Secure File Exchange

Providing TPAs and Contacts a means to transfer files and documents containing sensitive information, PensionPro offers Secure File Exchange, a messaging system designed to help mitigate the risks associated with digital file delivery. Found in both PensionPro and PlanSponsorLink, Secure File Exchange is easy to use, deletes files automatically after a given period of time, and doesn't require a recipient to be a Plan Contact Role.

Tier Availability: Track, Team, Business

Article Contents

• Overview of Secure File Exchange
• Working with Secure File Exchange
  • Downloading Secure Files
  • Secure File Access Logs
  • Secure File Expiration
  • Manually Deleting Secure Files
  • Viewing Other Employees' Exchanges
• Sending Secure File Exchanges
  • Managing Sent Exchanges
• Secure File Exchange on PlanSponsorLink
  • Secure File Exchange and Multiple Recipients
• Secure File Exchange Notices & Reminders

Overview of Secure File Exchange

Secure File Exchange offers a means of sharing files between the TPA firm and its Contacts. An Employee can use PensionPro to send files to one or several Contacts, who can view the files on PlanSponsorLink. A Contact can also use PlanSponsorLink to send files to an Employee, who receives it in PensionPro.

Although documents can be uploaded to PlanSponsorLink as Plan & Project files, delivered and collected as part of General Web Collection, or attached to a Blast Email, Secure File Exchange includes a number of benefits that may not be found elsewhere:

• Secure Files can be sent to (or received from) any Contact, not just those added to Plans as Contact Roles.
• Secure Files sent by the TPA firm can only be accessed by the Contacts they are sent to.
• Secure Files sent by Contacts are delivered to a specific Employee, but can be accessed by other Employees if necessary.
• Sending a Secure File Exchange generates an Interaction record.
• Follow-up email notifications can be sent automatically in the event that a Secure File is not opened within a certain timeframe.
• Files sent via Secure File Exchange are given an expiration date, at which point they are deleted from the application.

Working with Secure File Exchange

To get started, navigate to Communications > Secure File Exchange. The Secure File Exchange tab has two views:

• Inbox: Secure Files that were sent from a Contact to the Employee
• Sent: Secure Files that the Employee sent to one or more Contacts.

The grid in each view contains any Secure File Exchanges that are not yet expired; a line entry will display in bold if it possesses a file that has not yet been downloaded. An Exchange includes the following components:

Downloading Secure Files

There are a number of ways that Secure Files can be downloaded to the user's device:

What to download	Method
A single Secure File	Select the desired file in the Files column
Multiple files included in the same Exchange	Select Download All in the Files column for that Exchange
Files across multiple Exchanges	Ctrl-click to select the Exchanges in the grid, then use More > Download All Selected.

When multiple files are downloaded, all selected files will be included in a single zipped folder.

Secure File Access Logs

An access log is maintained for each file in an Exchange; to open a file's access log, select View Access Log in the Files column.

The access log makes a record each time the file is downloaded, including who downloaded the file, and on what date and time. Any user who downloads the file—including all Employees and Contacts—will be noted in the access log.

Secure File Expiration

One benefit of using Secure File Exchange is the automatic deletion of files that have reached a certain age. This ensures that documents containing sensitive information do not remain online longer than needed and create unnecessary risk.

Once expired, a Secure File Exchange and all included files are irrevocably deleted from PensionPro, and can only be re-obtained via a new Exchange from the original sender. If a sensitive document or file may be needed beyond the expiration date, it should be saved and secured elsewhere, preferably in local storage.

For a Secure File Exchange, the maximum possible retention period allowed by PensionPro is 90 days. Employees sending a Secure File Exchange can set a custom expiration date within this period.

PensionPro includes firm-level preferences that dictate the default retention period used for Exchanges; for more information, refer to the Secure File Exchange section of the article PensionPro Preferences.

Manually Deleting Secure Files

Requires Security Rights: Delete Secure File Exchange

Instead of waiting for a Secure File Exchange to reach its expiration date, it can be deleted from PensionPro manually.

To delete an Exchange, hover over it in the grid and select Delete on the right-hand side. Doing so will remove the Exchange and permanently delete all included files; the entry will also be removed for Contacts on PlanSponsorLink.

Viewing Other Employees' Exchanges

Requires Security Rights: View Other Secure File Exchanges

The Inbox: or Sent: field directly above the grid will display the active user's name by default. Use this dropdown and select a different Employee to view their Exchanges, or select All to view all Exchanges for all Employees across the firm.

Sending a new Secure File Exchange while in another Employee's view does not send the Exchange as that Employee; the active user will still be listed as the sender.

Sending Secure File Exchanges

The TPA firm can use Secure File Exchange in PensionPro to deliver a Secure File to a Contact on PlanSponsorLink. Files must comply with the following requirements:

• Up to 5 files can be sent in a single Exchange.
• A single file cannot exceed 1 GB in size.
• Excluded file types: .exe, .msi, .bat, cmd

To send a Secure File Exchange:

1. Open Secure File Exchange by navigating to Communications > Secure File Exchange.
2. Select Add at the top-right of the grid. The corresponding window displays.
3. Use the File Selection box to navigate to and select one or more files for upload.
4. Use the To field to search for and select the name of the Contact who will receive the Secure File. Multiple Contacts can be included if desired.
5. (optional) Include a Message to the Contact.
6. (optional) Search for and select the Plan relevant to this Exchange.
   • This is used for Interactions; see below.
7. Select the Subdomain to use.
   • This will ensure that Secure File Exchange communications use the appropriate PlanSponsorLink Subdomain.
   • If a Plan is selected, this field will automatically populate based on the Plan's Location.
8. Set the Expiration date for this Exchange.
   • This cannot be greater than 90 days; refer to the section Secure File Expiration.
9. Set the File Open Notifications and Recipient Reminder Frequency as desired.
10. Select Send.

Once sent, the Secure File Exchange will be added to the appropriate tab on PlanSponsorLink, and an email will be sent to the chosen Contact(s) to notify them that new Secure Files are available. PensionPro will also redirect the to the Sent view to confirm that the Exchange has been added successfully.

An Interaction will also be added to the Contact, as well as the Plan if one was specified. While this Interaction does not include any sent files, the Interaction Details will save a record of the message and the file name(s).

Managing Sent Exchanges

Once sent, a record of the Secure File Exchange is retained in the Sent view until it reaches the expiration date or is deleted manually. A sent Exchange has all of the same options as an Exchange in the Inbox; files can be re-downloaded and access logs can be viewed as needed.

Additionally, an Exchange's expiration date can be changed after it is sent, as can its notification and reminder preferences. To update any of these items, hover over the Exchange in the grid and select Edit on the right-hand side.

Secure File Exchange on PlanSponsorLink

Contacts also have access to Secure File Exchange, to both send and receive files to and from the TPA. Secure File Exchange for Contacts can be found in the Secure File Exchange tab on PlanSponsorLink.

Although Secure File Exchange functionality is largely similar for Employees using PensionPro and Contacts using PlanSponsorLink, there are a few a few minor differences:

• File access logs are not available on PlanSponsorLink.
• Contacts can only send a Secure File Exchange to a single Employee.
• An Exchange sent by a Contact will always use the default expiration date.
• An Exchange sent by a Contact does not use reminders or file open notifications.

A Contact using PlanSponsorLink to send a Secure File Exchange will only need to provide the following information:

1. The file(s) to be uploaded
2. The Employee to send the file(s) to
3. An optional message
4. The corresponding Plan, if applicable

Secure File Exchange and Multiple Recipients

When the TPA sends one Secure File Exchange to multiple Contacts, PlanSponsorLink does not indicate to a Contact that there were additional recipients. The Exchange will be considered read once any of the recipients downloads a file it contains, and all recipients will stop receiving reminder emails for that Exchange; however, the line entry will remain bold for the remaining recipients until they likewise download the file.

If a recipient manually deletes the Exchange, it will be deleted for all recipients. To ensure that every recipient has the opportunity to download a Secure File, it may be best to send Exchanges individually.

Secure File Exchange Notices & Reminders

PensionPro (and PlanSponsorLink) rely on a number of email-based alerts to communicate events relating to Secure File Exchange. Some alerts will always generate, whereas others may be optional based on the Exchange in question.

When sending a Secure File Exchange, Employees can dictate how often they would like to be notified when a recipient downloads a file, and whether the recipient(s) should receive weekly reminder emails. These settings can be modified after the Exchange is sent; refer to Managing Sent Exchanges.

If reminder notifications are enabled for an Exchange, a Contact will continue receiving reminder emails until one of the following occurs:

• Any recipient (including other Contacts) downloads an included file.
• The Employee edits the Exchange to disable reminders.
• The Exchange expires or is deleted manually.

The content of these notification and reminder emails can be customized to suit the firm's requirements; for more details, refer to the Secure File Exchange section of the article PensionPro Preferences.