A compensation record is the payout header for one incentive period of one incentive plan. It holds a Compensation Line for each plan member, with what that member achieved and earned, and it carries the period's Total Incentive Amount. It comes after the plan, its targets and slabs, and the period's performance. Process Compensation on the incentive period creates and totals it. After that you review the lines, record any agreed changes, mark the money as paid and sign the record off.
Overview
Each record has two parts:
- The header: which plan and period it covers, the partner account or branch the plan is scoped to, a Status, and the Total Incentive Amount.
- The lines: one Compensation Line per member, listed on the left of the record page. A line names the member (the plan's Incentive Resource), shows the achieved figures for each target type and the Incentive Amount the slabs paid, and has three review fields that you fill in yourself: Status, Override Incentive Amount and Is Compensation Received.
How the amount on a line is worked out (achievement against quota, slabs, reward types) is described on Compensation slabs. This page covers the record itself and the review around it.
When to use it
- After Process Compensation has run on a period, to check what each member earned before it is paid.
- When a reviewed figure must replace a computed one, for example after a dispute.
- When the money has been paid, to mark each line as received so that later runs leave it alone.
- To report what a plan has paid. The Incentives & Targets dashboard reads the header totals.
How xMatix handles it
- Process Compensation creates it. The first run for a period creates the record with Status Draft. Plan and period come from the period. Account, Branch and currency are copied from the plan. Each later run reuses the same record.
- One record per period. Process Compensation looks the record up by its Incentive Period alone. If a period has more than one record, it uses the oldest one and ignores the rest.
- The name is a number. Every new record is named from the COMP numbering series. That includes records that Process Compensation creates, so they do not carry the period's name. To find a record, filter or read the Incentive Period column.
- The total is set only by Process Compensation. It adds up the lines of the plan's current members, using each line's Override Incentive Amount where one is set and its Incentive Amount otherwise. Paid lines count too. Lines of people who are no longer members are left out. Saving or editing a line by hand never changes the total.
- Lines score themselves. Saving a line, by hand or through the run, re-runs the incentive engine for that line. The engine reads the plan and period on the line, not the ones on the header.
- Paid lines are frozen. A run skips any line marked Is Compensation Received. It is not re-scored, but its amount still counts in the total.
- Status is yours to manage. Apart from the first Draft, nothing in xMatix changes the header Status. No action, approval process or posting reads it. The dashboard groups totals by it.
- No payout posting. A compensation record creates no journal, payment, payroll adjustment or claim. Payment happens outside xMatix, or in a process you build, and you record it with Is Compensation Received.
Prerequisites
- An Approved incentive plan with members, targets and slabs. See Incentive plans and Plan members.
- An open incentive period whose performance has accrued.
- To run Process Compensation: the button on the period page and the server-action permission for it. Neither is there out of the box. See Incentive periods.
- Read access to Compensation and Compensation Line, plus edit access to review lines (see Permissions).
Procedure
Step 1 — Create the record by processing the period
- Open the incentive plan, select the Compensations tab and open the period.
- Click Process Compensation.
The period's Status becomes Calculated. The period now has a compensation record with Status Draft and one line for each member. Its Total Incentive Amount is the sum of the lines. Run it again whenever late performance or a quota change needs to be picked up. Each run re-scores every unpaid line and refreshes the total.
If your administrator has not enabled Process Compensation, you can build the record by hand instead (Step 6).
Step 2 — Find the record
- Open the Rewards app (App Launcher → search Rewards) and select Compensations. The All Compensation list shows Name, Incentive Plan, Incentive Period, Account and Total Incentive Amount.
- Use search, the column filters or sorting to narrow the list by plan or period. The Name is a COMP number, so the period column is the quickest way to find a record.
- Click the record's name.
The record page header shows the name, Incentive Plan, Incentive Period, Status and Total Incentive Amount, with Edit and Delete. On the left, the Compensation Line list shows the lines, with New to add one. On the right, the Details tab shows Account, Branch, Modified By, Incentive Period, Total Incentive Amount and Status.
Step 3 — Review each line
- In the Compensation Line list, click a line to open it. Its page header shows the line's name with Incentive Amount and Incentive Resource, and no action buttons. The form below has four collapsible sections: Information, Incentive Details, Incentive Specifications and Compensation Details (see Compensation line form).
- Check the achieved figures against what you expect. The engine fills only the figures that match the plan's target types, such as Sale Amount, No of Invoices or Achieved Value. They show what was counted, so they are the evidence for the amount.
- Check the Incentive Amount, and any Gifts, Points, Scheme or Discount Group that the slabs wrote.
If a figure looks wrong, the cause is almost always in the inputs (quota, performance records or plan definition), not on the line. See Troubleshooting. Fix the input, then run Process Compensation again.
Step 4 — Record a reviewed amount or a rejection
The fields on a line's record page edit in place.
- To pay a figure other than the computed one, enter it in Override Incentive Amount, which the form labels Overre Incentive Amount. Do not overwrite Incentive Amount, because the next save or run recalculates it.
- To mark a line as not to be paid, set the line's Status to Rejected. The line Status values are Draft and Rejected.
- Save.
Saving re-scores the line, but the engine never writes Override Incentive Amount or Status, so they stay. The header total does not change yet. Run Process Compensation again to bring it up to date, or adjust the header total yourself (Step 5).
A Rejected line still counts in the total that Process Compensation calculates. To exclude it, enter 0 in its Override Incentive Amount.
Step 5 — Sign off the header
- On the record page, click Edit. A dialog opens with Account, Branch, Incentive Plan, Incentive Period, Status and Total Incentive Amount.
- Set Status to your review state, such as an approved or paid value your administrator has added (see Configuration).
- Change Total Incentive Amount only when you have to record a figure without re-running the period. The next Process Compensation run replaces it.
- Click Save.
Step 6 — Mark lines as paid
When the payout has been made, open each line and tick Is Compensation Received. From then on, Process Compensation leaves that line exactly as it is.
Step 7 — Build a record by hand (no Process Compensation)
- On the Compensations list, click New. The form shows Account, Branch, Incentive Plan, Incentive Period, Status and Total Incentive Amount. None of them is required.
- Choose the Incentive Plan and Incentive Period. The period picker lists the periods of every plan, so pick one that belongs to the plan you chose. Save. The record gets a COMP number.
- On the record page, click New in the Compensation Line list for each member. Choose the Incentive Resource, Incentive Plan and Incentive Period on every line and save. The form does not require them, so a line saves without them, but the engine skips a line that has no plan or period. Each save scores the line, and the line is named from the COML numbering series.
- Add up the lines and enter the result in the header's Total Incentive Amount through Edit. Nothing else does this for a hand-built record.
If Process Compensation is later run on the same period, it adopts this record if it is the period's oldest. It adds lines for members who have none. Lines for members who already have one, matched by Incentive Resource, are re-scored in place.
Step 8 — Delete a record
Click Delete on the record page. The record disappears from lists, but its lines are not deleted: they stay in dashboards and reports. If Process Compensation is then run on the period, it creates a new record with a full new set of lines. To avoid counting members twice, have the old lines deleted first, while they still show in the record's Compensation Line list.
Out of the box, no web page offers a Delete for a line: the line list on the record has only New, and the line's own page header has no buttons. The Delete actions exist on Compensation Line and are granted to the seeded profiles, so an administrator can add them (see Configuration). Until then, ask your administrator to remove lines.
Mobile
Compensation is also in the Rewards app on the field app. A record opens with Name, Status, Incentive Plan, Incentive Period and Total Incentive Amount in its header, with Edit and Delete. It has two tabs: Compensation Lines, an editable grid, and Details, which is read-only. The mobile New form has the same fields as the web form.
A line opened on the field app shows one Details tab with the same four sections as the web form, read-only. The mobile line form for new lines has the same fields as the web form, in the same order.
Fields
Header
| Field | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The record's number | Set automatically from the COMP numbering series when the record is created, including by Process Compensation. Not on the form |
| Account | The partner account the plan is scoped to | Copied from the plan's Account when Process Compensation creates the record, and never refreshed. Informational: nothing reads it. Hidden on tenants that run one company |
| Branch | The branch the plan is scoped to | Copied from the plan's Branch when Process Compensation creates the record, and never refreshed. Informational. Hidden on tenants that run one location |
| Incentive Plan | The plan the record pays out | Set by Process Compensation from the period's plan. Informational: the engine uses the plan on each line |
| Incentive Period | The period the record covers | Process Compensation finds the record by this field. The picker is not filtered by plan |
| Status | Your review state for the record | Process Compensation writes Draft on create. The picklist has no seeded values, so the list is empty until an administrator adds them. Nothing else reads or changes it |
| Total Incentive Amount | What the period pays in total | Written by every Process Compensation run: the sum of current members' lines, Override Incentive Amount first. Editable through Edit, but the next run replaces it. Saving a line does not update it |
The record also stores the plan's currency code, copied when Process Compensation creates it. It is not shown on any seeded form.
Compensation line form
The same form is used to create, view and edit a line. Fields are listed in form order. "Engine" means the incentive engine that runs on every save of the line and during Process Compensation. A Process Compensation run clears the engine fields marked cleared on each run before it scores the line again. Fields that nothing in xMatix fills are kept for your own records. You can type into them, but the engine does not read them.
Information
| Field | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incentive Resource | The plan member this line pays | Process Compensation sets it and uses it to match a line to a member. Shown in the page header |
| Incentive Plan | The plan the line is scored against | Needed for scoring. The engine scores only lines whose plan is Approved |
| Incentive Period | The period whose quotas and performance are used | Needed for scoring. A line with no plan or no period is saved without being scored |
| Achieved Value | The value achieved on a target measured through a KPI configuration | Written by the engine for KPI-configuration targets. Cleared on each run |
| Target Type | A target type label | Values: No of Leads, No of Bookings, No of Invoices, No of Service Orders, No of Insurances, Amount of Finance. Nothing fills or reads it. The plan's targets decide what is scored |
| Value | A free value | Nothing fills or reads it |
| Custom KPI Value | The summed reading for a Custom KPI target | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
| Scheme | A trade scheme awarded by a slab | Written by the engine when a qualifying slab pays a scheme. Cleared on each run |
| Discount Group | A discount group awarded by a slab | Written by the engine when a qualifying slab pays a discount group. Cleared on each run |
| Status | Your review state for the line | Values: Draft, Rejected. Never written by the engine and not used in the total |
| KPI Configuration | The KPI configuration behind Achieved Value | Written by the engine together with Achieved Value. Cleared on each run |
| Overre Incentive Amount | The agreed amount to pay instead of the computed one (Override Incentive Amount) | The on-screen label is misspelt. Never written by the engine. When set, the header total uses it instead of Incentive Amount. 0 is a valid override |
| Is Compensation Received | The payout has been made | Off by default. Never written by the engine. When on, Process Compensation leaves the line exactly as it is |
| Item | A service-contract item | Nothing fills or reads it |
Incentive Details
| Field | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Item, SKU | A product reference | Nothing fills or reads them. Item filters on targets are applied to the performance rows, not taken from the line |
| Financer, Financer Scheme, Insurance Scheme | Finance and insurance references | Nothing fills or reads them |
| Custom KPI Field Name | A custom KPI name | Nothing fills or reads it. The target's own Custom KPI field decides what is summed |
Incentive Specifications
| Field | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| No of Bookings | Orders counted for a No Of Sale Orders target | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
| No of Invoices | Invoices counted for a No Of Invoices target | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
| Sale Order Amount, Sale Amount | The amounts counted for a Sale Order Amount or Sale Amount target | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
| Sale Order Quantity, Sale Quantity | The quantity counted for a Sale Order Quantity target, and for an Invoice Quantity target | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
| Purchase Order Amount, Purchase Order Quantity | The amounts and quantities counted for the purchase-order targets of the same names | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
| No of Leads, No of Sale Orders, No of Purchase Orders, Purchase Amount, WO Amount, Spent Hours, Billed Hours, Parts Amount, Service Amount, Efficiency | Further figures for your own records | Nothing fills or reads them. For sale-order counts use No of Bookings, which is where the engine writes them |
Compensation Details
| Field | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Compensation | The compensation record the line belongs to | Filled in when you add the line from the record's list, and set by Process Compensation |
| Incentive Amount | The computed reward | Written by the engine on every save and run. Shown in the page header. Empty after scoring when no incentive line earned money. Left as it was when the line is not scored |
| Gifts, Points | A gift and its points awarded by a slab | Written by the engine. Cleared on each run |
Some stored fields are not on the seeded form. You can add them to the layout or show them as list columns:
- No Of Unique Invoices and No Of Unique Items: the counts of distinct accounts and distinct items that the engine writes for targets of those types.
- Process Log: the last Process Compensation run for the line, with its time (in UTC) and the incentive amount, up to 100 characters.
- Name: a number from the COML series, even on lines that Process Compensation creates. To see whose line it is, read Incentive Resource.
- Net Payable Amount: nothing fills it.
Business rules
- One header per period. Process Compensation uses the oldest record whose Incentive Period is the period. Other records for the same period are ignored by the run, but still appear in lists and on the dashboard.
- Header fields copy once. Account, Branch and currency are copied from the plan when the record is created, and are not updated when the plan changes.
- Total = sum over current members. Override Incentive Amount if set, otherwise Incentive Amount, otherwise 0. Paid lines are included. Lines whose Incentive Resource is no longer on the plan, or is empty, are excluded.
- Line saves don't total. Only Process Compensation writes Total Incentive Amount.
- Closed periods. Once the period's Status is Approved or Posted, Process Compensation refuses it. The record and its lines stay as they are unless someone edits them.
- No validations or business rules are seeded on Compensation. Every header field is optional.
- Delete does not cascade. Deleting the header leaves its lines in place.
- Line numbering. Every new line is named from the Compensation Line Document Name Settings (default series COML, with the date and a running number). This replaces the member's name that Process Compensation gives a new line, so lines are identified by their Incentive Resource.
- What a run resets on a line. Before scoring an unpaid line, Process Compensation clears Incentive Amount, Gifts, Points, Scheme, Discount Group, Achieved Value, KPI Configuration and every engine-written count, amount and quantity. Status, Override Incentive Amount, Is Compensation Received and the fields that nothing fills are kept. A save outside a run re-scores the line without clearing it first.
- Line Delete. Delete actions exist on Compensation Line, but no seeded web page shows them.
- Clone is not available. A Clone action exists on the entity but is not on the seeded record page. If it is added, it copies only the header and not the lines.
Example
A distributor runs a monthly sales incentive for six field reps. On 2 June the sales operations lead runs Process Compensation on May - 2026. A compensation record numbered from the COMP series appears with Status Draft and six lines. Its Total Incentive Amount is 38,400.
During review, one rep disputes a returned order. The lead and the rep's manager agree on 4,500 instead of the computed 6,200. The lead opens that line, enters 4,500 in Override Incentive Amount and saves. The header still shows 38,400, so the lead runs Process Compensation again. The total becomes 36,700, because the override replaces the computed figure and the other lines are re-scored unchanged.
Finance pays on 10 June. The lead ticks Is Compensation Received on all six lines, then uses Edit to set the header Status to Paid, a value their administrator has added. Later runs leave the lines as they are.
Training
Practice exercise
In a sandbox with an Approved plan that has two members, quotas and slabs, and an open period with some performance:
- Run Process Compensation on the period, and find the new record on the Compensations list by its Incentive Period.
- Open one line, enter an Override Incentive Amount 1,000 lower than its Incentive Amount, and save.
- Check the header total, then run Process Compensation again and check it once more.
- Tick Is Compensation Received on the other line, and run Process Compensation a third time.
Expected result: the header total is unchanged after step 2 and drops by 1,000 after step 3. After step 4, the ticked line's figures and amount stay the same, and it is still included in the total.
Quick reference
- One compensation record per period, created with Status Draft by Process Compensation.
- Records are numbered (COMP series), not named after the period. Find them by Incentive Period.
- The engine scores lines on save. Only Process Compensation writes the header total.
- Override Incentive Amount wins over Incentive Amount in the total.
- Tick Is Compensation Received once paid, and the line is frozen.
- Rejected lines still count. Enter an override of 0 to exclude one.
- The header Status picklist is empty until an administrator adds values.
- Deleting a header leaves its lines behind.
- Override Incentive Amount is labelled "Overre Incentive Amount" on the line form.
- Many line figures are for your notes only. The engine writes the counted ones and reads none of them.
Permissions
| What | Who can do it out of the box | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| See, create, edit and delete compensation records and lines | System Admin, Sales Manager, Sales Executive and Standard User | Full entity access in every seeded profile. Tighten Compensation and Compensation Line for profiles that should only read their results |
| Edit and Delete on the record page | The same profiles | The Edit and Delete action grants follow the entity access |
| Run Process Compensation | System Admin only | A server-action permission on Incentive Period. The button must also be added to the period page |
Edit and Delete follow the entity access in the user's security profile, so a profile with read-only access to Compensation sees the record but cannot change it. Which records a user sees also depends on the record-sharing settings for Compensation. See Security profiles and Record security.
Configuration
- Header Status values. The Compensation Status picklist ships empty, while Process Compensation writes Draft. Add the states your review uses, and add Draft too so that new records show a valid value. Go to Setup → Design Studio → Entities → Compensation, then the Status field's row menu → Manage PickList Values. See Picklists. The Compensation by Status chart on the Incentives & Targets dashboard groups by these values.
- Line Status values. Compensation Line Status ships with Draft and Rejected. Add others (for example, On Hold) the same way. Nothing reads them, so they are for review only.
- Process Compensation. Add the action to the Incentive Period View page header and grant it to the profiles that run payouts. See Incentive periods.
- Numbering. Header names come from Compensation Document Name Settings (default series COMP). Line names come from Compensation Line Document Name Settings (default series COML). Both are under Setup → Feature Hub → Platform → Document settings. See Document numbering.
- Deleting lines. To let reviewers remove lines, add the Delete row action to the Compensation Line list on the Compensation View layout, or add Delete to the page header of the Compensation Line View layout. Seeded profiles already hold the Delete permissions.
- Line form. The line layouts show many fields that nothing fills (see Compensation line form). You can remove them from the Compensation Line Create and View layouts, or add No Of Unique Invoices, No Of Unique Items and Process Log. You can also correct the Overre Incentive Amount label on the field. See Design a form layout.
- Record page. The seeded Compensation View layout shows Edit and Delete only. To offer Clone, or to show Currency ISO Code, edit the layout as described in Design a form layout.
- Lock reviewed records. No status locks a header or its lines. If reviewed figures must not change, limit edit access on Compensation and Compensation Line to the people who sign off.
- Partner and branch scope. On a tenant with one company or one location, the Account or Branch field is hidden automatically.
Common problems
The record's name is a number, not the month
New records are numbered from the COMP series, including those created by Process Compensation. Filter the Compensations list on Incentive Period to find the month you want.
The total did not change after I edited a line
Saving a line never updates the header. Run Process Compensation on the period again, or enter the new figure through Edit on the header.
The Status list on the record is empty
The Compensation Status picklist has no seeded values. An administrator adds them (see Configuration). Until then, a processed record shows Draft and the list offers nothing else.
Process Compensation ignored the record I created
The run uses the oldest record for the period. If another record for the same period existed first, the run used that one. Check the list filtered by Incentive Period, keep one record and delete the others together with their lines.
Members are counted twice on the dashboard
A deleted compensation record leaves its lines behind, and a new run then creates a second set. Delete the orphaned lines from the Compensation Line list. Two records for the same period have the same effect.
I cannot find Override Incentive Amount on the line
The field's on-screen label is Overre Incentive Amount, in the Information section. It is the same field.
There is no Delete for a line
The seeded web pages do not show one. An administrator can add the Delete action to the line list or to the line page (see Configuration).
I typed into No of Sale Orders but the incentive did not change
The engine never reads the line's figures. It counts from the period's performance records and writes what it counted. No of Sale Orders, No of Leads, Target Type, Value and the other fields that nothing fills are for your own notes. To change the result, fix the performance records or the quota and save the line again.
A paid line still shows last month's figures after a re-run
That is intended. Lines marked Is Compensation Received are never re-scored. Untick the box only if the payout really needs recalculating.
A rejected member is still in the total
Line Status does not affect the total. Enter 0 in that line's Override Incentive Amount and run Process Compensation again.
Common questions
Does approving or marking a compensation record as paid post anything?
No. A compensation record creates no journal entry, payment, payroll adjustment or claim, and nothing reads its Status. Payout is recorded by ticking Is Compensation Received on each line, and the money is paid outside xMatix or through a process your administrator builds. If incentives must reach payroll, add them as payroll adjustments for the period. The adjustment is entered separately and is not linked to the compensation line.
Can I re-run a period after reviewing it?
Yes, as often as you need while the period is open. Each run re-scores unpaid lines from the current quotas and performance and refreshes the total. It keeps every line's Status, Override Incentive Amount and Is Compensation Received. Paid lines are skipped. Once the period's Status is Approved or Posted, the run is refused.
Why are there lines for people who left the plan?
Process Compensation never deletes lines. When a member leaves the plan, their line from earlier runs stays on the record, is no longer re-scored and is left out of the total. If it should not appear in reports, have it deleted. Out of the box this needs an administrator, because no seeded web page offers Delete for a line.
Can one period have a record per branch or partner?
Not through Process Compensation: it keeps one record per period, scoped like the plan. For separate payouts per branch or partner, run separate plans with that scope. You can still create extra records by hand, but the run ignores all except the oldest.