Many enterprises recognize that the value of their employee performance management processes increases significantly when supporting EPM systems are well integrated with other talent management components.

The four key EPM schemas in the HR-XML 3.0 library are:

DevelopmentPlan. Supports the communication of a training or development plan. A common use might be the transfer of training or learning information from a performance management system to a learning management system. May include references to associated learning objects (courses, developmental tools, etc.) and objectives or achievement standards.

EPMResult. Defines a result from an employee performance management (EPM) process or "appraisal". An appraisal typically consists of a number of sections, including an overall rating or score, competency ratings, objective ratings, and other ratings (e.g., "core values" is an example of a section within some appraisals outside of the competency or objectives section). Also includes result metadata, such as appraisal dates, "prepared by," etc. Note that EPM is an HR-XML approved abbreviation for "Employee Performance Management".

ObjectivesPlan. Supports the specification of objectives, groups of objectives, and related metrics and metadata. Used in integration of such systems as compensation management, business performance management, employee performance management, and project management systems.

ObjectivesResult. Contains information about results, against an objective plan (See ObjectivesPlan noun). Essentially, the same information can be communicated within EPMResult, which is a superset of information that can be reported within employee performance reports. ObjectivesResult is offered as a separate noun for integrations that may not involve the broad array of information available within EPMResult.

Information for provisioning EPM systems can be found at EPMPartipant noun.