The Benefit Detail Output Field type is available for all application types.  It allows you to create output based on final benefit amounts, including payment form information, or individual components used in the creation of the final benefits.  This type of output field can also generate details of salaries used in final average salary calculations, or the development of cash balance, career average and late retirement components. 

Description is a text field in which you enter a helpful descriptive name by which the entry will be known. This may be any phrase, including spaces. All characters are available. These are the names you will see in the Output Definition Results report.

Output Field Name is available only when using the Desktop (Access) Application Type. This name must be unique to this Output Definition and will the heading for the results in the Access database and the Output Definition Results report.

XML Output Field is available when using either the Server or Desktop (XML) Application Types, and indicates where in the XML the output should be mapped. The multi-choice field lists all numeric entries from the XML Output Linkage associated with this Output Definition, and a parenthetical statement below the selected field indicates whether the field chosen varies by decrement date, commencement date or payment form, as well as whether the output will include the description as an attribute (because the referenced Tag includes a PADescription attribute). You can assign more than one value to the same XML Output Field and if you do, the default action will to add the values into the one field.

There are three available forms of Benefit Detail output:  Benefit Definition, Benefit Formula Component or Accrual Basis Component. 

1. When Benefit Definition: output is selected, there are a series of options to define the specific benefit information that will be mapped. In general, two types of information must be defined: which benefits are included and whether the results returned are to be provided by decrement date, commencement dates or payment form. This latter choice should conform to the structure of the XML Output field chosen.

The Benefits section selects which benefits are mapped to the (XML) Output field.


• Selecting All benefits indicates that all of the benefits for which the member is eligible will be summed (or otherwise treated in accordance with the In the case of multiple output values, return the selection at the bottom of the dialog box) and mapped to this field.
• The Selected benefits option allows you to choose which benefits will be mapped to this field. If selecting more than one benefit, all benefits within this selection to which the member is eligible will be summed (or otherwise treated in accordance with the In the case of multiple output values, return the selection at the bottom of the dialog box) and mapped to this field. Click the Select… button and place a check in the box associated with each of the desired Benefit Definitions from the list of all entries in the Benefits Definitions Library. When the output is processed, all benefits for which the member is not eligible will be ignored.
• The Contingency option allows you to choose the applicable Benefit Definitions based on the contingency under which they are payable. Select Retirement/Termination to choose all Benefit Definitions for which the Contingency initiation benefits is either Retirement or Termination. Select Disability to choose all Benefit Definitions payable if the member decrements due to disability. Select Death to choose all Benefit Definitions payable if the member decrements due to death while in active service.

The Select results by section indicates how (or at which point) the benefits are selected. Selecting Decrement Date or Commencement Date provides benefit amounts at that date or dates and grays out the rest of the parameters in this section of the dialog box. Selecting Payment Form allows you to select which payment forms you want on the output:

• Select Normal Form if you only want the normal form benefit. Any other payment forms will not be mapped.
• Select All payment forms if you want all of the payment forms for the selected Benefit Definitions.
• The Selected payment forms option allows you to choose one or more Payment forms to be mapped back. Click the Select… button and place a check in the box associated with each of the desired Payment Forms from the list of all entries in the Payment Forms Library available for the Benefit(s) selected directly or by contingency.

The Return primary values only check box, applicable only to payment form output, indicates that only the values associated with the primary annuitant will be returned regardless of the payment type.

The Return monthly values for non-lump sum benefits check box, applicable only to payment form output, indicates that monthly annuity amounts, rather than annual, should be returned.

Some additional payment form detail (e.g., payment form type code, beneficiary percentage, normal form indicator and conversion factor) can be optionally written to XML for Desktop (XML) or Server application types. (See Key Fields in the XML Output Linkage.) For Desktop (Access), these payment form details are not optional and will always be written to the Access database if they apply to the payment forms being processed.

2. When Benefit Formula Component: output is selected, choose the desired component from the multi-choice field list that includes all currently defined Benefit Formula Components.


3. When Accrual Basis Component: output is selected, choose the desired component from the multi-choice field list that includes all currently defined Accrual Basis Components.

If Benefit Formula Component, Accrual Basis Component or Benefit Definition by decrement date output is chosen, the Return salaries reflected in the highest final average check box becomes unghosted. Checking this box will generate output of the salaries used in each of the final average salary operators (either #FAS or a #FAS type custom operator) referenced by the selected item. The default treatment is to return only the salaries in the highest final average but you can alternatively check the box to Return all considered salaries. If the Application Type is Desktop (Access), ProAdmin will create a table, if it does not exist, in the Access database to which you are writing. The Access table is called High_Final_Averae_Salary_detail and will contain the requested salary information. If the Application Type is either Desktop (XML) or Server, the salary information will be added to the output XML within the decrement level container and will appear in this fashion:

< FASDETAIL > 

< OPER > 

< NAME > 5 #FAS 10 < /NAME > 
< RESULT > 70825.04 < /RESULT > 
< SALS > 

< DATE > 2003-01-31 < /DATE > 
< SAL > 1000 < /SAL > 
< LTDSAL > 1000 < /LTDSAL > 

< /SALS > 
< SALS > 

< DATE > 2003-02-28 < /DATE > 
< SAL > 1000 < /SAL > 
< LTDSAL > 1000 < /LTDSAL > 

< /SALS > 
...

< /OPER > 

< /FASDETAIL > 

The container that stores the salary information has a specific XML structure which is detailed in the technical reference article "Reserved XML Elements".   

If Benefit Definition by decrement date or cash balance, career average, final average, or late retirement Benefit Formula Component output is chosen, the Return benefit formula component details checkbox becomes available. Check this box to return the periodic details in the development of cash balance, career average, final average and/or late retirement formulas. (An error message will be provided if the selected entity does not contain any appropriate components.)  Details for a career average or final average formula will contain information such as accrual rate, accrual basis, accrual, and member’s age and service on a plan year-end basis. Details for a cash balance formula will include all of this same information plus interest rates, interest amounts and balances on a periodic basis determined by the plan year and interest crediting frequency. Details displayed for a late retirement formula depend on whether the calculation is performed at commencement age or annually, but they always include member age, accrued benefit, interest rate, immediate annuity factor at NRD, annuity factor deferred from NRD and cumulative late retirement factor.  If the late retirement calculation is performed annually, change in accrued benefit and incremental late retirement factor are also included.  If the Application Type is Desktop (Access), ProAdmin will create a table, if it does not exist, in the Access database to which you are writing called BFC_detail, and it will contain the requested information. If the Application Type is either Desktop (XML) or Server, the benefit formula component detail will be added to the output XML within the decrement level container.  Benefit formula details require a specific XML structure which is detailed in the technical reference article "Reserved XML Elements".

In the case of multiple output values, return the is a multi-choice field that allows you to specify what should happen if more than one value is selected for the same XML output field. Choose to sum, take the largest value, or take the smallest value. This option is not available if the Application Type is Desktop (Access). Note that you must select the same action (sum, largest or smallest) for all values being written to the same XML output field.