You send communications to potential, current, and former benefits participants to inform them about available benefits, rates, scheduled enrollment periods, and other information that you need to communicate.
You create a communication type to define:
The conditions that trigger a communication
The data that is extracted from the database which you can merge into a communication
The communication delivery method and medium
You run the Participation batch process (in either of its four modes: Life Event, Scheduled, Selected, or Temporal) from the Concurrent Manager to extract data based on your communication type definition. Using the System Extract feature, this data can be extracted to a text file and then merged into the body of your communication.
You can create definitions for communications that control different aspects of the communication.
For example, you can:
Specify the date a communication is to be sent to a participant relative to a qualifying life event or a point in the enrollment cycle
Indicate if the communication is a stand-alone item, or a piece in a kit
Select a usage type that categorizes the communication, such as Reminder to Act or Confirmation of Action
Limit the kinds of recipients who can receive a communication
Communication trigger control the data that is extracted from the database when you run the Participation batch process. For example, the Pre Enrollment Literature trigger extracts a person's electable choices based on your communication usage definition and the parameters you select when you run the Participation process.
Communication triggers are seeded with the product.
As part of your plan design, you can define the condition or combination of conditions that must be present in order for a communication to be sent to a person. The conditions that you associate with a communication are called usages.
You select from the following criteria to limit when a communication is generated:
Life Event
Program
Plan
Plan Type
Enrollment Period
Action
Selecting more criteria for a communication limits the usage of the communication.
You can specify the method by which a communication is delivered, such as home mail delivery or email. You can also specify a delivery medium, such as paper or diskette.
Employees can specify a preferred delivery method and medium. This information is maintained on the People window. You can choose to override this information for a particular program or plan. Or, you can specify a default delivery method or medium for employees who do not specify a preference.
You use the Person Communications window to maintain information about the communications that are requested by a participant or that are sent automatically as events occur in the plan year.
A participant can request to have a communication re-sent which has already been sent. Each time a communication is requested, the system tracks the request by generating a sequence number for that request. You can define the maximum number of requests that a person can make for a particular communication.
You can categorize communications into those that can be requested by a participant and those that can only be requested by a benefits specialist. A benefits specialist can select communications with a trigger type of Online Participant Based Literature Requests and Online Participant Service Representative (PSR) Based Requests. Participants are limited to making selections from communications with a trigger type of Online Participant Based Literature Requests.
When you define a communication type, you select the Always Send checkbox to indicate that the communication is sent whenever it is requested. If the box is unchecked, you must create a communication usage that specifies the program, plan, action type, or enrollment period to which this communication applies.
The participant's address appears on the window as it is entered in the Address window. You can override this address by selecting another address that exists in the database or by using the Address window to enter the address as a secondary address.
You also use the Person Communications window to enter delivery instructions, change the person's default delivery method and media, modify the date on which the communication is sent, and to specify if the communication requires inspection.