Configure planning windows
Planning windows assign each planner a sub-timeline (a start date and end date) within which they should complete their compensation review. The sequencing runs bottom-up: planners furthest from the final approver (lower in the hierarchy) plan first, so that a manager's decisions are visible to their skip-level reviewer before that skip-level's window opens.
Planners can begin working on available employees before their window officially starts. Windows set expectations and drive notifications. They do not hard-lock access to the worksheet.
Prerequisites
You cannot generate planning windows until approval chains are configured. A warning banner appears on the page if no approval chains exist. The "Generate Windows" button is disabled until this prerequisite is met.
If the cycle has been finalized, the page displays an info alert ("This cycle is finalized. You can no longer configure planning windows.") and the generate/re-generate controls are hidden entirely. Date fields in the Manage Windows table switch to read-only display.
Cycle start and end dates
At the top of the Planning Windows card, you can set the Cycle start and Cycle end dates. These are the boundary dates used when generating windows. Generation distributes window slots across this range. If you change the start date to be later than the current end date, the end date is automatically moved to match.
These fields are date pickers with no time component. Changes save immediately.
Automatically pull up worksheets when windows end
This checkbox controls what happens to unsubmitted worksheets when a planning window expires.
- Checked: When a window ends, any worksheets that have not been manually submitted are automatically advanced to the next window. No admin action required.
- Unchecked (default): Automatic advancement is disabled. An admin must manually trigger pull-up from inside each window's details panel.
The checkbox is disabled once the cycle is finalized.
Generating windows
When no windows exist, a primary "Generate Windows" button is shown. Clicking it opens a confirmation modal:
- Modal title: "Generate planning windows"
- Modal description: "Your planning windows will be generated based on the position of each planner from the final planner. You can regenerate at any time or upload a CSV to replace."
- Confirm with Continue or dismiss with Cancel.
Generation uses your approval chains and the cycle's start and end dates to calculate window assignments. Windows are numbered starting at Window 1.
Re-generating and deleting windows
Once windows exist, the "Generate Windows" button is replaced by a "Window generation" dropdown with two options:
Re-generate windows: Rebuilds all windows from scratch based on current approval chains and cycle dates. A confirmation modal warns: "When you re-generate your planning windows you will lose all the configurations and changes you made to the current windows." The confirm button is styled as a destructive (red) action. All previous window customizations are permanently lost.
Delete existing windows: Removes all planning windows without regenerating. The confirmation modal reads: "Are you sure you want to delete your planning windows? This action cannot be undone." This is also a destructive action and cannot be undone.
Both actions require explicit confirmation before running.
Timeline visualization
Below the controls, a line chart displays all windows plotted across the cycle timeline. Each window is shown as a labeled line segment with start and end dots. Hovering over a dot shows the exact date, time, and timezone. Clicking on a window label or dot opens the window's detail panel.
Manage Windows table
The table below the timeline lists all generated windows with three columns: Window, Start Date, and End Date. Windows are sorted by index (Window 1 first).
Dates in the table include a time component and display your local timezone abbreviation (for example, PST). You can edit start and end times directly in the table rows without opening the detail panel. Changes save immediately. If you set a start time later than the end time, the end time is automatically moved to match.
If no windows have been generated, the table shows an empty state: "No planning windows yet. Use the timeline above to generate planning windows."
Each row has a "View Details" button that opens the window's detail panel.
Window details panel
Clicking "View Details" or a window label in the timeline opens a side panel for that specific window.
Navigation: Arrow buttons in the panel header let you move to the previous or next window without closing the panel. The left arrow is disabled on the first window. The right arrow is disabled on the last.
Start Date / End Date fields: The detail panel shows full date-and-time pickers for the window's start and end dates. A timezone selector alongside each field lets you view or enter the date in a different timezone. The system converts and saves in UTC. These fields are read-only when the cycle is finalized.
Pull up worksheets alert (manual pull-up mode only): When auto pull-up is disabled and today falls within the window's active period, an info alert appears: "Window has started. View your worksheet to see your planners' progress." Two buttons are available:
- View worksheet: Navigates to the comp planning worksheet.
- Pull up worksheets: Opens a modal to manually advance unsubmitted worksheets to this window.
This alert only appears on windows other than the first window.
Pull up worksheets modal:
- Description: "Pull up the worksheets of everyone who still hasn't submitted to planners in the current window."
- Planners to exclude: A searchable tag input where you can select planners who should not have their worksheets pulled up. Search by name or email.
- Warning: "This action is irreversible." (shown when the worksheet returns feature is not enabled for your organization)
- Confirm with Continue or dismiss with Cancel.
Planners table: The detail panel lists all planners assigned to that window with their associated employees. The table can be filtered by Department and Level, and searched by name. A tooltip on the employee column notes: "Planners in this column are automatically generated based off of your approval chains, and may include planners with ineligible employees. These planners will not be affected and notified about planning windows."
Notifications
Planners receive notifications when their planning window opens. The timing of these notifications is tied to the window's configured start date and time.
CSV import/export
The platform supports downloading the current planning windows as a CSV and uploading a modified CSV to replace window dates in bulk. When a CSV export is requested, a toast notification appears: "Your CSV file is being generated. A download link will appear here when ready and will also be emailed to you." When uploading, the CSV must have the same number of columns as the number of approval windows. A mismatch produces an upload error.