Compliance systems that are equipped to generate annual participant notices make terrific time-savers, but creating a notice for every plan and uploading each to PensionPro can be a daunting task. With the participant notice retrieval feature, PensionPro cuts out the middleman, using a Power Tool to pull notices for multiple Plans and save them straight to Plan Files, optionally posting them to PlanSponsorLink at the same time. This article walks users through the settings and steps of the Participant Notice Power Tools for both ASC and ftwilliam.com.
Article Contents
Overview of Notice Retrieval
Through the use of a Power Tool, participant notices for multiple Plans can be pulled into PensionPro from either ASC or ftwilliam.com. These notices are saved to Plan files and can optionally be posted to PlanSponsorLink for delivery to sponsors. If posted to PSL, PensionPro can notify Plan Contacts via email.
Prerequisites
Requirements for both ASC and ftwilliam.com users are outlined below; these must be met prior to using the Participant Notices Power Tool:
FTW
- The FTW Integration must be active.
- PensionPro Plans must be linked to their corresponding record in FTW.
ASC
- The ASC Integration must be active.
Applicable Preferences
Requires Security Rights: Maintenance
The below firm-level preferences impact the Participant Notice Power Tool and should be customized before initial use. If the firm uses multiple PSL subdomains, these preferences will need to be tailored to each.
To locate these settings:
- Navigate to Maintenance > Preferences > PSL Subdomains. The corresponding grid opens in a new tab.
- Double-click a subdomain from the grid to open it at the Preferences view.
| Participant Notices Available Email Body | The body of the email that is (optionally) sent to Plan Contacts notifying them that a Participant Notice has been posted to PlanSponsorLink. |
| Participant Notices Available Email Subject | The subject line of the above email. |
Using the Participant Notice Power Tool
Requires Security Rights: Access Power Tools
The Participant Notice Power Tool features a multiple-step interface for setting options, filtering and selecting Plans, and pulling notices from the compliance system and saving them as Plan files.
Use one of the following methods to open the Power Tool, based on the integrating service in use:
- For ASC, navigate to Power Tools > ASC > Participant Notice.
- For FTW, navigate to Power Tools > ftwilliam.com > Participant Notice.
The Power Tool opens at Step 1. For assistance in completing the notice retrieval, expand the instructions for each step below.
Step 1: Options
This step sets the options for the Power Tool as well as the preferences for the files that will be saved upon completion.
-
Use the I want to field to choose what notice
will be retrieved.
- ftwilliam.com users should review the note below for more information on these options.
-
Enter a File Name.
- [Plan Name] can be used as a merge field to insert the Plan's name.
- Select the preferred File Format.
- Set the preferred File Category to Legal Plan Documents, Administrative Forms, or Fiduciary Files.
- Select the File Type and PSL Category.
- Set Show On PSL to Yes or No, as desired.
-
If Show On PSL is set to Yes, set
Notify Plan Sponsors via email? to Yes or No.
- This email will inform the Plan Sponsor that the participant notice file is available on PSL.
- If the Plan Sponsor is being notified, select the Plan Contact Role who the email will be sent to.
- (optional) If the Plan Sponsor is being notified, select a Plan Contact Role to CC.
-
(optional) If the Plan Sponsor is being notified, select an
Employee to CC.
- This Employee will be copied on the notification sent to the Plan Sponsor, and will receive a copy for each participant notice file added by the Power Tool.
Select Next to continue to Step 2.
Note for FTW users: The I want to field includes options that impact what Plans will be shown in Step 3. Use the following recommendations:
- Applicable Plans with separate annual and QDIA notices (per the plan checklist) use the No QDIA and QDIA Only options.
- All other Plans use the Add Annual Notice to Plans option.
Step 2: Filters
This step focuses on setting filters and adding columns to influence what data will be returned in Step 3.
- To add a data column, select it from the Column Selections panel on the left. This will add the column and its data to the grid in the next step.
- To add a filter, select Add New Rule in the Filtering panel. Filters can only be applied to data in active Column Selections.
For more detailed information, refer to the article Column Selections & Filters. When satisfied, select Next to continue to Step 3.
Step 3: Selections
The Selections step will determine which Plans will have participant notices retrieved from ftwilliam.com.
The grid on this step contains all Plans that meet the filter criteria set in Step 2. Review the details in the grid and select the desired Plans, or use the checkbox in the grid header at the top-left to select all returned Plans.
When finished, select Next to continue to Step 4.
Step 4: Review
This step provides one last opportunity to review the Power Tool settings before the changes are applied. Verify that the information on this step is correct; when ready, select Execute to complete the Power Tool.
Step 5: Finish
At this point, PensionPro has begun to process the changes. Each participant notice request is placed into a queue, which will be completed over time. The user will receive two emails from PensionPro:
- One to confirm that the request has been queued.
- Another when all participant notices have been retrieved and saved to Plan files.
If Notify Plan Sponsors via Email? was set to Yes in Step 1, an additional email will be sent to the chosen Plan Contact Role (and any CCs, if applicable) when their participant notice has been processed to advise them that it is now available on PlanSponsorLink.