!!!UBEF - ALBERTA PENSION ADMINISTRATION (APA) SYSTEM

The Generate Benefit/Payroll Interface (UBEF) screen may be used to generate a pension interface file for the province of Alberta. The following describes the necessary set up required in order to create this type of interface.

!!Step 1 - Define Plan Type in [IBPT]
A plan type must be set up for the Alberta Pension Administration (APA) system. The plan type may be defined by the user, but all pension plans associated with APA must be identified as being in this plan type. The following example illustrates the set up of 'PENSION' plan type in the system.

!!Step 2- Define Plan Definitions in [IBPN]
Each APA pension plan must be set up and identified with a 'PENSION' plan type (as illustrated in this document). The plan code can be defined by the users, but keep in mind that the 4th-7th characters of the plan name will be used to report to the Alberta Pension Administration.

There are currently three pension plans being supported, they are PSPP, MEPP, and MSRP plans. Since this system passes only the 4-7th characters of the plan code to the Alberta Pension Board, therefore it is mandatory that those positions of the Plan code includes eitherPSPP, MEPP, or MSRP as appropriate.

Please note that it is possible to define the plan code in other ways, in this case, the [IDIF] file definition must be changed accordingly or it will not produce the desired result.

Due to different contribution rules which apply to different employment statuses, each of these pension plans should have four coverage codes. The currently supported coverage codes are 'Active', 'LTD', 'Leave', and 'Leave No-cont'. (See UBEF Processing section 5.11 for further details of each Coverage).

Only record types 18-4, 18-A, 18-L, 18-M, and 18-W as defined by APA is supported at this time.

!!Step 3 - Define User Fields in [IMUF]
A new 'PN-EMPLOYER NUMBER' user-defined field must be set up for each APA pension plans. This employer number is assigned by the Alberta Pension Administration.

Once this UDF is correctly set up, it can then be access through the [IBPN] screen using the 'Edit User Fields' button in the tool bar.

!!Step 4 - Define Pay Elements in [IPPE]
A number of pay elements must be set up for the APA pension system. These pay elements will be used in the IDIF definition in order to obtain the correct Pensionable Salary and Contributions. (This list contains suggested Pay Element names that are used in the standard supplied IDIF definitions. These Pay Element names can be modified, and new ones added, as long as the corresponding IDIF definition is also modified accordingly).

[APA ELEMENTS]

!!Step 5 - Define Usercalcs in [IMUC]
A number of UserCalcs may be required to process any exceptions to the standard function. You are responsible for writing and maintaining your own UserCalcs.

!!Step 6 - Define Interface Format in [IDIF]
HL$ABPERS-184 is provided in the IDIF screen as an example of a Pipe Delimited interface file for generating Record Type 18-4 for the Alberta Pension Administration.

HL$ABPERS-184C is also provided in IDIF as an example of a Comma Delimited file for generating an audit report of Record Type 18-4.

Standard [IDIF] definitions are provided for the other supported record types (HL$ABPERS-18A and HL$ABPERS-18AC for record type 18-A; HL$ABPERS-18L and HL$ABPERS-18LC for record type 18-L; HL$ABPERS-18M and HL$ABPERS-18MC for record type 18-M; HL$ABPERS-18W and HL$ABPERS-18WC for record type 18-W).

You should copy (use Copy Definition) definitions into a different Interface code and then enter your own company data.

[IDIF FIELD DEFINITIONS|UBEF APA IDIF DEFINITIONS]
![IDIF] Field Descriptions:
;[Code|??]: This is a user-defined Interface Code. If the IDIF layout is supplied the Interface Code begins with HL$
;[Interface Type|??]:This must be 35 - EEM/EAS Interface
;[File Format|??]: This field allows you to select one of the File Formats from the look up list
;[Form Type|??]: Please select 'Not Specified' from the look up list. Form Type is not used for UBEF
;[Description|??]: This is a user-defined description
;[File Name|??]: This field specifies the default file name, otherwise the file name is entered on UBEF parameter
;[File Creation Number|??]: This field is not used
;[Taxation Level|??]: Please select 'Not Specified' from the look up list. Taxation Level is not used for UBEF
;[Record Number|??]; This is a user-assigned record number. Each record number generates a new line in the interface file.
;:The following are suggested Record Numbers, however, you can set up your own numbers.

||Record Number ||Interface File Records Generated
|0 |Qualify Records
|1 - 29| Header Records
|30 - 69 |Detail Records
|70 - 99 |Trailer Records

;[Field Number|??] This is a user assigned number
;[Name|??]: This is a user assigned field name
;[XML Tag|??]: This field is used for XML File Format only (Optional). If the XML Tag is not specified for XML File, then the Name field is used as XML Tag 
;[Beginning Position|??]: If the file format = 'Fixed Format', you must specify the Beginning position
;[Ending Position|??]: If the file format = 'Fixed Format', you must specify the Ending position
;:These positions must be continuous without gap, otherwise an error situation will occur
;:Beginning/Ending positions are not needed for XML and other file format
;[Field Type|??]: This field can be 'Char', 'Number' or 'Date'
;[Variable Name |??];Select from the lexicon X_INF_VARIABLE_NAME 35nnnn, referring to lexicon list above
;[Sort Sequence|??]: This field specifies the sort sequence for this Record #, Field # and is used for Record # with Record Type = 'Detail Record' only
;:For Record # with Record Type = 'Detail Level 1' to 'Detail Level 5', it uses the same sort from Record Type = 'Detail Record' so that the Detail Level n records are followed after the 'Detail Record'
;:e.g. Interface File need to sort by: Department, Employee First Name, Last Name
;:For the Fld# entry that specify 'Department', enter sort sequence: 100
;:For the Fld# that specify 'Employee First Name', enter sort sequence: 150
;:For the Fld# that specify 'Employee Last Name', enter sort sequence: 200
;:All sort sequences must be entered on entries with the same record number
;:Sort sequence is not supported for XML file format because XML file may specify many different Record # to generate XML begin and end tags and the XML tags are not able to sort along with the data
;[Format Mask|??]: This field is applicable to Numeric and Date field
;[Record Type|??]: This must be used for this Interface Type. Lexicon [X_RECORD_TYPE].
;[Record Identifier|??]: This field is not used for this Interface Type
;[Constant Value |??]:If the variable name = 'Constant Value', this field specifies the Constant Value to be used
;:If the variable name = 'UserCalc', this field specifies the UserCalc Name
;:If the variable name = 'Statistics Amt', this field specifies the Statistics Code
;:If the variable name = 'Element', this field specifies the Element Code
;:If the variable name = 'Total Value', this field specifies the Rec# and Field # of the Detail Records to be totaled
;:e.g. Record # 50 Field 70 is to be totaled and Total option = 'Calculate Total', then the Trailer record can report the 'Total Value', Constant value should be 5070
;[Print Zero Rule|??]: This is applicable to Numeric field only; use for Record Type = 'Detail Record'. If amount is zero, this field indicates to include this amount in the interface file or not
;:e.g. if the field is from 'Statistics Amount' and the amount is zero, you may not want to report this amount
;:If all numeric amounts are zero within one Record# and the Print Zero Rule are set to 'Do not Print zeros' for each field, then this entry will not be reported on interface file. Lexicon [X_PRINT_ZERO_RULE]
;[XML Tag|??]: option This is applicable to XML file, if the variable name = 'XML begin Tag'or 'XML end Tag', this field option indicates if the XML Tag should be written. Lexicon [X_XML_TAG_OPTION]
;[Accum Option|??]: This is applicable to the Numeric field only and is used for Record Type = 'Detail Record'
;:This indicates if this Record #, Field # amount should be accumulated or not
;:e.g. if the field is a 'Pay Number' or 'Check Number', then do not accumulate
;:If the field is 'Element Value' or 'PC Amount', then you may want to accumulate to avoid writing too much detail per element or per pay component
;[Total Option|??]: This is applicable to the Numeric field only and is used for Record Type = Detail Record, Detail Level
;:This indicates if this Record #, Field # amount should be totaled for Header or Trailer record
;:e.g. If the field is a 'FTE' or 'Rate of Pay', then do not totaled
;:If the field is 'Statistics Amount' or 'UserCalc Amount', then you may want to calculate the total for Trailer record. Lexicon [X_TOTAL_OPTION]
;[Derivation Expression|??]: This field specifies the derivation expression for the variable

!!Interface File Layout for the Alberta Pension Administration
The file is pipe delimited

Each file contains one header record and multiple detail records. The Transaction code and Detail type for the header record is always '94-1' for all files, while the Transaction code and Detail type for the detail records can be either '18-4', '18-A', '18-L', '18-M', or '18-W'.