The Benefit Calculator is a special form (or mode) of ProAdmin. Once ProAdmin has been booted-up and is ready for pension plan administrators to take over and perform the plan’s day to day administration tasks, it can be set to this calculator mode which makes it possible to “hide” all the parameters used to boot up plans. This allows plan administrators to run calculations and generate forms and letters to members of different pension plans without the risk of inadvertently changing the plan coding. To put ProAdmin into the calculator mode, the ProAdmin.ini file must have the line: calconly=yes under the [Config] section. Once in Calculator mode, three menu items are displayed: File, Execute and Help.

File has the following four subcommands:

Open Client, or clicking on the task bar item, allows you to open an existing ProAdmin client. To open a client, you can type in a directory, click the Browse… button, or simply click the name of a previously opened client that is displayed in the list of previously opened clients. You can sort this list of clients by name or by the dates last opened by clicking the radio button above the list. The list of previously opened clients is saved per user; it is not shared with others. Note that clicking the omit button on a previously opened client will remove it from the list but does not actually delete the underlying files.

Close closes the current client. You might use this command if someone else wants to use the client you currently have open. When you use this command, ProAdmin may ask if you would like to Pack Files. Clicking ‘yes’ compresses unused space from ProAdmin system files, making them as compact as possible. Packed files are still accessible to ProAdmin; they simply take up less disk space. This command should be used before archiving or whenever you want to free up extra disk space.

Explore Client Folder,  or clicking on the  task bar item, allows you to open the current client’s folder. This is a handy way to browse files you’ve saved from ProAdmin to Excel, Access, etc. The folder opens using the program associated with folders, typically Windows Explorer. The current client’s folder is specified in the Saved in directory of the Client Properties dialog.

System Maintenance has three sub-subcommands:

Analyze Files allows you to check your client’s library files for structural problems. If you experience problems accessing a file, a ProAdmin support person from Winklevoss Technologies may direct you to analyze your files as part of diagnosing the problem.

View System Errors allows you to view or print the error messages caused by internal errors. When ProAdmin encounters such an error, a message is recorded in a file and ProAdmin restarts itself. The View System Errors command accesses these messages. The message generated by the most recent error will be displayed when you enter the dialog box. You may view other errors by clicking on the Previous Error and the Next Error buttons. If you call Winklevoss Technologies with an error report, we may ask you to send us the entry from this log. Use the Print button to produce hard copy.

Synchronize Clock corrects the problem that causes ProAdmin to complain that your system clock is set incorrectly. You must contact Winklevoss Technologies to obtain a security code to use this command. Before using this command, please make sure that your clock is set correctly!

Exit closes ProAdmin.

Execute has three subcommands:

Calculator, or clicking the task bar item, opens the Benefit Calculator.

Fulfillment Tool, or clicking the task bar item, allows you to generate forms and letters for members whose calculation(s) have been run. See Fulfillment Tool for a more complete description.

Batch, or clicking the  task bar item, allows you to generate Batch Estimate calculations. 

Help has two subcommands:

Help Topics, or clicking the task bar item, allows you to read all of the help that’s been written for ProAdmin.

About ProAdmin shows the version number and update date. Clicking the System Info…button shows the important system settings that ProAdmin is using. This information is often important for analyzing problems. SuperUsers have the option to click the Edit INI File... button to review or update ProAdmin INI Settings.