Evaluation Increment Matrix
An increment matrix is a ladder of score bands. A man scored 3.8 lands in a band, the band has a name he is told, and the band carries the bonus percentage he is paid. One line is one band, never one person.
What it is for
An appraisal produces a number. A number on its own pays nothing. This screen is the agreed translation from that number into money and into a word: 3.8 is Exceeds Expectations, and Exceeds Expectations earns a bonus of 15 percent of basic salary.
A line is a score band. It is never a person. Nobody is named on this screen and nobody can be. Who the ladder applies to comes from the Performance Target Entity the round covers, which is where the population always comes from. The matrix is named on the Evaluation Cycle, or on one of its halves, and everybody in that round is read against it.
Bands are checked hard, for one reason: a score that lands in two bands, or in none, is an argument with an employee that nobody can win. The screen refuses overlapping bands, refuses a gap between bands, and refuses a set of expected shares that could not add up to a hundred.
What on this screen is live, and what is not
This has to be said plainly, because the screen shows more columns than the product acts on.
The bonus columns are live. The band a score falls into, and the bonus percentage on that band, are read by Performance Payout, which works out the amount and posts it to payroll. That is the whole of what this matrix does automatically.
These columns are recorded and nothing reads them: Increment Percent From and To, Promotion Eligible, Leads To, Max Salary. They are stored, they are reported, they are a perfectly good written record of the policy, and no calculation anywhere uses them. An increment is raised on Salary Revision, where the percentage is typed on the line, because a client who negotiates a rounded figure overrides the policy anyway.
Calibration is not a payout input. A score moved in the Calibration meeting is recorded as a calibrated score beside the actual one. The payout reads the settled score from the appraisal. If the client's policy is that the calibrated figure pays, the moved figure has to reach the sheet before the payout is generated, not just the calibration board.
Write those columns up as the committee's record, to be acted on by hand. Never tell a client that typing an increment percentage here will increase anybody's salary. A column that is filled in is not evidence that something reads it, and this is the column clients most often assume applies itself. Being shown a column that does nothing is worse than being told the truth about it.
Every field, in plain words
The matrix
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation Increment Matrix | The short code for the ladder | ANNUAL-FY26 | |
| Name | The ladder in words | Annual Performance Bands 2026 | Required |
| Score Axis | Which scale the client talks in | Rating 1 - 5 | R15 Rating 1 - 5, the usual. P100 Percentage 0 - 100. Band boundaries are checked against the 0 to 5 ladder either way, so write the bands on that ladder |
| Payout Basis | What the ladder is used for | Period - periodic bonus | Required. CYC Cycle, the annual increment. PRD Period, a bonus paid per half or quarter. BOT both. The figure the percentage is applied to is chosen on the payout itself. See value lists |
| Effective From | The date the policy starts applying | 01-Jan-2026 | Keep last year's matrix rather than editing it, and date the new one |
| Default | This is the ladder to use when a cycle names none | Tick on the current year's |
Score Bands
One line per band, from the bottom of the ladder to the top.
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line # | Line number | Fills itself | |
| Band | The short code for the band | B3 | Required |
| Band Name | What the employee is told he scored | Exceeds Expectations | Required. This is read out loud in appraisal meetings, so write it the way the client says it |
| Score From | The lowest score in the band | 3.51 | Required |
| Score To | The highest score in the band | 4.50 | Required. Must not be below Score From, and the band has to sit inside the 0 to 5 ladder |
| Expected Percent From, Expected Percent To | How much of the workforce the client expects to land here | 25 to 35 | Guidance for the calibration meeting. The bands' expected shares have to be able to total 100, because every man lands in exactly one band |
| Increment Percent From, Increment Percent To | The annual increase the policy says this band earns | 10 to 12 | Recorded only. Nothing calculates from it. The increase is typed on Salary Revision |
| Bonus Percent From, Bonus Percent To | The bonus this band earns, as a percentage of the chosen salary figure | 15 to 15 | Live. Performance Payout reads this |
| Bonus Eligible | Whether this band is paid a bonus at all | Tick on every band that pays | A bonus percentage on a band that is not ticked is refused. Either tick it or clear the percentage |
| Promotion Eligible | The policy says this band may be promoted | Recorded only. Nothing reads it | |
| Leads To | The role or grade this band leads to | Recorded only. Nothing reads it | |
| Max Salary | The ceiling the policy puts on this band | Recorded only. Nothing reads it |
Two bands may share an edge. A band ending at 3.50 and the next starting at 3.50 is accepted, because a score is read against the highest band it qualifies for. What is refused is a real overlap, such as 3.00 to 4.00 beside 3.50 to 4.50, and a real gap, such as one band ending at 3.50 and the next starting at 3.60, because 3.55 would then be banded into nothing.
The ladder starts at 0, not at 1. Real ladders have a bottom band that reaches below 1, and a band from 0.60 to 1.50 is normal.
How to configure it
- Get the client's written band table out of the policy document. Band name, score range, bonus percentage, and the distribution they expect.
- Open the screen, give the ladder a code, a name and an effective date. ANNUAL-FY26, Annual Performance Bands 2026, 01-Jan-2026.
- Set the Score Axis to the scale the client talks in, and the Payout Basis to what the ladder is for.
- Add the bottom band first and work up. Needs Improvement 0.00 to 2.50, Meets Expectations 2.51 to 3.50, Exceeds Expectations 3.51 to 4.50, Outstanding 4.51 to 5.00.
- Check the ladder has no hole in it. Each band should start where the one below it ended, or at the next hundredth.
- Type the expected distribution, bottom to top. 10, 55, 25, 10 adds to 100 and gives the calibration meeting something to aim at.
- Tick Bonus Eligible on every band that pays, and type the bonus percentage. Leave both empty on a band that pays nothing.
- Fill the increment percentage and the promotion columns if the client wants the policy written down. Tell them it is a record, not a calculation.
- Tick Default on the current year's ladder, save, and name it on the Evaluation Cycle.
Scenarios
"The bottom band gets nothing at all"
Leave Bonus Eligible clear and both bonus percentages empty on that band. A man landing there is told his band name and paid no bonus. Do not type a zero percentage against an unticked band, that combination is refused on purpose, because it reads as an oversight.
"The bonus is different for the factory and the office"
That is not a second matrix. Build one ladder and put a business multiplier line on each Performance Target Entity, keyed on the department. The band pays 15 percent and the multiplier adjusts what that department actually receives.
"The second half should pay a smaller bonus than the first"
Build a second ladder with lower bonus percentages and name it on the second period line of the Evaluation Cycle. A period line's own matrix wins over the round's.
"Our policy says 4.2 means a promotion"
Tick Promotion Eligible and record it, and understand what that does: it writes the policy down. Nothing promotes anybody. The promotion is done on the person's position and recorded on Salary Revision when the increment letter is raised.
"We changed the bands halfway through the year"
Never edit a ladder that has already paid. Create a new one with a later Effective From, tick it as the default, and name it on the next round. A payout already generated carries the figures it was paid on, which is what it is for.
What it is connected to
- Evaluation Cycle names the matrix for the round, and a period line can name a different one for one half.
- Performance Target Entity decides who the ladder applies to, and carries the business multiplier applied on top of the bonus.
- Performance Payout reads the band and the bonus percentage, works out the amount and posts it to payroll.
- Salary Revision is where an increment actually happens. It does not read this screen.
- The band arithmetic is set out in the maths.
If something looks wrong
- "It refuses to save and says two bands overlap" - a score would be worth two different bonuses. Move one edge. A shared edge is fine, a real overlap is not.
- "It says nothing covers scores between two figures" - there is a hole in the ladder. Make the upper band start where the lower one ends.
- "It says the expected distribution cannot make 100" - the ranges you typed cannot total a hundred between them, and every employee lands in exactly one band. Widen or correct them.
- "It says a bonus percentage is set but the band is not bonus eligible" - tick Bonus Eligible, or clear the percentage.
- "It says a band runs outside the score axis" - bands live on the 0 to 5 ladder. 0 to 5 is the whole of it.
- "The increment percentage we typed did not reach anybody's salary" - it never will. Only the bonus half of this screen is live. Raise the increase on Salary Revision.
- "The calibrated score did not change the bonus" - calibration is not a payout input. The moved figure has to reach the appraisal sheet before the payout is generated.