DEFINE BENEFITS COMPONENTS#
You may access this feature through the Screens/Forms menu:Benefits Administration > Define Benefit Components
This concept will be discussed further in the ‘List of Benefit Components’ section within this topic and ‘Linking Payroll to Benefits’ section in this manual.
Define Benefit Components data is maintained on the P2K_BE_BENEFIT_COMPONENTS, P2K_BE_BC_RULES, and P2K_BE_BC_USAGES tables. Exceptions are noted below.
- Seq #
- The Sequence field specifies the order in which the Benefits or Payroll Calculation program will calculate the benefits components.
For example, in order to calculate the employee deduction that should be collected, it is necessary to know the premium amount. In order to know the premium, it is necessary to know the coverage amount. Therefore, the sequence of which of these items (benefits components) should be found, derived, or calculated first is essential for proper benefit enrollment maintenance.
Sequences are numbered in the order needed for processing, this means that some of the sequences do not correspond to the BC code. It is recommended the sequence numbers not be changed without the supervision of a High Line consultant.
Component_Sequence is a mandatory 5-digit numeric field provided by High Line.
- Benefit Component
- The BC code is a High Line provided code defining the benefits component. All BC codes begin with the letter “B” followed by a 4-digit number.
Definitions of each of the benefits components may be found in the ‘List of Benefit Components’ section.
BC codes are numbered to be able to group certain types of components together. i.e. B1000’s are all related calculating an employee’s deduction amount.
BC_Code is a mandatory 16-character alphanumeric field provided by High Line.
- Description
- This is the description of the benefits component highlighted. Description is an optional 50-character alphanumeric field that is either provided by High Line or you may manually enter.
- Prompt
- Prompt is displayed to the user when in the <BC Value> field.
For example, if the benefits component were “B0020 – Enrollment Base Date”, an appropriate prompt would be “Enter Base Date”.
Field_Prompt is a 30-character alphanumeric optional field provided by High Line or you may manually enter.
- Field Type
- This is the type of field for the information returned by the benefits component; valid entries (provided) are Char, Number, Date and Boolean. Field_Type is a mandatory fixed lexicon (X_FIELD_TYPE) you may use to look up the value.
- BC Action
- The BC Action field identifies the action that will be performed by this benefits component. BC_Action is a mandatory fixed lexicon (X_BC_ACTION) you may use to look up the value.
- Component Text
- The Component Text field provides detailed documentation of the coverage component: its use, purpose, and any dependencies or relationships to any other components. An optional field allows space for more in-depth descriptions of the benefits component. Values are provided and may be edited to suit the installation. Component_Text is an optional 2000 character alphanumeric field either provided by High Line or you may manually enter.
- User Calc Allowed
- If the ‘UserCalc’ toggle is ON, the system allows users to specify a usercalc to calculate the benefits component amount, date, etc. This field is appropriate for those benefits components for which the Rule “00 – Use UserCalc” is defined. User_Calc_Allowed is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
- Pay Components Allowed
- Each benefit component used by a benefit plan is stored with the value returned from the benefits calculation.
If the ‘Pay Component’ toggle is ON, allows users to also select a pay component where the result of this calculation may be stored. In this manner, amounts calculated for benefit lines or enrollment may be recorded in Payroll and therefore will show on a pay register, the employees pay stub and/or the financial ledgers (as required).
Without a specified pay component, the amount calculated would not be recorded for payroll or costing purposes. Generally used for premiums, employee deductions, employer contributions, taxes and taxable benefits.
Pay_Component_Allowed is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits
- Element Allowed
- If the ‘Element’ toggle is ON, the system allows users to enter an element to calculate the benefits component. This is appropriate for those benefits components that might be calculated using a group of pay components (such as Time Worked). The rules for the benefits component must include a “Use an Element” rule for this field to be used. Element_Allowed is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
- Value Allowed
- If the ‘Value’ toggle is ON, the system allows users to enter a value for the benefits component. This could occur when setting up a new plan, when adding an employee manually to a plan, or when adding benefit lines for an employee.
If a value is allowed, the user will be able to access the <BC Value> field and enter a value in it. This field would not be used for policies where the value is calculated or derived.
Value_Allowed is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
- Enter Benefit Lines
- If the ‘Enter Benefit Lines’ toggle is ON, this indicates that data from the Benefit Lines (IBBL) form may override the coverage component value. If the toggle is OFF, the component may not be overridden. Enter_Benefit_Lines is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
- Enter Enrollment
- If the ‘Enter Enrollment’ toggle is ON, this indicates that the coverage component value may be overridden on the employee's Benefit Enrollment (IBEN) form. If the toggle is OFF, the component may not be overridden. Enter_Enrollment is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
- Enter Remit History
- If the ‘Enter Remit History’ toggle is ON, this indicates that the coverage component value may be overridden with data from the Remit History (IBRH) form. If the toggle is OFF, the component may not be overridden. Enter_Remit_History is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
- Update Remit History
- If the ‘Update Remit History’ toggle is ON, this indicates that the Update Remit History process should pick up the actual amount calculated by UPCALC. If the toggle is OFF, the Update Remit process should pick up the amounts defined in the coverage setup, whether these amounts were actually realized in the pay process.
Please note that if this toggle is turned on for even ONE benefit componentePersonalitywill process all components as if they had this toggled on as well. A coverage cannot be set up with some components to report actual (Payroll) amounts and others plan (benefit) amounts.
Update_Remit_History is an optional toggle, the value of which is provided for each benefits component.
Benefits Component Rules#
- BC Rule Code
- High Line provides a 2-digit code to describe the possible options available for each benefits component. The rules shown are applicable to the highlighted benefits component in the BC Code field of the form. BC_Rule_Code from P2K_BE_BC_RULES is a mandatory 2-character numeric field provided by High Line.
- Description
- High Line provides a description of the BC Rule Code. Description from P2K_BE_BC_RULES is an optional 50-character alphanumeric field provided by High Line.
- Next BC
- This field is used to show inter dependencies between benefits components. The BC code found provides a “chain” to the next logical BC code that will be used for this benefits plan. This field is useful to help the user keep track of which components may be necessary to edit for each plan.
Examples:
If a plan steps the coverage based on the employee’s age, then Benefits Component B0500 (Coverage Step Method) would use Rule 05 (Use Employee’s Age). The next BC code for Rule 05 of B0500 would be B0510 (Step by Age).
BBC_Id_Next from P2K_BE_BC_RULES is a mandatory 10-character numeric field provided by High Line and may be edited.
- BC Rule Text
- This field holds detailed documentation of any special set up requirements or prerequisites for using the rule. This is an optional field to allow space for more in-depth descriptions of the benefits component rules. Values are provided and may be edited to suit the installation. BC_Rules_Text is a 2000-character alphanumeric optional field provided by High Line or you may manually enter.
