Multiple Event Scheduling
This section discusses:
Multiple event scheduling.
Event status and retroactive events.
PeopleSoft Benefits Administration can process only one event at a time for an individual participant. The system always tries to process events in a logical sequence; usually this means that the system tries to process events in the order that they occur. The management of multiple events for a participant is referred to as event coordination. Here are some typical scenarios:
Open enrollment participant event is in process and a family status change occurs for the associated participant.
A new hire event is in process and the new hire moves to a new address (change in postal code).
An event is retroactively entered into the system, affecting eligibility for current or future-dated closed events.
If multiple events occur on the same date, the system uses the event priority for that event class to determine processing order. The event with the lowest priority number is processed first.
Multiple events on the same date in the same event class are merged into one event. For example, an employee transfers to a new job and a new union on the same day. Both events are assigned to the MSC event class. The system creates one row for these two activities in the BAS_PARTIC table (which holds participant event records that are in process) and thereafter processes them as one event. The system indicates the merge by setting the Multi Activity Indicator field on that row to Yes. The action source for the activity is set to the first event read from the BAS Activity table. The order that the system reads events from the BAS Activity table depends on the database engine that you're using.
While a participant event is in process, the system continues to recognize new events as they are triggered. If a new event has an earlier date than the event being processed, the system temporarily closes the event in process and opens the new event for processing. The first participant event's Event Status value changes from Open to Closed. When the new event finalizes and changes to a closed status, the system reopens the interrupted event and continues its processing.
The following table describes event status values:
|
Current Event Status |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Open |
Processed by the system on the next run of the Benefits Administration process. Only one event can be open for an employee ID and benefit record number combination. Event Status can be updated to Closed automatically by the system or manually on the Event Status Update page. |
|
Closed |
Not currently processed by the system Closed events can be updated to Open, either by the system or manually, if no other events for the employee ID and benefit record number combination are Open. |
|
Void |
Has been backed out of the system and all eligibility processing related to it has been reversed. In effect, it is as if the event never occurred. To change event status to Void, use the Controls page or Event Status Update page. Events with an event status of Void can be updated to Open or Closed through event reprocessing. |
When a participant event is processed ahead of other events with earlier event dates or lower Event Priority values, the system marks that event with out of sequence information. This information appears on the Schedule Summary, Control, and Participant pages and indicates that the eligibility information for this event may have changed (may be affected by these earlier, pending events), and therefore the event might need to be reprocessed.
An exception to the event coordination flow occurs when a new event interrupts (precedes) an in-process event, potentially affecting that event's assignment, eligibility, or rate recalculations. Rather than allow the system to reopen the stopped event and continue processing, you may need to use the Event Status page to queue the event for reprocessing such that its assignment, eligibility determinations, or rate calculations are refreshed with the most current data.