Benefits Imports Employee Plans

OVERVIEW

Employee benefits plan data is stored on the Plan Benefits page of Namely Payroll profiles. There may be occasions where you need to adjust employee plan data - for example, you may need to modify premium amounts paid by either the employee or employer, or maybe you have a employer-paid benefit that all employees will receive and you'd like to add it to their plan benefits. If you need to add plans or modify existing plans in bulk, the Namely Service Team can help by completing an Employee Plans Import.

TIP:

We recommend importing if you have more than ten lines of data that need updating. If it's fewer than ten lines, it is faster to make the updates manually. For more information, refer to the following: Updating your Benefits Data ​​​​​.​

 This import will be completed within two business days from the receipt of your completed import template. Import time can vary if we need to follow up to confirm, correct or collect any data provided. Following the steps in this article will ensure the Service Team has all the necessary information to successfully process your import efficiently. 

IMPORT TEMPLATES AND HELPFUL REPORTS

  • Template: Add/Replace Employee Plans

    • Add/Replace imports are used to end date your existing employee plan and add new plans. This import will automatically end-date the old plan one day prior to the start date specified on your template. 

      You should Add/Replace if you'd like a record of the plans. For example, if you need to update employee cost per pay period, but would like the system to have a record of employees with the old cost, you should use Add/Replace.

  • Required fields for import: Plan Name, Plan Level, Start Date 

  • Optional fields available for import: End Date, Volume, Primary Care Physician, Employee Cost, Employer Cost, Employer Cost per Month

  • You must also include one Unique Identifier on your template: EmployeeID (recommended), Social Security Number or Employee Email.

  • Template:Modify Employee Plans

    • Modify imports are used to modify the existing employee plan. Performing this import will not create a new line of data, so this should only be used if you do not need a record of the prior data. This import type is typically used if there was a mistake in data entry.

    • Required fields for import: Plan Name and Start Date

    • Optional fields available for import: End Date, Volume, New Start Date, Primary Care Physician, Employee Cost, Employer Cost, Employer Cost per Month

    • You must also include one Unique Identifier on your template: EmployeeID (recommended), Social Security Number or Employee Email.

  • Reports: The Generic Benefits (All Active Enrollments) report contains the data needed to complete this import. 

SAVE A COPY:

It's always best practice to save a copy of your data prior to processing an import, in case anything goes awry.

PREPARING FOR YOUR IMPORT

To prepare the import template:

  1. Download the Generic Benefits (All Active Enrollments) report to collect the employees’ data. 

  • In Namely Payroll, click Reports > Date Range > select the appropriate year, period pay date > click Generic Benefits (All Active Enrollments) report. 

    TIP:

    Use CTRL + F “Generic Benefits” to locate the Date Range report. Refer toPayroll Report Guidancefor more information. 

  1. Use the information provided from the report and insert it into the proper Employee Plans import template. You should only include data on employees that need deductions added on your template. 

TIP:

Employee Cost (column K) and Employer Cost (column L) is based on the cost per pay period.

  1. Once the employee information has been added to the corresponding fields, save the file as a .csv or .xlxs format.

TIP:

Employee plan imports do not update employee deductions. If you're making a change to employee or employer-paid premiums, you will also need to complete a Deduction Import.

CASE SUBMISSION DETAILS

Once the import file is complete, submit a case in the Help Community and include the file as an attachment.

Product Name: Benefits Administration

Feature: Employee Benefit Data

Function: Employee Data Update

TIPS

  • Updates made to plan benefits will not impact deductions. If you're adjusting employee or employer-paid plan amounts, you will need to complete a Deduction Import as well.

  • To avoid any data discrepancies, it’s recommended that you use the EmployeeID (in column A) as the identifier for the import template.

    • Using EmployeeID instead of a field like Social Security Number also limits the transfer of Personally Identifiable Information (PII.) Any files containing PII cannot be provided to Service though the Help Community - they must be uploaded viaSupport Files.

  • Before you submit, verify the data mentioned below to ensure the data is ready for an import to eliminate any errors that may result in a longer import turnaround time:

    • Your import file cannot exceed 5 MB.

    • The first row of each column should be treated as a header row.

    • Each employee must be listed on a separate row.

    • Each row must have Unique ID to match your records to Namely records.

    • Dates should be formatted: MM/DD/YYYY

    • Remove any filters and ensure the cells are formatted accordingly.