This article explains how to open a new compensation plan (period) on the Compensation Management screen, complete its four-step setup and start it. Users with the COMPENSATION_MANAGE permission do this.
What a compensation plan does: you set a raise range for each performance score, give every employee a score and choose who enters the raise proposals. Once the plan starts, evaluators enter each employee's new salary proposal within the range of the employee's score, the proposals go through approval, and when you close the period the approved salaries are written to the personnel records.
Before you start
Employees must have a branch, department and position. Evaluators are assigned through this structure.
If proposals should go through approval, define approvers per department on Configuration > Compensation management > Approval process: Compensation (Approval Process). In departments without an approval process, a proposal counts as approved as soon as it is sent for approval.
Only one plan can be active per year. If this year's plan is active, close it before opening a new one.
Step by step
In the left menu, go to Pay and expenses > Compensation.
Click Create Plan at the top right and click Create in the window that opens. The plan is created for the current year in Draft status (e.g. "Period 1 – 2026") and the Compensation plan window opens.
The step bar at the top of the window (Performance scale, Employees, Evaluators, Review) stays in place while you scroll; the Back, Continue and Close buttons are always at the bottom of the window. Each step is saved: if you close the window with Close, the plan stays a draft and you continue where you left off with ⋮ > Edit in the plan list.
In the Performance scale step, set the raise range for each performance score:
On each row, enter a Score name (e.g. Exceeds expectations; max 50 characters), a Minimum raise and a Maximum raise (percent, 0 to 100). A line under the row explains it, for example "Employees with this score are proposed a raise between 8% and 15%."
Click Add score for a new row. At least one score is required; a name cannot be used twice and the maximum raise cannot be lower than the minimum. A missing or wrong field is shown in red on its row.
Click Save and continue. The scale is saved and the Employees step opens.
If an evaluator proposes a raise outside the range of the employee's score, they must write a justification. To remove a score that employees already have, give those employees another score first; otherwise the score is not removed.
The Employees step lists every active employee of your company. Give each employee a performance score:
Choose the score in the row's Performance score field; it is saved at once.
For many employees, choose a score in Give to everyone without a score and click Apply. Everyone without a score gets it; then change the ones that differ.
The row of an employee without a current salary shows Salary missing. When you choose a score for this employee, the Edit Employee Information window opens; fill in Current Salary, Currency and Salary Type and click Save. The bulk action skips these employees.
With Edit in the row's ⋮ menu you can change the current salary and the Sector Salary Average. The information you enter here is not transferred to the employee's personnel records. For an employee without a branch or a department/position, the same menu also shows Assign Branch and Assign Department/Position.
Use Search employees to find someone by name.
Continue opens once every employee has a score; until then the note next to it says that some employees have no score yet.
In the Evaluators step, choose who enters the raise proposals. In the company organizational structure, click Assign on the company, branch, department or employee row, pick the person in Select Evaluator in the Assign Evaluator window and click Save. Each assignment is saved at once.
Work from the highest level to the lowest: an assignment at a higher level (e.g. company) overrides all assignments at lower levels (e.g. department). Continue opens once at least one evaluator is assigned.
In the Review step, check the setup: the scores of the performance scale and their ranges, the number of employees and whether anyone has no score, the company-wide evaluator and how many employees have no evaluator. No raise is proposed for employees without an evaluator. To change a part, click Edit on its card.
Click Start plan.
Result
The plan becomes Active and the message "The plan has started. Evaluators can enter raise proposals." appears. The people you assigned as evaluators get the COMPENSATION_BASIC permission automatically; they see the employees assigned to them on Pay and expenses > Compensation and enter raise proposals (Enter and approve raise proposals). A proposal goes to approval; an approved proposal becomes Approved or Revised and Approved, a rejected one becomes Rejected and can be corrected and sent again. When you close the period, the approved salaries are written to the employees' personnel records (Close the period). Starting the plan sends no email or notification; let your evaluators know that the plan is open.
From the plan's ⋮ menu in the plan list you can use:
Edit (continues the setup where you left off) and Delete for a Draft plan (deleting removes the plan together with its employees, performance scores, evaluator assignments and proposals),
Close Period for an Active plan,
Reopen Period for a Closed plan,
View in every status (the steps cannot be changed; move through them with Next and Back).
Common problems
Symptom: "There is already an active period" warning.
Cause: There is an active plan for this year.
Solution: Close the current plan first (Close the period).
Symptom: Continue is disabled in the Employees step.
Cause: At least one active employee has no performance score.
Solution: Choose a score for the employees whose Performance score field is empty, or use Give to everyone without a score.
Symptom: An "incomplete salary" warning after the bulk action.
Cause: These employees have no current salary, currency or salary type.
Solution: Choose their score in the row, fill in the missing fields in the Edit Employee Information window and click Save.
Symptom: A removed score comes back after Save and continue.
Cause: Employees already have this score.
Solution: Give those employees another score, then remove the score again.
Symptom: The Evaluators step says "No company structure found".
Cause: No branch and department structure is defined.
Solution: Set up your organizational structure first.