The ProAdmin system allows you considerable flexibility when setting up the Data Dictionary. You establish the fields that you wish to use, name them whatever you want, and setup the codes and labels for coded fields as appropriate for the circumstances. This flexibility means that vital information will carry names and definitions that are meaningful to you and may not be the same from Data Dictionary to Data Dictionary. For example, as part of the calculation process the system needs to determine the age of the member at the decrement date. To perform this calculation two pieces of information are required, decrement date and date of birth. However with the flexibility in the setup of the Data Dictionary one user can setup the date of birth field and name it “DOB” while another can setup a date of birth field and name it “Birthdate.”

The Census Specifications tell ProAdmin where to find and how to interpret fundamental information from the Data Dictionary that you setup. In our example of the member age calculation, the field for member date of birth: the Census Specifications matched with the first Data Dictionary would refer to a field called “DOB”, and the Census Specifications matched with the second Data Dictionary would refer to “Birthdate.”

To add a Census Specification, click the New button; or, to edit an existing one, click on the entry. Either action will bring up the Census Specifications window.

Name may be any descriptive phrase, including spaces, under which to save this Census Specification.

Select a topic to edit contains entries for each category of information found in a census specification. Pick a topic by clicking on its name to call up that topic’s pop-up dialog box. The topics are Member Data, Beneficiary Data, Error/Warning Messages, and Data Defaults.