Activate a draft incentive plan once it has a payroll concept, at least one person and at least one goal, so it starts calculating payouts every period. Activation locks the plan's Period, Recurrence and Payroll concept. Customers sometimes call this launching or publishing the bonus plan.
Before you start
- You need the Manage incentive plans permission.
- The draft plan needs:
- a Payroll concept,
- at least one person in the People step, and
- at least one goal in the Goals step.
- Check that the Period and Recurrence are right. They can't be changed after activation.
- Check that goal weights add up to 100% and that nobody has a missing or duplicate compensation. Activation doesn't require it, but payouts can't be sent to payroll until both are fixed.
Steps
- Go to Compensation > Incentive plans and open the draft plan.
- Click Activate plan at the top of the plan.
- In the Activate plan dialog, review the summary of the plan and its goals (listed as Goal #1, Goal #2 and so on).
- Click Activate. To make more changes first, click Keep editing.
The message "Plan activated successfully." confirms it. The plan opens in Active status with three tabs: People, Goals and Settings.
What changes after activation
| Setting | Draft | Active |
|---|---|---|
| Name, Description | Editable | Editable in the Settings tab |
| Period, Recurrence, Payroll concept | Editable | Locked |
| People | Editable | Editable in the People tab |
| Goals, weights, payout rules | Editable | Editable in the Goals tab for periods not yet sent to payroll |
| Delete the plan | Possible | Not possible (archive instead) |
Rules and behavior
- If the plan has no payroll concept, no people or no goals, then Activate plan is disabled and shows "To activate, the plan must have a payroll concept, at least one person assigned and one goal".
- If a plan is activated, then its goals can't be deleted and their period and frequency can't be changed while the plan stays active.
- If a plan is activated, then its periods that have already ended can be sent to payroll straight away.
- If a plan is active, then it can't go back to Draft.
- If you open an active plan's Settings tab, then the note "Period, recurrence, and payroll are locked" is shown.
Limitations
- You can't change the Period, Recurrence or Payroll concept of an active plan. To change them, archive the plan and create a new one.
- You can't return an active plan to Draft.
- You can't delete an active plan. You can only archive it.
- You can't schedule an activation date. The plan is active from the moment you click Activate.
- One can't activate a plan for you.
Troubleshooting
- Symptom: "Activate plan is greyed out." → Cause: The plan has no payroll concept, nobody in the People step, or no goal in the Goals step. → Fix: Complete Basic information, check the People step and add at least one goal.
- Symptom: "Something went wrong while activating the plan." → Cause: The plan changed while you were reviewing it, or a temporary error. → Fix: Refresh the page and try again.
- Symptom: "I activated the plan with the wrong recurrence." → Cause: The Recurrence is locked after activation. → Fix: Archive the plan, then create a new plan with the right recurrence.
FAQ
1. Do I have to fix every alert before activating?
No. You can activate with weights that don't add up to 100% or with people missing a compensation, but those issues block sending payouts to payroll.
2. Can I add more people after activating?
Yes. Use the People tab. People who join the plan's teams, legal entities or roles are added automatically.
3. Can I change the payout rules after activating?
Yes, in the Goals tab with Edit weights & rules. Changes apply to periods that haven't been sent to payroll yet.
4. Does activating notify employees?
No. Activating a plan doesn't send any notification.