Guide: Admins Getting Started Part 29 - SimplyMerit Calculations – SimplyMerit Knowledge Center

This section explains how amounts, percentages, proration logic, and date formats are handled within SimplyMerit to ensure consistent calculations and accurate imports, exports, and reporting.

Decimal Precision and Display

SimplyMerit calculates and stores all amounts and percentages to eight (8) decimal places to maintain precision during budget rollups and allocations.

For display purposes:

Most amounts are shown as whole numbers
Percentages are displayed with two decimal places
Adjustment letters display both amounts and percentages with two decimal places

This ensures internal accuracy while keeping outputs easy to read.

Date Formats for Import

SimplyMerit expects all imported dates to be provided in the following format:

YYYYMMDD

If your source data uses a different format, you can convert dates in Excel using a formula such as:

=TEXT(A2,"YYYYMMDD")

Using the correct date format is required for proration logic and eligibility calculations to function properly.

Incentive Proration Logic

SimplyMerit supports day-level proration for incentive programs. To enable this, all four of the following date fields must be provided for each incentive program:

incentive_program_1_start_date
incentive_program_1_end_date
incentive_program_1_cycle_start_date
incentive_program_1_cycle_end_date

If any incentive proration date is supplied, all four fields are required in order for proration to calculate correctly.

Special Characters in Imports

SimplyMerit does not support special characters (such as accented characters) in imported text fields (for example, employee names or titles). These characters should be removed or replaced prior to import.

Many clients use Excel-based find/replace or macros to convert accented characters to standard Roman characters before uploading data.

Leading Zeros in Data Fields

SimplyMerit fully supports leading zeros in fields such as employee IDs or postal codes. Issues typically arise when Excel removes leading zeros when opening CSV files.

To prevent this, use one of the following best practices:

Prepend an alpha character to numeric IDs (for example, change 052342 to GS052342) so Excel treats the field as text.
Use Excel’s Text Import Wizard by opening the file as a text file and setting affected columns to Text format.
Avoid double-clicking CSV files to open them directly in Excel, which can automatically strip leading zeros.

Following these practices ensures leading zeros are preserved throughout the import process.

Summary

SimplyMerit’s calculation logic is designed to prioritize precision, consistency, and compatibility with downstream systems. Adhering to the supported formats for dates, text fields, and numeric values helps ensure accurate calculations, smooth imports, and reliable reporting across your compensation cycle.

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