This article is the cycle lifecycle (create, open, close, export), not the one-line FAQ definition of what a cycle is.
Compensation is included on Professional and Enterprise full-suite agreements, not on Careersome Light or Basic/Starter. On plans that include it, it is gated as a simple on/off entitlement rather than a usage-capped feature, so there's no proposal or employee count limit to run into.
Creating a cycle (Admin/HR): name it ("2026 Annual Review", "Q2 Mid-Year Adjustments"), set start and end dates, and optionally set a budget pool.
Cycle status, the real lifecycle: scheduled (created but not yet open), open (accepting proposals), closed (no more proposals accepted), followed by approved and exported once everything's finalized and sent to payroll.
Managing a cycle: open it to let managers start creating proposals, close it once reviews are done, and track budget utilization for the duration. Only Admin/HR can open or close a cycle.