ERISApedia vs ERISA Outline Book

I have a limited amount of money to spend on tehcnical resources.  I find that the ERISApedia Ask the author service is indispensable.  It comes with the qualified Plan eSource.   I am curious if others have done a deeper dive into whether or not the ERISApedia publications are comparable to the ERISA Outline Book.  IT is hard to imagine not havintg the EOB but I am intrigued by ERISApedia's AI functionality, I just watched a demo.

What do you think?

I like both.  The AI search isn't a huge selling point for me; I was kind of underwhelmed by the demo.  

- EOB is more technical and goes deeper into the weeds on most topics.  ERISAPedia is more plain English explanation of technical topics.

- I can get more out of EOB, but 90% of the time I can get what I need from ERISAPedia.

- If it is going to be used by less experienced, less technical employees, ERISAPedia is probably better.  Its easier to search and easier to understand.

- If I could only have one, it would be the EOB.  If I could only have one for my staff, it would be ERISAPedia. 

I hope that helps.

I agree with @RatherBeGolfing about the utility of each service.  I use both services (including most of the ERISApedia eSources and their new AI Search feature).  I also use Wolters Kluwer's Vital Law pension-related services.

Let me preface my observations that I view each of these services as a tool to complete a task, and depending on the task, you need to have the right tools to complete the task accurately and efficiently.

Wolters Kluwer has the most in-depth resources for current, historical and proposed laws, regulations, notices, memorandums, relevant case law... One of its particular strengths when working on plan corrections for past years is having ready access to what was in effect contemporaneously in each of those past years.  Similarly to ERISApedia, WK provides access to several of their books on various topics written in "plain English".  The TAG service is similar to ERISApedia's Ask the Author service.  One plus to the TAG service is it notes when the question was asked and answered, and generally provides more detail supporting the answer.

The EOB is the gold standard for researching a topic where knowing what, when and why about the topic is important.  The EOB has accumulated information over the history of retirement plans which is informative but may not be relevant to what you are researching.  A very big advantage to the EOB over other services is references to informal guidance gleaned from agency presentations at meetings/conferences with various industry groups, and from interactions between agencies and professional organizations.  Navigating the EOB is a learned skill and is not intuitive.

ERISApedia is very the most user friendly of the three services.  Most of the time this is an advantage particularly when confirming what you think you know but are not completely confident about it.  ERISApedia also is very helpful when faced with an unfamiliar topic and there is a need to get up to speed fairly quickly.  Like Wolters Kluwer, you need to sign up for multiple eSources to get the most out of ERISApedia.  While I like the Asked and Answered feature, the results often do not frame the Q&A in its time frame or regulatory context which can lead to assuming an answer that was correct in prior years remains in effect today.

The ERISApedia AI Search is in its infancy and will grow in value as more people use the system.  ERISApedia stresses that it is a productivity tool and the user needs to confirm the validity of results.  It definitely saves time.  One ancillary feature is the ability to ask the service to draft a memo, to draft an election form, or to draft an explanation.  The final results almost always need editing, but the AI-generated content is a very big time saver.  The cost of the AI service is peanuts and this feature is well worth the incremental cost.

Again, I view each of these services as a tool to complete a task, and depending on the task, you need to have the right tools to complete the task accurately and efficiently.  A firm needs to manage its operating expenses with a view towards what pays for itself both in terms of efficiency and in terms of doing things correctly.  We all have had experiences where the cost of redoing or fixing something is orders of magnitude greater than the cost of getting things done correctly the first time.

We agree with the answers above.  We use ERISApedia as that meets our needs for most day to day research.  For the super technical questions, we subscribe to the ERISApedia service where we can ask X number of technical questions per year and get a very detailed response. We have been looking at the AI and are thinking about it.  We also like their (free) continuing education webinars, especially for our QKA/QPA and ERPA personnel as they are on a little higher level than classes we can take elsewhere. This saves us a lot of money in paying for CE credits for our credentialed personnel.  We have also not had any issues with their classes meeting the ERPA requirements.

Agree with both Paul and Pam.  This is our second year of using just ERISApedia.  We used the EOB exclusively for nearly 20 years.  To Paul's point, when it went online it was not easy to use.  That's what prompted us to look at ERISApedia.  We kept both for a few years then went with ERISApedia mainly because of all the added features such as the ASK questions, easy access to regulations, their customer support, and the Ferenczy material.   Paul is right again, with respect to the ASK questions.  You need to pay attention to the date of the question and answer to make certain it is still relevant.   Like Pam we do take advantage of their free webinars.  We feel better about attending the free webinars by supporting their product.   

What we miss most about the EOB as a TPA is the incredibly detailed examples and explanations.  

I love them both but I wish that EOB would have a better search engine. Something I discussed with Sal a long time ago but unfortunately it was not in hands to fix, it was the publisher. Still an issue and not intuitive, may be it is me but I hear from others as well.

EOB is far more technical and full of examples, when you can manage to find what you are looking for.

ERISApedia has a great layout of the law and sections but you have to pay for all separately which can add up quickly especially if one is on budget. still very well explained and in layman terms. The new DB section is also very good.

Just my 2 cents