How to Get Started with Kaitlyn’s Best Practice Comp Cycle Template

Pequity includes a pre-configured Best Practice Merit Cycle Template, built by our co-founder Kaitlyn Knopp, to help you quickly launch a comp cycle with tried-and-true logic, formulas, and workflows. This guide walks you through accessing the template, importing your data, and customizing the logic to fit your company’s needs.

Here's Kaitlyn, walking through it:

Next, add your employee data to the template to start modeling and budgeting.

Pequity’s Best Practice Merit Cycle Template, built by Kaitlyn Knopp, comes pre-configured with the logic, columns, and budget you need to run a compensation cycle. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to import your own employee data into the template.

Step 1: Locate the Template

You can find Kaitlyn’s template in two places:

From the homepage, under Comp Cycles
From the navigation bar, under Comp Cycles

Once you open the template, go to the Admin Dashboard to view the pre-configured workbook.

Step 2: Review the Sample Data

Navigate to the Data tab.
Here you’ll see a sample employee dataset already loaded. This acts as a guide for the required column headers and formatting.

Step 3: Export the Sample Data

Scroll to the bottom of the Employee Template tab and click Export Full Data to CSV.

This ensures your file has the correct headers.
Use this as a reference when preparing your own employee dataset.

Required fields:

EID → must be unique and populated (used as the identifier for each employee)
Last Name
First Name
Start Date
Base Salary

Optional fields (like Rating) can also be included if you’d like them modeled in the cycle.

Step 4: Prepare Your Data

Download your HRIS data and match the column headers to the required fields above. Save your file as a CSV.

Step 5: Upload Your Data

In Pequity, click Upload New Version.
Choose your file to upload.
Select the row that contains your headers (this is useful if the first row of your export does not include headers).
Review the validation screen. Any errors will be highlighted in red, and you can clean them directly in-app.

Once the data looks good:

Click Next
Confirm your clean data (you can also export this version back to your HRIS if needed)
Select Close and Publish Version

Your imported employee data will now populate the People tab.

Step 6: Duplicate the Template

To preserve the original best practice template:

From the Comp Cycles page, select Duplicate.
Rename the copy (e.g., “New Cycle”).
Open the new cycle and go to the Admin Dashboard.

Step 7: Import Employees into the New Cycle

Delete the sample employees from the cycle.
Import your own employees using the steps above.
Choose whether to import all employees or a filtered subset.
Select which columns you want to include (e.g., Ratings).

Now, your new cycle is populated with your employee data.

Step 8: Model and Configure

With your data in place, you can now:

Apply eligibility rules
Adjust proration
Incorporate ratings
Model promotions and recommendations

For advanced customization, go to Edit Columns and adjust formulas or logic. (We’ll cover this in a separate deep dive article.)

Next Steps

At this stage, your merit cycle is live with your employee data layered on top of Kaitlyn’s best practice framework. You’re ready to begin modeling scenarios and planning your cycle.

If you see “Ranges not found” or mismatched ranges, don’t worry—ranges have not yet been imported. You can add those later.

Need Help?

Contact our support team at support@getpequity.com.