The following module-specific questions are used for customer discovery to

understand current business programs and processes and to guide

configuration. In preparation for the implementation kickoff meeting, please
review and be prepared to discuss the following in detail.
Compensation
Decision Area
Do you have an existing automated compensation process?
If yes, what is the system?
Do you plan compensation in multiple languages?
Do you plan compensation in multiple currencies?
Does comp data change during the process or is it frozen?
Compensation Cycle(s)
Is your compensation cycle annual, quarterly or other?
Are salary, bonus and stock planned on the same cycle?
Are salary, bonus and stock planned by the same manager?
Who does salary, bonus and stock planning?
Merit
Does your merit process use salary guidelines? If Yes are they Hard or
Soft guidelines?
Are your merit guidelines based on Performance Rating, grade, comparatio/range penetration or other?
Which of the following components make up salary planning (merit,
promotion, adjustments, lump sum)?
Do you plan for both hourly and salaried employees?
How is the budget determined?
What is included in the budget?
Who is eligible?
Do you use prorating? If yes what do you prorate (Salary, guidelines,
increase)? How is prorating determined?
Is the Budget prorated?
If you have multiple salary planning components, do you compound the
increases?
Do you have specific rounding rules?
Bonus (Planned in Compensation not Variable Pay)
Does your bonus process use guidelines?
Are your bonuses based on MBOs or other metrics?

Response
Yes/No
System name
Yes/No
Yes/No
Changes, Frozen
Annually/Quarterly/Othe
r
Yes/No/NA
Yes/No/NA
First Level Mgr, Mid
Level Mgr, Comp Mgr
Yes/No
List, Other, or NA
List
Salaried, Hourly, Both
% of Salary, Individual
Target Amount, Other
Merit, Promotion,
LumpSum, Adjustment,
All (List as above)
All or some group

Yes/No
Yes/No

Are your guidelines based on Performance Rating, grade, or other?

List, NA

Stock
Do you plan stock in units or dollars?
Are your guidelines based on Performance Rating, grade, or other?
Is there a pre-determined stock budget?

RSUs, Options, Dollars

List, NA
Yes/No

Live Profile
What information do you want to store in
Live Profile?
Personal Information (name, title,
jobcode, email address, department,
location, photo, hire date, etc)
Employee Information Sections:
Work Experience Within Company
Special Assignments/Projects
Previous Employment
Formal Education
Courses/Workshop/Seminars
Certifications/Licenses
Honors/Awards
Language Skills
Functional Experience
Leadership Experience
Career Interests
Geographic Mobility
Professional Memberships
Community Involvement
Are these sections Self Service
(Employee/Manager updates directly in
system) or periodically uploaded?
Other User Defined Employee Sections?
If Yes, what are they?
Manager Sections:
Promotability
Performance
Potential
Org Chart Fields
Other User Defined Manager Sections?
If yes, what are they?
What roles will have permissions to read
and/or edit each of the sections?

Yes/No

Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No

Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No

Variable Pay
How are you calculating your bonuses today?
(Excel, Homegrown, 3rd Party, etc.)
How do you communicate bonus plans to
employees?
How many plans do you have? Do they have
the same formula for calculation or are they all
different?
Timeline:
When are budgets set?
When do you know financials?
When are bonuses approved for payment?
When are bonuses communicated?
How and when are bonuses paid?
Budgeting/Forecasting:
How are budgets determined?
Do you roll up budgets?
How do you track funding and spend?
How do you manage discretionary
amounts/payouts?
Are accruals reported to Finance, if so how
often?
Eligibility:
How do you determine who is eligible for what
plan?
Please describe your eligibility structure (by
exempt/non-exempt, by job code, etc.)
Can a person be eligible for multiple plans or
excluded from plans?
Can people be eligible for more than one plan in
the year?
Can they be eligible for more than one plan at
the same time?
Are there cut off dates for eligibility?
Are there other criteria, such as full-time, part-time,
temp, etc.?
How much do people move around amongst
jobs, plans, etc?
Basis, Targets and Modifiers:
What is the basis for the calculation? (e.g.,
salary, eligible earnings, etc.) If eligible
earnings, need for proration?
How are different incentive targets determined?

(e.g., by grade, by job level, etc.)

Do you prorate bonuses? If so what is the
proration based on? Movement between plans?
Change in salary or bonus target? Etc.
What variables are used in the calculation?
(e.g., earnings per share, revenue growth, etc.)
What are the guidelines for each goal? Provide
an example.
How is the payout for each goal/modifier
determined? (e.g., an individual score of 5 =
XX% payout)
When is all of this data available?
Who signs off on the targets and payouts?
Calculation Logic:
How does the calculation work? (Provide a soft
copy sample)
What are the goal achievement levels and
associated payout percentages?
Do managers have the authority/discretion to
change payouts? If so, what can the manager
change? Override?
How is the payout percent determined
interpolation, step scale, direct? Is this number
calculated by the system or is it provided (i.e.,
by Finance)?
How does the calculation work? (Provide a soft
copy sample with formulas)
Do you have any guarantees or caps? If so how
do they work.