Technical Information

"I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."
Bruce McLaren, 1964

No technical knowledge is required to start using the online appraisals tool. We provide the web server, databases, backups and security. All you need is a web browser (preferably IE6 or later, or Firefox 2 or later) and an Internet connection. You can connect from anywhere in the world, and appraisals can be completed at any time.

Completion of the appraisals by employees or managers is possible in virtually any web browser. We even have clients who use their Blackberries from home to complete the appraisals.

Our Technical Infrastructure

For those interested in the details of our infrastructure, we use the open source MySQL database, with a PHP front end. Our data centre is hosted in the UK (in London Docklands). The facility is highly secure, with 24 hour physical security, redundant Internet connections, redundant power and various threat mitigation systems. Daily off-site backups are designed to further enhance our emergency recovery capabilities.

Emails sent by the system (for example, to notify managers who need to complete an appraisal) can be configured to use your own mail servers, or can use our mail servers if you prefer.

All connections are encrypted over secure HTTP (SSL) and all data access code is hardened against attacks such as SQL injection.

Online Appraisals API

We are in the process of developing an API to allow integration with third-party and in-house software. This API is designed to allow automatic updates of information held within the appraisal database on certain trigger events (for example, it could be used to automatically synchronise the appraisal employee list with an internal HRM database) and to allow remote querying of the data (for example, to allow the preparation of sophisticated reports that combine the performance appraisal information with other external data sources).

We intend to publish our API documentation to allow anyone to develop code. We will also provide developer level technical support if required. Please contact us for more information.

(The API includes a full security model to ensure the protection of appraisal data.)

If you have any technical questions, please contact us and we will be pleased to discuss them with you.