Table Interface
Benefit Component Tables, Mortality Tables and Conversion Tables are entered in spreadsheets that contain only values, not formulas. These values may depend on age, service/duration, sex, or any combination of the three. For example, in a Cash Balance Benefit Credit table the percentage may depend on both age and service; an Early Retirement Table may only depend on age, while a Conversion Table could depend on a member age and a beneficiary age.
The table values are looked up based on the calculation age and/or service as defined where the table is referenced. For example, a table-type Benefit Formula Component allows you to specify the Service Definition Set that defines service, and includes Age/Interpolation parameters to specify the age and whether or not table values should be interpolated. Table values are looked up as follows:
In an age-based table, a value of zero will be returned for ages younger than the first age found in the table (preset at 15, the youngest age ProAdmin can handle, for a new table). Table lookups for ages older than the last age (preset at 120 for a new table) will return the value for the last age.
In a service-based or duration-based table, the first row represents zero years of service/duration. Table lookups for service/duration greater than the highest number of years found in the table will return the value for that highest number.
In an age by year of birth table, ages are in rows and years of birth are in columns. Years of birth earlier than the first year specified in the table will return values from the first year column in the table, and table lookups for years after the last year will return values from the last year column.
In an age by service or age by duration table, ages are in rows and years of service/duration are in columns. The select period of a select and ultimate table is one year less than the number of columns. For example, if you create a new age by service table with a 3-year select period, the table will have four columns, representing “0”, “1”, “2” and “3 or more” years of service.
In an age by beneficiary age table, member ages are in rows and beneficiary ages are in columns. Ages earlier than the first age specified in the table will return values from the first age column in the table, and table lookups for ages after the last age will return values from the last age column.
In an age difference table, the age difference is generally defined as the member age minus the beneficiary age with the Payment Form Age & Rounding Assumptions providing parameters for further refinement of this calculation. For these tables, a value of zero will be returned for age differences less than the first age difference found in the table (preset at -20 for a new table). Table lookups for age differences greater than the last age difference (preset at 20 for a new table) will return the value for the last age difference.
In an age by points age table, member ages are in rows and points age is in columns. Points age is the age when the member is assumed (based on both age and service increasing by 1 year each year) to reach the points value specified under the Age/Interpolation parameters of a table-type Benefit Component. Points ages earlier than the first points age specified in the table will return values from the first points age column in the table, and table lookups for points ages after the last points age will return values from the last points age column.
In an age by months table, member age last birthday is in rows and age months is in the columns. The Age/Interpolation parameters of the benefit formula component or payment form referencing the table will define how months are determined for entering the table.
For age and age by beneficiary age tables, check the Calculate factors box at the bottom of the dialog to generate table values based on the selected calculation type and the associated Parameters. The types of calculated factors that can be generated are:
Mortality rate tables have parameters (that do not pertain to other decrement rate tables) for specifying projection of mortality improvement in the future. See Mortality Rates for more information about those parameters.
If a table has values that vary by age, service/duration or years, and sex, then only one of the two spreadsheets (male or female values) can be viewed at a time. The Rates for drop-down list therefore appears on the top right and allows you to toggle between the male and female values. (If you are creating a new table, initially the spreadsheet will contain only a “Unisex” column: click Options, point to Table Type and select “Sex Distinct” to generate “Male” and “Female” columns.)
The Options button provides access to commands that allow you to alter the table dimensions and their characteristics or to populate the table with values.
The Table Type command allows you to make two decisions about the structure of the table:
The first is to select an Age Table, a Service Table, an Age by Service Table , an Age by Duration from Decrement Table, an Age by Beneficiary Age Table, an Age by Points Age Table, an Age Difference Table and an Age by Month Table. There are two additional table type options for mortality rate reference tables: an Age by Year of Birth Table and an Age by Pre/post-commencement Table. For mortality improvement scales, the only options available are for the Age and the Age by Year of Improvement table. See Mortality Rates for more information, particularly about the table options and parameters available only for mortality rate Reference Tables.
The second is to select a Unisex table (same rates for males and females) or a Sex-distinct table (separate sets of rates for males and females).
Checkmarks appear next to the current selections.
If you reduce the number of dimensions of the table (e.g., you change the table type from age by service to age), ProAdmin will ask an additional question:
If you eliminate the age dimension, ProAdmin needs to know which age row of the table to retain for all years of service/duration.
If you eliminate the service/duration dimension, ProAdmin needs to know which year of service/duration column to retain for all ages.
Similarly, if you eliminate the year of birth or year of improvement dimension, ProAdmin needs to know which year column to retain for all ages.
If you eliminate the differentiation between pre-commencement and post-commencement mortality, ProAdmin needs to know whether to retain the Pre-Commencement or the Post-Commencement column for all ages.
If you switch from sex-distinct to unisex values, ProAdmin needs to know how to weight, or blend (linearly), the sex-distinct values to determine the unisex ones. (Note: if you switch to unisex values in a Benefit Component Table containing annuity values, ProAdmin blends the annuity values, not the underlying mortality rates.)
The Row & Column Limits command allows you to set the youngest and oldest ages, the maximum service/duration of a service-based or duration-based table, the select period of an age by service/duration table and the earliest and latest years of an age by year of birth or age by year of improvement table (mortality and improvement scale tables only). Note that "Select Period" in an Age by Service Table means the maximum number of years of service permitted. Set these limits to encompass the spans of age, service/duration and/or years that your table requires. If you increase the size of your table, remember to scan for missing values before saving it. Blanks will not be permitted at execution and will abort the calculation. If you reduce the size to remove a section of the table that contains values, ProAdmin will warn you that data in the rows and/or columns to be eliminated will be lost.
Because ProAdmin will reject tables with blanks, when entering values in the table, you must either fill the table with the appropriate defaults or trim the table to exclude all missing values. Right-clicking your mouse while in the spreadsheet will invoke a list of miscellaneous commands: edit, clear contents, duplicate cell down, copy, and paste.
The Interpolate command can be executed by either of two methods: linear or geometric interpolation of values. When you select one of the two methods, ProAdmin examines each column of your spreadsheet independently and fills in all embedded missing values. In other words, ProAdmin interpolates vertically, not horizontally. Thus, in an age by service table, values at intermediate ages, not intermediate years of service, are obtained (for each service column) by interpolation. Similarly, if there are imbedded missing values for both base rates and improvement rates in a mortality table, ProAdmin will interpolate, independently, both the Base Rates and Projection Scale columns.
The Adjust Values command allows three ways to adjust table values. You can multiply all table values by a constant, add a constant to all values, or take reciprocal of each value (zero values are unchanged). If your table is sex-distinct, then the constants to use for adjustment may vary by sex.
To use the Perform Set Back command on a table with an age dimension, enter the number of years by which a value from the revised table should lag a value from the original table. For example, applying a setback (entered as a positive number) of 3 years will cause the resultant age 40 value to be the original age 37 value. Set backs may be positive or negative (ages “set forward”); if your table is sex-distinct, then the set backs may vary by sex. Because this command is not applicable to tables with a service/duration dimension, if you wish to convert an age-based table to one of these other types (e.g., to create an age by service or age by duration table), set ages back before you add a service/duration/year of birth dimension. Note that for mortality rate tables, age set backs are performed instead by use of the Link mortality base rates parameter; see Mortality Rates for more information.
The Format Values command allows you to type a number for ProAdmin to use as a template for determining how to display (with respect to number of decimals, and presence of commas and dollar signs) table values. This entry will not affect the accuracy with which values are stored or calculated.
The Min/Max Allowed Values command sets the smallest and largest values that will be allowed in the table. You will be prevented from typing in new values outside the range, and you will not be allowed to adjust the table in a manner that would cause values to fall outside the range. Despite these constraints, ProAdmin will be permitted to produce values outside the range when taking reciprocals, calculating annuity factors or creating a unisex table from a sex-distinct table. If you set the minimum or maximum values such that existing table entries fall outside your range, ProAdmin will offer to adjust the table entries for you. (Note: the pre-set option for the minimum allowed value is zero; therefore, you must change this parameter to enter negative values.) Also note that this option is disallowed for mortality improvement scales, which have minimum and maximum values based on table type; see Mortality Improvement Scales for more information.
Finally, the Export and Import table commands allow you to export table values to a text file, or import values from a text file or file of another software application. To use this command, click Export or Import, indicate the location and name of the file to save values in or from which to take values, and save (to export) or open (to import) the file. Although table values may be imported from a text file or a csv file (with a fixed width or comma-delimited record format), the preferred method of entering values is to paste directly from the other software application or, for tables with only a few entries, to type in the values.