Payment with Payment Batches

This chapter covers the following topics:

Overview of Payment with Payment Batches

After you have used Oracle Incentive Compensation to collect transactions and calculate compensation, the last step in the process is payment. The Oracle Incentive Compensation payment batch process is much like that used in most companies. The Oracle Incentive Compensation Payment process considers the following:

Payment Setups and Relationships

In order for payment to pay a resource, several setups must be completed. The following defines the setups and relationships of the payment process.

Pay Group Assignment to a Resource

A pay group is an object that defines the frequency of payments, based on the calendar associated to the pay group. A resource must be assigned to a pay group in order to be paid compensation. The pay group places resources together that are on the same payment cycle and that are sent to the same system. For example, if your payments are being sent to an external Payables and external Payroll system you might group for monthly resource payments to Payables into Pay Group A and monthly resource payments to Payroll in Pay Group B.

Payment Analyst Hierarchy

This is a resource manager hierarchy that determines paysheet approval rollup and resource read/write security. The hierarchy is created using groups, roles, and resources that utilize the Sales Compensation Payment Analyst usage.

The Payment Analyst Hierarchy works in conjunction with the Oracle Incentive Compensation user/responsibility setup. The Hierarchy determines who approves the paysheets; if the user is set up as a Manager of the Payment Analyst group then the user can approve paysheets for those Analysts who report up to the Manager in the Payment Analyst group. Regular members of the Payment Analyst hierarchy can modify, lock, and submit paysheets for those resources who are assigned to the Payment Analyst in Resource Manager.

In Oracle Incentive Compensation, by default, the Compensation Manager has permission to create and pay payment batches. The Compensation Analyst responsibility does not have these permissions, however, the responsibility can be modified to include either of these permissions as well as other permissions if desired.

The Approval process can be turned off by setting the profile OIC: Enforce Payment Worksheet Approval to No.

Payment Batches and Paysheets

Payment batches are associated with pay groups and paysheets. When a payment batch is associated with a pay group, it defines for which compensation period, for example, Feb-03, Q4, and so on, the payment batch is valid. At the same time, the pay group determines the resources who are eligible to be paid within the payment batch. Paysheets are the individual worksheets for resources; they contain the payable commission, draw and recovery, and payment adjustments for the resource.

Oracle Incentive Compensation does not actually produce paychecks. The application uses payment batches to determine payment amounts. When a payment batch is processed and paid, the payment totals for resources are automatically transferred to Oracle Payroll or Oracle Payables, as long as the integration between Oracle Incentive Compensation and Oracle Payroll or Oracle Payable has been enabled. For external payment applications, you can feed the data to the application using a CSV file. Oracle Incentive Compensation saves payment batches and their associated paysheets, which can be referenced as an audit trail.

Working with Paysheets

A resource is paid using a paysheet. This process proceeds as follows.

  1. A payment batch is created.

  2. Paysheets are created within the payment batch.

  3. Compensation Managers and Compensation Analysts review paysheets for the resources assigned to them. This review includes making holds, manual commission adjustments, payment plans, and notes.

  4. The paysheets are approved using the Payment Analyst hierarchy. The member type Analyst locks and submits the payment sheet, the manager type Payment Analyst approves the payment sheet (s). After the payment sheet is approved it can be rejected if necessary.

  5. After all of the paysheets in the payment batch have been approved, the payment batch can be paid. All paysheets must be approved before the batch can be paid.

The table below describes the process of creating, approving, and paying a new payment batch.

Step OIC Page Used/Navigation
1. Manager assigns payment plan to resources (optional) Payment Plan
Compensation Manager > Compensation Overview > Resource search > Compensation Plan > Payment Plan (subtab) OR Compensation Manager > Setup > Maintain Roles > Role Search > Payment Plan subtab
2. Compensation Manager creates a payment batch Create Payment Batch
Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Create
3. Compensation Analyst views and adjusts paysheet details Paysheets : <batch name> Detail icon
Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Search > Paysheets
4. Compensation Analyst locks paysheet Paysheets : <batch name> Detail icon > Lock button
Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Search > Paysheets OR Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Search > Multi-select Lock button
5. Compensation Analyst submits paysheet to Compensation Manager Paysheets : <batch name> Detail icon > Submit
Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch >Search > Paysheets icon OR Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Search > Multi-select > Submit button
6. Compensation Manager approves or rejects paysheet Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Search > Paysheet Icon > Muilti-select > Approve OR Tasks > Maintain Payment Batch > Search > Paysheet Icon > Detail Icon > Approve
7. Compensation Manager runs a pay payment batch request Tasks Maintain Payment Batch > Select Payment Batch > Pay

Integrating with a Third Party Payroll System

Oracle Incentive Compensation has standard integration with Oracle Payroll and Oracle Payable. However, for integration with a third party payroll system, you must download the data to a .csv file. You can download the data at the payment batch, resource, or resource detail level.

Navigation

Compensation Manager > Maintain Payment Batches > Export

Steps

  1. Click Export to download the payment batches.

  2. Select Open to work on the file now or Save to copy the payment batch .csv file to another location.

  3. If you want to perform this at the resource level, you can view the paysheets first, click the Paysheets icon, and then click Export.

    To get the resource payment detail information, click the Detail icon. You can then export the details to a .csv file if needed by clicking Export.

Pay Groups, Payment Plans, and other Setups

Resources must be assigned a pay group and optionally can be assigned a payment plan. You can pay by transaction or by summary. These three setups are discussed below.

Pay Groups

In order for resources to receive payment, they must be assigned to a pay group and a compensation plan that are effective for the period for which the payment batch is created. This is how the application determines if a resource is qualified to receive compensation.

To create a pay group, a Compensation Manager or Compensation Analyst can navigate to Maintain Pay Groups > Create.

SeeAssign Pay Groups to assign a pay group to a resource or a role.

Payment Plans (Draw)

The resource optionally can be assigned a payment plan, which is used to control how much of the resource's earnings are paid in each payment batch. Some payment plans contain minimum or maximum amounts per compensation period. Minimum amounts (draws) are used to pay resources compensation during periods in which they do not earn substantial compensation, and maximum amounts (caps) are used to reduce payment when a resource earns more compensation than they can be paid.

Minimum amounts may be recoverable or nonrecoverable. Recoverable payments need to be paid back, but nonrecoverable payments do not. The payback by the resource can be scheduled and limited in various ways. Overpayments can be carried forward or waived with the Pay Later feature.

The Plan Administrator creates payment plans. The Compensation Manager or Compensation Analyst can assign the payment plan to the resource in the same way as the pay group is assigned. See Assign Payment Plans for details.

All calculations for all resources for which you want to pay compensation must be completed for the appropriate date range before you can begin creating a payment batch. Calculation creates the compensation amounts for transactions and updates the compensation due amounts. The Payment process then uses these amounts to populate the payment amount for each resource. If any adjustments are made later, they will be resolved the next time a payment batch is run.

Pay by Transaction or by Summary

Using the Pay by Transaction profile option, you can set up the application to pay by transaction or by summary. If you set the profile to Yes (Y), each transaction appears as a separate line on the resources' paysheets. If you set the profile to No (N), then the application aggregates the transactions for the resource at the plan element level.

Each payment method has advantages and disadvantages. Pay by Summary is easier and faster, because the number of lines in the payment batch is much smaller. However, paying by summary gives you a less detailed view if you plan to hold transactions for payment later. Also, if you plan to send the payments out to an external system, the level of detail might be needed by the product summary, in which case the summary method will not provide enough detail.

Whether you decide to use Pay by Summary or Pay by Transaction, you should carefully consider which one works best with your business processes before selecting a setting during implementation. After a payment batch has been paid, the setting cannot be changed from Pay by Summary to Pay by Transaction. This setting should be determined during implementation and prior to end-to-end testing. For optimum performance, you should not change the setting.

If the Pay by Transaction profile is set to No, the transactions are summarized at the plan element level. Because payment recovery is set at the resource level, when a payment recovery appears on the Payment Transactions page, the Plan Element field is not populated.

The Payment Administrative Hierarchy must be set up in order to pay a payment batch.

Payment Administrative Hierarchy

The paysheet lifecycle, as defined previously, is as follows. A Compensation Analyst reviews the pay worksheets for his resources that are assigned to him. He makes any adjustment, adds note to the worksheet explaining the adjustments, and when satisfied, he locks the paysheet and submits it for approval by the Compensation Manager.

Before the payment batch can be paid, all paysheets must be in the approved status. The approval hierarchy is created in Resource Manager. It defines who has approval rights and the ability to edit the paysheets. As with any Resource Manager hierarchy, it is built utilizing groups, roles, and resources. The group usage necessary to build the hierarchies is Sales Compensation Payment Analyst.

There is a profile, OIC: Enforce Payment Worksheet Approval, that determines whether the approvals are required or not. If the profile is set to N, the system takes care of the status change.

Oracle Incentive Compensation uses a Payment Administrative Hierarchy to define the relationship between Compensation Analysts and Compensation Managers. A Compensation Analyst must be assigned a role within this hierarchy in order to access the payment hierarchy.

The Compensation Manager normally is placed at the top of the hierarchy, at the root node. Anyone with Compensation Manager responsibility who is a manager member of the Payment Analyst Hierarchy can freeze and pay payment batches, although typically a single user is assigned the task of actually paying the payment batches.

Compensation Analysts can only access paysheets for resources assigned to them and for resources not assigned to any Compensation Analyst (unassigned resources). Compensation Managers can access paysheets for resources assigned to them, resources assigned to any Compensation Analyst beneath them in the pay hierarchy, and any unassigned resources.

Use the Sales Compensation Payment Analyst role type whenever you define a Compensation Analyst in Resource Manager for use in Oracle Incentive Compensation.

Resources that belong to groups with a usage of Sales Compensation Payment Analyst should be assigned only to a Sales Compensation Payment Analyst role, and they should not be given salesrep numbers. A resource cannot be assigned to both a Sales Compensation Payment Analyst role and to a Sales Compensation role.

Analysts that were defined prior to this release that use a Sales Compensation role should have that role and group member role removed and be assigned the Sales Compensation Payment Analyst role.

See Approving Paysheets for details on the steps used by a hierarchy to approve a payment batch.

Payment Batch Security Access

Below is a list of security access for the Compensation Manager and the Compensation Analyst. Security access can also be configured to match your requirements. For example, you can create a new responsibility that allows the Compensation Analyst to create payment batches but not to pay them. The list below does not display entire list of security functions.

Action Compensation Manager Compensation Analyst
Create Payment Batch Yes No
View Payment Batch All Payment Batches All Payment Batches
Delete Payment Batch All Payment Batches No
Freeze Payment Batch All Payment Batches No
Unfreeze Payment Batch All Payment Batches No
Refresh Payment Batch All Payment Batches* No
Pay Payment Batch All Payment Batches No
Create Paysheets for Payment Batch All Payment Batches* No

All Payment Batches: The user can perform the action on the payment batches if the status of the payment batch allows it.

* For a payment batch level action such as Refresh Payment Batch or Create Paysheets for Payment Batch, the user can refresh or create paysheets for all resources included in the pay group, not only for the resources to which the user has access.

Payment Batch Status/Action Matrix

Based on payment batch status, only certain actions can be performed in the payment batch. The table below shows those actions for unpaid, frozen, and paid payment batches.

Action Unpaid Frozen Paid
View Payment Batch Yes Yes Yes
Delete Payment Batch Yes** No No
Freeze Payment Batch Yes No No
Unfreeze Payment Batch No Yes No
Refresh Payment Batch Yes No No
Pay Payment Batch Yes Yes*** No
Create Paysheets for Payment Batch Yes No No

** A payment batch can be deleted only if all of the paysheets in the payment batch have the status of Unpaid.

*** Only if the Profile OIC: Validate Worksheet Status is set to No.

Paysheet Status/Action Matrix for Unpaid Payment Batches

The table below describes the actions that can be performed on paysheets with the status of Unpaid, Locked, Submitted, and Approved in unpaid payment batches.

Action Unpaid Locked Submitted Approved
View Paysheet Yes Yes Yes Yes
Update Paysheet (Calculated, Manual Payment) Yes No No No
Add Notes to Paysheet Yes Yes Yes Yes
Remove Paysheet Yes No No No
Lock Paysheet Yes No No No
Unlock Paysheet No Yes No No
Refresh Paysheet Yes No No No
Submit Paysheet No Yes No No
Approve/Reject Paysheet No No Yes Yes

Paysheet Status/Action Matrix for Frozen Payment Batches

The table below describes the actions that can be performed on paysheets with the status of Unpaid, Locked, Submitted, and Approved in frozen payment batches.

Action Unpaid Locked Submitted Approved
View Paysheet Yes Yes Yes Yes
Update Paysheet (Calculated, Manual Payment) No No No No
Add Notes to Paysheet Yes Yes Yes No
Remove Paysheet No No No No
Lock Paysheet No No No No
Unlock Paysheet No Yes No No
Refresh Paysheet No No No No
Submit Paysheet No Yes No No
Approve Paysheet No No Yes No
Reject Paysheets No No Yes Yes

Creating a Payment Batch

In order to be paid, a resource must be created in Resource Manager, be assigned to a pay group, and be assigned a compensation plan.

From the Payment Batches page you can create a new payment batch or drill down on an existing payment batch to see information about it on the Payment Batch Summary page. From that page you can drill down to see paysheet details for individual resources.

Navigation

Compensation Manager > Maintain Payment Batches > Create

Notes

Create Paysheets for a Payment Batch

You can create paysheets for the resources in a payment batch by selecting All Resources in Pay Group when you define your payment batch. This method uses a concurrent request to create worksheets in mass for all resources that are on a payment batch. You can also create paysheets for specific resources that you choose.

In case you need to add a resource to a payment batch individually, click the View Paysheets icon next to the payment batch on the Payment Batches page. Then, click the Add Resources button.

Viewing and Changing Existing Payment Batches

Besides creating new payment batches, you can view and change existing payment batches.

The Payment Batch Summary page contains useful information for Compensation Managers and Compensation Analysts. This includes the Paysheet Status, Top Paysheets, Top Transactions, Payment Batch History, and a link to view individual paysheets. The ability to export terminated resources information can be helpful in assuring that all payments are made promptly to departed resources. See Using the Payment Batch Summary for more information.

Navigation

Compensation Manager > Maintain Payment Batches

Steps

  1. Query for a payment batch.

    You can click Save Search to create a view, or custom search.

  2. For unpaid payment batches, check the box in the Select column if you want to perform an action. Then, select an action from the Actions drop-down list and click Go.

  3. Click the link in the Name column to go view the Payment Batch Summary.

  4. Click the View Paysheets icon to go to the Paysheets: <payment batch name> summary page. Many actions can be performed on this page. See Working with Paysheets for details.

If you are logged in as a Compensation Manager, the Analysts Payment Batch Total column displays the sum of the payments that roll up to you from resources assigned to you and from resources assigned to Compensation Analysts assigned to you. If the Manager is at the top of the Payment Analyst Hierarchy then the total amount columns will be identical.

The Payment Batch Total field displays the total amount of the payment batch. If you are logged in as a Compensation Manager, the fields display identical amounts, because you are at the top of the hierarchy.

The Payment Batches page can be sorted in ascending or descending order on any column except for Paysheets.

Creating a Personalized View for Payment Batches

The Payment Batches page uses the same Simple Search and Advanced Search features as are used throughout Oracle Incentive Compensation. Using those searches, you can configure the display of payment batches to suit you. And you can also create a personalized view that displays your specifically required payment batches automatically. To create or edit a view, click the Views button. Select an existing view to edit or leave the field blank to create a new view. Click Personalize.

When you are editing a view, open after you make changes, save it with the same name. When creating a new view, save your changes with a new name.

If you want to base a new view on an existing view, duplicate the existing view. Be sure to rename the new view.

If you select Yes for Display View, the view will appear in the Views drop-down list.

In the Attribute Properties area, all columns can be removed except for Operating Unit. You can order the columns the way you want, and you can also rename any column in your personalized view. You can set the number of rows that you want to display. However, you cannot change the number of rows that are displayed in any saved search that is seeded data unless you personalize the region using the framework's personalization.

Check the Set as Default box if you want your new view to be the default selection on the Payment Batches page.

Using the Payment Batch Summary

The Payment Batch summary incorporates bins that display worksheet status, Top Worksheets, Top Transactions, and Terminated Resources. There is also a Payment Batch History, which documents any changes of status made to the payment batch, along with date and user information. The bins use icons to enable one-click access to detailed information for the individual paysheets and transactions. A graph area displays paysheet information at a glance.

This information helps Compensation Managers see the progress of their reporting analysts, so they can contact the Compensation Analysts to be sure they submit their paysheets in a timely manner.

Navigation

Compensation Manager > Maintain Payment Batches > Name link

Notes

Working with the Paysheets Summary Page

The Paysheets summary page is the entry point for viewing and performing actions on paysheets. This view provides analysts and payment managers summary information about the breakdown of earnings for each paysheet. The Compensation Manager or Analyst can remove, refresh, lock, unlock, and submit unpaid paysheets. The Compensation Manager can also approve and submit paysheets.

The Oracle Incentive Compensation search capabilities include a simple search, the more detailed Advanced Search, and the ability to create personalized views, which you can set as the default search.

The paysheets that are available to you are defined by your position in the payment hierarchy and your Oracle Incentive Compensation responsibility. For example, a Compensation Analyst who is a member of the Payment Analyst Hierarchy cannot approve or submit paysheets. He can however, modify, lock and submit paysheets for those resources who are assigned to him via Resource Manager.

On the Paysheets summary page, you can click the Detail icon to go directly to the individual paysheet for a resource. On the paysheet you can see the calculated and manual transactions are listed in separate tabs. You can also view any notes relating to the paysheet.

For the listed resources, the Paysheets summary displays earnings and adjustments. Original earnings and subsequent adjustments are shown, as well as the amount that would be paid according to the payment plan, including payment and recovery adjustments. The Total Paysheet Amount is the final payment figure, after all earnings and adjustments are considered.

Navigation

Compensation Manager > Maintain Payment Batches > Paysheets icon

Working with Individual Paysheets

A paysheet displays the details of the total payment amount for an individual resource. It comprises manual payments and calculated payments.

Manual payments are not part of a compensation plan. Calculated payments use transactions, applied to a compensation plan. You can adjust bonus and commission amounts using the paysheet.

You can make a manual pay adjustment to a paysheet. This is an additional amount that reduces or increases the total payment amount on the paysheet. The amount can be made recoverable during the next payment that is created. The manual adjustment must be associated with a plan element so that the recoverable amount will be associated with a payment group code. This code identifies which earnings should be used for recovery. If the manual pay adjustment is not recoverable, it will not be owed by the resource at a later date and will not show up in the balances. To make an adjustment recoverable, check the Recoverable box on the manual pay adjustment line.

Payments may need to be adjusted for one of the following reasons:

A resource may be assigned to an analyst on the Resource screen in Resource Manager, but it is not required. If a resource is assigned to a Compensation Analyst, the analyst's name appears on the worksheet. A Compensation Manager can view information only about resources assigned to the Compensation Analysts who report to him or her, and can also view unassigned resources when the Unassigned Resources box is checked. A Compensation Analyst can work only on worksheets assigned to him or her or that are unassigned.

Navigation

Compensation Manager > Maintain Payment Batches > Name link > Paysheets Detail > Detail icon

Steps

  1. Check the Notes subtab to enter comments into the Notes area. These notes can be read later to explain any changes you make to the paysheet.

  2. To add a manual payment:

    1. Click the Manual Payments subtab.

    2. Add a row.

    3. Select a plan element name. The list includes any plan elements that are in the resource's compensation plan.

    4. Check the Recoverable box if you want the payment to be recoverable from future earnings.

    5. Enter a payment amount.

    6. Click Apply.

  3. To manually adjust a payment amount for a calculated payment, click the Calculated Payments subtab and click Transaction Details. The Transaction Details button only appears if the Pay By Transaction profile is set to Yes. If it is set to No, then you must adjust at the Plan Element level.

  4. Enter the amount in the Payment Amount column for the transaction line and clickSave.

  5. To hold a transaction and pay it in a future payment batch, on the Payment Transaction page check the Payment Hold box next to a transaction and click Save.

    You can hold or release all transactions at once. The Hold All/Release All button starts a concurrent request. While the job is processing the paysheet will have a status of Processing. While processing, no other actions can take place in the payment batch.

  6. On the paysheet, If you waive recovery the resource does not have to pay back any payment received from a payment plan.

  7. After making any changes, lock the paysheet. This must be done before submitting the paysheet for approval by the Compensation Manager, and to prevent the data from being changed.

The Pay Element Name fields are populated for transactions for which the plan element is mapped to a pay element for use in integration to Oracle Payroll.

When you hold a transaction it is taken out of the paysheet and is not paid in the current payment batch. It can be paid in a future payment batch.

If the Pay by Transaction profile is set to Yes (Y), every transaction is listed on the paysheet, and the plan element and pay element can be displayed.

If the Pay by Transaction profile is set to No (N), the compensation amounts are summarized at the plan element level. Therefore, the pay element name is displayed against the plan element name on the Payment Transactions page, if the mapping exists and the payment batch date falls within the mapping date range. But, in the case of a payment recovery, the amounts are aggregated at the resource level and distributed at the plan element level, so the pay element is listed but the plan element name is not displayed.

In the Calculated Payments area, the Calculated Amount column displays the total amount calculated for the resource at the time calculation was run. The Payment Difference column displays the difference between the Calculated Amount and Payment Amount, if any, for unpaid transactions.

Any changes to transactions will affect the total payment amount to the resource. Values other than '0.00' indicate that the earnings captured by the paysheet are not the most current for the resource. A paysheet refresh obtains the most up-to-date compensation data.

Creating a Personalized View for Paysheets

You can create a custom search for paysheets that you access frequently. You can set the search as the default if you want those paysheets to be displayed automatically when the Paysheets page appears.

This process works the same as creating a personalized view for payment batches. See Creating a Personalized View for Payment Batches.

Payment Hold at the Transaction Level

During the payment interval of the commissions cycle, Compensation Manager or Compensation Analyst can hold a specific transaction for payment in a later payment batch. Reasons for payment holds include:

After a transaction has been identified to be held and not paid within a payment batch, it may take considerable time to remedy the issue. Therefore, a held transaction may need to span multiple payment batches. Held transactions stay in a held status until they are manually released, so Compensation Managers and Analysts do not have to worry about the transaction being paid.

The Payment Hold box on the Payment Transaction page must be checked and the database must be updated. The system-generated note is attached to the paysheet and the box remains flagged until it is manually changed to release the hold. After a transaction is held, the amount is removed from the earnings and the paysheet total.

On the Paysheets summary page, the Held Amount column displays the aggregated amount of held transactions from the current payment batch, including any manual adjustments made specifically to held transactions in the Payment Amount field of the Payment Transaction page. As transactions are held and released, the total in the Held Amount column reflects the changes.

A held transaction affects the paysheet totals in many ways. First, the held amount is removed from the Paysheet Earnings column and is placed into the Held Amount column. If the transaction was adjusted before the hold was made, then the adjustment is removed from the Adjusted Amount column and is placed into the Held Amount column. Finally, the held amount is considered in payment plans only if the paysheet is refreshed or the payment plan is reapplied. When a held transaction is released from its hold, the reversal of the aggregate totals occurs.

After the payment batch has been paid, all of the payment batch information becomes static. The Paysheet summary retains the Held Amount value along with the other standard summaries. However, the held transaction does not appear on the Payment Transaction page as it was not included in the payment batch.

Basic Hold Example

This simple example uses two transactions to show what happens when one transaction is held and paid in a subsequent payment batch. The example displays only the table columns that are relevant in the example.

In the January 07 payment batch, there are two transactions with calculated amounts of $5 and $7. The Payment Transactions page displays the calculated amounts and the payment amounts as the same; the payment difference is 0. In the Held Transactions column, N = No and Y = Yes.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 5 0 5
2 N 7 0 7

The Paysheets summary for this payment batch shows the aggregated transactions, in the amount of $12 in the Current Earnings Due, Paysheet Earnings, and Total Paysheet Amount columns, as follows:

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Total Paysheet Amount
12 0 0 12 12

The Compensation Manager or Analyst holds the second transaction, for $7, by checking the Hold box next to it on the Payment Transaction page. The N in the Held Transaction column changes to Y.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 5 0 5
2 Y 7 0 7

The Paysheets summary still displays $12 in the Current Earnings Due column, but also an amount of $7 in the Held Amount column, and the remaining $5 in the Paysheet Earnings and Total Paysheet Amount columns.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Total Paysheet Amount
12 0 7 5 5

The payment batch is locked and paid. If you drill down on the Total Paysheet Amount for the Jan 07 payment batch, the held transaction no longer appears on the Payment Transaction page.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 5 0 5

For the next payment batch, February 07, there are no new transactions. However, the held, unpaid transaction appears on the Paysheets summary in the Held Amount column.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Total Paysheet Amount
7 0 7 0 0

When you drill down on the total worksheet amount column, the held transaction displays on the Payment Transaction page.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
2 Y 7 0 7

If the hold on the transaction is released, the amount appears in the Calculated Amount and Payment Amount columns and is paid by the payment batch. If the transaction is held, then the amount carries over to the next payment batch and no payment on the transaction is made.

If you make an adjustment to a transaction and then hold the transaction, the amount of the adjustment is populated in the payment amount column when the hold is released and the transaction is paid in a payment batch.

Adjust and Hold Example

In the example below, you can see what happens to the Paysheets summary and the Payment Transactions pages when a payment analyst adjusts and then holds a transaction.

First, the Compensation Manager or Analyst creates a payment batch. This payment batch has current earnings due of $5.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Adjusted Amount Total Paysheet Amount
5 0 0 5 0 5

The Payment Transactions page shows the two transactions that relate to this payment batch.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 3 0 3
2 N 2 0 2

Now, an adjustment is made to transaction 2, adding $2. You can see the $2 added to the Adjusted Amount column in the Paysheet Summary and the Total Paysheet Amount is now $7.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Adjusted Amount Total Paysheet Amount
5 0 0 5 2 7

On the Payment Transactions page, for transaction 2 the Payment Difference column shows the added $2 and the Payment Amount column grows to $4.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 3 0 3
2 N 2 2 4

Now, the Compensation Manager or Compensation Analyst holds transaction 2. The Paysheets summary displays the held amount, and the paysheet earnings and total paysheet amount are reduced by that amount. The adjusted amount returns to 0.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Adjusted Amount Total Paysheet Amount
5 -2 4 3 0 3

On the Payment Transactions page, the N (No) in the Held Transactions column becomes Y (Yes).

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 3 0 3
2 Y 2 2 4

Now, when payment batch 1 is paid, the total worksheet amount of $3 is paid. The held amount remains $4.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Adjusted Amount Total Paysheet Amount
5 -2 4 3 0 3

The Payment Transactions page now displays only transaction 1.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
1 N 3 0 3

The Compensation Manager or Compensation Analyst creates a second payment batch. There are no incremental earnings, so only the held transaction is displayed, in the Current Earnings Due and the Held Amount columns. The Total Paysheet Amount column displays 0, and there are no paysheet earnings.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Adjusted Amount Total Paysheet Amount
2 -2 4 0 0 0

The Payment Transactions page shows transaction 2, just as it was when it was held.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
2 Y 2 2 4

When the held transaction is released, the $4 moves from the Held Amount column to the Total Paysheet Amount column. The Paysheet Earnings and Adjusted Amount columns now show the original earnings and adjustment amounts.

Current Earnings Due Earnings Difference Held Amount Paysheet Earnings Adjusted Amount Total Paysheet Amount
2 0 0 2 2 4

On the Payment Transactions page, the Y changes to N as the transaction is no longer held and is set to be paid.

Transaction Held Transaction Calculated Amount Payment Difference Payment Amount
2 N 2 2 4

Note: The example works the same way even if the adjustment is made after the transaction is held, in reverse order from the example.

Approving Paysheets

After a payment batch has been created, the paysheets in it must be approved by the Manager in the Payment Administrative Hierarchy. As paysheets are approved, records are created and stored.

The table below lists four different Paysheet Status types, with a description:

Worksheet Status Description
Unpaid When a paysheet is created but before it has been through the approval process, its status is Unpaid.
Locked After reviewing a paysheet and making any adjustments, the Compensation Analyst locks it to prevent any changes before submitting it to the Compensation Manager. If the paysheet is unlocked, the status resets to Unpaid.
Submitted After the Compensation Analyst submits a paysheet for approval by the Compensation Manager, its status changes to Submitted. Paysheets must be locked before they are submitted.
Approved The paysheet has been approved by the manager and has been submitted for payment. That person, whether the approver or a higher level manager, pays the payment batch after all of the paysheets are approved.

Submitting a Payment Batch for Payment

After all the paysheets have been approved the Compensation Manager can submit the payment batch for payment.

There are two methods to submit a payment batch for payment:

When the first payment batch is paid in a period, the data is transferred to Payroll successfully if Oracle Integration is set up and used. For an off-cycle payment batch, after you pay the payment batch from Oracle Incentive Compensation and before you validate the BEE batch, you must change the "Action if Entry Exists" from "Reject Entry" to "Create New Entry" in the Batch Control and save the record before proceeding with the validation process. To ensure that payment batches are automatically accepted by Payroll whether for regular period payments or off-cycle, change the setting of the profile option OIC: Approve or Reject Duplicate Payment Transactions. To allow multiple payments to the same pay element in the same period, change the profile setting from Reject (the default setting) to Insert (create new entry) or Update (change existing entry), based upon your business needs. After a payment batch is paid in Oracle Incentive Compensation it cannot be repaid. If the receiving system rejects the payments, then the payments will need to be re-entered into Payroll manually.

Payment Review with Example

After calculation is complete, payment batches are created either by using the Run Create Paysheets Concurrent Process or by clicking the online Apply button when the payment batch is created. The payment batch is opened and Compensation Analysts begin reviewing the commission information for resources assigned to them. Compensation Analysts can drill down and view paysheet details by clicking the Detail icon in the paysheet summary or search. There, they can see the resource's overall performance to quickly verify that the overall earnings match what the resource is supposed to receive. On the Paysheet detail page, Compensation Analysts review the resource's commission (summarized by plan element), payment plan adjustments (draw and cap) and manual adjustments. If the system is set up to Pay by Transaction, a "Transaction Detail" button is displayed and the Analyst can query transactions applicable to the paysheet and adjust or hold at the line level.

If a Compensation Analyst decides that some adjustments are necessary, he can make manual adjustments to the payment amount. These adjustments can be:

While the payment batch is open, compensation recalculation may take place if some transaction adjustments were not loaded for the current or a prior period. To compensate for this, Compensation Analysts can selectively refresh paysheets. This lets the Compensation Analyst include changes for resources that need it while preserving the comments and manual adjustments that they have already made for the resource.

For example, a paysheet is created for a resource with a payment plan for $1,000. If the resource's earnings are $600, then the payment plan adds $400 to bring the total to $1,000. However, after transactions are recalculated for the resource, the earnings are reduced to $450. If the payment plan is reapplied during a refresh, the amount of the plan increases from $400 to $550 to compensate for the lost earnings and keep the total at $1,000. If the refresh is not applied, the original amounts remain unchanged.

In a similar scenario, a paysheet is created for a resource with a payment plan of $1,000. The earnings are $600 and the payment plan adds $400 to bring the total to $1,000. For this resource, a manual transaction of $200 is made. The transactions are recalculated and the total earnings are reduced to $450. In this case, the manual pay adjustment is added to the $450 earnings, so after the refresh, the payment plan amount is reduced to $350 so the total can be $1,000. Without the refresh, the original amounts stay the same.

The Payment Difference column on the Paysheet: <payment batch name> search page makes it easy for Compensation Analysts to see which resources have a payment difference because of a compensation recalculation.

After the Compensation Analysts are finished examining and verifying a resource's data, they can click Lock Paysheet to put the paysheet in Locked status. Then, they submit the paysheet for approval by the compensation manager, which puts the paysheet in Submitted status. Locking the paysheet preserves the information on it in the event that the Compensation Manager later performs a refresh at the payment batch level. In that case, any locked paysheets are not refreshed. A paysheet can be unlocked by the Compensation Analyst. This puts the paysheet in Unlocked status.

The Compensation Manager reviews all of the details pertaining to the paysheet and then approves it or rejects it, adding comments if desired. When a Compensation Manager rejects a paysheet, it returns to Unpaid status. Any comments added during the approval process are maintained for future reference.

When all the paysheets for the payment batch are approved by the Manager, the Compensation Manager submits the payment batch for payment. The paysheet status then changes to Paid. If the Manager freezes the payment batch, no changes can be made to the paysheets by Compensation Analysts.