Setting Up eBenefits

This chapter discusses how to:

Use eBenefits pages.
Set up page display information.
Set up uniform resource locators (URLs).
Set up text blocks.

Using eBenefits Pages

The standard menu driven navigation path is the traditional PeopleSoft access method users of PeopleSoft applications are familiar with. The Benefits page presents a simple user interface design for end users. It is accessed by selecting Self-Service, Benefits.

The links that appear on the Benefits page depend on which collaborative applications have been purchased and whether the application has been selected on the Installation table.

Setting Up Page Display Information

With the exception of text tables used by Benefits enrollment, all controls for how and what the eBenefits pages display have been added to existing setup tables within the Base Benefits business process in Human Resources.

Before implementing eBenefits you must define the organization’s benefit programs, plans, and plan types.

The fields that control how benefit plan information displays on the eBenefits plan summary and detail pages, and on the enrollment form are located on either the:

Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option at the plan level.
Benefit Plan Table.
Event Rules.

See Also

Building Base Benefit Programs

Setting Up Benefit Plans

Creating Event Rules

Displaying Dependent and Beneficiary Information

The Collect Dep/Ben check box appears on both pages:

Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option at the plan level.
Event Rules.

Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option

When the Collect Dep/Ben check box is selected on the Benefit Program-Plan Type and Option page, the system collects the information pertaining to dependents and beneficiaries and displays that information on the eBenefit Summary and the eBenefit Detail Information pages.

Event Rules

When the Collect Dep/Ben check box is selected on the Event Rules page, the system displays the dependent and beneficiary information on the eBenefits Enrollment pages.

For health plans on the enrollment form, the system collects elections at the plan level. The employee selects which dependents should be covered under the plan by selecting a check box next to each individual’s name. The system derives the coverage code based on the dependents that are selected.

When the check box is clear, the system hides the dependent or beneficiary sections and does not collect dependent or beneficiary elections. For health plans on the enrollment form, the system collects elections at the coverage code level when the check box is clear.

The Collect Dep/Ben field works with the event rules’ Ignore Dep/Ben Edits field. If the Collect Dep/Ben check box is selected, the Ignore Dep/Ben Edits check box should not be selected.

See Also

Building Base Benefit Programs

Creating Event Rules

Displaying Savings Plan Fund Allocations

The Collect Funds Allocations check box appears on three pages:

Benefit Program Table − Program.
Benefit Program Table - Plan Type and Option at the plan level.
Event Rules.

Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option

When the Collect Funds Allocations check box is selected on the Benefit Program-Plan Type and Option page, the system collects the information pertaining to savings plans and displays that information on the eBenefit Savings Summary and the Detail Information pages.

Event Rules

When the Collect Funds Allocations check box is selected on the Event Rules page, the system displays the dependent and beneficiary information on the eBenefits Enrollment pages.

This field works in concert with the event rules’ Ignore Investment Edits check box. If the Collect Funds Allocations check box is selected, then the Ignore Investment Edits check box should be cleared.

Setting Up Domestic Coverage Information

On the enrollment form it may be necessary to display information about two health plans on one page. These can occur in situations where the employee is eligible for a health plan that is linked to a nonqualified health plan.

The Domestic Coverage For field determines whether plan types can be combined on the enrollment form. This field displays on the Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option page for plan types 15, 16, and 17.

To set up domestic coverage information:

Access to the Benefit Program - Plan Type and Option page.
Display the plan type level information for the nonqualified health plan.
In the Self-Service Configuration section, enter the number of the plan type that controls the cross-plan validation in the Domestic Coverage For field.

For example, for plan type 15, which is the nonqualified medical plan, you would enter 10 in the Domestic Coverage For field. That’s because plan type 10 controls the cross plan validation for plan type 15. For plan type 10, the Domestic Coverage For field is blank.

Suppressing Plan Type Information

The Show if no choice field is located on the Benefit Program Table - Plan Type and Option page for all plan types.

This check box controls whether a plan type is displays on the enrollment when the employee has no option to choose and cannot waive out of the option. A good example is paid vacation. Employees receive the benefit, but you don’t display it on the enrollment form.

If the check box is selected, the system displays the plan type in the enrollment form summary. When the check box is cleared, the system will not display the plan type.

Displaying Costs

The Cost Freq on Enrollment Form field is located on the Benefit Program Table - Benefit Program page at the program level. This check box controls whether the annual costs or the per-period costs (deductions) are displayed on the enrollment form.

Displaying Credits

The Show Credits on Enrollment Form field is located on the Benefit Program Table - Benefit Program page at the program level. If selected, this check box indicate for the system to display total cost and credits on the pages.

Setting Up the Self-Service Plan Descriptions Field

When setting up benefit plans for health, disability, leave, or retirement benefit plan types, you can enter a description about the plan on the Benefit Plan Table that displays on the enrollment pages.

Setting Up Uniform Resource Locators

The enrollment form and other benefit transaction pages are designed to displays links to:

Employee handbooks.
Benefit provider websites.
Service provider websites.

The specific uniform resource locator (URL) address, description, and identifier are entered on the URL table. Once the address, description, and identifier are entered in the URL table, then only the identifying code is entered in the Benefit Program table, Vendor table, and Benefit Plan table.

The SPD URL ID on the Benefit Plan table has priority over the General Policy URL ID on the Vendor table when displaying one or the other next to plan provider.

The rules that determine which URL appears next to plan name on benefit plan review pages are:

If a URL identifier is connected to the SPD URL ID on the Benefit Plan table, this is the link that appears on the benefit plan review page.
If a URL identifier is connected to General Policy URL ID on the Vendor Policy table and no SPD URL ID is defined, this is the link that appears on the benefit plan review page.

The Authorized Providers URL ID on the Vendor Policy table is independent of the links listed above. If an URL identifier is connected to the Authorized Providers URL ID, then that link appears on the Review page next to Find a Health Care Provider under the Additional Information section. This link is for health plan types only, no link will appear for the other plan types.

For the General Policy URL IDs and Authorized Providers URL ID links to work, a group number is required on both the Vendor and Benefit Plan tables.

It is recommended that you use a prefix naming convention, such as the one shown below:

Use SPD as a prefix when defining Summary Plan Description URL IDs (SMRYPLNDOC_URL_ID): SPD_AETNAPPO.
Use GEN as a prefix when defining the General Policy URL ID (POLICY_URL_ID): GEN_AETNA.
Use PRV as a prefix when defining the Authorized Providers URL ID (VENDOR_URL_ID): PRV_AETNA.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: System and Server Administration,“Using PeopleTools Utilities”

Setting Up Handbook Links

These URLs provide links to the enrollment handbook. There can be a link to the entire handbook and a link to each of the plan-type sections.

Because the handbooks may vary by benefit program, the keys are benefit program and plan type. The URL Identifiers are on the benefit program definition at both the program and plan-type levels.

There can be one URL for the entire handbook or separate URLs for each plan type.

Setting Up General Policy Links

These URL Identifiers provide links to the provider home pages or to a company intranet site. The fields are defined on the Vendor table.

Setting Up Authorized Provider Links

These URL identifiers provide links to the provider’s PCP finder, and are only applicable for health plan types. The fields are defined on the Vendor table.

Setting Up SPD (Summary Plan Description) Links

These URL identifiers provide links to the plan SPDs. The fields are defined on the Benefit Plan table.

Setting Up Text Blocks

The text blocks are a collection of paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and words that are used when displaying the enrollment pages. All wording on the pages will come from this collection, with the exception of error and warning messages, which use Message Catalog 4001.

Delivered Text and Effective Dating

This text is effective-dated, which allows it to be changed from one plan year to the next. The delivered text has an effective date of 1/1/1900 and is defined as system data in PeopleSoft HRMS database. It is important to use a later effective date when you add new text entries. Any modified text should use a later date.

Page Used to Set Up Text Blocks

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
eBenefits Text Entry	W3EB_TEXT	Set Up HRMS, Product Related, eBenefits, Self-Service Text Entry	Enter text and link the text to benefit programs, plan-types, and event classes on eBenefits enrollment pages.

Entering eBenefits Text

Access the eBenefits Text Entry page.

Text ID

This is the unique code assigned to the text ID.

Benefit Program

This is the benefit program that uses this text. If Benefit Program is left blank, the text will apply to all benefit programs.

Plan Type

This is the plan type that uses this text. If Plan Type is left blank, the text will apply to all plan types within the benefit program selected

Event Classification

This is the event classification that uses this text. If Event Classification is left blank, the text will apply to all event classifications within the benefit program and plan type selected.

Text Entry box

This box is used to enter the text that appears on the eBenefits enrollment pages.

Defining Text for Flexible Keys

Some page text is the same for all situations. Some of the text varies from benefit program to benefit program. Other text varies from plan type to plan type. Text can vary by plan type within benefit program and can vary by the type of event. To accommodate this, the system keys the text pieces by benefit program, plan type, and event class.

The system uses the following rules when matching text to a text block:

The system looks for a match on benefit program. It uses only those rows that match the benefit program, or, lacking any rows that match the benefit program, uses the rows that have a blank benefit program.
Within this set of rows, the system looks for a match on plan type. It uses only those rows that match the plan type, or, lacking any rows that match the plan type, uses the rows that have a blank plan type.
Within this set of rows, the system looks for a match on event class. It uses only the row that matches the event class, or, lacking a match on event class, uses the row that has a blank event class.

Identifying Field Lists

This is a list of the fields on the following tables: W3EB_TEXT, W3EB_TEXT_EFFDT, and W3EB_TEXT_MSGID

Text ID − A character field that uniquely identifies the text block.
Language Code − The language for this text block.
Description − A description of this text block.
Effective Date − The date this text block takes effect.
Benefit Program − A distinct benefit program or blank.
Plan Type − A distinct plan type or blank.
Event Class − An event class or blank.
Text − A long field containing the text block itself. The text may include up to five substitution variables.

Setting Up Delivered Text and Effective Dating

This text is effective-dated, which allows it to be changed from one plan year to the next. The delivered text has an effective date of 1/1/1900 and is defined as system data in HRMS database. It is important to use a later effective date when you add new text entries. Any configured text should use a later date.

See Also

Effective Dates

Setting Up Enrollment Form Technical Information

Inside the enrollment form, the system uses a common function to access the text blocks. The format of this function is:

GetText(&TextID, &PlanType, &TextArea, &Sub1, &Sub2, &Sub3, &Sub4, &Sub5)

The parameters are as follows:

&TextID − A character string that uniquely identifies the text string.

&PlanType − The plan type. 01 is used for the event picker, summary, and other non-plan type pages.

&TextArea − Where the function returns the text.

&Sub1,2,3,4,5 − Up to five character fields that hold substitution variables. The function updates the text with the substitution values.

The calling function fills in the &TextID, &PlanType, and &Sub parameters.

On return, the calling function takes the text returned in &TextArea and puts it into HTML areas on the page.

The function does not have to supply the benefit program or event class because these values can be derived from the event itself and do not change.

Text ID	This is the unique code assigned to the text ID.
Benefit Program	This is the benefit program that uses this text. If Benefit Program is left blank, the text will apply to all benefit programs.
Plan Type	This is the plan type that uses this text. If Plan Type is left blank, the text will apply to all plan types within the benefit program selected
Event Classification	This is the event classification that uses this text. If Event Classification is left blank, the text will apply to all event classifications within the benefit program and plan type selected.
Text Entry box	This box is used to enter the text that appears on the eBenefits enrollment pages.