A spinal column is simply a range of spinal points with a value, such as annual salary, attached to each point.

Instead of setting up a salary for each employee, you can attach a spinal column to a grade, using Grade Spinal Column History. In addition to attaching a spinal column to a grade, that screen also enables you to identify the minimum and maximum spinal points that can be used for staff on that grade, as well as defining the number of points the salary is increased by on each increment run.

When an employee is placed on that grade, via the post they occupy, they are automatically assigned to that spinal column. This means that in order to use spinal columns, your organisation must use posts.

You can use Pay Assimilation to map old spinal column and points to new spinal column and points, and then can select a new grade for employees.

The actual spinal point the employee is on is recorded individually on the Post Grade field, in the Post Holding Detail window (accessed from the Employment Detail screen).

Note: You must make sure that all employees are assigned to pay elements that have the Grade Related field set to Y on the Pay Element Definition screen.

The following screens are available for spinal column definition and maintenance: