Setting Up eBenefits

This chapter discusses how to:

• Use eBenefits pages.

• Set up page display information.

• Set up uniform resource locators (URLs).

• Set up text blocks.

• Set up suppliers.

Using eBenefits Pages

The standard menu driven navigation path is the traditional PeopleSoft access method users of PeopleSoft applications are familiar with. The Benefits page presents a simple user interface design for end users. It is accessed by selecting Self-Service, Benefits.

The links that appear on the Benefits page depend on which collaborative applications have been purchased and whether the application has been selected on the Installation table.

Setting Up Page Display Information

With the exception of text tables used by Benefits enrollment, all controls for how and what the eBenefits pages display have been added to existing setup tables within the Manage Base Benefits business process in Human Resources.

Before implementing eBenefits you must define the organization’s benefit programs, plans, and plan types.

The fields that control how benefit plan information displays on the eBenefits plan summary and detail pages, and on the enrollment form are located on either the:

• Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option at the plan level.

• Benefit Plan Table.

• Event Rules.

See Also

Building Base Benefit Programs

Setting Up Benefit Plans

Creating Event Rules

Displaying Dependent and Beneficiary Information

The Collect Dep/Ben check box appears on these pages:

• Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option at the plan level.

• Event Rules.

Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option

When the Collect Dep/Ben check box is selected on the Benefit Program-Plan Type and Option page, the system collects the information pertaining to dependents and beneficiaries and displays that information on the eBenefit Summary and the eBenefit Detail Information pages.

Event Rules

When the Collect Dep/Ben check box is selected on the Event Rules page, the system displays the dependent and beneficiary information on the eBenefits Enrollment pages.

For health plans on the enrollment form, the system collects elections at the plan level. The employee selects which dependents should be covered under the plan by selecting a check box next to each individual’s name. The system derives the coverage code based on the dependents that are selected.

When the check box is clear, the system hides the dependent or beneficiary sections and does not collect dependent or beneficiary elections. For health plans on the enrollment form, the system collects elections at the coverage code level when the check box is clear.

The Collect Dep/Ben field works with the event rules’ Ignore Dep/Ben Edits field. If the Collect Dep/Ben check box is selected, the Ignore Dep/Ben Edits check box should not be selected.

Self-Service Group box

To indicate that an employee can add new dependents through the eBenefits enrollment process, select Allow Dep/Ben Additions – (allow dependent or beneficiary additions).

You, as the administrator can specify a Certificate to be presented to the Employee as they elect the specified Plan Type within eBenefits, enter this value in the Certification ID field.

Dependent Workflow

Each time a user with eBenefits modifies dependent data; there are certain fields that the Benefits Administrator is able to monitor. If a participant changes a particular field value, then you are notified via email. The Dependent Workflow page allows you to check off what fields triggers an email to be sent to the Benefits Administrator.

See Setting Up Dependent Workflow.

See Also

Building Base Benefit Programs

Creating Event Rules

Displaying Savings Plan Fund Allocations

The Collect Funds Allocations check box appears on three pages:

• Benefit Program Table - Program.

• Benefit Program Table - Plan Type and Option at the plan level.

• Event Rules.

Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option

When the Collect Funds Allocations check box is selected on the Benefit Program-Plan Type and Option page, the system collects the information pertaining to savings plans and displays that information on the eBenefit Savings Summary and the Detail Information pages.

Event Rules

When the Collect Funds Allocations check box is selected on the Event Rules page, the system displays the dependent and beneficiary information on the eBenefits Enrollment pages.

This field works in concert with the event rules’ Ignore Investment Edits check box. If the Collect Funds Allocations check box is selected, then the Ignore Investment Edits check box should be cleared.

Suppressing Plan Type Information

The Show if no choice field is located on the Benefit Program Table - Plan Type and Option page for all plan types.

This check box controls whether a plan type is displays on the enrollment when the employee has no option to choose and cannot waive out of the option. A good example is paid vacation. Employees receive the benefit, but you don’t display it on the enrollment form.

If the check box is selected, the system displays the plan type in the enrollment form summary. When the check box is cleared, the system will not display the plan type.

Displaying Costs

The Cost Freq on Enrollment Form field is located on the Benefit Program Table - Benefit Program page at the program level. This check box controls whether the annual costs or the per-period costs (deductions) are displayed on the enrollment form.

Displaying Credits

The Show Credits on Enrollment Form field is located on the Benefit Program Table - Benefit Program page at the program level. If selected, this check box indicate for the system to display total cost and credits on the pages.

Setting Up the Self-Service Plan Descriptions Field

When setting up benefit plans for health, disability, leave, or retirement benefit plan types, you can enter a description about the plan on the Benefit Plan Table that displays on the enrollment pages.

Setting Up Uniform Resource Locators

The enrollment form and other benefit transaction pages are designed to displays links to:

• Employee handbooks.

• Benefit provider websites.

• Service provider websites.

The specific uniform resource locator (URL) address, description, and identifier are entered on the URL table. Once the address, description, and identifier are entered in the URL table, then only the identifying code is entered in the Benefit Program table, Vendor table, and Benefit Plan table.

The SPD URL ID on the Benefit Plan table has priority over the General Policy URL ID on the Vendor table when displaying one or the other next to plan provider.

The rules that determine which URL appears next to plan name on benefit plan review pages are:

• If a URL identifier is connected to the SPD URL ID on the Benefit Plan table, this is the link that appears on the benefit plan review page.

• If a URL identifier is connected to General Policy URL ID on the Vendor Policy table and no SPD URL ID is defined, this is the link that appears on the benefit plan review page.

The Authorized Providers URL ID on the Vendor Policy table is independent of the links listed above. If an URL identifier is connected to the Authorized Providers URL ID, then that link appears on the Review page next to Find a Health Care Provider under the Additional Information section. This link is for health plan types only, no link will appear for the other plan types.

For the General Policy URL IDs and Authorized Providers URL ID links to work, a group number is required on both the Vendor and Benefit Plan tables.

It is recommended that you use a prefix naming convention, such as the one shown below:

• Use SPD as a prefix when defining Summary Plan Description URL IDs (SMRYPLNDOC_URL_ID): SPD_AETNAPPO.

• Use GEN as a prefix when defining the General Policy URL ID (POLICY_URL_ID): GEN_AETNA.

• Use PRV as a prefix when defining the Authorized Providers URL ID (VENDOR_URL_ID): PRV_AETNA.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: System and Server Administration,“Using PeopleTools Utilities”

Setting Up Handbook Links

These URLs provide links to the enrollment handbook. There can be a link to the entire handbook and a link to each of the plan-type sections.

Because the handbooks may vary by benefit program, the keys are benefit program and plan type. The URL Identifiers are on the benefit program definition at both the program and plan-type levels.

There can be one URL for the entire handbook or separate URLs for each plan type.

Setting Up General Policy Links

These URL Identifiers provide links to the provider home pages or to a company intranet site. The fields are defined on the Vendor table.

Setting Up Authorized Provider Links

These URL identifiers provide links to the provider’s PCP finder, and are only applicable for health plan types. The fields are defined on the Vendor table.

Setting Up SPD (Summary Plan Description) Links

These URL identifiers provide links to the plan SPDs. The fields are defined on the Benefit Plan table.

Working with the Text Catalog

eBenefits uses the text catalog to maintain the wording used on its self-service pages. Text blocks are a collection of paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and words that are used when displaying the enrollment pages.

Use the Maintain Text Catalog page to update eBenefit text blocks. Enter HEB (eBenefits) as the object owner when searching for the available text catalog items.

See Configuring the Text Catalog.

Defining Text for Flexible Keys

Some page text is the same for all situations. Some of the text varies from benefit program to benefit program. Other text varies from plan type to plan type. Text can vary by plan type within benefit program and can vary by the type of event. To accommodate this, the system keys the text pieces by benefit program, plan type, and event class.

The system uses the following rules when matching text to a text block:

• The system looks for a match on benefit program. It uses only those rows that match the benefit program, or, lacking any rows that match the benefit program, uses the rows that have a blank benefit program.

• Within this set of rows, the system looks for a match on plan type. It uses only those rows that match the plan type, or, lacking any rows that match the plan type, uses the rows that have a blank plan type.

• Within this set of rows, the system looks for a match on event class. It uses only the row that matches the event class, or, lacking a match on event class, uses the row that has a blank event class.

Identifying Field Lists

This is a list of the fields on the following tables: W3EB_TEXT, W3EB_TEXT_EFFDT, and W3EB_TEXT_MSGID

• Text ID − A character field that uniquely identifies the text block.

• Language Code − The language for this text block.

• Description − A description of this text block.

• Effective Date − The date this text block takes effect.

• Benefit Program − A distinct benefit program or blank.

• Plan Type − A distinct plan type or blank.

• Event Class − An event class or blank.

• Text − A long field containing the text block itself. The text may include up to five substitution variables.

Setting Up Delivered Text and Effective Dating

This text is effective-dated, which allows it to be changed from one plan year to the next. The delivered text has an effective date of 1/1/1900 and is defined as system data in HRMS database. It is important to use a later effective date when you add new text entries. Any configured text should use a later date.

Setting Up Enrollment Form Technical Information

Inside the enrollment form, the system uses a common function to access the text blocks. The format of this function is:

GetText(&TextID, &PlanType, &TextArea, &Sub1, &Sub2, &Sub3, &Sub4, &Sub5)

The parameters are as follows:

&TextID − A character string that uniquely identifies the text string.

&PlanType − The plan type. 01 is used for the event picker, summary, and other non-plan type pages.

&TextArea − Where the function returns the text.

&Sub1,2,3,4,5 − Up to five character fields that hold substitution variables. The function updates the text with the substitution values.

The calling function fills in the &TextID, &PlanType, and &Sub parameters.

On return, the calling function takes the text returned in &TextArea and puts it into HTML areas on the page.

The function does not have to supply the benefit program or event class because these values can be derived from the event itself and do not change.

Setting Up Dependent Workflow

An employee can modify characteristics about a dependent at any time on the Dependent/Beneficiary Personal Information page.

An administrator can configure the Dependent Workflow page to trigger a notification of changes within eBenefits for both the validating a benefits certification and dependent data.

Page Used to Set Up Dependent Workflow

Setting Up Dependent Workflow

Access the Dependent Workflow page.

Setting Up Suppliers

This section provides an overview of how to set up suppliers and describes how to

• Activate the supplier.

• Define supplier FTP parameters.

• Define carrier reporting schedules.

Understanding How to Set Up Suppliers

eBenefits integration eBenx, which enables companies to use eBenX’s benefits data management and distribution services to distribute benefit enrollment data to their benefit providers.

To set up eBenX as a supplier:

1. Activate eBenX as a supplier using the Merchant Profile page.

2. Enter the supplier’s file transfer protocol (FTP) information on the Define Supplier FTP Parameters page.

3. Create a schedule for sending data to the supplier using the Define Carrier Reporting Schedule page.

Pages Used to Set Up Suppliers

Activating the Supplier

Access the Merchant Profile page.

Select the Merchant Enabled check box.

If this check box is cleared, you won’t be able to transmit data to the supplier.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: System and Server Administration

Defining Supplier FTP Parameters

Access the Define FTP Parameters page.

Supplier ID	Displays the identification number assigned to the supplier by the system when the supplier was entered in the Merchant Profile page.
Supplier Enabled	Select this check box to indicate whether you can transmit data to the supplier. If this check box is cleared, you must access to the Merchant Profile page and select the Merchant Enabled check box.
FTP Address	Enter the supplier’s FTP address.
FTP User Name	Enter your logon name. The eBenX representative will provide this information.
FTP Password	Enter the password assigned to you to access the supplier’s site. The eBenX representative will provide this information.

Defining Carrier Reporting Schedules

Access the Define Carrier Reporting Schedule page.

Schedule ID	Displays a unique identification code assigned to this schedule. It can be up to six characters long.
Company Descr (company description)	Enter the name of your company. This information is included in the header section of the files sent to the supplier.
Supplier ID	Select the supplier ID from the list of valid options.
File Name	The name of the file sent to the supplier. You can create your own name or have the system generate a name for you. When creating your own name, make sure it is a name that helps you easily identify the contents. If you run the Carrier Interface Schedule more than once using the same name and directory, a sequence number is placed in front of the file name. For example, if you send a file with the name eBenX twice, the first and second file names will be “eBenX.txt” and “2eBenX.txt,” respectively. To have the system generate a name, leave File Name blank and select Auto Generate File Name.
Auto Generate File Name	Select this check box to create a file name for you. When selected, the File Name field becomes unavailable for entry. The system creates the name using the following format: <Schedule ID name>_YYYY-MM-DD-HH.MM.SS.txt.
Resend a file created from this schedule	This link appears only if this schedule before. Click this link to display the Resend File page.
File Directory	Enter the name of the directory located on the application server where the extract file is to be stored.
Extract Parameters	This group box enables you to select only the information that you want to extract from the BN_SNAP files for this supplier. You can enter more than one row of parameters.
SetID	If you want enrollment information for a specific setID, select a setID from the list of available options. You must enter at least one setID.
Vendor ID	If you want enrollment information for a specific benefit provider, select a vendor ID from the list of available options. If you want information for all benefit providers, leave this field blank.
Plan Type	If you want enrollment information for a specific benefit plan type, select a plan type from the list of available options. If you want information for all plan types, leave this field blank.