Managing populations
Populations are set of workers grouped by common attribute or attributes. They are created for the purpose of performing a specific function such as for example implementing a process, sending a notification, or applying a rule. For example, populations are used to determine who is included in a compensation round's salary and/or bonus planning, who is invited to a performance review cycle, or which workers are captured by a snapshot.
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Populations are available under Workbench > Data Management > User Segmentation > Populations. Access to Workbench depends on your role within the platform. This feature is available for users with the Data Modeler Admin professional role.
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For more information about creating a population, see Creating a population.
Population statuses
Before managing your populations, it is useful to understand the different statuses a population can have, as the current status determines which actions are available to you. A population can be in one of four statuses: Draft, Ready, In use, or Deactivated.
| Status | Description | Available actions |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The population is still being configured, and its basic information or criteria have not been finalized and published yet. It cannot be selected anywhere else in the platform. | Edit, Duplicate, Deactivate |
| Ready | The population has been fully configured and published, but it is not currently referenced by any active process. It can be selected wherever populations are used across the platform. | Edit, Duplicate, Deactivate |
| In use | The population is currently referenced by at least one active process, such as a compensation round, a performance review, or a snapshot. | Duplicate |
| Deactivated | The population has been manually deactivated. It is removed from any future processes, though this does not affect processes that already used it in the past. | Duplicate |
Viewing the list of populations
All your populations are included in a paginated list on the Populations page, as illustrated in the figure below:
List of populations with actions available for the Draft status
At the top of the page, summary tiles give you a quick view of your configuration: the total number of populations, and a breakdown by status (In use, Ready, Draft, and Deactivated).
Below the tiles, the Search bar lets you filter the list by name as you type, and with the Status drop-down list, you can narrow the list down to a single status (Any, Draft, Ready, In use, or Deactivated). For each population, the list itself displays its name, description, the date it was last updated, and its current status.
Reviewing a population's details
To review a population's details, click its name in the list. The following drawer displaying the population's details will slide in from the right side of the screen:
Population details drawer
The drawer shows the population's general information, such as its name, description, creation date, creator, and current status, followed by the criteria it is built from. For each criterion, it indicates the field and entity it applies to, the operator being used, and the corresponding value, along with whether the block requires any or all of its conditions to be met. From the drawer, you can also Deactivate or Edit the population, provided such actions are available for its current status, by clicking the corresponding buttons at the drawer's bottom.
Editing a population
You can edit a population that is in the Draft or Ready status to change its name, description, or criteria. Once a population is In use, it can no longer be edited, to protect the integrity of any process that currently relies on it.
To edit a population, proceed as follows:
Locate the population that you want to edit in the list.
Click the three-dot icon located at the far right of its row. A contextual menu is displayed.
Click Edit. The Edit population form opens, starting at the Basic information step.
Make your changes in the Basic information and/or Population criteria steps.
Click Publish in the last step, Preview, to apply your changes. Alternatively, click Save & exit in the upper-right corner of the application at any point to save your progress and finish editing later on.
Duplicating a population
Duplicating a population is useful when you want to reuse an existing set of criteria as the starting point for a new population, without altering the original.
To duplicate a population, click the three-dot icon located at the far right of its row and select Duplicate. A copy of the population, in the Draft status, is added to the list; you can then rename it and adjust its criteria as needed.
Deactivating a population
Deactivating a population removes it from any future processes, with no impact on past compensation rounds, reviews, or snapshots that already used it.
To deactivate a population, proceed as follows:
Locate the population that you want to deactivate in the list.
Click the three-dot icon located at the far right of its row and select Deactivate.
In the confirmation dialog, click the Deactivate button to confirm. The population's status changes to Deactivated.