PlanConnect Setup

  1. Login to https://planconnect.capitalsg.com and select “Database Wizard”
    1. Use Company Information Form provided by company and/or data derived from prior Form 5500 filings to obtain as much information about the new client as possible.
    2. In some cases, the client may complete the online Company Information Form.  
      1. In that case, after committing their data to the database, walk through these steps to provide any additional information necessary
      2. Changes will include updates to the Planid, Start Dates, Plan Contacts, Service Providers and Service Agreements
  2. Enter New Contacts:  Wizard/People
    1. Do not duplicate existing contacts!
      1. Be sure to not duplicate names – an advisor, for instance, may already be in our system.
      2. Always search for a name before adding it.  If the name exists, you then also have to make sure it’s the same person (not just the same name) as what’s already in PlanConnect.  Review what companies the existing name is already associated with.
      3. Be careful as some names may not be unique in database (i.e. Mary Brown) – enter a 2nd Mary Brown (if the existing Mary Brown is not the same Mary Brown you need to add) and then be sure to select the correct Mary Brown in steps below
    2. Enter names of all contacts that you know for the plan
      1. Company contacts
      2. New advisor contacts
      3. New payroll contacts
      4. New TPA contacts
    3. Enter Data:
      1. Click “Full Name” and enter person’s first and last name (required) and any other optional data you know
      2. Enter the person’s email address:  Type email into box next to “Primary Email”
        1. Email addresses are VERY important for our adopter contacts; enter as possible
      3. Enter work addresses and phone numbers ONLY if they differ from the company’s address and primary phone number. We will use the “Same As” feature on a company screen below if they are the same.

  1. Setup Company and Related Information:   Wizard/Company
    1. Company Info Tab: Enter all required fields and as many other fields as possible
      1. Do not duplicate existing companies!
        1. Be sure to not duplicate company names – an advisor’s company, for instance, may already be in our system.  We also find that companies who adopt our PEO’s might show up under a different PEO at a later time!
        2. Always search for a company name before adding it.  If the name exists, you then also have to make sure it’s the same company (not just the same name) as what’s already in PlanConnect.  Review what plans/people the existing company name is already associated with.
        3. Be careful as some names may not be unique in database (i.e. Matrix) – enter a 2nd Matrix (if the existing Matrix is not the same Matrix you need to add) and then be sure to select the correct Matrix in steps below
      2. Legal Name versus Company Name:  The legal name should be the legal name of the company whereas the company name may often be the DBA (Doing Business As name).  
        1. Full legal name for a company might be Stephen Brothers Holding Company, LLC dba Firehouse Subs
        2. Company Name would be simply Firehouse Subs
      3. Business Type:   designate the type of corporate entity or non-profit
      4. FEIN or EIN:   Indicate the company’s tax ID number
      5. Relius Employer ID (Optional):  This is the employer number that is given to a company when you set up the employer in Relius.  If the employer is in Relius, enter the Relius Employer ID in PlanConnect.
      6. PEO Client ID:   This is the PEO’s id for the adopter in their system.  It will match the payroll cross reference.  This is left blank if the client is not adopting a PEO plan
      7. In ASG Control Group:  Check yes if there are other companies that share common enough ownership to be considered a controlled group.  In most cases, if this is true, multiple companies will be included on the adoption agreement.
      8. Company a PEO:   Check yes only if the company is the actual PEO

 

  1. Add company addresses by clicking “Primary Address”
    1. Enter primary address and shipping address if available
    2. Use “same as” for shipping address where appropriate
    3. If the company has multiple locations, enter as much information as you know using the comments field to identify the differences between addresses.

  1. Enter company phone numbers by clicking  “Primary Phone”
    1. Enter as many phone numbers as you know
    2. Enter time zone as possible

  1. Payroll Schedules:  Add payroll schedules for the company
    1. Add as many payroll schedules that apply.  
    2. Provide a description if applicable (i.e. Hourly versus Salaried, Atlanta Location, etc)

 

  1. Company Contacts:  Associate company contacts with the Company
    1. Company Roles:
      1. On this screen, you link people to the company they work for and specify the role they plan
      2. If the person is an officer of the company, assign their role as “Executive”.  If they are the lead executive (or the only executive identified), assign them as the Primary Executive
      3. If the person is not an officer of the company, but are identified as a company contact for 401k purposes, assign their role as “Human Resources/Benefits”.  If they are the lead contact or the only contact identified, assign them as the Human Resources Primary.
      4. Client contacts are always Executives or HR/Benefits.
      5. NEVER assign a person more than one role
      6. Note that if the company you are setting up is not a client but is instead a service provider (advisor, TPA, Custodian), the applicable roles are Executive if the contact is a company owner or officer or Employee if they are a staff member for the company.
    2. Deliverables
      1. On this page, we can also establish which contacts should receive different types of company information.  
      2. In most instances, we should default everyone to receive everything if they are HR or EX.   They can be unchecked if the person specifically requests to be excluded from that deliverable. It is very important that the contribution change, distribution, and payroll things don’t get checked on the company level EXCEPT if the company is an adopter of an Association type MEP where this is the way that they will get notifications since they won’t be contacts at plan level.  But other than these 3 items, we should default to checking if we don’t get a contact/web auth form (see bluestar hub under Client Information).

  1. Owners & Officers:  Add Owners and Officers from Company Information Form
    1. Ownership should add to 100% (unless a Non-Profit)

  1. Relatives of Owners:  Add Owner Relatives from Company Information Form
    1. Refer to the CIF and add any Relative Owners

  1. HCEs:  Add HCEs from the Company Information Form
    1. Refer to CIF and add any HCEs based on compensation for prior year

 

  1. Controlled/Affiliated Groups:  Add any related companies
    1. Note that we are adding any companies identified by the client as related in some fashion from the Company Information Form
    2. Consult with a plan administrator if you are unable to make a controlled group determination.
    3. Use the relationship field to provide additional information (i.e. sister company, parent/sub)

  1. Plan Adoptions:   Associate the Company with the Plan
    1. If the company is adopting an existing plan (i.e. an adopter of a multiple employer plan), the Plan will already exist in the system and you can associate the company with the plan as shown below. If the company is adopting into a new Plan that is not yet in our system, skip this step and proceed with setting up the plan as shown in Step 4.
    2. To associate company to a plan, click “Add New Item” and complete all fields on the “Company Adoption Plan Info” tab
      1. Initial Adoption Date:  Enter the date that the company will be adopting the plan as evidenced on the adoption agreement or plan document.
      2. Administrator:   Leave blank – this is assigned on the plan contacts page
      3. Enrollment Book Name:  This should be the same as the Company Name
      4. Relius PlanID:   This must match EXACTLY with the planid in Relius
      5. Plan Password:   This must match EXACTLY with the plan password in Relius web specs
      6. MEP Sponsor Plan ID:  Enter the planid for the corporate sponsor of the MEP (i.e. ASK009999).  Leave blank if this is not a MEP adopter
      7. Fund List Planid:  This should equal the MEP sponsor ID if the adopter is part of a MEP or the Relius PlanID if they are an individual plan
      8. Relius Employer ID:  This equals the employer id provided when you setup the company in Relius
      9. “Create Record”

Special Note:  When you create the Adoption record for this Company/Plan association, the system pulls template plan specs for the plan specified.  You will need to go in and edit the Plan Specs (see Plan Specs procedures) but the basic specs are established when you create the adoption record.

  1. “Related Companies with Adoption Plan” tab
    1. This tab allows you to identify other companies that have adopted the plan in addition to the primary company.  
      1. It is very important that you complete this information so that we have a full record of all companies that are part of the adoption agreement
      2. All companies listed on the Controlled/Affilated Groups page are listed on this page
      3. Click “edit” next to any company that has adopted the plan and then check “Is Adopted” checkbox.  
      4. Start Date = Date company adopted the plan
      5. Click insert check mark to modify the record.

  1. Company Fees:   Verify Company Fees
    1. Skip this step if you have not yet associated the company to the plan
    2. Once you associate the company to the plan, the fees associated with the plan, will pre-populate on this page.  You need only review these fees to ensure that they system worked properly.  
    3. If the company has custom fees that differ from the default fees for the plan, you will need to enter those custom fees to Plan’s service agreements and then add the company to those custom fees (see Service Providers and Fee Schedules).

  1. Setup New Plan:  Wizard/Plan
    1. If this is a new plan coming on to our system, you will also need to create the plan and all related information.
    2. Plan Info:   Enter base plan information
      1. Plan Name:   This name needs to match exactly the plan name on the plan document and prior Form 5500s.  If this is a brand new plan, select a plan name in consultation with the client.  Examples include:  ABC Company Retirement Savings Plan or ABC Company 401(k) Retirement Plan.
      2. Plan EIN:   This should match the EIN for the primary company adopting the plan.  Refer to prior Form 5500s to verify proper EIN if existing plan and confirm EIN on their prior plan document.  If their prior plan was a MEP, use the EIN from the company information form.
      3. 3 Digit Plan #:   This must match the plan number on prior Form 5500s if the plan already exists (confirm plan number on their prior plan document).  If it is a new plan or their prior plan was a MEP and you have verified that the company has not sponsored a plan previously, plan number should be 001.
      4. Relius PEO Prefix:  The 5 character prefix used for Relius planids for MEPs (i.e. AStaf).  It is important these first 5 characters are not currently used in any existing planid in Relius and they must be “unique” enough that there won’t be a chance they could accidently be used for any future plan that is not part of the MEP.  It’s best to solicit options from others (Suzanne, Patty, etc) before assigning this yourself.  If this is not a MEP, leave blank.
      5. Year End Month and Day:  Specify plan year end.  In most cases, it is the calendar year (12/31), but some plans run on a fiscal year or other basis.
      6. Plan Type:   Specify the type of plan (401k, 403b, etc)
      7. Entity Type:   Specify if the plan is a multiple employer plan, “Open MEP”, or individual plan.
        1. IMPORTANT for Schwab and Matrix (until Relius fixes their dividend import utilities)…Any plan that will have multiple adoptions in Relius MUST have an Entity Type code that starts with “M”.  This will allow automated processing that’s in place for our custodian downloads to appropriately split out those dividends for manual processing.
      8. Document Type:   Specify the type of plan document (Corbel PPA, Outside, Hamlin)
      9. Valuation Frequency:  Daily
      10. Plan Qualified:  Yes
      11. Status:  Active

  1. Plan Investment Policy:  Enter general information about the plan’s investment policies
    1. Start and End Dates
      1. The IPS (Investment Policy Statement) works similarly to plan specs where you can have an initial IPS commensurate with the start of our services and then “amend” the IPS if changes occur.
      2. On the initial setup, enter the start date equal to the start date of BlueStar services.
    2. Available Assets:  Check Yes or No for each type of asset in the plan
      1. SDAs:   Plan allows participants to open self directed brokerage accounts
      2. Outside Assets:   Plan holds assets outside of custody assets (i.e. limited partnerships, private holdings)
      3. Insurance Policies:  Plan holds insurance policies as part of the assets of the plan
      4. Company Stock Allowed:  Plan includes company stock as one of the tradable assets of the plan
      5. ETFs in the Plan:  Plan trades ETFs (early trading deadline).  This one is very important to set properly because it’s displayed on various task/tracking pages that guides trading priories because ETF’s have to be traded by 3:00
      6. Intend to comply with 404c:  Yes – it would be VERY unusual for a plan to specify that they did not intend to comply with 404c.

  1. Default Investment Policies
    1. Default Investment Type:  specify the type of default investment.  Every plan will have some type of default investment
    2. QDIA Suite Description
      1. If the plan’s default investment is not a QDIA, specify “No QDIA”
        1. The default investment is a QDIA if it meets the QDIA criteria – must be mix of stocks and bonds and be appropriate asset allocation for the typical investor for that company.  Money market or stable value funds do NOT meet the QDIA criteria but a balanced fund or portfolio could.
      2. Otherwise, specify the type of QDIA
        1. Target Date Funds
        2. Model Portfolios
        3. Investment Management Service – i.e. Morningstar, Unified Plan
        4. Single Fund
    3. Default Investment Suite:  Provide a suite name
      1. This description was created so that we had a way to describe the suite as a whole rather than fund by fund (ie. Vanguard Retirement 2020 Fund)
      2. If the plan uses a single fund for the QDIA, leave blank
      3. Examples:   
        1. Vanguard Target Retirement Date
        2. Savant Model Portfolios
        3. Note – in some instances, the advisor will have a suite of 5 model portfolios but only use a subset for the QDIA.  In that event, be sure to pick the suite name that specifies QDIA (i.e. RPF QDIA Models versus RPF Models)
      4. If the appropriate Default Investment Suite is not listed, it can be added in PC/Wizard/Investments/ Investment Suite Reference Table.  Ask for help if you feel you need to add something to the Investment Suite Reference Table.

  1. Revenue Sharing Policies:  Indicate the plan’s policy for revenue sharing and forfeitures.
    1. Revenue Sharing Returned to the Plan:  Yes – it will be very unusual for the answer to this to be No
    2. Revenue Sharing Usage Policy
      1. Refer to Revenue Sharing an Forfeiture Usage Policy for the Plan
      2. As directed by the plan sponsor:  This implies that the revenue sharing will be held in the plan until the sponsor directs us to use the $ by submitting an expense invoice or other direction.  This is a common practice for PEOs.
      3. Offset Participant Expenses:  Upon receipt of revenue sharing payments, the revenue sharing will be credited back to participants as a fee credit so that their net fee is reduced.
      4. Offset Plan Sponsor Invoice:  Revenue sharing is used to offset BlueStar invoices to the plan sponsor
      5. Allocate as Investment Gain to the Participant:  This implies that the revenue sharing should be credited back as an investment gain to the participants that hold the specific fund that created the revenue sharing payment.  This is administratively difficult and should receive approval by management before being approved for a plan.

  1. Models:   Indicate information about the Plan’s models (if any)
    1. Model Description:  Provide a description of the plan’s models (i.e. Savant Model Portfolios).  The description can be generic – “Model Portfolios”.
    2. Model Rebalance Frequency:  Annually, Semi-Annually, Quarterly, Monthly
    3. Model Rebalance Date:  End or Middle of rebalance period
    4. Unified Plan: Yes/No

 

  1. Service Providers, Plan Services, Plan Roles, Plan Contacts:  
    1. See Service Providers and Fee Schedules Procedures
  2. Plan Services: Enter information to identify who does what for the plan
    1. This section was created so we could better track who does what for a plan and whether there are any additional fees for the service. While additional services can be completed or added, there are several standards that should be completed for all plans.
    2. Category = Payroll
      1. DepRemit (Deposit Remittance):  A deposit remittance is a report that reconciles payroll file amounts with requested wire amount less any forfeiture usage.  These are typically used for PEOs.
        1. Provider = BlueStar (or whichever company prepares the report, typically BlueStar)
        2. Service Available = True
        3. Timing:   Complete if set schedule
        4. Comments:   Any that would be useful
      2. DepTrans (Deposit Transmittal): The deposit transmittal notifies the custodian that a deposit is coming in and how it should be classified (i.e. sources of contributions).  These can be faxed in by plan sponsor or entered online by advisor, sponsor, or BlueStar.  For any plan that allows BlueStar to submit an ACH Pull, there is no need for a Deposit Transmittal because the ACH request itself has the deposit source breakdown.
        1. Provider = whomever will complete deposit transmittal
        2. Service Available = True
        3. Additional Info:
        4. Timing:   complete if set schedule
        5. Comments:   Any that would be useful
      3. Payroll File:   Indicate who transmits the payroll file to BlueStar and how it gets here
        1. Provider:   company that sends file
        2. Service Available = True
        3. Additional Info:   Must Complete
          1. Sponsor Web
          2. DVC Load to Relius (this is Relius’ web application to load payroll data directly into Relius.  This is not a common option.)
          3. Sharefile
          4. FTP
        4. Timing:   Complete if set schedule
        5. Comments:   Any that would be useful
      4. Funding:   Indicate who transmits the $ to BlueStar and how it gets here
        1. Provider:   Company that sends/pulls the $
        2. Service Available:  True
        3. Additional Info:   Must Complete
          1. ACH Pull
          2. ACH Push
          3. Wire
          4. Check
    3. Category = Fulfillment
      1. Plan Notices:   Indicate who is responsible for plan notices and how they are sent
        1. Provider = typically this would be BlueStar
        2. Service Available = True
        3. Additional Info: Must Complete
          1. Mail to Participant
          2. Mail to Sponsor
          3. Mail to PEO
          4. Electronic Only
      2. Enrollment Kits:   Indicate who is responsible for plan notices and how they should be sent
        1. Provider = typically this would be BlueStar
        2. Service Available = True
        3. Additional Info: Must Complete
          1. Mail to Participant
          2. Mail to Sponsor
          3. Mail to PEO
          4. Electronic Only
    4. Category = Enrollment
      1. Onsite Meetings:   Indicate which company if any will provide onsite meetings.  Note that in most new service agreements, BlueStar will provide onsite meetings but there is an additional charge. This is also the opportunity to indicate advisor intentions.  If the advisor always provides the meetings, be sure to specify that here too so that we don’t step on any toes.
        1. Provider:   BlueStar or Advisor
        2. Service Available:  True
        3. Addl Info:   Blank
        4. Timing:   If we are contracted to provide meetings on a set basis, note schedule
        5. Comments:   any info that would be helpful
        6. Addl Fee:   Check box if company will provide the meetings but will charge extra outside of normal services
      2. Webinar:   Indicate which company if any will provide webinars.  BlueStar is always willing to provide webinars for no additional charge but we do not want to indicate that we do if the advisor would not want us to.
        1. Provider:   BlueStar or Advisor
        2. Service Available:  True
        3. Addl Info:   Blank
        4. Timing:   If we are contracted to provide meetings on a set basis, note schedule
        5. Comments:   any info that would be helpful
        6. Addl Fee:   False
    5. Category = Consulting
      1. This is not a standard choice but can be selected for PEOs to indicate who does the adopter consults.  Typcically this would be BlueStar or Fiduciary Partners.

  1. Plan Adoptions:  Associate Plan to the Companies Adopting it
    1. This screen is identical to the Company/Plan Adoptions page. See above for instructions
  2. ACH Setup:  Enter plan’s ACH information for contribution submissions
    1. For most of our new clients, we automatically pull the contribution dollars when the client submits their payroll file.  The accuracy of this data is critical as it provides the data we need in order to pull the money from the correct bank account.  It is best to ask the sponsor for a copy of a voided check to the account(s) from which they are funding contributions.
    2. Start Date:   Enter the plan start date or the date.   Important!  The start date must be prior to the 1st date an ACH pull needs to be done so it’s best to use the effective date of the plan’s start with BlueStar or the currect date, whichever comes first.
    3. Cust Acct No Affiliate:  For TDATC, the first 3 digits of account number (i.e. TB0).  Otherwise, leave blank
    4. Trust Acct:   For TDATC, the remainder of the custodian plan account number for the plan
    5. Trust Description
      1. Not needed for individual plans with only 1 ACH account
      2. For MEP plans or plans where we have multiple Relius plans trading in one trust account, enter the Relius Planid (which should be ID1)
      3. Additionally, if there are multiple ACH accounts, append some shortened version of ID2 (because the Trust Description is limited in characters at the custodians).   For example: “BGQDRxxxxxxx/Div1”
    6. Notify Person:   Enter client contact that should be notified when the ACH is pulled
    7. Notification Email:  This is automatically filled in based on the “Notify Person” selected
    8. Notification .cc Email: If more than just one person needs to get notified of the ACH Pull, manually enter the e-mail address(es), separated by semi-colons, no spaces in between!
    9. IDs:   These ids uniquely identify the ACH info for the plan and bank account
      1. These IDs MUST coincide with the ACH IDs in the Payroll STATA do files.  When the do file runs, it will pull the bank account information based on the plan and the IDs
      2. If the plan has only one bank account, then set ID1 = PLANID and description = “planid”
      3. If the plan has more than one bank account, you must specify an ID or IDs that distinguish between the two (or more) sets of ACH instructions:
        1. ID1: set to Relius PlanID (exactly) and description =”planid”
        2. ID2: unique identifier that distinguishes why there are separate bank accounts (must coincide with STATA do file)
          1. Example 1: Company has one bank account for location 1 and a second bank account for location 2
            1. First ACH Instructions: ID2 = “Houston”, ID2 Description = “Location”
            2. Second ACH Instructions:  ID2 = “Atlanta”, ID2 Description = “Location”
          2. Example 2:   Company has multiple bank accounts based on the division codes in their file
            1. First ACH instruction:  ID2=”MGA”, ID2 Description = “Division”
            2. Second ACH instruction:  ID2=”BTS”, ID2 Description = “Division
    10. Bank Owner Name: Customer name on the bank account
    11. Bank: Financial institution where their account is held
    12. Bank City/State/Zip: optional
    13. Bank ABA: 9-digit ABA number used for ACH’s (printed on bottom of check)
    14. Bank Acct No: Customer’s bank account number exactly as it appears on check (i.e. include leading zeros, if applicable)
    15. Other Setup Information:
      1. Be sure to enter as many ACHs as required for the plan’s payroll
      2. Make sure the payroll file(s) provided by the sponsor have the appropriate identifying information for stata to be able to split the contributions by ACH account.
      3. The custodian’s ACH setup authorization form must be submitted to the custodian and confirmed ready to go before we can submit ACH requests, so it’s important to send the Authorization form to the custodian as soon as it’s received.   Matrix is the exception because they don’t require their own form (which is why we have a BlueStar ACH form for Matrix clients)

ACH setups must be reviewed by Payroll Team Leader or Recordkeeping Manager after setup.