In this article, you’ll learn how to access and interpret Private Manager Assessment results in a review cycle. Private Manager Assessment (PMA) reporting gives you visibility into how managers assessed their direct reports in the review cycle—providing critical insight into performance, potential, and other talent indicators. This data is especially valuable for HR teams and leaders who want to make informed decisions around promotions, succession planning, compensation, and development opportunities.
This article contains the following sections:
- Visibility into PMA Results 👀
- How to Use the PMA Report 📊
- How to Use the PMA Question Details Page 🔍
- Available Downloads 📥
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
Access and availability
⛔️ Required access to Best-Self Review® Reporting.
👥 This article is relevant to Review admins, Cycle collaborators, and Managers.
📦 This feature is available in the Perform and Total Platform pricing packages.
Tip
In addition to Private Manager Assessment reporting, you can analyze PMA results using the talent matrix. 15Five's Talent Matrix is a visualization tool within Best-Self Review® that's used alongside the Private Manager Assessment to help HR teams and managers easily identify high and low performers.
Visibility into PMA Results 👀
- Review Admins and Cycle Collaborators can view PMA results for all participants in the review cycle.
- Managers can view PMA results for their direct reports.
- If hierarchy visibility is enabled in Best-Self Review® feature settings, skip-level managers can also access PMA results for employees within their reporting hierarchy.
How to Use the PMA Report
The Private Manager Assessment (PMA) Results report helps you visualize the distribution of PMA answers across participants in a review cycle. Use the steps below to access and analyze these results.
Note
PMA reporting updates in real time as manager reviews are submitted or edited. For guidance on the best time to pull reports, refer to the FAQs at the bottom of this article.
- Click Performance in 15Five's main, left-hand navigation and select Best-Self Review® from the dropdown menu.
- Open the relevant review cycle.
- Open the Company's results or Team's results tab. The tab you see will depend on whether or not you have an administrative role in the review cycle.
- You'll land on the Summary tab of review results. Scroll down to the Private Manager Assessment Results section.
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Apply filters to narrow your view and analyze results for specific employee cohorts.
- Use the People filter to view results for your direct reports, your hierarchy, or specific individuals, groups, or manager groups.
- Use the Demographics & People Data filter to view results by demographic attribute (Age, Ethnicity, Gender, Race, or Salary) segments.
Tip
Save time and ensure consistent reporting by clicking Presets > Save Current as Preset to store your selected People and Demographics filters. HR admins can share presets with one another to standardize reporting across cycles. Learn more about filter presets →
- You can also use the Compare By Attribute dropdown at the top of the PMA results table to analyze results side-by-side by demographic segments.
- Review the distribution of PMA responses. Hover over any answer section to view how many participants received that response.
- To drill down into a specific question, click the three dots to its right and select View all answers. This opens the PMA Question Details page. Continue to the next section of this article to learn more about using this page.
How to Use the PMA Question Details Page
The PMA Question Details page allows you to view, compare, and analyze data for individual Private Manager Assessment questions. This is especially helpful for understanding how managers are assessing employees on topics like promotion readiness, growth potential, or other key talent signals.
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Select the question. At the top of the page, you'll see the text of the selected PMA question, along with question details. Use the dropdown to switch to another PMA question within the same review cycle.
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Apply filters to narrow your view. Just below the question, you can apply filters to customize the results.
- Groups filter: Focus on a specific group, such as your hierarchy or a department.
- Review cycles filter: Select one or more review cycles to view results from.
- Answer filter: Choose a specific response to analyze (e.g., filter to only show "Yes" answers for promotion readiness).
- From the question details page, you can access three reports that allow you to analyze results in different ways. Use the dropdowns below to learn more about these reports.
Answer Distribution
Explore how responses to a specific PMA question are distributed, and drill into participant-level data.This report allows you to see the full distribution of answers to a particular question, including how managers responded about individual team members.
Here's how to use it:
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View answer distribution. Use the bar chart to see the percentage of employees who received each possible response from their manager.
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Filter the report. Click on an answer in the bar chart to filter the Individuals table below to only include participants who received that answer.
- Review individual data. Use the Individuals table to examine participant-level results. Each row shows the participant's name, the review writer, the answer they received, and the date the review was submitted.
Compare Groups
Break down and compare responses across key segments.Use this report to compare PMA answers across different manager teams, hierarchies, or group types to uncover patterns and disparities.
Here's how to use it:
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Adjust filters. In addition to the Groups, Review cycles, and Answer filters available in every PMA report, the Compare Groups tab includes additional options to help focus your analysis.
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Use the View by filter to group results by Manager, Hierarchy, or Group type.
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Use the Sort by filter to sort results alphabetically or by positivity of responses.
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Interpret the chart. The bar chart shows what percentage of each group received each answer option.
Tip
Hover over any color segment to see how many people received that response.
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Review individual data. The Individuals table lists participants in the selected groups and how their managers answered the selected PMA question. Use column headers to sort results as needed.
Trends Over Time
Track how responses to a specific PMA question change across multiple review cycles.Use this report to identify trends and shifts in how a question is being answered over time—helping you understand whether things are improving, declining, or staying the same.
Here's how to use it:
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Select review cycles. Use the Review cycles filter at the top of the page to select two or more cycles to compare.
Note
To view company-wide trends, you must be a review admin or cycle collaborator for all selected cycles.
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Interpret the trend graph. The line chart shows how answers to the selected PMA question have changed from one cycle to the next. Each point on the line represents a review cycle.
Tip
Hover over a point to see the overall distribution of answers for that cycle.
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Review individual data. The Individuals table lists all participants included in the selected review cycles and the answers they received. If a participant was reviewed in multiple cycles, they’ll appear more than once—once for each response. Use column headers to sort data as needed.
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View answer distribution. Use the bar chart to see the percentage of employees who received each possible response from their manager.
Tip
Not sure which report to use? Check out the FAQs below for real-world use cases and examples that show when to use each PMA report—Answer Distribution, Compare Groups, or Trends Over Time.
Available Downloads 📥
Review Summary Page
Includes the distribution of answers given to PMA questions about participants that match selected filters. Allows you to see how many people fall into each answer option for each question in the assessment.
- To download this report, click Download next to 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' on the results summary page.
- Columns included in this download: Question number, Question text, Question type, Review cycles, Review cycles count, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
- Participant-specific data isn't included in this download. It is an overview of all Private Manager Assessment responses. Keep in mind that PMAanswers can change due to manager edits or calibration sessions. You may need to re-run your download once all changes are final.
Includes how the question was answered for each participant included in the download, as well as other cycle-specific performance data for participants.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table and select 'Download all answers as CSV/XLSX' from the dropdown menu.
- Columns included in this download: First name, Last name, Is group admin for, Manager first name, Manager last name, Respondent first name, Respondent last name, Review type, Question, Question visibility, Question group names, Answer, Optional text answer, Date submitted, Review cycle name, Section type, Rating
Answer Distribution Report
Allows you to see what number of participants received each answer to a PMA question.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the answer distribution table.
- Columns included in this download: Question number, Question text, Question type, Review cycles, Review cycles count, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
Includes a list of all participants who received a specific answer to a PMA question.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the individuals table.
- Columns included in this download: Participant, Review writer, Review type, Answer, Review cycle, Date answered
Compare Groups Report
Allows you to see how many people within each group on the compare groups chart received each answer to the PMA question. This download changes based on the filters chosen on the 'Compare groups' tab.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Compare groups' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the compare groups table.
- Columns included in this download: Group/Manager name, Group/Manager ID, Group/Manager number, Question text, Question type, Review cycles, Review cycles count, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
Includes a list of all participants that received a specific answer to a PMA question.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Compare groups' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the individuals table.
- Columns included in this download: Participant, Review writer, Review type, Answer, Review cycle, Date answered
Trends Over Time Report
Allows you to see how answer distribution changed for the question across selected cycles.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Trends over time' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the trends over time table.
- Columns included in this download: Review cycle, Review cycle ID, Review cycle count, Review cycle start date, Review cycle end date, Question text, Question type, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
Shows each participant and the answer they received to the PMA question across selected review cycles.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's Private Manager Assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Trends over time' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the individuals table.
- Columns included in this download: Participant, Review writer, Review type, Answer, Review cycle, Comment, Date answered
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
Reports should ideally be pulled after manager reviews are finalized. Keep in mind:
- Managers can edit Private Manager Assessment (PMA) answers until results are shared with the participant.
- If calibration sessions are part of the cycle, answers can be edited until the Manager Reviews milestone is complete.
- During active calibrations, contributors can adjust answers throughout the session.
Tip
Because answers may change during the review process, reports pulled early might not reflect final responses. For accurate analysis, wait until the cycle is locked.
For default PMA questions, colors reflect sentiment:
- Red = Negative answers
- Green = Positive answers
- Gray = Neutral answers
For custom PMA questions, all responses appear in neutral blue, since 15Five cannot determine sentiment without predefined scales.
The Talent Matrix is a powerful visualization tool within 15Five's Best-Self Review® that helps HR teams make informed decisions around compensation, succession planning, and promotions.
It combines Private Manager Assessment (PMA) answers with a Performance x Potential framework. Each employee is plotted on a 9-box grid using selected PMA questions, competency ratings, and performance data—making it easy to identify top performers, rising stars, and those who may need support. Learn how to use the Talent Matrix →
Note
PMA answers are a key input for the Talent Matrix—ensure manager assessments are complete and calibrated before generating the visualization.
Example 1: Assessing team sentiment
Compare how different departments or teams score on questions like, "Given how well I know [Name] works with others, I would always want them on my team."
You might notice:
- Marketing & Product Marketing scored 100% positive—what's working well?
- Sales had 33% low scores—what trends might explain this?
This helps identify strengths and coaching opportunities across teams.
Example 2: Exploring subgroup performance
Use filters to explore intersections like: San Francisco Office + Marketing vs. San Francisco Office + Revenue Organization.
This helps you see whether certain combinations of group memberships lead to better performance. Use Sort by to find top and bottom-performing segments, then scroll down to view individual results.
Example 3: Tracking performance across multiple cycles
If you've completed several review cycles:
- Use Review cycle filters to view group performance in one vs. all cycles.
- Identify consistent top performers or outliers.
- Cross-reference with metrics like Objectives or 15Five submissions.
Use this to spot trends, momentum shifts, or teams needing additional support.
Use this report when you want to dive into how a single PMA question was answered across the organization. Here are some questions you might ask:
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Are there any standout responses—either unusually low or high?
For example, are several participants receiving the lowest rating for a question like “[Name] is at risk for low performance”? If so, is that signal isolated or widespread? -
How many employees are being rated as top performers for a key competency?
You might be preparing for succession planning or promotions. Use this report to identify how many individuals received top ratings on questions related to leadership potential or ownership. -
Which individuals received mixed scores across questions or teams?
By filtering the Individuals table by each answer option, you can zoom in on cases where scoring may need calibration follow-up.Tip
For a visual view of how employees are performing across competencies, use the Talent Matrix in Best-Self Review®. It combines Private Manager Assessment data with performance ratings, helping you quickly identify high performers, rising stars, and those in need of support. Learn how to use the Talent Matrix →
Use this report when you're interested in change over time, especially across multiple review cycles. Questions to ask:
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Are managers becoming more (or less) confident in their assessments?
If more neutral or uncertain responses are showing up over time, it may indicate a need for clearer expectations or manager training. -
Is manager sentiment improving for specific individuals or groups?
Use this report to spot upward trends in scores for people who have been coached or supported after a prior cycle. -
Are we seeing consistent ratings for high performers—or regression?
If a consistently top-rated team member suddenly drops in score, it could signal burnout, disengagement, or performance issues that merit attention. -
Do organizational shifts (e.g., reorgs or new leadership) align with changes in PMA answers?
A dip or spike in scores across a specific cycle might reflect broader organizational changes.