ESS COMPANY SETTINGS

Use this screen to change certain taxable entity-specific ("company-specific" in Costpoint 4.0) settings used by the ESS system, including Default Class of Service, Benefits, and Deferred Compensation settings.

Set up this screen when you initialize ESS and when adding a new taxable entity ("company" in Costpoint 4.0) whose employees should have access to ESS. If you do not set up a taxable entity in this screen, employees assigned to that taxable entity will not be able to access ESS.

Note: For Costpoint version 4.0, all references to "Taxable Entity" refer to "Company."

Taxable Entity ("Company" in Costpoint 4.0)

Enter, or use Lookup to select, the taxable entity ID that will use the ESS settings in this screen. The Taxable Entity ID (Company in Costpoint 4.0) field can be up to 10 alphanumeric characters, and the description that is associated with the taxable entity ID (up to 40 alphanumeric characters) will default. Taxable entity information is established in the Set Up Company Info screen in the Organizations menu in Costpoint General Ledger. 

Default Class of Service

Select one of six options from this drop-down box to indicate which menus an employee will be able to see in ESS 3.1. You can set the Default Class of Service individually for new employee records that are added in the Basic Employee Info screen. Each system-defined item in this drop-down box corresponds to a menu heading in ESS:

Payroll Settings

Months of Pay History

Enter the number of months of pay history that can be retrieved by the employee in the Electronic Paystub screen in ESS.

Minimum W-2 Year

Enter the oldest year to display in the Electronic W-2 module in ESS.  If you leave this field blank, employees will be able to see all W-2 years that exist in the Edit W-2 table.

Maximum W-2 Year

Enter the most recent year to display in the Electronic W-2 module in ESS.

Maximum Number of Direct Deposit Accounts

Select the maximum number of bank accounts that an employee can set up or edit in ESS.  You can select from 1 to 10 accounts.

Allow Withholding State Changes

Select this checkbox to allow employees to change their withholding state options in ESS.

Paystub Inclusion Options

Use this group box to select the settings that determine which Regular, Bonus, and/or Severance Pay paystubs are viewable in the Electronic Paystub screen in ESS.

Note: You can set options for each of the three paystub types to enable or disable the viewing of past, current, and/or future paystubs (i.e., where the check date is before, the same as, or later than the system date). For example, if you select the "Exclude paystubs with future date" option in the Regular Paystubs drop-down box, employees can view only past and current paystubs; they cannot view paystubs dated later than the system date. 

Regular Paystubs

Use this drop-down box to select which Regular-type paystubs are viewable in ESS.

Bonus Paystubs

Use this drop-down box to select which Bonus-type paystubs will be viewable in ESS.

Paystubs with Severance Pay Type

If you select any option other than "Show all," at least one severance pay type row must exist in the Severance Pay Types group box.

Severance Pay Types

Enter rows in this group box to specify which Pay Types will cause exclusion of a check from ESS.

Pay Type

Enter, or use Lookup to select, the pay type code that will be used to exclude severance paycheck types. Pay type codes are established in the Pay Types screen in the Labor Controls menu in Costpoint Labor.

Description

This field displays the Pay Type description.

Benefits Settings

Use this group box to specify the plan year period that will be updated with employees' changes in ESS online.

FSA Year

Use this group box to specify the current and new FSA plan years.

Current FSA Year

Enter the current four-digit Flexible Spending Account (FSA) year to be used in the Benefit election screens in ESS. The current FSA year (i.e., the current plan year for the taxable entity ("company" in Costpoint 4.0)) must already be established in the Medical Care FSA Setup and Dependent Care FSA Setup screens in Costpoint Benefits. The Current FSA Year cannot be the same as or later than the New FSA Year.

New FSA Year

Enter the four-digit new Flexible Spending Account (FSA) year to be used in the Benefit election screens in ESS. The new FSA year (i.e., the plan year that is updated with employees' most recent changes) must already be established in the Medical Care FSA Setup and Dependent Care FSA Setup screens in Costpoint Benefits. The New FSA Year cannot be the same as or earlier than the Current FSA Year.

Open Enrollment Plan Year

Use this group box to specify the open enrollment plan year period.

Plan Year Start Date

Enter the plan year start date to be used in the Benefits screens in ESS.  You must enter information into this field in "MM/DD/YYYY" format, and the date cannot be the same as or later than the Plan Year End Date.

Plan Year End Date

Enter the plan year start date to be used in the Benefits screens in ESS.  You must enter information into this field in "MM/DD/YYYY" format, and the date cannot be the same as or earlier than the Plan Year Start Date.

Open Enrollment Period

Start Date (MM/DD)

Enter the numeric month and day for the Benefits open enrollment start date to be used in the Benefits screens in ESS. The Benefits open enrollment Start Date cannot be later than the Benefits open enrollment End Date.

End Date (MM/DD)

Enter the numeric month and day for the Benefits open enrollment end date to be used in the Benefits screens in ESS. The Benefits open enrollment End Date cannot be earlier than the Benefits open enrollment Start Date.

Current Plan Year

Plan Year End Date

Enter the date on which coverage should end for any benefit elections made through a Life Event's user-flow. You must enter information into this field in "MM/DD/YYYY" format.  This field is enabled and required if you are using the Life Events/New Hires module in ESS 3.0 or later.

Check date for final pay period of current FSA year falls within current FSA year

Select this checkbox if the check date for the final pay period of the current FSA year falls within the current FSA year.

Address/Telephone Module Settings

Prompt Vendor Address Update

Select this checkbox if the employee should be prompted to update his default vendor address when updating the address in the ESS Address/Telephone module. This checkbox will be enabled only if you are using ESS version 3.0 or higher.

Life Event for Postal Code/State Change

Enter, or use Lookup to select, the life event code used to track postal code and state changes made through ESS.

Other Module Settings

Months of Expense History

Enter the number of months for which you would like to view expense check history.

Deferred Compensation Settings

Select this pushbutton to access the Deferred Compensation Settings subtask.