ry level to Fully essful if a critical element is failed.) ? CAN GREATLY AFFECT THE SUMMARY LEVEL Sometimes the word “non-critical” is interpreted to mean “not as important.” Prior to 1995, this interpretation was pr escribed by regulation. Now, how- ever, depending on how an appraisal pro- gram is designed, this need not be the case. Even though consideration of non-critical elements cannot result in assigning an eptable summary level, appraisal programs can be designed so that non-criti- cal elements have as much weight or more weight than critical elements in determining summary levels above eptable. BEFORE YOU CAN USE NON-CRITICAL ELEMENTS IN EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE PLANS, YOU MUST DETERMINE IF YOUR APPRAISAL PROGRAM ALLOWS THEM. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 9