Performance Reviews Overview
What Kit's Performance module is, the SOC 2 CC1.4/CC1.5 evidence wedge, and what's included.
Why It Matters
Documented performance reviews can support SOC 2 Type II evidence for competence (CC1.4) and accountability (CC1.5). Records include a stated review cadence, completed and dated employee reviews, and a completion tracker. The register helps check whether reviews cover 100% of staff when that is the scope required by your policy.
Kit’s Performance module runs the reviews and mints the evidence in the same motion. You run a review cycle (manager, self, and optional peer reviews against a structured template) and when you finalize it, Kit freezes one immutable, timestamped evaluation record per participant. The register, the per-person evidence PDF, and the Vanta-shaped CSV export are byproducts of work you were doing anyway, not a separate compliance project.
Note
Performance is included in Kit’s flat $8/seat plan: no separate module fee, no per-feature add-on, no minimum headcount.
Who It’s For
| Persona | Goal | Primary Pain |
|---|---|---|
| Founder / CTO | Pass SOC 2 CC1.4/CC1.5 without a dedicated HR stack | Review records are scattered and have to be gathered before an audit |
| People Lead / Manager | Run fair, consistent review cycles and finish them | Chasing reviewers in Slack; free-form docs with no structure; no completion visibility |
| Employee | Understand expectations, get credited for real work, keep a record | Reviews ignore shipped work; AI-era contributions (enablement, direction) go unseen |
The Core Loop
- Define a template: rating and competency questions on a 1–N scale, published before use (Templates and Questions)
- Create a cycle: “H1 2026”, pick a cadence, add participants; managers and self-reviews are assigned automatically (Review Cycles)
- Activate: the question set is frozen, reviewers are notified, and reviews open (Writing Reviews)
- Draft with AI (optional): evidence-based drafts from goals, prior reviews, and opt-in work signals; the reviewer checks the content and authorizes submission (AI-Drafted Reviews)
- Finalize: one immutable evaluation record per participant, then export the register for your auditor (SOC 2 Evidence and Exports)
What’s Included
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Review cycles | Annual, semi-annual, quarterly, or ad hoc; draft → active → finalized → archived lifecycle |
| Review templates | Versioned rating + text questions with optional competency tags, snapshotted at activation |
| 360-lite reviews | Manager + self-review by default, named peer reviewers on demand |
| Manager map | One report→manager edge per person seeds each cycle’s default reviewer |
| Goals and check-ins | Lightweight personal goals with progress check-ins that feed review evidence |
| AI-drafted reviews | Evidence-gathering drafts with a hard human-accountability gate; draft generation does not submit the review |
| Work signals (GitLab) | Opt-in, fetch-on-demand merged MRs and review activity cited in drafts; the digest of used signals is retained on the review |
| Evaluation register | The SOC 2 completion tracker: live progress while running, frozen snapshots once finalized |
| Immutable evidence records | Append-only, encrypted, timestamped snapshots per participant; updates and deletes are refused |
| Exports | Vanta-style CSV and branded PDF register, plus a per-person evaluation document PDF |
| Review reminders | Automatic nudge and last-call emails against the cycle due date |
| MCP tools + AI assistant | Seven MCP tools under performance_read/performance_write scopes, plus the in-app agent |
Quick Checklist
- Grant your team the Performance module in Team settings (the People Lead preset gets admin)
- Map managers in Performance > Managers
- Create and publish a review template in Performance > Templates
- Create your first cycle in Performance > Review cycles
- After finalizing, download the register CSV for your compliance folder
Next Steps
- Review Cycles: cadence, participants, and the cycle lifecycle
- SOC 2 Evidence and Exports: what your auditor samples and how Kit produces it