Membership and contribution data is either updated from a payroll or captured online by the employer via an Internet interface (front end Member data and contribution collection component).
Note:
Members who belong to individual investment funds (e.g. preservation funds), are captured using the PRODUCTS menu selection. Refer to
Products
Preservation Fund
The data is validated and essential data that is missing is reported in the form of error messages. Similarly data that does not conform to certain predefined rules is also reported as errors. These errors must be corrected before the cycle can be closed. Reasonability checks are performed and non-conformances reported in the form of warnings. This data can be corrected if necessary, but will be accepted in its original state if not corrected. The validation is driven by the Product Rules.
Data can be accepted from any payroll due to Data Masking facilities. If the data is complete and correct, a Remittance Advice is produced which is then required to be authorised by the employer. During this process certain calculations are done where applicable e.g. admin fees or premiums where these are paid by the employer in addition to the Retirement Fund contribution or included in another Income Type, e.g. the employer contribution. If contributions are late, interest will be calculated automatically where applicable depending on the Product Rules.
When the Remittance Advice has been authorised, an e-mail is sent to designated users to inform them that there are contributions to be processed. Contributions are apportioned according to the Members selected Investment Allocation or a Product Level Allocation. Reports are produced of the Investment apportionments.
Each item of Income is linked to a predefined Accounting Activity at a Member and Product level and accounting transactions are created at a Member and Product level according to the Accounting Rules defined for the Product.
If the EFT option is selected, Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT’s) are generated to transfer the Income from the employer’s Bank Account (or a clearing account into which the Income has been deposited) to the Product's Bank Account, the Asset Managers and Insurers. If the "No EFT" option is selected the appropriate accounting activities are generated to debit a receivable account.
The movement of money is determined by the rules that are set up for each Product and can be arranged to suit each Product, e.g. if Investment is done on a net basis (contributions less an estimate for claims) no EFT’s are generated to automatically transfer the Income received to the Asset Managers.
Where applicable, Investment advices for the Asset Managers are produced automatically.
Periods of temporary absence are captured by the employer’s payroll Personnel during the monthly cycle processing.
Details of the Beneficiaries nominated by a Member and the percentages to be allocated to each beneficiary are captured by the employer’s payroll Personnel. This is used as a guide for the Trustees in the event of the death of a Member.