Using FastCensus for Plan Sponsors FastCensus is a secure, online tool for Plan Sponsors to access, edit, validate and submit census data to their Third Party Administrator for the purposes of year-end testing and annual valuations. Plan Sponsors are responsible for the steps highlighted in blue below. For purposes of this job aid, we will focus on how to do Steps 3-8. 1. Census Data: Periodic Submissions 2. Getting Your Plan Set Up for FastCensus 3. Granting Plan Sponsor Managers Access to FastCensus 4. Final Salary Submission 5. Access and Edit Report 6. Import Report 7. Fix Report 8. Submit Report For additional learning, please utilize the FastCensus Quick Guides. PNT-0575AO
3. GRANTING PLAN SPONSOR MANAGERS ACCESS TO FASTCENSUS Plan Sponsors automatically have access to FastCensus once set up on a plan. They can also give access to Plan Sponsor Managers to complete the same tasks as the Plan Sponsor within FastCensus. Grant FastCensus Access 1. SELECT Plan Maintenance from the Plan Sponsor website (ISC) 2. SELECT Staff accounts 3. 'CREATE new staff account' or SELECT the existing Account Name 4. SELECT Edit 5. SELECT Group Pension Plan Sponsor Manager in the role dropdown 6. SELECT User can access FastCensus and receive notification email checkbox located near the bottom of the page 7. SELECT Save The Plan Sponsor Staffer role cannot access FastCensus. The staff account must have the role of Manager. The next day the Plan Sponsor Manager will be able to access FastCensus
4. FINAL SALARY SUBMISSION The final salary submission is a trigger to generate the final census report and notify the Plan Sponsor that it is ready for review, edit and final submission to the Third Party Administrator. Open FastPay 1. SELECT Plan Maintenance from the Plan Sponsor website (ISC) 2. SELECT the plan 3. SELECT Process Contributions on the left 4. SELECT FastPay 5. SELECT the new tab at the top, named FastPay Submit the final salary in FastPay 1. SELECT the plan 2. SELECT Import 3. CONFIRM that the File Type defaults to Census/Contribution 4. SELECT the calendar icon 5. SELECT the actual pay date, not the pay period end date 6. CHECK the Final Submission for Plan Year End check box 7. TYPE an easy to identify description in order to view the imported data in the future (example: 12-31 payroll) 8. SELECT Browse 9. NAVIGATE to the final salary Excel file 10. SELECT the file 11. SELECT Open 12. SELECT the import Configuration from the dropdown that matches the data/ format of the file you are importing 13. COMPLETE payroll/payfile submission process If you want to indicate that you have submitted your final salary outside of the FastPay import process, you can also do so via the Final Salary Submission link within Plan Maintenance. This triggers the annual census process for the plan year indicated. The checkbox for Final Submission for Plan Year End can only be selected 30 days prior to 15 days after the plan year end. All active divisions can be submitted together or final salary can be submitted individually for each division by clicking the Divisions link. The final census report will not generate until all divisions final salaries have been submitted. Once Final Salary Submission is selected, it cannot be selected again.
5. ACCESS AND EDIT THE REPORT Plan Sponsors Using FastCensus Once the final salary has been submitted and the census report has been generated at year end, an email is sent to the Plan Sponsor and any designated Plan Sponsor Managers. This email provides instructions and a link to access, edit and submit their annual census within FastCensus. Open FastCensus 1. LOG IN to the Plan Sponsor website (ISC) 2. SELECT the plan 3. SELECT Plan Maintenance on the left 4. SELECT FastCensus 5. SELECT Continue to open FastCensus in a new browser window Access the Final Census Report in FastCensus 1. SELECT the plan 2. SELECT Census Report 3. SELECT OK if a small window appears in your browser 4. OPEN spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel Edit the Spreadsheet in Excel 1. SAVE the report to your computer 2. LOOK for missing or incorrect data 3. MAKE all changes to the spreadsheet prior to importing into FastCensus 4. SELECT the Office button in the upper left 5. SELECT SaveAs 6. RENAME the file to Updated Census <year> or something similarly meaningful to you 7. SELECT Save This report link is only available for the plan year after final salary has been submitted for the plan (or all divisions, if applicable) If final salary submission has not been indicated prior to fifteen after the plan year end, the Census Report will automatically generate at that time. The window may look different depending on whether you are using IE, Chrome or Firefox. If you submit periodic census data, the aggregated employee compensation and hour totals will already be included in the report. Failure to populate these data fields will lead to warnings in FastCensus: SSN/ First Name/ Last Name/Hire Date/ Birth Date/ Hours of Service/ Compensation Gross (If required) - Hours of Service (If applicable) - Other types of compensation/ Termination Date/ Rehire Date.
6. IMPORT REPORT Once the census report has been completely reviewed and edited by the Plan Sponsor or Plan Sponsor Manager, it is ready to be imported back into FastCensus for Administrator review. Import the Census Report 1. OPEN FastCensus 2. SELECT the Census Import tab at the top of the screen 3. CONFIRM that Upload your Annual Census file is selected 4. SELECT Next 5. SELECT the last year s Payroll Period 6. SELECT Next 7. SELECT Select File 8. SELECT the report 9. SELECT Open 10. SELECT Skip first record checkbox 11. SELECT Skip last record checkbox 12. SELECT Next Review all Warning and Errors 1. VIEW all employee records that contain warnings 2. SELECT the employee record 3. ASSESS specific warnings for that employee record in the table at the bottom of the page If you have previously imported a file for this period you must Delete Previous Upload before importing the corrected file. Otherwise compensation and hours will be duplicated for your employees. There may be multiple plan years listed. Make sure to select the correct Plan Year (Payroll Period) by selecting the corresponding date range. If your plan is set up for Divisions, make sure you are selecting the appropriate divisions along with the plan year. If you wish to import all divisions within one file, contact Nationwide. FastCensus does not recognize the column titles (header) or instructions in the last row (trailer) as an employee record. If the header and trailer are not deleted from the spreadsheet or are not skipped in FastCensus during import, it will come back as an error in the file. FastCensus automatically searches for errors and warnings in the Census Report.
7. FIX REPORT A plan sponsor can choose to edit the census data for their final annual census report either by: making changes to the spreadsheet and re-importing into FastCensus or manually updating records in FastCensus after the report is imported. Edit Spreadsheet 1. OPEN the spreadsheet saved to your computer 2. FIND the employee record(s) with the warning(s) 3. FIX data field(s) for that employee record within the spreadsheet 4. SELECT the last year s Payroll Period 5. SAVE the updated file to your computer Re-import Corrected File 1. GO TO the Warning Screen Page in FastCensus 2. SELECT Start Over 3. CONFIRM that Upload your Annual Census file is selected 4. SELECT Next 5. SELECT the row with Plan Year (Payroll Period) to Submit 6. SELECT Delete Previous Upload 7. SELECT all checkboxes that appear 8. SELECT Continue 9. FOLLOW the steps to Import Report on previous page OR, Manually Update Records in FastCensus 1. SELECT the warning or error 2. UPDATE the data directly in FastCensus 3. CONFIRM that all warnings and errors are resolved After warnings and errors are resolved, SELECT Next A warning must be reviewed and corrections made if needed. If you have verified the information is correct, a file may be imported with warnings. Errors will never be imported and must be fixed. You have to Start Over to delete the previous upload and re-import the updated census report. The record now says Incomplete, which means there is already a file loaded into FastCensus. This is the file that was uploaded before the changes were made to the spreadsheet. It should be deleted before the updated spreadsheet is imported. Most of the time a warning is a result of a missing data field in the spreadsheet. You can type in the missing data or edit the data for each employee record directly into FastCensus." The table should be blank now that all warnings and errors have been fixed.
8. SUBMIT REPORT After all of the warnings have been fixed, the Plan Sponsor can Submit the Annual Census. Submit the Census Report 1. CONFIRM totals in the summary 2. SELECT Submit for Final Processing 3. SELECT Print Confirm (if you wish to save for your records) 4. REVIEW confirmation screen in pop up box 5. SELECT Exit The summary shows the total number of employees included in the final census report being submitted. It is grouped by division with the totals represented in the last row. Receipt of the confirmation screen confirms successful submission of the report. Once the report is submitted, the data contained within the FastCensus report is final and cannot be changed. If there are any corrections needed, notify the Third Party Administrator to make any updates to the census in their administration software.
RULES TO FOLLOW Make sure to follow these rules within the spreadsheet in order to avoid receiving errors when you import the file in FastCensus: DO NOT include any blank rows. DO NOT include anything above the header or below the trailer. DO NOT reformat columns in the spreadsheet such as adding dollar signs or commas. DO NOT add or remove columns to the spreadsheet. DO NOT add a record for the same employee on more than one row. DO save the changes you have made to your computer or desktop. For additional learning, please utilize the FastCensus Quick Guides. Nationwide, the Nationwide N and Eagle and Nationwide is on your side are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. 2016 Nationwide.