Stock Purchase Plan Setup

When you set up a stock purchase plan, you specify the basic building blocks that control how your plan works, including linking your stock purchase plan to an existing benefit plan, selecting fair market value methods, defining offering and purchase limits, defining purchase and contribution rules, and specifying disposition restrictions. Next, you define the rules specific to your offering and purchase periods, such as grant dates and purchase periods, and establish how contributions are deducted from payroll.

Depending on how your organization administers its stock purchase plans, the majority of this setup phase is a one-time event requiring periodic maintenance on your part.

To set up a stock purchase plan:

1. Define rules for the stock purchase plan.

   In this step, you link the stock purchase plan to a benefit plan, select the fair market value methods to use, specify limits for the offering and purchase periods, and define rules for purchases, contributions, and dispositions.

2. Define the offering periods and the purchase periods for the stock purchase plan.

   Here, you define the range of dates in which a stock purchase offering is valid, the grant dates for an offering period, and the purchase period range of dates.

3. Define the reasons for holding a participant's purchase.

4. Define stock purchase processing messages.

5. Define the details of the stock purchase, including the process groups, currency conversions, and other processing parameters.