Match Factor and Match Weight

I received a question from a subscriber today regarding the difference between the Match Factor % and the Match Weight % in the My Matches table in NextComp. Here was my reply. I hope it may be of help to other subscribers as well!

Percent Factor: The data in a survey reported for a particular job represents the compensation market for that job assuming a solid match to the survey benchmark's job description. If the internal job's description matches that survey benchmark description then the percent factor of match = 100%. If the internal job's description is less than the survey benchmark's description, includes fewer duties or the work is less complex, then the percent factor of match can be set to less than 100%. If the internal job's description is bigger than the survey benchmark's description, includes more duties or the work is more complex, then the percent factor of match can be set to greater than 100%. The percent factor of match is used to size the market data to be a closer match to the internal job's work scope and complexity. This is not an automatic function of NextComp but rather a judgement call on the part of the analyst making the match.

Percent Weight: The percent weight affects the overall rolled up survey data for an internal job's survey matches. If an internal job has only one match, then the percent weight will have no affect on the overall rolled up average for that job's survey data. The weighting only affects the rolled up average when matching two or more survey jobs to an internal job. For instance, if you have a job in your organization that is a combination of two different types of work, let's say an "Application Programmer" and a "Traffic Analyst" (a job common in larger city governments). You may find matches in the market for either job, but it may be difficult to find one match that combines both types of work. You can match two jobs from the surveys, one for the application programming work and one for the traffic analyst (say in a city government setting). You could then weight the matches to reflect the mix of work in your organization. Perhaps in this case, the job is 75% applications programming and 25% traffic analyst. You would set the weighting appropriately in NextComp to reflect this mix. NextComp would then place 75% of the emphasis or weight on the applications programming survey data and 25% of the emphasis or weight on the traffic analyst. Another way to think of this is that the overall average data would be pulled toward the more heavily weighted job. Here's an example with some made up market data.

Applications Analyst
Average Pay: $65,000
Weight = 75%

Traffic Analyst
Average Pay: $55,000
Weight = 25%

NextComp complete the following computation to arrive at the overall weighted average data.

Applications Analyst average $65,000 multiplied by 75 = 4,875,000
Traffic Analyst average $55,000 multiplied by 25 = 1,375,000
Sum of the multiplied amounts = 6,250,000
Sum of the multiplied amounts divided by sum of weights (100) = 6,250,000 / 100 = $62,250

The overall weighted average data for this combination of survey jobs is $62,250.

You can see in this example that the data is pulled toward the more heavily weighted job. By way of comparison, the straight or un-weighted average for these jobs would be $60,000.

Here's a link to a help file in NextComp that shows a graphic example of this concept.

Version 3 Market Pricing Overview

This is a quick 4 minute overview of how to market price a job using NEXTCOMP.NET Version 3. It covers the highlights of finding a survey match, editing matches, and running a Custom Query.

This video is available in high quality on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQ2CYt5-S8

This video is also available on the public NEXTCOMP.NET website in the Demos section and on the NEXTCOMP.NET application Help page.




Stay up-to-date on our latest videos by subscribing to the NEXTCOMP.NET video podcast on iTunes by searching for NEXTCOMP.NET in the iTunes store or clicking the iTunes link in the sidebar (over there on the right of the page).

Version 3 Help Desk Update

For the past few months I've been trying to integrate the Zendesk Help Desk with NextComp, but the solutions they offered were more complex that I wanted to wrestle with, so I pushed off this feature.

Just last week Zendesk released a new integrated "drop box" tool. Ah ha, I thought, this is the answer to the issue of an easy, integrated help desk. And sure enough, after some testing today, it really does work! So I spent some time today updating every page of Version 3 with this new functionality.

Here's how it works.

From any page in Version 3, click the Support link at the top of the page.



You may be warned that the page contains some unencrypted information. Click Yes or OK depending on your browser. The only unencrypted information on the support dialog is the Zendesk logo. You may not receive this warning depending on your browser settings.





The background of the page will dim, and a Help Desk dialog will pop-up.



Enter your help desk request, a subject line for the message, and your e-mail address.



Click "Submit Query" and you'll receive a confirmation that your request was sent.



You'll receive an e-mail confirmation as well.



You'll also receive an e-mail when we have a solution to your request.



The best news is that this is all handled in NextComp and with e-mail. You don't have to leave the application to submit a request and you don't have to sign into another website to review the status of the request.

Integrated help desk support in Version 3... Check!

2 New Tips and Tricks in the Help Desk

I've been adding new items to the NextComp help desk as I get questions or comments from subscribers. There are two new items today, one based on a question from a subscriber and one as a result of the online training.

If you haven't signed into the help desk before, it's really easy.


Visit this website: http://nextcompnet.zendesk.com


On the right side of the page, click the Sign Up link.
Enter your name, email address and a password.


Then you'll be able to view the online knowledge base and submit and track help requests through the system.

Of course, contacting us through plain old e-mail works great too!

Training Videos From Session 1 Now Available

The training videos from session 1, recorded on September 25th, are now available on the Help page.

Session 1 covered setting up new pay plan, adding users, and configuring new user accounts.

There are five segments ranging in length from about 3 minutes to just over 15 minutes in length.
Click on the Online Help button on the Start Page. Scroll down the Help page to see the embedded videos.

The videos from session 2 and 3 will be available soon!

Help Desk Launched

We've launched an online help desk system to support the launch of NEXTCOMP Gamma. The new system is completely web based and allows us to track tickets related to issues, questions, and requests related to Gamma (and also the current version of NextComp).

It's super easy to get started using the new help desk.

Visit this URL and enter your name, e-mail and password.

http://nextcompnet.zendesk.com/registration

Note: This is a separate sign-in from NEXTCOMP.

We are also building an online knowledge base as part of the help desk. To get started, I've added a message in the "Tips and Tricks" section of the Knowledge base related to updating the results table of the pay plan. This is an example of the type of information that will be available in the Help Desk.

We have some additional tips and tricks to add. We'll be adding information to the Help Desk on a regular basis, especially as we roll-out Gamma over the next few months.

So head on over to
http://nextcompnet.zendesk.com/registration sign into the Help Desk and keep track of updated tips and tricks or submit a question to our help desk!