Succession Hub FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Succession Hub.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Succession Hub Overview.
Setup
Do I need to enable anything before Succession Hub works?
Yes. Succession Hub requires a license and is disabled by default. An admin enables it from Admin → Apps → All Apps. Once enabled, five core modules turn on automatically: Leadership Pipeline, Succession Planning, Leadership Assessment, Executive Dashboard, and Development Tracking. Two additional modules — Advanced Analytics and Transition Planning — stay off until you enable them individually in Settings. Board reports need no module: they are always available under Analytics → Reports.
What is the minimum setup to get useful data on the dashboard?
Create at least one critical role and add at least one succession candidate to it. A critical role with no candidates produces a coverage-gap alert but contributes nothing to the bench-strength or readiness metrics. The role and a candidate must both exist before the dashboard reflects meaningful data.
Permissions and access
Who can see and manage succession data?
Succession Hub enforces three access tiers:
- Function tier — admins, Succession Hub’s app administrators, and anyone named a Contributor on Succession Hub’s Admins & Contributors page (Admin → Apps). Sees all succession data across the organization and can create, edit, and delete plans, roles, candidates, assessments, and programs.
- Manager tier — any manager who is not in the function tier. Read-only access to high-potential, assessment, and candidacy records of their own direct reports only. No Succession, Development, or Analytics tabs are shown.
- Employee tier — everyone else. Sees only their own My Profile page.
An admin can also admit specific groups to the function tier under Settings → Who can access the succession pipeline? The default admits no one beyond admins, app administrators, and Contributors.
Who can change Settings?
Only an admin or one of Succession Hub’s app administrators can open the Settings page. Contributors, and people admitted through Who can access the succession pipeline?, maintain succession data but cannot change Settings.
Day-to-day
What is bench strength and how is it scored?
Bench strength measures how well a critical role is covered by succession candidates. The app classifies each plan as:
- Weak — no active candidates at all
- Insufficient — fewer active candidates than the plan’s minimum, or enough candidates but none of them Ready Now or Ready in 1 Year
- Adequate — 1 candidate who is Ready Now or Ready in 1 Year
- Strong — 2 candidates who are Ready Now or Ready in 1 Year
- Excellent — 3 or more candidates who are Ready Now or Ready in 1 Year
The minimum number of successors defaults to 2 and is set on each plan (Minimum Successors Required on the plan’s form). A critical role’s risk level uses its plan’s minimum too.
What readiness levels can a candidate have?
There are five: Ready Now, Ready in 1 Year, Ready in 2 Years, Ready in 3 Years, and Development Needed. Readiness feeds the bench-strength dashboard, coverage analytics, and the talent pipeline flow (Ready Now / Ready Soon / Developing, where Ready Soon is the Ready in 1 Year band). HR sets each candidate’s readiness level, and optionally a readiness score, on the candidacy — they are not calculated from performance data. Employees see their candidacies on active plans only — a candidacy on a draft plan stays hidden from them until the plan is made active.
How many leadership assessment types are there?
There are 11 types: 360° Feedback, Leadership Competency Assessment, Potential Assessment, Performance Review, Succession Readiness, Leadership Potential, Role Readiness, Competency Assessment, Self Assessment, Manager Assessment, and External Assessment. Each type has its own competency set. Competency scores are on a 0–100 scale, and the overall score is the average across all competencies rated. An assessment’s Potential Score and Readiness Score are recorded separately by the assessor.
How does Succession Hub use Performance Management data?
On the 9-Box Matrix, each person’s place on the performance axis comes from their latest completed Performance Management review; where they have none, it comes from the most recent performance rating recorded on their leadership assessments, and with neither they are placed in the middle performance band. The matrix also shows that review’s competency gaps against the person’s job-title requirements, when the job title has any. Succession Hub reads this live — it does not copy or sync it. Performance data does not set readiness levels or readiness scores; HR sets those on each candidacy. Settings → Integrations shows which related apps are enabled for your organization; it has no on/off switches.
What types of talent pools can I create?
There are three types: Diversity, Skills-based, and Saved Group. Skills-based pools have an Auto-Populate button that adds employees whose skill proficiency meets the pool’s requirements; it adds people each time you press it and never removes anyone, so review the pool when skills change. Members are otherwise added by hand.
What succession review types exist?
Five: Quarterly, Annual, Board Review, Ad Hoc, and Emergency. Each review tracks findings, recommendations, and action items. The next review date is calculated automatically — 3 months for quarterly, 1 year for annual, 3 months for board reviews, and none for emergency reviews.
What transition types does Succession Hub support?
If the Transition Planning module is enabled, you can create transitions of four types: Planned, Emergency, Promotion, and Lateral Move. Each transition tracks the outgoing and incoming employees, milestone timeline, knowledge-transfer plan, communication plan, and risk mitigations. A transition’s health status is computed from milestone completion versus elapsed time: On Track, Minor Issues, At Risk, or Critical Issues.
When something looks wrong
Why can’t I see the Succession, Development, or Analytics tabs?
Those tabs are visible only to the function tier — admins, Succession Hub’s app administrators, Contributors, and any groups named under Settings → Who can access the succession pipeline? Managers see only the Talent tab (scoped to their own reports). Regular employees see My Profile, and the Pipeline Health page only when the Advanced Analytics module is on and they are allowed by Settings → Who can see the Pipeline Health page? (default: app administrators only). Ask your admin to check those two access settings.
I set up a critical role but the dashboard still shows no bench-strength data — why?
A critical role alone does not contribute to bench-strength metrics. You must also add at least one succession candidate to the role’s plan. Until both exist, the dashboard treats the pipeline as empty for that role.
My employees say they cannot see their succession profile — what is wrong?
Employees see their own profile at Succession Hub → My Profile. If it is not showing, check that the app is enabled for your organization and that the employee has access. The app’s audience settings may exclude certain groups.
Why did a notification not go out for a coverage gap?
First check that the Coverage Gap Alerts toggle is on in Settings → Notifications. The alert sent when a succession plan is marked as needing an emergency successor goes to the plan’s creator and to the group chosen for Coverage Gap Alerts under Default Recipients; with nobody to tell, it goes to the Succession Hub admins, then to the business admins. The scheduled high-risk role and upcoming vacancy alerts use the same group and are not sent at all while no group is chosen — the Default Recipients card shows a warning naming them. Choose a group there to start them.
Readiness change emails are not being sent — what should I check?
Readiness-change notifications are off by default (unlike most other notification types). Go to Settings → Notifications and confirm the Readiness Change Alerts toggle is on, and that the direction you expect is ticked under Alert On (moves toward Ready Now are on by default; moves toward Development Needed are off). They go to the candidate’s assessor and nominator, plus the recipient group if you set one — never to the candidate.
Licensing and limits
Does Succession Hub require a license?
Yes. It is licensed and opt-in per tenant. An admin enables it from Admin → Apps → All Apps; it is disabled by default until then.
Are there limits I should know about?
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Minimum successors per plan | Default 2, editable on each plan |
| Assessment template competencies | Up to 20 per template |
| Assessment template questions | Up to 100 per template |
| Assessment template duration | Up to 180 minutes |
| Succession plan templates — minimum candidates | 1–10 |
| Readiness score range | 0–100 |
| Retention-risk score range | 0–100 |
| Candidate fit score range | 0–100 |
| Candidate rank | Must be greater than 0 |
| Development plan target date | Cannot be more than 5 years in the future |
| Performance Improvement Plan extensions | Maximum 2 extensions |
| Assessment currency | Considered current for 6 months |
| Analytics data retention | No automatic purge — data is retained indefinitely |
| Report export formats | PDF and CSV |
More help
- Succession Hub Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Succession Hub questions from these articles.