Frequently Asked Questions
For new users
Are clients expected to integrate their data manually?
What is the activity bar on the right for?
What does cloud based mean?
How to use Synergo
Kanban Board
E-Learning
Our newest feature - Sygochat
FOR NEW USERS
What server does Synergo use?
We use AWS (Amazon web-services), the same server that is used by well-known companies around the world including Airbnb and Netflix.
Can the system be used for HRIS as well?
We only provide the basic features for HRIS, such as payroll and attendance. These basic HRIS features are suitable for companies with less than 100 users.
Are clients supposed to integrate the data manually?
No, we help all clients integrate their data.
We provide two options to integrate the data. The first is to open an FTP Server to allow access. The second is manual integration via an excel database to our database.
What is the activity bar on the right for?
Just like Facebook, the activity bar gives you live updates. It also lets you know based on updated data what is happening around you and your employees.
What does cloud-based mean?
Cloud-based means a system can host a software platform or service from a remote location. The same system can be freely accessed and used anywhere via an Internet connection.
How does pricing work in Synergo?
All subscription plans are annual and differ by company size. However, we provide two types of pricing plans.
The first one is based on number of users, whereas the second type has been customized for SMEs, or small to medium enterprises, who have less than 200 users. For SME users, we only charge based on the number of active users per month.
How is data integrated into the platform after the initial sign up?
We will provide an excel sheet, which your company will fill with its respective KPI (goals), and each person’s specific job/tasks. After this, our onboarding team will help your company onboard quickly so that you can use our platform as soon as possible.
What are examples of industries Synergo has helped?
We have come across a variety of industries, from real-estate to education. We make sure their goals and competencies are aligned so that even employees located in remote areas are able to access Synergo via their mobile phone.
Who owns the data in the platform?
All the data stored in our platform belongs to our clients, not us.
Regarding 360 feedback - what happens if I am working in one country whereas my superior is working overseas?
360° feedback isn’t given at random. It can only be given from coworkers within the same division, subordinates, and coworkers with the same goals. Physical location isn’t the issue, but staying within different teams is.
What is the mimic feature used for?
The mimic feature is used to check an employee's status by someone else. This can be useful in a number of contexts, such as managers editing an employee's KPIs or even when our consultants come and help you to edit the system as per your company's needs.
When you are using the mimic feature, everything you do will be recorded. The account’s owner must first grant permission to use their account. You will receive a notification when someone is mimicking your account. Admins can give either limited access or full access when using the mimic function (depends on how the admin has configured the settings).
Is Synergo customisable?
Synergo has customisable tabs, meaning that you can easily change your profiles, goals, reviews and other features. However, the default template on our platform cannot be changed to a company's needs
Can I recover data that was accidentally deleted on Synergo?
We allow data recovery for goals at this time. We are still developing data recovery options for other features.
Can we add custom columns / categories on our user list details?
Not at this moment. We are working on adding user generated categories.
How do I contact Synergo if I am interested with your product?
There are three ways to contact us:
1. Through a self-sign up form at our website www.synergo.co;
2. Emailing us at hello@synergo.co;
3. Or directly calling our hotline number 5084-7561
Does Synergo provide free trials?
Yes, we do. Please contact us via the three methods above for more information on free trials.
Does Synergo provide virtual demos?
Yes we do. We usually give live demos in physical meetings, but if this is an issue for companies we cannot access, one of our associates will be more than happy to provide a virtual demo via a live video call.
HOW TO USE SYNERGO
What is Synergo?
Synergo is a performance management platform. We strive to help companies unlock the maximum potential of its employees through the measurement and development of goals and competencies.
How do you sign-in the platform for the first time?
Each company gets a separate URL that’s only accessible to its members. To sign in, each user will need to input their company email and their personal password.
How do you change your profile picture and personal settings?
When you open the Synergo website, click the personal tab on the left side,second from the top. Next, click on the profile picture icon and upload the desired photo you wish to change to. You can also change your password and look at the organizational chart in this tab.
Can users add content to the platform?
Yup! They can add and edit their own goals. You can edit goals by clicking on the ‘goal’ button on the left.
There are two types of users. The first is an admin user, who has unlimited access and also has a setting board where they can set the goals of other users. Admins can also customize goals and competencies.
The second is a normal user. Normal users have equal access to the same features an admin has, but unlike admins, normal users do not have the setting board, and so cannot set goals or competencies.
What kinds of reviews are available?
We provide three kinds of reviews: Self, Manager and 360° Review. 360° Reviews are done on a 3-month basis (or another pre-set, specific time period)
When giving review scores, managers, peers and subs can be assigned different weights (eg 60% for managers, 40% for 360 feedback) which will affect an employee’s overall review score.
Most systems can only review goals or competencies. In our system, managers, peers and subs can review both.
How is performance appraisal conducted in Synergo?
Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to understand the abilities of a person for further growth and development.
Our platform evaluates the performance of an employee from two sides: their targets and their skills. An employee’s target consists of their goals, KPIs and accomplishments in day-to-day tasks; whereas their skills consists of soft skills and technical abilities. An overall understanding of these two parts will give employers a more holistic view of an employee.
Our platform conducts employee performance appraisal by having the employees and employer give reviews – i.e. a two-way review. Any feedback and opinions provided are left anonymous to avoid office politics and negative sentiments between staff.
Does Synergo work offline?
Yes, it does! Our mobile apps support online to offline syncing, which means any work you do without internet connection on a phone or tablet will show up once you resume connection.
Offline syncing would provide a tremendous advantage to a company with regional and global branches. Even without connection, work can still remain up-to-date when wifi comes back on, no matter the distance.
How safe is my data on Synergo?
Synergo takes data safety very seriously. For instance, we:
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encrypt all data via HTTPS (meaning Full encryption) and SSO (or Single Sign-On)
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use Amazon web services & Alibaba Cloud, which are guaranteed to have the highest security standards, including certifications such as ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, AICPA SOP2 and MTCS Tier 3(Singapore).
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engage with Cloudfare, combined with Argo smart routing load balancing and in-app performance optimization to reduce visitor latency by more than 200%.
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also provide auto backup which ensures that all the data has a backup copy in case anything happens.
For more information on how secure our platform is, please refer to this document that explains data security in further detail.
Can Synergo be integrated with other HRIS systems?
Yes, our system can work with these systems as long as the system fulfills these two requirements:
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The system is online online
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The system's database accessible via third rd party by API. If APIs are unavailable, then the data should be exportable in .csv or .xlsx format
In fact, Synergo has been integrated multiple systems – both local and foreign, such as HRIS systems, ERPs (including SAP and Oracle) and CRMs (such as hubspot and salesforce).
Can I get email notifications sent directly to my email?
Yes, there is an option to manually turn on and off email notifications. However, this feature is only available to admin users.
After logging in as an admin user, click the side board button (the three lines second from the bottom of the blue column at the left). The sideboard should expand with a variety of options, including Home, Mimic, and Settings.
Scroll to the bottom of the of the sideboard and click of the sideboard and click "Email Configuration" under the subheading "Administration". Your screen should show a series of switches which allows you to turn on and off automatic emails for the system, subgoals, task, card or card subtask email.
Such email notifications can be useful for real-time updates of task's progress, reminders for a subtask, reminding an employee of a deadline, and much more.
KANBAN BOARD
What is a Kanban Board?
A Kanban Board is a visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. The goal of Kanban is to identify potential bottlenecks in your process and fix them so work can flow through it cost-effectively at an optimal speed or throughput.
What are the ways you can use a Kanban Board? How can Kanban be a solution for companies?
Kanban introduces a new level of efficiency into a project because it lets you see where your project is at any given time. You can drill down further and see who is doing what and what they need to move forward.
How do I attach an attachment on Kanban Board?
You can click on the files tab and either drag a file, or double click and add an attachment manually.
Alternatively, you can also highlight a file in a dialogue box and copy it with the shortcut Ctrl+C. Next, open a card and paste the file with the shortcut Ctrl+V.
However, currently the shortcut method works for images only. We are still developing our system to serve you better.
Do I need to create a card on the Kanban Board first before putting attachments?
Yes, a card needs to be created first before attachments can be added . Each card is specific to its description as well.
How do I filter and sort my cards?
When on any board, you can filter the users relevant to the specific job description. You can also filter based on users or respective teams. Here's how:
Hover your cursor towards the "filter" button on the top right of the screen, and then click the "+" symbol to the left of it. Find the person of your choice by clicking on their name from the resulting dropdown menu. After you click the desired person, your cards will be filtered according to the tasks they’ve been assigned.
To filter by respective teams, click the names of team members in the dropdown menu to see which of the members in a certain group are making progress or not.
You can even filter based on a card's specific parameter, such as its deadline, tag, or custom fields:
First, click the “filter” button on the top right -- below the search bar. You will see three tabs appear to the left of “users”, which are "cards", "labels" and "custom fields".
Click the “card” button to filter by cards that are due, overdue or completed based on your selection from the dropdown menu.
Click the “label” button to filter your cards based on the tags you’ve added to your cards, based on your selection from the dropdown menu..
Click the “Custom fields” button to filter based on your custom fields. You can further filter by lower and upper limits for numerical categories (e.g. total meeting hours) and by name for specific topics (e.g. Contact person’s names).
Multiple filters can be combined so that you can gain more focused answers faster (e.g. which tasks for employee A are overdue?).
You can also sort based on the due date, alphabetical order (A to Z or vice versa) and the custom fields for each column. Click the double arrows at the top right of each column and choose the parameter which you would like to sort your cards by in that specific column.
What other details can I add on each specific card?
The details can depend on what project management, goals, sub-goals or goals you need to break down.
How do I move cards from one column to another?
We made sure to make this simple for all our users. To do this, click and drag one card to another column of your choice, and vice versa.
Alternatively, you can also use the dropdown menu on a card. Click the card, and hover your cursor over the "Mark complete" tab on the top left of the card. Click the dropdown menu to the right of the “Mark complete” or “completed” tab. Finally, choose which column you want to move the card to.
Are calendars part of the Kanban board as well?
Yes, it is. We provide a calendar tab in every card added. The calendar marks all input dates (e.g. whenever a user adds progress to any custom field), and helps to keep track of due dates for all assigned tasks.
Can the cards on the Kanban Board be aligned directly to each user's goals?
Yes, you can add specific custom targets for each specific user. And you can calculate the score achieved for each target for your coworkers' cards or your own cards.
This feature is especially helpful for C-level executive and managers, astheir performace depends on the results their co-workers achieve.
Click the XXX tab on the home page and select “edit task”. You can filter your tasks by seeing you or your colleague’s tasks / scores
What types of industries are Kanban boards usually used for?
Synergo strives to serve a variety of fields. We have helped various industries, from the education sector (Binus), automotive sector (Astra), to real estate (Ciputra). Each of our clients mainly uses Synergo for performance management, where tasks can be monitored on a daily basis.
They also use Synergo for specific functions to further the efficiency of work. For instance, Binus uses our system to provide more holistic feedback between colleagues.
What kind of attachments can be put in each card?
You can put anything that is relevant to the card, depending on the specific job tasks or role.
Our system supports a variety of file types as attachments including .docx, .ppt, .xlsx, .pdf, .jpg, .mp4, .mov, .html, .psd, .ai, .jpg and .png files.
Are there analytics provided in each card, or a feature to show overall summary?
Yes, there are. These features can be found under the "dashboard" tab in each card. Typically these analytics are used in multiple custom fields (e.g. different shifts as a part of a production line) where graphs (bar and line graphs) can be generated based on the data from the custom fields. In short, a dashboard collates data such that one can gain actionable insights from them.
To begin, open a board and click a card with these multiple custom fields for which you need graphical data. Next, click "Dashboard" and then click "Add chart". You will see that two dropdown menus - one for custom fields and for a chart type will appear. Select the custom field and the chart type which would best represent the data and click generate. You should see the graph generated showing data from each day.
You can make multiple graphs from the custom fields and gain actionable insights as to what your business needs. To put it into context
Company A specializes in sugar production, and they have three shifts in processing sugar each day. You want to know if sugar production is at an optimum level for each shift, and if not, which shifts should be rectified.
The amount of sugar obtained from shifts 1 - 3 can be inputted as custom fields. Once you generate the graphs, you can clearly see which shifts are not performing up to par at which time, and investigate how to improve this efficiency further.
What is the roadmap feature used for?
Project roadmaps provide a strategic overview of the major elements of a project. A project roadmap should include a project’s objectives, milestones, deliverables, resources, and planned timeline. Project Managers can use roadmaps both to communicate a project’s strategic objectives to stakeholders and as an ongoing reference guide to keep them on track with their project’s progress.
You can use the calendars to visualize your roadmap, also known as a GANTT chart. A GANTT chart is a chart that shows how long it takes to finish steps of certain task.
You can generate a GANTT chart by accessing your card first. Open a Board of your choice and click on a card. Then, click the "subtask" button above the "Description" box. Next, Click the “+” sign to add a new subtask to your card. For example, for an article you can put three steps: research topic, introduction, body, conclusion, and grammar-check.
Each of these subtasks can be modified accordingly on their tabs:
-The three lines to the left are for dragging it up and down
-the boxes beside the names are to check it off the list, thereby setting a completion date
- the circular icon (first of three from the end) enables you to set a target
- the calendar icon (second of three from the end) enables you to set a due date
- and the "+" icon at the end enables you to add extra members to the subtask.
If the tasks have been successfully finished, you can view tGANTT by clicking the "Roadmap" tab.
The tab will generate a bar chart with the list of tasks, when they were due and when they were completed. You can even move the bars if there are errors present.
A GANTT chart is useful for a variety of reasons. For example, you can show stakeholders how the project is progressing per day, or even identify obstacles to each subtask and reflect how they can be done better.
What are sub-tasks used for?
Under one of the tabs in our cards we have a tab called “sub-task”. You can create a checklist and set targets, due dates and also add users. You can even use "sub-task" to break up the work of a task into smaller parts or to help divide up the work among multiple people.
E-LEARNING
How do we upload our courses to Synergo?
We will help you upload your course onto Synergo. All you need to do is send us what materials you need us to upload.
Can the courses under "Learning" be shared to more than one user?
Yes - the admin can choose to assign users their own courses.
What kinds of learning materials can be uploaded to Synergo?
You can upload Videos and PDFs onto Synergo’s learning tab.
Can I upload course materials that tests an employee's skills and knowledge (e.g. multiple choice and open-based questions)?
Yes, you can also upload quizzes onto Synergo’s Learning tab. In fact, we provide both types of questions for our own employees!
What types of video files can we upload into our courses?
You can upload various types of videos on the platform, including MP4, MOV, and much more.
Can you connect the results from these learning courses to your personal KPIs?
Yes, of course! We link all our learning results to the "competency" component of a role so that we can see a person’s performance from goals and competencies.
Is there a limit for the number of admins in Synergo?
No, there are no limits to the number of admins.
What database does Synergo use?
We use SQL, a special-purpose programming language designed to handle data in a relational database management system.
How does calibration work in Synergo?
We don't do calibration. You would need to export your data out of our system, calibrate it manually, then import it back to our system to get the final score of an employee.
Why doesn't Synergo do calibration?
We believe that if someone gets a good score on the system, then that is the score that they deserve.
How does Synergo help clients who cannot calibrate their data?
Synergo does not provide calibration services to clients who cannot calibrate their data. However, by using our system there are several advantages over other systems:
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Since all data has already been gathered in one system, there is no need to gather data from different systems used from different departments within a company
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In addition, we also have 360 feed-back, that can be compared against a manager’s review to see if reviews are biased against an employee.
Does Synergo have any HRIS features as well?
We are still working on adding that to our platform in the long run, but as of now we are currently focused on developing payroll first.
OUR NEWEST FEATURE - SYGOCHAT
What is the main purpose of having a chat feature in the Synergo platform?
We wanted our users to be able to finish their tasks in a single consolidated platform without having to use other applications. Since everything is in one platform, work can be done in a more concise manner, too.
Can you make chat groups on the chat platform?
Yes. You can make groups(also called channels) and add members to each group, too.
What other features are included in this new chat feature?
You can add attachments, emojis, and gifs. The chat also allows you to pin messages and turn on and off notifications on specific chats & groups.
How can you tell which users are specifically online or offline?
Online users have a green dot next to their name, whereas offline users have a red one.
What is the size limit (in MB) for uploading attachments on Sygochat?
The maximum size for attachments on Sygochat is 8MB.
What makes Synergo's in-built chat different from other chat apps like Whatsapp and Telegram?
We also provide threads. Threads help you keep track of specific chats directly. Every time you add your own response via the “reply” button on a chat, you automatically “follow” the thread, and be notified of any updates for all the threads you follow.
Get a free consultation
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