Use Configurable Payroll to manage performance pay for your team. Set up commission and bonus rules based on performance, sales, or tech-generated leads. Use filters like job type or business unit to control when technicians earn pay. You can group technicians into pay profiles with shared pay rules to streamline payroll and reduce manual work.
Note: Configurable Payroll is available in the ServiceTitan Works package.
Setup
What you need to get started and how it works
To prepare for the Configurable Payroll setup:
Set up Pricebook items: Add services, materials, and equipment for commission tracking.
Create business units: Organize Business Units to ensure performance pay is correctly applied.
Define job types: Enable job filtering to tailor payroll rules by job category.
Manage Technician Payroll: Assign commission rates to individual technicians or manage custom payroll fields.
How Configurable Payroll works:
Custom pay structures: Build pay structures that reflect your company's compensation strategy, including commissions and bonuses.
Performance-based incentives: Design bonuses and commissions around KPIs such as sales or technician-generated leads.
Flexible job filters: Apply pay selectively using filters like Job Type or Business Unit to refine when and where pay rules activate.
Payroll profiles: Group technicians with similar compensation plans and apply shared rules via configurable profiles.
Shared pay types: Streamline setup by defining pay types within profiles that auto-apply to all included technicians.
For more, see Configurable Payroll overview.
Required permissions
The following permissions are required to use payroll adjustments. To have these enabled, please contact the account administrator on your team:
Can access global payroll settings
View and edit configurable payroll module
Quick start guide
Note: This feature requires account configuration. Please contact Technical Support for details.
All technicians are assigned to a system-generated Default payroll profile by default. This profile remains unchanged and continues to pay technicians their commissions and bonuses from the legacy performance pay settings. To offer more flexible pay options, create custom payroll profiles.
Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.
In the side, go to People > Payroll.
Under Configurable Payroll, in the Profiles section, click Edit.
Click Create Payroll Profile.
Give your payroll profile a name and an optional description. Pick a color to easily identify it from the Payroll Profile page.
You can assign technicians or skip this step and do it later.
Tip: Assigning technicians activates the profile and applies pay rules to payroll and job costing. We recommend testing the profile first using live data to ensure commissions calculate correctly before assigning technicians.
Define how commissions and bonuses should be calculated.
Choose when the pay rules should apply.
Use the Test Profile feature to preview pay calculations using real data.
When finished, Save your profile.
For more, see Set up and manage payroll profiles.
Advanced setup
Part 1: Create job filters
Within each payroll profile, define job filters to specify which jobs qualify for performance pay: commissions or bonuses.
Set filter conditions using criteria such as Job Type, Business Unit, or Marketing Campaign to target relevant jobs.
Ensure each pay rule only applies to the intended jobs by using filters, for example, only apply commission to revenue-generating services.
Part 2: Configure pay calculations
In each payroll profile, configure pay rules that determine how performance pay is calculated for the filtered jobs.
Define pay calculations for each pay type, such as commission, bonus, spiff, and others, using flat amounts, percentages of revenue, or tiered (sliding scale) formulas.
Apply advanced options as needed, such as multipliers or payout caps, and use custom payroll fields for dynamic values in pay formulas.
Part 3: Set up and manage custom payroll fields
Create custom payroll fields for payroll calculations to store specific values, such as a spiff amount or custom commission rate.
Attach these fields to records such as pricebook items, job types, business units, or technician profiles to associate those values with the respective items.
Reference custom field values in job filter conditions or pay rule formulas for flexible, dynamic calculations.
Configurable Payroll settings
To ensure pay rules calculate correctly, review the following key configurations and adjust the settings based on your business needs:
Step 1: Make Pricebook items commissionable
If you want to pay commission for Pricebook items, you need to make them commissionable:
Verify that all commission-eligible items have the Pays Commission setting selected by adding items or editing the existing ones in Pricebook.
Tip: Apply this setting in bulk directly in the Pricebook table or by using the Pricebook Excel template.
Step 2: Exclude material costs from commission calculation
Use this step if you want to exclude material costs before calculating commission:
Select Deduct as Job Cost for applicable material items by editing materials in Pricebook.
Tip: You can also do this in bulk through Pricebook export/import.
Step 3: Choose the preferred commission method
When configuring pay calculations, you can choose:
Invoice Subtotal commission type: Use this method if you want commissions based on the full invoice subtotal, with no costs deducted. Commissions are automatically calculated on all items.
Tip: To ensure accurate commissions, confirm that all relevant Pricebook items have the Pays Commission selected.
Commissionable Base commission type: Use this method if you want to exclude specific items, such as dispatch fees, or deduct item costs before calculating commissions. Review your Pricebook and deselect Pays Commission for non-commissionable items. Ensure it is selected for eligible items.
Step 4: Set up discount rules for commission
If technicians should earn commission on discounted amounts:
Ensure discount items in Pricebook have Pays Commission selected.
If using sliding scale commission based on discount percentage:
Configure discount rules in the Discounts & Fees section of Pricebook. Both Fixed Amount and Percentage discounts contribute to the sliding scale.
Note: If the Discounts & Fees section isn't visible, please contact Technical Support for details.
Key workflows
Revenue-based pay
Set up pay profiles that reward technicians based on the total revenue from completed jobs. Technicians earn performance bonuses for working on high-value jobs. Sales technicians earn commission when sold estimates turn into completed install jobs.
Hourly-plus-incentives pay
Create a pay structure that combines hourly wages with extra earnings from bonuses and commissions. Technicians get a base hourly pay plus bonuses for setting leads or selling key items. Sales technicians earn commission when estimates lead to completed jobs.
Technician-generated lead rules
Create pay rules that reward technicians for identifying sales opportunities in the field. It includes TGL Turnover Bonus Paid when Lead is Set, which is earned when a submitted lead results in a sold estimate, and TGL Turnover Bonus Paid on Installation, which is earned when the resulting install job is completed and invoiced.
Troubleshooting and FAQ
FAQ
Check out the top five most frequently asked questions for Configurable Payroll. For more, see Configurable Payroll FAQ.