Transition from Manual Data Entry to Electronic

[Lynn Campbell]

I am a TPA of very small plans and have done manual data entry to date. However, I want to switch to electronic data entry for employee data on one 401(k) client - specifically hours worked, salary earned, deferral amount, etc. Does anyone have experience in this transition who is willing to give advice/horror stories, etc? Thanks for all input.

[Guest Mark Young]

I would suggest using the Data Collection Module within Quantech. It involves sending

a DCM installation disk and a data diskette to the client. The client installs the DCM program on a workstation and then is able to open the data disk and key in their information.

We have been using DCM for a year with many of our clients and have found it successful.

[Guest]

and now for the horror stories....

well heck, its near Halloween

and please don't take these comments as being 'negative', I get enough grief from some folks for being 'honest' and telling it like it is.

DCM works fairly well, but thereare a few problems we have encountered.

client entered data, went to save, and for whatever reason data was lost. this happened in a couple of cases, so we always recommended client print hard copy first, just in case.

the header for compensation reads 'salary' and we had a couple of clients enter things like 8 for $8 an hour.

if you request 'status' some clients fill in everything - hourly,salaried, etc. if they don't fill in a corresponding date, eligibility won't necessarily run.

and, sometimes a client will accidently add extra lines (designed for new employees). If there are no more new employees, you have to add a fake soc sec # and then delete the extra data. system won't save if there is a blank record. (or at least it used to)

anyway, those are just some points to keep in mind, make sure you specify what you want in your cover letter.

assuming most clients have excel, or something similar, you could export soc number and name, etc, and request client to fill in comp, hrs etc.

or just simply request client to send you specified fields and do a download.

one last word of caution. if you are processing plan more than annual, make sure you download into the correct pay period. once you download, thats it. there is no 'oops, I did the wrong month, please reverse what I did'

but by all means, go to electronic download. its the only way.

[Guest DottleC]

If you import to the payroll, i.e. from an Excel comma separated values file, I would suggest unticking the "add new employees" box, prior to the import. Remove dashes from social security number. Add any new employees manually. Create an eligibility transaction with a priority above the contribution transaction. Any status changes manually input should be locked in with an eligibility transaction dating back to the last eligibility transaction. As long as you have the pay periods set up under the employer screen, you will be given the option to import to a specific payroll period. Matching contributions that are imported are not exposed to the plan's formula, FYI, so be careful not to import over the specified formula.

Bill

[Guest JohnB10]

Great responses. Just thought I'd share some Y2k "gotcha's" and tips with regard to data import procedures.

(1) Make sure all dates in the DERs you use to create DCMs are formatted to require 4 digit years. If not, the Quantech database will guess the century of the date when importing your file. This goes for manual entry DERs as well.

(2) If sending a spreadsheet to a client, make sure all dates in the spreadsheet are formatted to show 4 digit years. You'll also want to remind your client to format any dates to show 4 digit years in spreadsheets they send back to you. Remember, if a date is entered in a spreadsheet and the user omits the century, the spreadsheet program will guess the century. Formatting dates to show 4 digit years will make incorrect guesses more obvious. (eg: if you enter 12/14/27 as a DOB in Excel 97, it will guess 12/14/2027)

(3)Make sure your Windows95 or 98 "Short Date" is formatted to show 4 digit years, and ask your client to do so as well. Often, Excel spreadsheets use the Win95/98 short date format as a default to format dates.

(4)If using Excel, I suggest you get the free "DateWatch" addin from the Microsoft web site. If you use the add-in, Excel will warn you about possible Y2K problems when you open a text file (CSV, etc). The add-in will also automatically format any date entered to a four digit format when the date is entered.

John Bronikowski

Emjay Corporation, A Wells Fargo Company

John.Bronikowski@Emjay.com

(414) 961-0650, ext. 647

Any opinions herein are my own and not necessarily those of Wells Fargo.

[Guest Sue Michalski]

Don't forget loans......Loan payments are NOT a DCM element!