LaserComp 4.0		Comments	Roles
Activity	Task	Client configurable	Laserbeam configuration	Description	Admin	Comp Analyst/HR Pro	Manager
Develop Annual Salary Plan	Define budget parameters	x		Budgets can be defined as either top-down or bottom-up.  Top-down refers to the ability to set a budget at the corporate level and distribute to each organizational unit.  Distributions can also include a holdback to be released to managers at corporate discretion.  Bottom-up budget can be arrived at using the Merit Matrix for determining the effect of a range of increases against the current employee population.	x	x
	Provide salary and Personal data	X	x	Employee salary and indicative data can be imported on a scheduled basis from payroll or your HRMS system.	x	X
	Salary forecasting	x	x	Forecasting can be provided by the Salary Range and Merit Matrix, which can be modified to handle multiple scenarios for changes in salary and how it is applied to the performance scale.  The Merit Matrix grids can be modified to reflect Compa Ratio, Quartiles or Percentages and matching the Performance Scale(s) defined by your process.	X	x
	Develop Guidelines	X		Guidelines for Managers are developed based on the parameters you define, often a combination of the Salary Range and Merit Matrix, which are linked to a Plan and assigned to a Group.  Plans are defined by the date range they are active, the Groups they are assigned to, Pro-ration rules, and the Merit Matrix and Salary Range used.	x	x
Award Merit/ Adjustment/ Promotional Increase & Lump Sum Awards	Develop and communicate annual increase guidelines	x	x	Laserbeam will create web pages that contains the annual guidelines/Instructions for Managers.  This can be established at login, as a tab on the manager screen or under the help menu.  Clients will have the capability to modify the text through the admin screen.	x	x
	Manager administration of salary increase for each employee	X	X	Managers can view each of their employees - senior managers can drill down on their directs and their employees.  The manager view includes a team view in which they can see their employees most recent information (ie performance, current Compa Ratio) and recommended target.  Managers can put it new increase by percentage or dollar amount, with alerts set if out of guideline and a note pad for justifying recommended increases.  At the client's discretion, Laserbeam can configure the alerts to be warnings only or a hard stop which prevents the manager from exceeding guidelines or budget.			X
	Ensure compliance with budget guidelines & linkage with performance management	x	x	Managers will be able to view their total budget and see the impact of allocations as they set increases for each employee. Current Performance ratings for each employee will be visible and the manager will be able to see the ranges set for each employee as well.			x
	Promotional Increase and Lump Sum Awards	x	x	Managers can initiate promotional and other increases from a tab within the main employee screen.  Increase types are defined and loaded during the implementation.  Lump Sum awards will normally be defined within the Merit Matrix as part of the guidelines.			x
	Manage approval process		x	The tool currently supports approvals up to 5 levels. The approval process is established and configured during implementation.  Manager over managers can accept or reject all requests or selectively choose which ones to reject.  Notifications to managers that they have approvals can be established via email, as long as current emails can be maintained in the Lasercomp system.	X		x
	Update HR system with increases	x	x	The system admin can produce reports and extracts for review prior to sending to the Peoplesoft, then initiate the file transfer upon approval.	X
Bonus Awards	Develop and communicate annual incentive program guidelines	x	x	Laserbeam will create a web page(s) that contains the annual guidelines/Instructions for Managers.  This can be established at login, as a tab or under the help menu.  Clients will have the capability to modify the text through the admin screen	x
	Establish Bonus Targets	x	x	Multiple Bonus Targets can be created based on combinations of Grade, Position, Location and Job.  Percentage targets can then be assigned based on one or all of those criteria.  Each Target can be saved and applied to Groups (such as a certain division).  Guidelines can then be created for each department (if necessary) and made available for assignment to a Bonus Plan.  Bonus Plans are created based on the selected Targets, Guidelines  and Groups.  These criteria together sums up the Bonus Plan into a budget based on individuals that fall within each plan.  Once a Bonus Plan has been established, administrators have the ability to further modify the Plan to include an Adjusted Bonus Target based on exceeding or falling short of the Target.  This adjusts the overall budget, as well as the recommended bonus at the individual level.	x	x
	Manager administration of bonuses for each employee	x	x	Managers are presented with the results of the established Bonus Targets for each employee.  The display screen currently contains current performance ranking and score (if applicable), established Target, Adjusted Target (if applicable) and Recommended Bonus.  Clients can determine whether the Manager has discretion to adjust the actual bonus awarded or if the amount is fixed.			x
	Document annual incentive award for each employee	X	X	Compensation Statements for each employee can be defined according to the client's requirments and available to each manager for printing and distribution to each employee			X
	Manage approval process		x	If manager discretion is used for bonus payouts, the tool can be configured, as with Salary, up to 5 levels. The approval process is established and configured during implementation.  Manager over managers can accept or reject all requests or selectively choose which ones to reject.  Notifications to managers that they have approvals can be established via email, as long as current emails can be maintained in the Lasercomp system.	X		x
	Update HR system with increases	X		The system admin can produce reports and extracts for review prior to sending to the Peoplesoft, then initiate the file transfer upon approval.	x
Equity Awards (Stock and Stock Options)	Communicate annual equity guidelines	x	x	Laserbeam will create a web page(s) that contains the annual guidelines/Instructions for Managers.  This can be established at login, as a tab or under the help menu.  Clients will have the capability to modify the text through the admin screen	x
	Determine and document equity award for each employee	x	x	Equity awards work much the same way as Bonus Awards, except that Targets and distributions are based on the number of Equity awards instead of dollar amounts.  Eligibility and Targets can be created based on combinations of Grade, Position, Location and Job.  Distribution targets can then be assigned based on one or all of those criteria.  Each Target can be saved and applied to Groups (such as a certain division).  Guidelines can then be created for each department (if necessary) and made available for assignment to an Equity Plan.  Equity Plans are created based on the selected Targets, Guidelines  and Groups.  .  Once an Equity Plan has been established, administrators have the ability to further modify the Equity Plan to include an Adjusted  Target based on exceeding or falling short of the Target.  This adjusts the overall allocation of  Equity, as well as the recommended equity distibution at the individual level.	x	x
	Update Equity Award agent	X		The system admin can produce reports and extracts for review prior to sending to holder of the agent of record (ie Smith Barney), then initiate the file transfer upon approval.	x
Reporting	Rollup Reports		X	LaserComp has over 40 standard reports to choose from or modify.  Most companies, however, will want at least a few customized reports, which we include as part of the implemention		x
	Ad-Hoc Reporting	x		Ad-hoc reporting is available through the embedded reporting tool that comes with the package.  The user should be familiar with creating ad-hoc reports.  All users of the system can also export data into Excel or Access for off-line analysis.		x
	Manager Reporting	x		Manager reports are defined as part of the implementation and are available on the manager's screen.  Only reports which have been designated for the manager will be available
	Employee Statements	x		Employee Compensation Statements are defined as part of the implementation and can contain information such as may be defined by each client, such as ranges, guidelines, previous salary/awards as well as new salary/awards.  These statements can be personalized to contain the company logo as well.		x
Administration	Admin Role		x	The system administrator is responsible for maintaining security, file uploads and exports, loading budgets and data integrity. Any function which has the ability of corrupting the data or compromising security is held by the Admin role, which should be limited normally to two people (primary and a backup).	X
	Admin Tools		x	Admin tools include the following:  Assign Security access (including userids and passwords), password resets. Setting Budgets when a Top-down method is used.  Managing imports, whether automated or manual.  Managing exports, both automated and manual. Setting up messages for display on the Home screen.  Inserting or modifying communications packages.  Managing changes to the hierarchical structure.  Hierarchy changes requires some explanation:  HRMS or payroll systems often don't reflect the actual Who-to-Whom hierarchy used for compensation planning, but rather tend to reflect cost center structures.  When this occurs, the Admin has the capability of reassigning employees individually or as groups to another manager for the purpose of compensation planning.  This puts that employee (or group) under the new hierarchy structure for manager access, budget and payout purposes without impacting the structure maintained in payroll.	x