While not required, the Future Service topics of the projection assumptions allow finer control over service projections for estimated benefit calculations. There are two main service calculation methods within ProAdmin, and each of these methods has its own topic in the Projection Assumptions for defining future accruals.

Elapsed Time

The Elapsed Time topic allows you to refine the projection of future service accruals for Service Definitions that calculate service based on elapsed time and using an array field multiplier as a Service Multiplier.  The choices are to use the Last know multiplier or specify an Alternative multiplier. The Last know multiplier refers to the service multiplier specified in each elapsed time-type Service Definition. If an Alternative multiplier is desired, you may specify either a Constant amount ​or Plan Constant, such as 1 for full-time service or 0.75 for three-quarter part time; or you may choose a numeric Field from the Data Dictionary that specifies a variable future service assumption for each member. If the referenced field is a date dependent array, the multiplier(s) will be referenced in accordance with their date range, with the last specified multiplier used for the balance of the projection.

Hours and Service Units

The Hours and Service Units topic allows you to project future service accruals for Service Definitions that calculate service based on reported hours or reported service units. The Projected hours/service units based on: section allows you to choose between using last reported hours/service units, elapsed time, and an assumed accrual. Regardless of your selection, the Last reported hours/service units determined based on: parameter at the bottom of the dialog box is pertinent; it is used for the first partial year for all selections, and the entire projection in the case of last reported hours/service units. 

Last reported hours/service units projects hours/service units based on the total number of annual hours/service units earned recently, where the Last reported hours/service units determined based on: parameter at the bottom of the dialog box clarifies this selection. For example, if you choose Last reported hours/service units determined based on: Fully reported year, the plan year (or calendar year or anniversary year, as appropriate for the Service Definition) containing the last reported value and the immediately preceding year are examined to determine if they are fully reported. If the most recent year is a fully reported year, then the projection begins in the next year. If the previous year is the fully reported year, then the projection begins in the current year at the first date after the last reported hours/service unit. If neither year is fully reported, then the year containing the last reported value is grossed up to a full year. When the measurement period is more frequent than annual, a measurement period value is calculated by dividing the annual value by the typical number of measurement periods in a year: 4 for quarterly, 12 for monthly, 24 for semi-monthly, 26 for biweekly, and 52 for weekly. Then, service at any date in the measurement period is equal to: measurement period value * (1 + date - beginning of measurement period)/days in the measurement period.

Note that if the last reported hours or service is zero (e.g., 1/1/2019 3/17/2019 0), then no hours projection occurs.

Elapsed time projects hours/service units based on elapsed time beginning with the year after the year containing the last reported hours/service unit. The year containing the last reported value is always grossed-up to a full year based on the Last reported hours/service units determined based on: parameter at the bottom of the dialog box. When using elapsed time, you specify a Multiplier for each plan year:

• Constant uses the specified amount, ​or Plan Constant, for each future year. A value 1 indicates that one year of service will be earned in each future year, with proportionately less earned for partial years.  Specify 0 for no future service accruals or a fraction between 0 and 1 for a constant part-time assumption. 

• Field requires specification of a numeric field from the Data Dictionary, allowing you to reflect a part-time fraction that varies by member, where a value of 1 indicates full-time, a value of 0 indicates no future service, and any fraction in between signifies part-time accruals. If the referenced field is a date dependent array, the fraction(s) will be referenced in accordance with their date range, with the last specified fraction used for the balance of the projection.

• Use service earned in last measurement period maintains the most recent part-time (or 0-service) accruals of each member.

When the measurement period is more frequent than annual, a measurement period value is calculated by dividing the annual value by the typical number of measurement periods in a year: 4 for quarterly, 12 for monthly, 24 for semi-monthly, 26 for biweekly, and 52 for weekly. Then, service at any date in the measurement period is equal to: measurement period value * (1 + date - beginning of measurement period)/days in the measurement period. However, if you check the Service accrues on an all or nothing basis, so if [at least] years elapse in a year, 1 year is granted, otherwise 0 box, the calculated elapsed time service (after the year containing the  last reported value) is compared to the amount in the [at least] box and if the elapsed time service is greater than or equal to that amount, then the member will be credited with 1 year of service for the year, otherwise 0.

An assumed annual accrual uses the specified accruals to project hours and service units beginning with the year after the year containing the last reported hours/service unit. The year containing the last reported value is always grossed-up to a full year based on the Last reported hours/service units determined based on: parameter at the bottom of the dialog box. Note that these parameters are only used when the hours field or the service unit field is a start/stop array (specified in the Service Definition). If you use an effective date array, then the values in the array are assumed to be rates and the last specified rate is used for projection (i.e., the assumed accrual parameters are ignored).

 

The annual accrual assumptions for Hours and Service are separately specified. In both cases the assumption can be either a Constant rate, Plan Constant, or a Field from the data. If you want to use a Constant rate, select the radio button and enter the constant rate ​or Plan Constant in the box. If you want to reference a Field that contains the assumed hours or service units, select the Field radio button. This will activate the multi-choice field that will allow you to select the field from the scalar numeric fields in the Data Dictionary. 

 

When the measurement period is more frequent than annual, a measurement period value is calculated by dividing the annual value by the typical number of measurement periods in a year: 4 for quarterly, 12 for monthly, 24 for semi-monthly, 26 for biweekly, and 52 for weekly. Then, service at any date in the measurement period is equal to: measurement period value * (1 + date - beginning of measurement period)/days in the measurement period.

The Last reported hours/service units determined based on: parameter at the bottom of the dialog box defines service for the first partial year in the case of Elapsed time or An assumed annual accrual projections, or all years in the case of a Last reported hours/service unit projection. The last reported hours/service units can be based on either the most recent Fully reported year (if the current or prior year was fully reported), or Reported values grossed-up to a full year. 

The criteria to determine whether a year is fully reported varies based on whether the underlying reported values are reported on a weekly or biweekly basis or on a less frequent basis.  If the underlying reported values are reported on an annual, quarterly, monthly or other basis that is not weekly or biweekly, the start and stop date of each value reported in the year (i.e., each value for which the stop date is within the plan, calendar or anniversary year as appropriate for the Service Definition) is examined, and these criteria are used to determine a fully reported year:

• Is the earliest start date less than or equal to beginning of the year (BOY)?
• Is the latest stop date equal to the end of year (EOY)?
• Are all the days in the year ([BOY,EOY]) contained in the union of all the reported start & stop dates?

When the underlying reported values are reported on a weekly or biweekly basis, these criteria are used to determine a fully reported year:

• Are the last 2 reported values reported on a weekly or biweekly basis? (I.e., is 1+stopdate-startdate of the last 2 values both equal to 7 or both equal to 14?) If not, does the last reported value cover less than a week/biweek and are the next 2 previous reported values reported on a weekly or biweekly basis? 
• Are the stop dates of the weekly/biweekly reported values on the same weekly/biweekly reporting basis? (I.e., when you subtract the stop dates, is the difference an integer multiple of 7 or 14?)
• Using the weekly/biweekly reporting pattern, is the stop date of the last reported value equal to the last end of week/biweek date in the year?
• Is the start date of the earliest reported value less than or equal to the beginning of the year (BOY)?
• Are all the days in [BOY, last end of week/biweek in year] contained in the union of all the reported start and stop dates?

If the weekly or biweekly reported values cover more than 364 days (=14 *26 or 7*52), or if the year is not fully reported, then the sum of all the values reported in the year (i.e., values whose stop date is in [BOY,EOY]), is grossed down/up by dividing the number of end of biweeks (26/27) or weeks (52/53) in the year by (days covered by the union of all start/stop dates divided by14 or 7). 

If you choose Reported values grossed-up to a full year (or when you choose Fully reported year and neither of the two most recent years are fully reported years), the start and stop date of each value reported in the year (i.e., the stop date is in the year, [BOY,EOY]) is examined to determine how many days are covered by the union of all the start and stop dates. The sum of the values reported in the most recent year are then grossed up (or down) to a full annual value: sum of the reported values * number of days in year / number of days covered. 

For example, suppose there were 2 values reported for 2015: 700 hours for [2/1/2015,6/30/2015] and 750 for [7/1/2015,11/30/2015]. There are 365 days in 2015, but only 303 days were covered (150+153 days), so the 1450 hours would be grossed up to 1746.69967 hours (=1450 * 365 / 303).

When the measurement period is more frequent than annual, a measurement period value is calculated by dividing the annual value by the typical number of measurement periods in a year: 4 for quarterly, 12 for monthly, 24 for semi-monthly, 26 for biweekly, and 52 for weekly. Then, service at any date in the measurement period is equal to: measurement period value * (1 + date - beginning of measurement period)/days in the measurement period.