SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals

SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals runs review rounds, goals, 1:1 meetings and 360 feedback. It is an add-on to SAP’s larger HR system and can also be used on its own. SAP shows no price on its packages page. A UK reseller charges £2.53 per user per month for the first band. Its AI writing help and review summaries need a separate licence.

By Ashish Manchanda Published 16 Oct 2026 Last updated 16 Oct 2026

A performance product that runs reviews, goals and feedback

In one line

SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals covers review forms, goals, 1:1 meetings, rating meetings and 360 feedback. It belongs to SAP’s larger HR system. Its AI writing help and AI review summaries need an AI units licence.

Buy it if

You want goals, review forms, rating meetings and 360 feedback in one product. You want pay, succession and skills data from other SAP products to connect to the review. You want managers to get an AI summary of a year of feedback before a review. That summary needs the AI units licence.

Do not buy it if

You need AI review summaries saved on the form. You need AI writing help and review summaries without an extra licence.

Price

SAP shows no price on its packages page. A reseller sells it at £2.53 per user per month for 1 to 2,000 users. The rate falls as the number of users rises. Those are the reseller’s prices, not SAP’s own list prices.

Reviews, goals and 1:1s, and what the AI adds

SuccessFactors Performance & Goals is an AI-powered performance management product. It covers goals, real-time coaching and talent decisions. In a review round, employees and managers fill in an online form. They give ratings and comments on goals and competencies. A route map sets the steps and who takes part, from the employee and manager to an HR representative.

The form works out an overall rating from the goal and competency ratings. A setting called Allow manual rating lets a person type the overall rating. That rating replaces the calculated one. Admins can choose a prebuilt rating scale or create a new one. A screen called Stack Ranker lets a manager see all their direct reports’ competency ratings at once. It helps the manager spot top and low performers. The ranking updates as the manager gives ratings.

A rating review meeting, called calibration, is where leaders check ratings across teams. SAP’s calibration screen compares and adjusts team members’ ratings to standardise performance levels. Any change is written back to the source data it came from. 360 Reviews is a separate tool. It combines an employee’s own feedback with anonymous input from colleagues and outside people.

Goal Management lets an organisation manage, align and measure goals for people and teams. It also supports cascading goals from the company down to teams and people. It supports team goals, milestones and objectives and key results (OKRs). Continuous Performance Management gives managers and employees a place for 1:1 meetings. Users can keep private notes in the meeting view. A review form can display activities, achievements and feedback linked to goals. That data keeps updating after the form is completed.

Managers click a Generate button at the top of the latest form to get performance insights. The AI reads feedback, achievements and meeting notes from Continuous Performance Management. It also reads form comments in the goal, skill, competency and summary sections. It reads replies to Ask for Feedback requests too. It does not use data the manager cannot see, or comments the employee wrote. For a review period of one year or less, it uses all data created in that period. For a longer period, it uses form comments and feedback plus other sources from the most recent year. The result has five sections. They are Summary, Strengths, Notable Achievements and Contributions, Areas for Improvement and Actions, and Talking Points. The Areas for Improvement section suggests upskilling. With permission, managers can use it to generate development goals. The performance insights are Premium AI and need the AI units licence.

Writing help works inside comment boxes. Generate Comments suggests six topics when someone gives a rating and leaves the comment blank. It then writes a comment on the topic they pick. Improve My Feedback rewrites text already typed. People can compare several attempts in a separate dialog before they apply one. Translate converts text from US English into all 46 languages SuccessFactors supports. In 360 Reviews, AI sentiment analysis gives reviewers the sentiment behind raters’ feedback. AI-assisted insights summarise a Detailed 360 Report. Both 360 tools are Premium AI and need the AI units licence. So does AI-assisted writing.

SAP also offers AI agents inside its assistant, Joule. The Performance Preparation Agent gathers an employee’s goals, achievements and feedback. It turns them into talking points for 1:1s and reviews and recommends next steps. The Goal Progress and Goal Creation Agents are release highlights of the first half of 2026. A Feedback Discovery Agent captures conversational praise, contributions and areas of growth from daily collaboration. Joule can take managers to the Team Overview page. It can also create activities. It can request feedback from up to five people at a time. Ask whether the agents need the AI units licence.

Each AI tool has its own switch. AI Services Administration is the single place to set up and manage them. Assisted Writing has its own admin switch. Translation and Text Analyzer each have separate ones. Ask which of them are on in the demo.

Bias checks, linked pay and skills data, and no training for outside AI model makers

Bias checks sit inside the rating steps

EZ Rater puts official ratings and employee ratings side by side. It does this in goal, skill and competency sections, with the gaps between them. Legal Scan checks comment fields for improper or discriminatory language and highlights the words. It does not replace them. In a calibration session, a rule can trigger an alert that highlights the issue and suggests a fix. Each rule checks conditions on employee, talent flag and form fields. Managers and HR business partners can see where bias appears and which recommendations help them rate fairly. A Calibration Equity Agent looks for patterns of bias in ratings across sessions. Analyze Text scans each text box for bias and suggests replacement text. It is part of AI-assisted writing, which needs the AI units licence. Ask whether the Calibration Equity Agent needs that licence too.

Pay and skills data from other SAP products connect to the review form

If you also run SAP Compensation, forms can display pay information with a link to the Compensation form. With SAP’s Talent Intelligence Hub, a completed form updates the employee’s skills, competencies and their ratings in their Growth Portfolio. Ratings from the form also feed two AI tools. One is AI-assisted successor insights in SAP Succession Planning. The other is AI-assisted compensation insights in SAP Employee Central. Both are Premium AI and need the AI units licence. Calibration gathers performance, pay, succession and People Profile data in one system. It updates each item in its original source.

SAP does not share your data with outside AI companies for training

SAP does not give customer data to outside AI model makers to train their models. Thumbs up and thumbs down ratings on AI outputs are not used to train the AI system. SAP offers AI hosted and managed by SAP and trusted partners in European data centres. SAP designed those services to meet GDPR requirements. The reseller gives the data locations as the UK, the European Economic Area (EEA) and other places. Users control those locations.

What it connects to and who has used it

It works as an add-on or on its own, and takes staff data from a file

NTT DATA sells it as an add-on that extends the rest of SAP SuccessFactors. Staff data from an HR or payroll system reaches it through a flat file uploaded in Admin Center. That upload can be automated over SFTP, a standard secure file transfer.

Staff can reach it in Microsoft Teams and on a phone

Users can receive Performance Management notification cards in Microsoft Teams. That needs the SuccessFactors app for Microsoft Teams and a Performance & Goals licence. Feedback can be given and requested inside Joule and Microsoft Teams. Selected tools also work in the SuccessFactors Mobile application. They include AI-assisted writing and AI-assisted performance insights in the latest experience. Both need the AI units licence.

Standard Chartered rolled out its AI tools to 85,000 employees in three months

Standard Chartered rolled out AI-enabled tools in Performance & Goals to 85,000 employees in three months. Early survey results at the bank were 36% more perceived ease in writing goals. They were 30% more in writing feedback. Nearly 50% more employees received more than four pieces of continuous feedback in a quarter.

It links to Qualtrics surveys and builds its own reports

A Qualtrics link lets customers request feedback from employees and managers. This happens at steps at the end of a performance review. Performance Management data can be reported with Story reports and Table reports.

Where it stops

AI writing help and review summaries need an extra licence

Premium AI tools need an AI units licence. Generative AI tools count as Premium AI. So do Joule messages above a customer’s yearly allowance. AI-assisted writing and AI-assisted performance insights both need the licence. AI-assisted people insights cost 0.2 AI units for each Employee Insight. An Employee Insight is one summary a manager creates for one employee. AI-assisted writing costs 0.01 units for each action. SAP includes Joule Base in standard cloud subscriptions without limits or additional cost. SAP also includes a set number of Joule messages a year with SuccessFactors Cloud Services. That number runs from 240,000 for 1 to 5,000 users to 9,600,000 above 75,000 users. Ask SAP whether Joule Base is unlimited for you. Ask whether messages count against that allowance.

AI review summaries work for the manager only and cannot be saved

The insights cannot be saved on the form or included in its print version. Only the Manager role on the route map can use them. The form must be in the manager’s Inbox at the Modify stage and not delegated. They need the latest form experience. Generate Comments and Improve My Feedback also work only in the latest form experience. They do not work in custom text areas. AI-assisted writing needs some input from the person, such as a rating or their own text, before it writes anything. When users choose an AI tool, a message warns of possible inaccuracies. It recommends they review all AI-generated content before completing work.

Calibration leaves out Variable Pay and 360 data

Calibration covers only four kinds of ratings. The four are Performance, People Profile, Succession and Compensation. It does not cover Variable Pay or 360 Reviews data. SAP’s calibration does not support normalisation. Ask SAP what it means by normalisation and what its calibration does instead. One setting gives the last person in the review chain the final say over the official rating. 360 Reviews is an independent development tool. It is not tied directly to pay or promotion decisions.

SAP may use customer data to improve its products

Where permitted, SAP may use customer data to help innovate and improve its products. Under SAP’s product development schedule, SAP may use customer data. The use is for general product research and development. Using AI tools may involve international transfers of customer data. Switching AI tools on means the customer acknowledges those transfers.

You own the legal checks

Each customer remains responsible for checking the legal requirements. Each customer also remains responsible for using the tools within the rules that apply. SAP asks customers to check their legal and regulatory framework before they switch on AI-assisted goal creation.

What it costs and how the contract runs

SAP shows a Request a quote button and no price on its packages page. A reseller called NTT DATA Business Solutions has a price list for Performance & Goals. It is on the UK government’s G-Cloud 15 marketplace and dated 28 January 2026. SAP sells its HCM Base package per user, with a minimum order of 1 user. The premium package has a minimum of 500 users.

The reseller charges per user per month in pounds. The rate is £2.53 for 1 to 2,000 users. It falls in steps to £0.57 above 200,000 users. A user is an individual with a unique active profile whose data the cloud service processes. Prices exclude VAT. They rise 3.3% on each contract anniversary. Solution support is not included in the subscription. Discounts are available on request.

The same list sells a Pay for Performance package. It combines Compensation with Performance & Goals. It costs £2.93 per user per month for 1 to 2,000 users. That falls to £1.22 above 200,000 users.

Under SAP’s sample cloud order form, the subscription renews automatically for 36-month terms, unless the order form provides otherwise. Notice not to renew is at least one month from the customer. From SAP it is at least six months. Fees are invoiced yearly in advance, unless the order form provides otherwise. SAP may increase fees for Cloud Services, Cloud Credits and AI Units as set out in the order form.

The reseller gives the standard monthly availability of the production service as 99.7%. In a 30-day month that allows about two hours of downtime. At the end of the agreement SAP will delete the customer data left on its servers. The law may require it to keep some. The customer has to extract the data before the contract ends. Extra costs apply if the customer needs help from SAP or a partner.

SAP’s 30-day basic trial covers SAP SuccessFactors HCM in English. Some AI tools, such as Joule, are outside it. The reseller offers a free trial too. Under its G-Cloud entry, customers are always on the latest version because the upgrade is mandatory.

You could also run review steps with agents built on your own systems. We have mapped what that looks like. The HR Agent Map

Questions for SAP or a reseller

Which SAP package holds Performance & Goals, and how many users must we buy at least? Good answer: A named package, a price per user and a minimum, all written on the quote.
Can we buy Performance & Goals without Employee Central or another SAP product? Good answer: A written answer that includes every product the quote needs.
Do Calibration, 360 Reviews and Continuous Performance Management come with the Performance & Goals licence? Good answer: Each one is written on the order form with its price.
How many people count as a user? Good answer: A written definition that covers staff who never log in.
How many AI units do we get, and what does an extra unit cost? Good answer: A yearly allowance in writing and a price for each unit above it.
Do the Calibration Equity Agent, the Joule agents and AI-assisted goal creation need the AI units licence? Good answer: A written list of every AI tool that uses units, and the units each one uses.
Is Joule Base unlimited for us, or do Joule messages count against the yearly allowance? Good answer: One written rule for Joule messages, and the price above the allowance.
Can you limit the yearly fee rise? Good answer: A maximum rise, as a percentage, in the order form.
Can we shorten the 36-month renewal term or lengthen our window to give notice? Good answer: A shorter term or a longer window, written into the order form.
What does leaving cost, and how do we get our review data out? Good answer: A file format, a date and a fixed price for help from SAP or a partner.
Will you write the 99.7% monthly availability into our contract, and pay money back if SAP falls short? Good answer: The figure and the refund terms, both in the order form.
Where are our review data stored and processed when AI tools are on? Good answer: A named region for each step, and the choice to stay in the UK or EEA.
Can a manager keep an AI review summary in the review record? Good answer: A way to save it, or a clear rule on where managers may keep it.

Alternatives to SAP SuccessFactors

The alternatives are Workday, ADP, BambooHR, Betterworks and Lattice. Buying nothing is an option too. SAP’s 30-day basic trial of SAP SuccessFactors HCM, in English, gives a way to test first.

Workday and ADP sell their performance tools inside larger HR systems. Workday’s Performance Reviews sit under its Human Capital Management area. ADP’s Performance and Compensation Management tools sit within its Workforce Now Talent Management system. Workday’s Talent Optimization product has an agent that drafts data-backed reviews, feedback, check-ins and goals. Its Sana Coach product enters early access with capabilities in performance reviews, feedback and talent sentiment. Workday charges for AI through Flex Credits. Flex Credits charge for the work AI completes, not for the number of employees. ADP Workforce Now Performance Management asks you to log in to see the price.

BambooHR is a platform for small and mid-sized businesses. Its price card puts the Pro plan at $17 per employee per month. Its FAQ puts the starting price at $17.50. Pro includes 360 review cycles and 1:1 meetings. Ask BambooHR in writing which Pro price applies to you.

Betterworks and Lattice publish their prices on their websites. Betterworks designed its Performance Management product for mid-market and enterprise organisations. Its Performance package costs $8 per user per month. The $9 Performance + Talent Intelligence package adds Anytime Calibration, Succession & Talent Mobility and Skills Intelligence. Its Enterprise package is a custom quote. Lattice Performance costs $10 per seat per month, with a $4,000 minimum annual agreement. It includes Calibration, Succession Planning and Promotions. Its Foundations package costs $13 per seat per month. Lattice bills in US dollars only.

More in this guide

The Performance management software guide
Compare the 33 researched products how each of the 33 researched performance management products runs reviews, what its AI does, what it costs and what its contract says.
Mid-market companies which performance management products suit a company of 200 to 2,000 people, what they cost and what to ask before signing.
Enterprise companies which performance management products suit a company of 2,000 people or more, what they cost, how the contracts run and what to ask.
Frontline and deskless teams how performance reviews reach staff who do not work at a desk, what that costs and what to ask vendors.