paired will see the Process on their dashboards.
What's Next
Your Observations Dashboard: Observer View | Sibme Help Center