Software

We are currently on Datair and looking at other options.  We are looking at Ft Williams (given we use their document & 5500 system), ASC, and possibly Relius (but unlikely given costs).  One concern is the processing of huge plans.  Currently, we have issues with Datair stalling during busy season when someone is importing or calculating a huge plan.  We do not want to relive this.  We also would like a program that provides some reconciliation options between the accrued balance on the software and vendor ending balance by participants.  Do you have any of these retirement software companies and can you provide pros & cons?

It's Fort William (no "s"). 

I can't speak to the huge plan issues but I can tell you that their customer service is fantastic, to the point of being amazing. I can't think of another company that I've dealt with, professionally or personally, that does better.

TinaW, how many participants are in a plan you would say is "huge"?  It sounds like you are searching for a SaaS (software as a solution) product.  These are typically accessed remotely and all of them are vulnerable to performance issues during busy periods, and especially so when sending or receiving large amounts of data.

In the SaaS model, one of the likely culprits causing performance issues is very large numbers of jobs in the processing queue which is to be expected during busy periods. 

The other is the speed of the connection with the SaaS site which impacts exchanging volumes of data with the site or in downloading large reports.  This can be addressed on the client side.

If this is the type of product you need, then you may want to focus on features like ease of use, understandable documentation, quality of training, quality of support both for the system and application, and probably at or near the top of the list - availability and responsiveness.  Our business has many deadlines and work flow is most efficient when we can start working on a client and follow through to the finish with fewer and shorter interruptions.

We moved from Datair to ftwilliam and have been very happy.  We have some large plans that also had the issue of stalling, taking FOREVER to calculate.  I had one plan that I used to schedule an all-nighter to get it processed.  Had to babysit it so the calculations wouldn't stop, and didn't want to slow the system down for others to get their work done.  This plan now takes about 8-10 minutes to calculate in ftwilliam!

I'm another happy convert to FTW.  I have used it since 2008 or so.  Customer service is great, and it makes complete sense to use them for admin when you use their document.  The modules interact with each other, so you can push plan specs from doc to admin, participant count and 8955 data from admin to 5500, etc.

I'm surprised i didn't see a recommendation for ASC come up on this thread yet. So here I am.

I will say that I've only had experience with FT William for 1099 production.

But for valuation / compliance testing I was raised on ASC many years ago and am still using them to this day. I would say their customer service is a life-saver when something gets difficult with a plan. They have constant educational resources on their website (webcasts, system tutorials, news letters). We also use their web-based software for 5500 / government reporting which is equally fantastic.

Lots of support from their service / consulting team and very FAST! Best part is they will communicate by email or PHONE to troubleshoot any issue you have. Some larger vendors stay stuck behind an email when trying to "help". Gets frustrating. But not ASC and their helpful team of consultants (who are all also pension professionals with administration backgrounds and credentials).

Lastly, I have never encountered a problem getting a massive plan to calculate on ASC within only a minute or two.

I am an ASC cheerleader forever! Thank you, ASC!