The Benefit Manager
If you´re interested in checking out new benefits software from an up and coming company, take a look at The Benefit Manager Enterprise from HR Software Solutions (HRSS). The company just released the large-scale product in January 2001 and is aiming on releasing their web-based version at the end of this year. At that point, the company will have three versions of Benefit Manager available, Desktop, Enterprise, and ASP giving clients a wide range of choice and flexibility from the product. In fact, the Enterprise version was designed to support the Internet and thus allow companies to potentially provide enrollment to their employees over the Internet.
Who is the product designed for?
As there will be three different versions of the system, the product is both priced and available for various sizes of companies from small to midsized firms and now large-scale organizations. One of HRSS´ clients, PSINet´s employee base had grown to over 7,000 and the Desktop version of The Benefit Manager did not have the large-scale capacity that the company required. The release of the Enterprise version has enabled the company to remain with HRSS by providing them with the flexibility and capabilities of a single application.
Essentially, the companies that will benefit most from The Benefit Manager are those that have not implemented some automated form of benefits tracking, management and processing.
What are some of The Benefit Manager´s features?
Basically, The Benefit Manager is intended to assist HR employees in tracking and calculating detailed benefits information. Some of the main features of the system include:
- Reports calculations based on job description, employment status, employee class, location, department, length of service, salary ranges
- Calculates employee eligibility, waiting periods, aging, income
- Tracks administrative fees such as TPA, PPO, ASC
- History stored at the company and employee level, providing for both historical and future reporting capabilities
- Additional reporting capabilities include: benefit confirmation reports, payroll deduction authorization reports, detailed census, insurance carrier bills, billing by division, department or other subdivision, as well as ad-hoc reporting capabilities
- All data elements are fully exportable
Numerous benefit plans can be used with The Benefit Manager and the application has the flexibility to include multiple companies, multiple classes, and multiple benefit schedules and has the ability to support all employee related benefits.
The application interface is the standard HRIS panels with numerous information fields and large button icons at the top and horizontally placed across the panel mimicking your Windows display. The interface is remarkably easy to use
There are two levels within the application: company and employee levels. At the company level, only major changes to the rates, benefits, eligibility plans and general information occurs. When you are initially setting up your database and options, most of the work will occur here. Access to the company level will only occur periodically. Most of the daily updates and changes will occur at the employee level.
The initial screen that pops up is what HRSS calls the control screen. We´re still in the company level of the application where the benefits administrator will set up the classes, and coverages attached to the classes, vendors, job descriptions and departments. For users to be able to print reports, this screen must be activated.
The next step is to set up the employee information by establishing them into defined classes. Users must now assign and elect their coverage to particular classes; they are even able to set up customized coverage plans.
The following screen is the coverage setup screen that displays rates; plan designs, contributions and vendor information. When The Benefit Manager calculates the overall program costs, it will use the information that is inputted here.
The application is designed to make inputting and selecting options as simple as possible using drop down menus and user-defined fields. Individual coverage information can be accessed from the financial summaries of coverage elected which is clearly divided into separate categories such as employee, company, and total costs.
Further along the application enables users to select individual coverage where benefit options are predetermined. Therefore, any ineligible elections are detected and noted using a preformatted election template.
The Benefit Manger will operate on a Personal computer running Microsoft Windows graphical environment version 3.1, Windows NT and Windows 95.
The desk top edition of the Benefits Manager is best suited for companies with fewer than 1,500 employees. HRSS´s Sales & Marketing Director, Tom Phillips provided us with an estimate of about $8,600 for company with 500 employees. In addition, there is an annual technical service contract to be paid on top of the application pricing.
The application is well but not exceptionally intuitively designed. For example, the screens aren´t cluttered; the interface is basic, standard but very easy to understand. When I describe the interface as not being intuitive, I mean that without help, it is difficult to drill down and understand the different levels, company and employee and the uses of the application. A step-by-step guide is required to bring users through the levels of the data input process in order to be able to fully use and understand how the application process is completed. The online help even advises that those learning to use the program should have a working knowledge of Windows and understand the components of your company´s benefits structure.
However, what I do like about the structure and interface of the system is that it is clearly demarcated into the two levels giving users a better understanding of how their company benefits process and structure is distributed across the organization. Instead of being given a bottom-up perspective to the benefits process that can tend to be confusing, disorganized and inefficient, the set up of the system enables users to get a top-down view of the step-by-step process.
The reporting tool, which can also be used as a searching tool is extremely easy to use. Users simply select the report criteria from a lengthy menu which can be used in any number of report combinations using both demographic data and benefits data, as well as Employee class, and department.
If you´re looking for help in managing all your paper-based benefits information, make sure you write the Benefit Manager on your list of vendors to check out.
IAbout the company
"HR Software Solutions is a Houston, Texas based company whose genesis came out of a group of employee benefits professionals from varied sectors of the industry with a desire to provide solutions to benefits management problems."
4747 Research Forest Drive, Suite 180-226
The Woodlands Texas 77381
Phone: 404-271-9844
www.hrsoftwaresolutions.com