A Website Guide
for Plan Sponsors
Contents
1
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Managing Your Plan with
Plan Access
3
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Plan Information & Processing
5
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Standard Reports
How to make the most of your online tools
MassMutual understands that plan administration is a shared responsibility between plan sponsors and providers. As investment boards and committees take a more active role in plan management, plan sponsors need readily accessible information and flexible plan access.
To provide this critical access-on-demand, MassMutual is pleased to offer our clients Plan Access – a Web-based plan management tool designed to provide you with all the information, tools, and processing features needed to administer your plan.
This guide will walk you through each of the four main sections and show you what they have to offer, how to use the tools, and how Plan Access can streamline your plan management.
Getting to Plan Access
To connect to Plan Access, start with the public page for employer retirement plans: massmutual.com/planaccess. Click on the login button, and you’re on your way. You will need to enter your unique user ID and password to get into Plan Access. If you don’t remember your login information, or if one has not been assigned to you, please contact your client service team at 800-637-6444.
For easy access, you may wish to bookmark the Plan Access login page.
Once you log in to Plan Access, you’ll notice two
“navigation bars,” or menus, on the home page: one along the left-hand side, and another running across the top. The top navigation bar has four links that guide you to the four main sections of Plan Access:
1 Plan Information & Processing – view plan-level
financial data, general plan information and adminis-trative resources, and submit payroll contributions
2 Standard Reports – view and print reports such as
plan summary reports, roster turnaround reports (payroll confirmations), and amortization schedules
3 Custom Reporting Tool – run custom queries at the
plan level or participant level to get the data you need
4 Employee Information – add, update, and
review employee information, such as census data – including participant address updates – and investment elections
The left-hand menu shows the different functions available in each of the four main sections of Plan Access. If you select the link for a different section of the site, the left-hand menu will change accordingly.
Take it from the top
The Plan Information & Processing section of Plan Access puts all your plan-level information and management tools at your fingertips. From the home page, be sure to first check out the News section for any important messages from MassMutual – including policy updates and notification of new reports that have become available.
The first two subsections on the left-hand menu – Plan
Summary and Plan Assets – show you high-level plan information, including demographics, downloadable reports, and rolled-up financial data. In the next subsection,
Plan Investments, you can easily access all the information you need about your plan’s investments.
If you’re looking for performance information or daily pricing for a specific investment option, you can select it from the list on the Investments by Vehicle screen. For a performance summary of all your plan’s investment options, updated on a monthly basis, click on the link for
Plan Information & Processing
(cont.)
Some of the most useful tools for your day-to-day plan management can be found in the Plan Processing section. Of special note are the payroll processing features. These features allow you to submit your plan contributions electronically over the Web – saving you time and reducing the potential for errors.
You can select the Payroll List link under Plan Processing to view previous payrolls; add, delete, or edit current payrolls; or model a new payroll from a previous submission. If your payroll is in an electronic file, you also have the option to import the file into Plan Access via the Import page. For step-by-step instructions on using the payroll features, be sure to view our payroll processing guides, available on the
Payroll List page under Payroll Assistance.
Finally, all of MassMutual’s administrative forms are posted in the Plan Tools section under Forms & Manuals. Forms may include participant transactional forms (used to initiate distributions, enrollment, rollovers, and more) and authorization forms for plan-level updates. By downloading forms from Plan Access, you can be sure that you always have the most up-to-date version of the form – and a single Web site to handle all of your plan’s administrative needs. Additional tools in this section may include fiduciary worksheets, plan sponsor and participant newsletters, sample notices, and other resources to help you stay on top of your plan.
Easy access to your Plan Service Review
Your quarterly Plan Service Review is a dynamic
tool for managing your plan. It helps you monitor
your plan’s investment performance and conduct
periodic plan reviews, both important components of
a fiduciary process. You may also review participant
data and identify gaps and opportunities for education
and communication. The Plan Service Review helps
you monitor long-term trends so you can evaluate the
overall effectiveness of your plan.
Some of the important information contained in your
Plan Service Review includes:
· plan asset allocation statistics
· short- and long-term investment performance
· plan activity and cash flow summary
· participant investment diversification
· participating employees and average
account balances
To download your Plan Service Review, select Plan
Documents from the Plan Summary section of
In the Standard Reports section, you will find all of the daily and quarterly reports that MassMutual supplies to assist with your plan management. Depending on your plan’s activity, these reports may include:
• Loan reports
• Excess deferral report • Plan summary reports • Age 70 ½ reports
• Participant termination listing • Participant vesting report • Plan forfeiture report • Contribution report
• Distribution report • Outstanding check report
• Roster turn-around (payroll submission confirmations) report
• Automated services reports
In addition to the automatically generated reports we provide, you may also request standard reports on demand, for the date range you supply. Under the Plan Summary
Report section, you can order on-demand plan summary reports in downloadable formats by selecting Create
Plan Summary Report. A helpful FAQ is also included on this page to answer questions you may have about the download process.
The Custom Reporting Tool section provides search, sort, print, and download capabilities on either a plan or participant level – so you can get the specific data that you need.
By using the custom reporting tool, you control both the data included on the report and the time period that it covers.
The Employee Information section can help you streamline your plan management. You can view employee data as it appears on our recordkeeping system, including census data, balances, transaction history, and more. To efficiently manage your plan, you can also add new employee
information, manage existing employee census data, and update investment elections.
If you don’t submit census data with your payroll
contributions, the Employee Information section is where you’ll go to input your newly enrolled participants or to make any updates to a participant’s status, date of termination, address, or other similar fields. Step-by-step instructions for adding an employee to the system are
available in PDF format at the top of the Employee Add/
Update page.
Need a copy of a participant statement? Click on Employee
Why should I use Plan Access to manage my plan?
Online plan management has several benefits for you, the plan sponsor:
• Accuracy: The information you load into Plan Access is transmitted directly to MassMutual’s recordkeeping system, so that you have complete control over the data in your plan. You can view data exactly as it appears on our system – so you can be sure that the data on our system is the same as yours. • Efficiency: All the data you input into Plan Access
is transmitted to our system “real-time” – you don’t have to wait for mailing or processing time to have your updates made. This can be invaluable when submitting payroll contributions, as it helps you segregate plan assets in a timely manner as required by DOL regulations.
• Availability: As a Web-based application, Plan Access is available whenever and wherever you need it – allowing you to access data and transmit information at your convenience.
Is Plan Access secure?
Plan Access features industry-standard 128-bit encryption technology for secure account access. All data is disaster secure, supported by a redundant systems environment.
Will I be charged for using Plan Access?
No, Plan Access is available at no extra charge.
Can I share my Plan Access ID with other staff members?
Plan Access can support multiple user IDs for your plan. We recommend that you have a unique user ID set up for each employee who will be using Plan Access.
Can you restrict certain login IDs so that users have limited access to change employee information?
Yes. Not only can you set up multiple user IDs for Plan Access, you can also restrict the functionality as appropriate for each user. This includes offering “view only” access for people who are not authorized to perform transactions under the plan, or limiting access to payroll processing capabilities only. For assistance, please contact your client service team.
My company has multiple locations. Can you restrict certain login IDs so that users can only see employees in their office?
Yes. If your plan has been set up with different location codes, you can request that a given user ID only shows employees from a particular location.
For the record...
Using online reports to stay on top of your plan
There are several different reports available to you under the Standard Reports section of Plan Access. While some of
Report Type
What is it?
What should I look for?
Loan Status Detail Details all outstanding loan details by participant
and SSN • Loans to be deemed• Residual balances to be cleared • Loans whose payments have not begun • Payment amounts that do not match the
original schedule Excess Deferral Lists any employees who have exceeded the
maximum allowable elective deferral contributions for one year
• Participants whose contributions need to be ceased • Participants who have exceeded the limit and require
a corrective distribution Age 70½ Identifies participants set up to receive a periodic
distribution and shows all participants and the date they turn 70½
• Participants who need to take a Required Minimum Distribution
• Participants who need to have periodic distributions scheduled
Participant Termination/
Separation Lists participants with balances who are no longer employed or who have been rehired by the sponsor company
• Small balances that may be forced out or automatically rolled over
• Confirm status and status date Participant Vesting Details participant vesting percentages by
money type • Review for accuracy
Plan Forfeiture Details the forfeitures resulting from participant distributions. Lists total plan forfeiture balances by money type
• Accuracy of forfeited amounts by participant • Total forfeitures to be reallocated according to your
plan document Contribution Details both payroll totals and participant
contributions • Review for accuracy
Distribution Details distributions for each participant, including
any fees or taxes withheld • Review for accuracy Roster Turn Around Confirmation of transmitted payrolls (produced daily) • Review for accuracy
Outstanding Distribution Checks Lists distribution checks that are uncashed • Checks that need to be stopped and reissued • Participants requiring address updates • Lost participants
Pending Enrollment and/or
Contribution Cutoff Date For plans using automated services, these reports list employees who have enrolled or updated deferral • New enrollees to be set up with payroll deductions• Changes to participant deferral percentages to be
Quick Reference Guide
Use the chart below to help you find the information you need on Plan Access:
Our goal is to ensure that you have all the tools and information you need to successfully administer your plan – and the technology to make that information available on your schedule. We hope this overview of Plan Access has
been helpful. If you have additional questions, or need to have a user ID and password established, please contact your client service team at 800-637-6444.
Where do I find…
Section
Page
Participant statements Employee Information Employee Summary Administration forms Plan Information & Processing Forms & Manuals Payroll submissions Plan Information & Processing Payroll List and/or Import Plan Service Review Plan Information & Processing Plan Documents
Available loan amount Employee Information Employee Summary – select the participant and click “Loan Information”
Employee census data Employee Information Employee Add/Update
Quarterly reports Standard Reports View Reports
Employees with balances
under $5,000 Custom Reporting Tool Participant – select the report from the “Frequently Requested Pre-Defined Reports” dropdown box Terminated participants
with outstanding loans Custom Reporting Tool Participant – run a custom report selecting participants with a “T” status and a loan balance greater than zero Plan balances as of a
specific date Standard Reports Create Plan Summary Report
Investment performance Plan Information & Processing Performance for all Vehicles Daily reports and feedback files
(loan amortization schedules, automated services reporting, payroll confirmations)
Standard Reports View Reports
