The Benefit Calculator will perform batch estimate benefit calculations for plan members. The Batch Estimate calculation allows you to process a large group of Estimates at one time, such as for an annual statement of accrued benefits. ProAdmin will extract the data from the data source identified with the selected Plan and process the calculations. All output is written to a Microsoft’s Access database product.

When you click Batch under the Execute menu or the  task bar item, the Batch Estimated Benefit Calculation window is displayed.

Select Plan is a multi-choice field of the System Plans which reference an Access Database Linkage and Output Definition.  The System Plan defines the plan benefits, calculation assumptions and data source. Select the System Plan that you want to reference to complete the estimate calculations. For the Benefit Estimates to run, valid System Plans must be set up within the ProAdmin desktop mode.

Thebutton allows you to see all estimate batch calculations that have previously been run and saved. For each calculation that has been run and saved, the Saved Batch Calculation dialog shows the Census Data File, the User ID of the user who ran the calculation, the sequence number (Seq #), the Calculation Type ("Estimate" will be listed for all batch calculations) and the Run Date and time the calculation was run. You can select an entry and click the Select button to run a calculation again. Clicking the Exit button will take you to the Batch Estimate Benefit Calculation dialog without selecting a saved batch.

Census Data File contains the external, comma separated file name (TXT or CSV) which specifies the group of members for whom calculations will be run. If no path is specified, the file is assumed to be in the client directory.  Click on the  button to navigate to a particular folder and file.  If the folder is in the client directory, the file name will be displayed without a path.  This file contains the Person ID, Date of Decrement, Date of Commencement, (optionally) Beneficiary Date of Birth and Beneficiary Type Code for each calculation to be run. An example of a valid test file would be:

123-45-6789, 12/31/2010, 1/1/2011, 3/5/1968, 1

111-11-1111, 12/31/2010, 1/1/2014, 10/17/1970, 2

123-45-6790, 12/31/2010, 1/1/2012

123-45-6900, 12/31/2010, 1/1/2013, 3/5/1968

A person ID can appear more than once in the file. Beneficiary information is optional and can be included for only some of the records. The beneficiary type code is optional when the beneficiary date of birth is included, but if the beneficiary type code is included, the beneficiary date of birth must be included.

Output File is the path and name of the Access database where you would like to write the Output Definition results. Click the  button to navigate to a particular folder and file.

Click on the Run button to initiate the calculation. Once the calculation starts it will show a counter indicating the calculation being processed and out of how many.