eDataGate Basic Functionality Data Entry, Validation and Export (for Payroll and Compliance) EDG provides two fully integrated functions to support remote data entry and plan administration of pension record keeping payroll information. The data collection features include: Financial data entry via spreadsheet like grids that are customized by plan to collect only those elements that apply (1-10 sources, 1-7 compensation types and 1-10 loans, more than 20 funds). Census data collection by employee. Census and financial data collection via mapped input such as spreadsheets or files from accounting systems, accounts or payroll vendors Verify totals by type of contribution and compensation The validation features include: Over 40 edits applied during validation with customizable severity levels associated with each edit. Automatic validation prior to export of the data to payroll vendor. Data scrubbing, transformation and editing on mapped import data. The export features include: Reject export request if any severity "E" errors are found in the data to be exported. Combine census and financial information to create a single export file. Verify total amount of deposit (contributions and loans). Prevent export of payroll data already exported. Encrypt the data to be exported. Data Mapping (for Payroll and Compliance) This is a very popular facility in EDG used by most TPAs. This feature can be used to scrub any format data from plan sponsors, payroll vendors etc. and prepare the data for direct input to any record keeping system; this eliminates the need for preprocessing activities such as manual reformatting and editing the data. Additionally, EDG has a comprehensive editing that is applied at this time. Mapping handles: Fixed format files such as files from payroll vendors. Delimited files such as spread sheets. SPARK format. Payroll data. Conversion or takeover data. All census and financial data types. You build a map census and financial maps using an EDG form that lets you see the data as you map. Up to ten distinct contributions. Up to ten separate loan repayments. Up to 7 distinct compensation fields and hours. Test versus update mode – you can read, format and edit all data view the errors and totals prior to applying it to EDG. Clear data prior to entry by specific fields e.g. clear date of termination prior to running this census input. This is valuable in cases where information has been mapped incorrectly e.g. hire date was incorrectly mapped into termination date; now its necessary to clear all termination dates and then apply the correct information. Reformatting within this function includes: All possible forms of dates including with and without century, with or without slash and dash separators, alphabetic etc. are converted into a common format mm/dd/yyyy. Inputs containing names as one field are parsed into their components (last, first, middle and surname). Signed numbers including signed embedded in last character. Fill in leading zeros on data such as SSN, zip code etc. Remove extraneous data from non numeric input e.g. quotes, extra blanks etc. Accept various styles of input e.g. SSN can be entered with or without dashes and slashes. Editing within this function includes: Identifying same person with more than one SSN Two people with the same SSN. All new employees are can be uniquely identified. Dates after reformatting are examined for reasonable e.g. dates of 00/00/0000, 00/00/2000, N/A, 01/01/1901 dates are ignored. Amounts and numbers must be numeric. Data Validation (for Payroll and Compliance) EDG has over 40 predefined edits on both census and financial data that can be customized as: Error - do not permit export of data until the error has been corrected. Warning – provide error message but permit export of data. Ignore – do not apply this edit check. These validations can be run as a separate activity, review the results and correct as appropriate. The validation is run automatically prior to export and if one or more Errors is identified, the export is prohibited. The types of error checking includes: All dates in relation to one another and to the current date. e.g. all future dates are flagged. 415 and 402(g) testing. Incomplete addresses e.g. city entered but no state or zip code. Missing information e.g. birth date, hire date, fund election. Negative amounts e.g. contributions, loan payments. Reports EDG provides numerous reports listed below Either Crystal Reports or MS Note Pad is used to present and print them. Most reports that resemble data extracts are presented using MS Note Pad: they can then be exported into a spreadsheet for use by either the plan sponsor or the TPA. Census Report – all employees, all detail. Memo Entries – for those employees that have memo information. Contributions – by source or fund for all employees in a single financial period. Loans – for all employees in a single financial period. Compensation and Hours – for all employees in a single financial period. Totals Only – for compensation, hours, loans and contributions in a single financial period. Employee Summary of Payroll Periods – select a set of payroll periods and provide totals by employee, per period and summary totals. Year to date compensation based on participation date for specific employees. Export Log – all exports run. Import Log – all imports run. Validation – all warnings and errors found in census and financial validation. Errors – all warnings and errors found in data import . View Enrollment – enrolled in this period, prior period, not enrolled, part time. Enrollment forms – enrollment, beneficiary designation, contribution elections, discontinue contribution. HELP and Product Documentation EDG contains a full HELP function that is provided at the form level. Our clients have found that HELP comprehensive such that minimal documentation is required. Additionally, we provide the following documentation in electronic form: TPA Operator’s Guide – detailed information regarding all functions and their use including the customize options EDG and all of the functions in EDG Tools. EDG Operator’s Guide – detailed information regarding EDG except those functions that are TPA only. Enrollment EDG supports plan sponsor enrollment and administration with the following features: Set enrollment candidates – using either: An enrollment date (apply age and waiting period criteria). Contribution file (all employees with contributions in the file are marked for enrollment). This is typically used during plan conversion as a one time only. View enrollment by: All employees marked for enrollment in this enrollment cycle. All employees not marked for enrollment All employees enrolled in a prior enrollment cycle. All employees that are part time and excluded from enrollment. All employees for whom their enrollment status cannot be determined. All employees and their enrollment status. Enrollment related forms – the wording can be customized and the forms can be printed singly or for all employees that are marked to be enrolled in this cycle. Each form is printed with that specific employees related information. Enrollment forms including investment elections for all funds available. EDG has a default fund option. Beneficiary Designation. Contribution Election. Discontinue Contributions. Census - full census support including entry, validation, reports and export. Investment election – entry, validation and export. After completing the investment election export, the enrollment cycle is "locked" and marked as all employees contained therein are marked as "prior enrolled". Customize enrollment – part of the setup required to use enrollment processing including: Minimum age and waiting period – both first time and subsequent enrollment cycles. Allow decimals in investment percent. Collect deferral percent and minimum and maximum percent. Default fund for if no fund elections chosen. Options to change wording on documents based on Plan Specifications.