Guidelines & Thresholds
Overview
Guidelines & Thresholds are an optional feature used in roughly 30% of comp cycles. They allow you to configure rules that automatically pre-populate employees' raises when the cycle launches — most commonly based on performance rating.
How Guidelines Work
A guideline defines a rule: when we launch the cycle, pre-populate this field with this value for these employees. You can create multiple guidelines in a single cycle (e.g., one for merit increases, one for promotions).
Each guideline has a label (e.g., "Merit Increase") for your own reference — this label does not appear inside the live cycle.
Configuration Options
Who Does the Guideline Apply To?
Default is all eligible employees, but you can scope it. For example, a merit increase guideline might exclude employees who are being promoted, since their raise will be handled separately.
What Field Gets Pre-Populated?
Choose the field in the cycle that the guideline should write a value into (e.g., Base Annualized raise %).
Target Value vs. Target Value and Range
Almost always use Target Value only. The target is what gets pre-populated. The range option is rarely used.
Does the Calculation Depend on Field Values?
No — same for everyone: Pre-populate every eligible employee with the same value. Example: pre-populate everyone at 3%.
Yes — varies by field value: The most common setup. Pre-populate based on performance rating (or another field). Example:
Rating | Pre-Populated Raise |
|---|---|
Outstanding | 5% |
Effective | 3% |
Under | 1% |
Pre-Populate Checkbox
You must check the Pre-Populate checkbox for the guideline to actually write values into the cycle at launch. If unchecked, the guideline is configured but won't do anything.
Flags (Thresholds)
You can optionally set a flag value on a guideline. The flag defines an acceptable range around the pre-populated value.
Example: Pre-populated raise is 3%, flag is set to 2. Managers can enter any value, but if they go below 1% or above 5% (3% ± 2), the cell will be highlighted to signal the entry is outside the recommended range.
Flags do not block the entry — they only surface a visual indicator. Managers can still save whatever value they choose.
Multiple Guidelines
A cycle can have more than one guideline. A common pattern is:
- One guideline for merit employees
- A separate guideline for promoted employees
Each guideline can have its own scope, field, and calculation logic.
⚠️ Important: Guidelines Only Run Once at Launch
When you click Launch, the guideline runs immediately — pre-populating values based on the data as it exists at that exact moment. After launch, the guideline effectively no longer exists. The cycle will not re-run it or automatically update any values.
What this means in practice:
- If an employee doesn't have a performance rating at the time of launch, they won't get pre-populated. Adding the rating after launch will not trigger a pre-population — that value will need to be entered manually.
- If a rating changes after launch (e.g., Outstanding is revised down to Effective), the pre-populated raise will not automatically update from 5% to 3%. The guideline already ran.
- Managers may have already edited values by the time any data changes happen, so auto-updating would create conflicts.
Always confirm that the data the guideline depends on (e.g., performance ratings) is finalized before clicking Launch.