The Budget Amounts section allows administrators to define how compensation budgets are calculated, displayed, and allocated across the organization. This page controls the overall merit budget calculation as well as optional budgets for promotions, other increases, lump sums, and bonuses.
Accessing Budget Amounts
Navigate to:
Configuration → Budget Amounts
Budget Overview
At the top of the page, SimplyMerit displays a real-time summary of calculated budgets.
(Click here to enlarge in a new tab)
Displayed budget tiles include:
Merit Budget
Promotion Budget
Other Budget
Lump Sum Budget
Bonus Budget
Important notes:
Only the Merit Budget is used in manager budget roll-up calculations.
Promotion, Other, Lump Sum, and Bonus budgets are currently used for SimplyMerit Insights analytical reporting only.
These additional budgets do not restrict manager allocations unless explicitly configured elsewhere.
Set Budget Amounts
This section controls how budgets are calculated and what compensation types are included in the cycle.
What Are We Processing?
Select which compensation components are active for the cycle:
Salary
Bonus
Equity
These toggles control which tabs and workflows are available to managers throughout the application.
Merit Allocation Percent
The Merit Allocation Percent is the most critical field on this page.
Enter the average merit increase percentage for the entire eligible population.
When changes are saved, SimplyMerit calculates the total Merit Budget displayed at the top of the page.
This value represents the starting point before any exceptions are applied.
The next configuration step, Exceptions, allows you to fine-tune this allocation by country, division, department, or individual employee.
Additional Budget Fields
The following optional budgets can be entered:
Promotional Budget
Other Budget
Lump Sum Budget
Bonus Budget
Each field accepts a dollar amount.
Important:
These budgets are not enforced limits during manager allocation.
They are included for reporting and analysis purposes only.
Including Additional Budgets in Merit Allocation
Each optional budget includes a toggle to determine whether it should be included in the overall Merit Allocation Budget calculation:
Promotion Budget is Included in Overall Merit Allocation Budget
Other Budget is Included in Overall Merit Allocation Budget
Lump Sum Budget is Included in Overall Merit Allocation Budget
When enabled, the corresponding budget is factored into the total allocation math tied to the Merit Allocation Percent.
Bonus Budget Option
The Bonus Budget includes an additional configuration:
Using Only Subjective Bonuses, With No Bonus Budget Set
Enable this option if:
Managers will assign discretionary bonuses only
No predefined bonus pool is required
Salary Base Option
This setting controls how certain percentage-based calculations are derived.
Option:
Calculate Promotion % and Other % based on Current Salary
(instead of Salary After Merit and Salary After Promotion)
This setting impacts how promotion and other adjustment percentages are calculated, particularly in scenarios where multiple adjustments are stacked.
Saving Changes
Click Save Changes to apply updates.
Budget totals update immediately.
Managers will see updated budget availability on their My Team pages.
Subsequent configuration steps (such as Exceptions) will recalculate budgets based on these values.
Summary
The Budget Amounts page allows administrators to:
Define the overall merit increase strategy
Control which compensation types are active
Calculate organization-wide merit budgets
Provide reporting-only budgets for promotions, lump sums, and bonuses
Establish the salary base used for percentage calculations
This page should be configured before setting Exceptions or inviting managers into the cycle.
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