Open Enrollment Using the Pending Effective Date Worksheet Use the Pending Effective Date Worksheet to calculate the pending effective date of your open enrollment sessions. The pending effective date is the date the system will automatically update the employee records with any elections made during open enrollment. The open enrollment period is the time frame you allow for employees to make deduction and benefit elections to be effective the next plan year. Once the pending effective date is configured in the open enrollment session, any changes to that date will cause the contents of the session to be deleted. The pending effective date is critical. It is used for effective dating rates in open enrollment (for example, health and dental) and for effective dating mode items (for example, life, short-term disability, and long-term disability). One open enrollment session can contain different pay frequencies, pay dates, and benefit/deduction start dates. If there is one pending effective date that works across all deduction/benefit groups in the session, the worksheet will display that date. However, if the dates overlap in a way where there is no valid pending effective date, the worksheet will display an error on the Detailed Results and Basic Results sheets. If you receive this error, you should separate the deduction/benefit groups by pay frequency/pay date. The separate open enrollment sessions can run concurrently, but they must be configured and utilized separately. If you have any questions about an entry, select the red triangle in the top right corner of the cell. A detailed explanation of the cell displays. To use the pending effective date worksheet: 1. Open the Open Enrollment Pending Effective Date Worksheet file, which is an Excel file, and select the OE Date Entry tab. 1072OEJOB012914 Page 1 of 5
2. In cell C3, enter the start date of your open enrollment period. In cell C4, enter the end date of your open enrollment period. 3. In cell C9, designate whether your company is configured to prorate deductions. Deduction proration is available in certain circumstances. Please contact your Account Manager if you are unsure whether you are configured to prorate deductions, or if you would like to learn more. If you select Yes, the last three questions on the worksheet will change. Instead of asking for the pay period start and end dates and the pay date for the last payroll for the old deductions (not prorating), the worksheet will ask for the start and end dates for the last payroll of the current plan year and the last pay date for the last payroll of the current plan year (pro-rating). 4. Identify the deduction/benefit groups that are to be included in your Open Enrollment. For each deduction/benefit group to be included in your Open Enrollment, enter the deduction/benefit group code in row 12 (for example, cells C12, D12, E12, and F12) until all of your groups have been identified in the worksheet. Note: If all of the deduction/benefit groups have the exact same pay frequencies, pay dates, and plan effective dates, you could select "ALL" in cell C12. 5. In row 13 (for example, cells C13, D13, E13, and F13), enter the pay group(s) that will be included in each of the deduction/benefit groups identified. 6. In row 14 (for example, cells C14, D14, E14, and F14), select the pay frequencies of the pay groups that will be included in your open enrollment. The pay frequency options are Biweekly, Weekly, Semi-Monthly, and Monthly. Some deduction/benefit groups may have the same pay frequency in the worksheet while others may have different pay frequencies. Page 2 of 5 1072OEJOB012914
Note: Remember that if you have configured separate open enrollment sessions to accommodate separate deduction/benefit groups by pay frequency/pay date, the sessions can run concurrently, but they must be configured and utilized separately. The worksheet will calculate the pending effective date for the concurrent sessions. The information in row 15 (for example, cells C15, D15, E15, and F15) is populated by the answer you provided regarding your company s policy on prorating deductions. These cells cannot be individually changed. The first example shows that prorating is not configured, and the second example shows that prorating is configured. 7. For the first deduction/benefit group, in cells C20-C24, enter the details about the new plan effective dates and when the new premiums will be withheld the first time for the new plan year. The benefit start date should equal the first day of your new plan year. Repeat this step for each deduction/benefit group that will be included in open enrollment (for example, cells D20-D24, then cells E20-E24). The first example shows that prorating is not configured, and the second example shows that prorating is configured. 1072OEJOB012914 Page 3 of 5
Best Practice: A deduction start date can be any date that falls between the pay period start date and pay period end date for the first payroll of the new plan year. Try to match the deduction start date with your pay period start date. 8. For the first deduction/benefit group, in cells C27-C31, enter the details about the existing plan effective dates and when the current premiums will be withheld the last time for the current plan year. Repeat this step for each deduction/benefit group that will be included in open enrollment (for example, cells D27-D31, then E27-E31). The first two examples show that prorating is not configured, and the third example shows that prorating is configured. Page 4 of 5 1072OEJOB012914
9. Confirm all of the dates for each of the deduction/benefit groups that will be included in open enrollment. If you have errors, the cells will turn red. Review your dates again and make any necessary corrections. In the following example, the pay period start date for the new deductions is before the pay period end date of the current deductions, causing the error. 10. Resolve the errors and reconfirm the dates. 11. When everything is correct, select the Detailed Estimator tab or the Basic Estimator tab. Information on these tabs reflects the details or summary about the programmatic determination of the pending effective date of your open enrollment sessions. The Detailed Estimator tab shows all of the dates in the top section you entered from the OE Date Entry tab. It also shows a recommended pending effective date for your open enrollment session and details to select a date from an allowable range of possible pending effective dates in the bottom section. The Basic Estimator tab shows the open enrollment session dates in the top section that you entered from the OE Date Entry tab. It also shows a recommended pending effective date for your open enrollment session. The Basic Estimator tab summarizes the information presented on the Detailed Estimator tab. If any information is incorrect on the Detailed Estimator tab or on the Basic Estimator tab, any corrections MUST be entered on the OE Date Entry tab. If you receive an error stating "No Effective Date works for this combination of Deduction/Benefit groups and Payroll groups," you need to separate the groups with different pay frequencies or pay period dates into different open enrollment sessions. UltiPro is a registered trademark of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other company and product names referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written authorization of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. 1072OEJOB012914 Page 5 of 5