Incentive periods

An incentive period is one time slice of an incentive plan, such as May on a monthly plan. Each member's quota, the performance they accrue and the compensation they earn are all kept per period. xMatix generates a plan's periods when the plan is first saved. During each period, sales documents accrue performance into it. At the end of the period you run Process Compensation on it to produce the members' compensation.

Overview

A period carries a name, a Date From and a Date To, the plan it belongs to and a Status. It is the key that ties the rest of the Rewards records together:

• Quotas. Each Incentive Resource Target holds one member's quota for one target in one period.
• Performance. Performance KPI rows and KPI data rows are placed in the period whose dates contain the document date.
• Compensation. Each period has one Compensation record with one Compensation Line per member.

When to use it

You work with periods at two points in a plan's life:

• After creating a plan, to check that the right periods were generated.
• At the end of each period, to process the period's compensation, review it and, if you use closing statuses, close it.

How xMatix handles it

• Periods are generated once. Saving a new plan cuts its window into periods according to its Period Type. The table of what each Period Type produces is on the incentive plan page. Nothing regenerates periods later, so changing the plan's dates adds or removes none.
• Generated periods start as Draft. Process Compensation sets a period to Calculated.
• Approved and Posted close a period. A period with either status cannot be processed again, its quotas stop being regenerated, and KPI configurations stop accruing into it. Neither value is in the seeded Status picklist, so closing is something an administrator sets up (see Configuration).
• Periods are in no app menu. You reach them from the plan's record page.

Prerequisites

• An incentive plan that has been saved, so that its periods exist.
• To process compensation: the plan's Status is Approved, the plan has members (Incentive Resources), an administrator has added Process Compensation to the period page, and your security profile is granted the action (see Permissions).

Procedure

Step 1 — Open a plan's periods

1. Open the Rewards app and open the incentive plan.
2. Select the Compensations tab. The Incentive Period list shows one row per period, with Date From, Date To and Status.
3. Click a period's name to open its record page.

The period page header shows Incentive Period, Date From, Date To and Status. The Incentive Period item is filled only on a what-if copy of a period, and is empty on a normal period. Below the header are two tabs:

• Compensation lists Compensation Line records. The seeded list is not limited to this period, so it shows lines from every plan and period. Filter the list on Incentive Period to see this period's lines, or open the period's Compensation record from the Compensations app entry instead.
• Details shows Simulation Name, Simulation Type, Incentive Plan and Period Name, and a list of the KPI data rows recorded for this period.

The seeded period page has no header buttons and its fields are read-only. To edit or delete a period, or to run Process Compensation, an administrator first adds those actions to the page (see Configuration).

Step 2 — Process the period's compensation

Do this once the period has ended and its performance has accrued.

1. On the period's record page, click Process Compensation.
2. xMatix checks that the period is open, that it belongs to a plan, that the plan is Approved and that the plan has members. If one of these fails, you see a message and nothing changes (see Common problems).
3. xMatix then:
   • finds the period's Compensation record, or creates one named after the period, with Status Draft and the plan's branch, partner account and currency;
   • creates a Compensation Line for each member who has none, and clears and re-scores each existing line;
   • leaves alone any line already marked Is Compensation Received, because that money has been paid;
   • sets the Compensation's Total Incentive Amount to the sum of its members' lines, using a line's Override Incentive Amount where one is set;
   • sets the period's Status to Calculated and writes a summary to its Process Log.

Refresh the page to see the new status. You can run Process Compensation as often as you like while the period is open. Each run re-scores from the current quotas and performance, and keeps each line's Status, Override Incentive Amount and Is Compensation Received. Review and pay the results as described in Compensation and Running an incentive cycle.

Step 3 — Close the period

If your administrator has added a closing status (see Configuration), set the period's Status to Approved or Posted once its compensation has been signed off. From then on:

• Process Compensation refuses the period;
• regenerating a target's quotas leaves this period's quotas unchanged;
• KPI configurations no longer add to or remove from this period's KPI data.

Performance KPI rows, which feed targets such as Sale Amount, ignore the period's status. A document dated in a closed period still accrues into it, but the compensation is not recalculated unless someone re-saves a line.

Step 4 — Add a period that was not generated

A plan whose Period Type had no generator gets no periods. Periods are also never added when you change the plan's window. The seeded New on the plan's Incentive Period list cannot create a usable period: the form has no Name, Date From or Date To, so the save fails with "Name is required". Use one of these instead:

• Import the periods. Use Import data on Incentive Period with Name, Incentive Plan, Date From and Date To for each row. Leave Status empty or set it to Draft.
• Adjust the form. An administrator adds Name, Date From and Date To to the Incentive Period create layout, after which New on the plan's list works.

Make the new periods' dates follow on from the existing ones without overlapping (see Business rules). Then regenerate the quotas of each generated target, so that members get a quota for the new period (see the plan page's Configuration).

Mobile

The field app's Target pace card shows a rep's target against achievement for the period whose dates contain today. An administrator adds the card to a mobile page. It takes the first period that matches today, so when plans with overlapping dates exist, it may show a different plan's period than the one you expect.

Fields

Business rules

• Generation. Periods are generated only when a new plan is first saved. See the incentive plan page for the Period Type rules.
• Status. Draft when generated, Calculated after Process Compensation. A period with an empty Status is treated as open. Approved and Posted (spelled exactly that way) are treated as closed.
• Process Compensation checks. The period must be open, linked to a plan, the plan must be Approved and it must have at least one member.
• One compensation per period. Process Compensation reuses the period's earliest Compensation record. A line is matched to a member by its Incentive Resource. Lines of members no longer on the plan are left as they are and are not counted in the total.
• Paid lines are frozen. A line marked Is Compensation Received is not re-scored, but its amount still counts in the total.
• Quotas. Quota generation writes quotas for open periods only. With Value Across Periods, the target's Value is divided by the number of the plan's periods, closed ones included, and excluding any period with a Simulation Type.
• Placing performance. A KPI configuration accrues a record into the first open period of the plan whose Date From and Date To contain the record's date, and needs both dates on the period. Performance KPI rows go into every period of an Approved plan whose dates contain the document date, whatever its status. If two periods of the same plan overlap, a sale counts in both.
• Process Log length. The log is cut to 255 characters. With many members it ends with "+N more (see the Compensation lines)".

Example

A distributor runs a monthly sales incentive for its field reps, from April 2026 to March 2027. On 1 May the sales operations lead checks April:

1. They open the plan, select Compensations and open April - 2026. Status is Draft.
2. They click Process Compensation. The period's Status becomes Calculated. On the Compensations app entry, a Compensation named April - 2026 now has one line per rep and a Total Incentive Amount of 412,500.
3. A late invoice from 29 April is corrected on 3 May. They click Process Compensation again, and the lines and total are recalculated.
4. Finance pays the reps and the lead ticks Is Compensation Received on each line. Their administrator has added Approved to the period Status picklist and an Edit button to the period page, so the lead edits the period and sets Status to Approved. April's quotas and compensation now stay as they are.

Training

Practice exercise

In a sandbox where an administrator has added Process Compensation to the Incentive Period View page header:

1. Create a monthly incentive plan for three months, add a Sale Amount target with Target Value Type Fixed Value and Value 10, and set the plan to Approved.
2. Open the plan's Compensations tab and open the first period. Check that its Status is Draft.
3. Click Process Compensation and refresh the page.

Expected result: the period's Status is Calculated, and a Compensation record named after the period has one line per member of the plan. Running it on a period of a plan that is not yet Approved shows "The incentive plan must be Approved before its compensation can be processed."

Quick reference

• A period is a slice of a plan. Quotas, performance and compensation are kept per period.
• Periods are generated once, when the plan is first saved.
• Open periods from the plan's Compensations tab. They are in no app menu.
• Process Compensation needs an Approved plan with members, and an open period.
• Running it again re-scores every unpaid line. Paid lines are left alone.
• Draft becomes Calculated. Approved or Posted close a period, but an administrator must add them first.
• The seeded New cannot create a period. Import periods instead.
• Never set Simulation Type on a real period.

Permissions

Incentive Period records follow the entity permissions on each security profile. In the seeded profiles, Sales Executive, Sales Manager, Standard User and System Admin have full access (read, create, edit and delete).

Process Compensation is a server action. In the seeded profiles only System Admin is granted it. Grant it on the Actions tab of the security profile of anyone who processes compensation. A user without the grant cannot run it even when the button is on the page.

Configuration

• Process Compensation button. Add ProcessCompensation to the page header actions of the Incentive Period View layout, as described in Design a form layout. The action already exists on the entity.
• Edit and Delete. The seeded period page lists no header actions, and the plan's Incentive Period list has no row actions. To let users change a period's status, add EditInLine (Edit) to the page header. To let them remove a period, add Delete.
• Closing statuses. Add Approved, Posted or both to the Incentive Period Status picklist, spelled exactly that way (see Picklists). Users then set the status through Edit. The create layout already has the Status field.
• Creating periods by hand. Add Name, Date From and Date To to the Incentive Period Create layout, or import periods (see Step 4). Consider removing Period Name, which is not stored, and the Simulation fields.
• Process Log. To let users see the summary of the last run, add Process Log to the Details tab of the Incentive Period View layout.
• Compensation tab. The seeded Compensation Line list on the period page is not linked to the period. To show only this period's lines, choose the Compensation Lines relation in the list's Relation setting in the layout designer.
• Numbering. The Incentive Period Name Setting (series IP) is inactive. Generated periods are named by the generator. If you activate the setting, periods you create get numbered names.

Common problems

"The period is Approved; a closed period cannot be re-processed."

The period's Status is Approved or Posted. This is intended once compensation is signed off. To reprocess, an administrator sets the Status back to Calculated or Draft.

"The period is not linked to an incentive plan."

The period has no Incentive Plan. This happens with imported periods that lost the plan reference. Set Incentive Plan on the period, or import it again with the plan.

"The incentive plan must be Approved before its compensation can be processed."

Set the plan's Status to Approved, then run Process Compensation again.

"The incentive plan has no members (Incentive Resources) to compensate."

The plan has no Incentive Resource rows. Check the plan's enrolment (see The Incentive Resource list stays empty) or add members by hand.

"Name is required" when I click New on the period list

The seeded create form has no Name field and periods are not numbered automatically. Import the period instead, or ask an administrator to add Name, Date From and Date To to the create layout.

I can't find Process Compensation on the period page

The seeded period page has no header buttons. An administrator adds ProcessCompensation to the Incentive Period View layout and grants the action (see Configuration).

Members get no quota for a period

The period is closed, it has a Simulation Type, or it was added after the quotas were generated. Clear Simulation Type on a real period, and regenerate the target's quotas after adding a period.

Common questions

Can I change a period's dates?

Not from the seeded screens, because Date From and Date To are on no form. You can update them with a data import. Keep the periods back to back without overlaps. A performance KPI accrues into every period whose dates contain the document date, so overlapping periods count the same sale twice. Quotas already generated for the period keep their values, and performance that has already accrued is not moved. If a plan's periods are wrong from the start, creating a new plan is usually the cleaner fix.

What are the simulation fields for?

Simulation Name, Simulation Type and the Incentive Period link in the header describe a what-if copy of a period. No xMatix feature creates such copies or compares them with the real period. The one effect is that a period with a Simulation Type gets no generated quotas and is not counted when a target's Value is spread across periods. Leave these fields empty.

Does Process Compensation run on its own at the end of a period?

No. Nothing processes a period on a schedule. Someone with the grant clicks Process Compensation on each period. Compensation lines also do not refresh when later performance arrives, so run it again after late documents or quota corrections, as long as the period is open.

Is a Calculated period locked?

No. Calculated only records that Process Compensation has run. You can run it again, and quotas and KPI data still change. Only Approved and Posted close a period, and an administrator has to add those values to the picklist first.

Related topics

• Incentive plans
• Running an incentive cycle
• Compensation
• KPI configurations
• Incentive Period entity reference