Distributions—necessary work that rarely results in a profit. As a former Distribution Processing Supervisor, this predicament was always in the forefront of my mind. The way I saw it, there were two possible solutions: charge more for distributions or become more efficient at processing distributions. The sales team would immediately veto any talk of raising fees, and the thought of being able to take a day of PTO was enticing, so becoming more efficient became my mission. This blog post will explore features within PensionPro that may help you become more efficient at processing distributions.
- Get plan sponsor approval on PlanSponsorLink. Are you tired of chasing down plan sponsors to approve distributions? Would you like to eliminate the multiple phone calls, voicemails, and emails reminding them of the required approval? Adding the Web Data Collection feature to your PensionPro Distribution Projects will allow you to send a Blast Email to all plan sponsors that currently have a new distribution to approve; later, you can use Blast Email again for anyone who needs a little reminder that they haven’t approved the distribution yet. A few clicks through the Blast Email feature will save you an enormous amount of time compared to contacting everyone individually.
- Show Distribution Status on PlanSponsorLink. Everyone knows the scenario: a participant submits distribution paperwork today and wanted their money yesterday. You are constantly interrupted with phone calls or emails asking when the distribution will be processed. Using a Distribution Status with your PensionPro Distributions will allow the plan sponsor to login to PlanSponsorLink and see the most up-to-date status of every distribution. The status will automatically update as you work through the Distribution Project, and even better, you can customize the statuses! Checking in on distributions has now become self-servicing for your plan sponsors!
- Track distribution deadlines. RMDs. ADP Refunds. The struggle of hoping your team remembers that these have deadlines for processing—not wanting to micromanage every single distribution, yet knowing the penalties for missing a deadline can be steep. PensionPro’s reporting capabilities will give you a snapshot of which distributions have been processed and which ones still need processing; and the best part is that it only takes a couple clicks of the mouse to view these reports! The Distribution Status by Task is a wonderful built-in report for this scenario, but you can always use Fetch to create a custom query to suit your needs.
- Export data for 1099-R preparation. Just in case you didn’t have enough fun in December with all those remaining RMDs, January is sure to knock your socks off with preparing and sending out 1099-Rs. Luckily, if your team has been tracking distributions in PensionPro throughout the year, exporting the 1099-R data is simple. Pre-formatted data exports are available for Datair, ftwilliam.com, and Relius; just look for the built-in 1099 Data Export report.
Hopefully utilizing these features will give you the courage—and the opportunity—to take a PTO day during the busy season!
Christine Burns
Product Manager
