OH PERS Retirement Report

Overview

This process produces the State of Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) Report and File. 

There are three masks involved in this process:

1. PYRERROHRE extracts applicable data from Check History creating a flat-file.  The extracted data is then updated (added or replaced) to a utility dataset in the PYDB.  Data in this dataset is organized by payroll month/year, PERS type (PO = Police, FI = Fire, PE = all others) and a cycle identifier.

2. PYRERROHRU provides the user a means of viewing and modifying the data previously extracted.

3. PYRERROHRR is used to produce a report and generate a file for subsequent submission of PERS reporting. 

BusinessPLUS Setup

Hour Definitions

For PERS earnings, switch 17 on screen 3 of the hour definition screen must be set to the PERS earnings type.  Ignore any comments otherwise in the screen help for this field.

Employee Setup

A PERS unit (retirement unit) is a set of employees that use the same PERS Employer Code (e.g. Police).  A unique set of deduction code(s) (taxable and tax deferred) must be defined for each PERS unit. The PERS deduction assignments for a particular employee must use the deduction codes defined for the employee’s PERS unit.

Common Codes Setup

PERS/OHMAPxx

Set up common codes PERS/OHMAPxx where xx is the PERS unit.  One common code must be defined for each PERS unit, PO=Police, FI=Fire, P1=PERS 00, and P2=PERS 08.  For example, PERS/OHMAPPO is the PERS common code for Police.

Code Category:            PERS

Code Value:                   OHMAPxx

Medium Description:     The first two characters of the Medium Description is used to specify the pay cycle for the PERS unit.  Characters 4-14 specify the pay frequency.  Valid values are WEEKLY, BIWEEKLY, SEMI-MONTHLY and MONTHLY.

Long Description:           The first eight (8) positions of the Long Description hold the Employer Code.

Numeric Values

5:         Holds the retirement Pay Base to be used to report earnings.  E.g., 6007 = Pay base 7.

Associated Codes

1:         Holds the Period Code from the Pay Period Definition (PYUPPR) page to be matched in determining the number of pay periods use in the Hour Base calculation.

Associated Descriptions

1:         Holds the PERS deduction number(s) in the format xxxxT, xxxxD, xxxxD, where xxxx is the deduction number, and “T” is used for Taxable deductions, and “D” is used for non-taxable (tax-deferred) deductions.

2:         Holds PERS contribution (Pickup) numbers in the format xxxx, xxxx, xxxx…

PYFG/PY268OH

Code Category:            PYFG

Code Value:                   PY268OH

Associated Descriptions

1. Set this to “SAFETY SAME AS PERS” if the format of the reporting and file is identical for both PERS and safety personnel.  Background:  Some Ohio organizations are required to report differently for safety personnel, e.g., a different magnetic media file format, while other organizations must us the same reporting format.

Running the Extract

After all the needed setup is complete, access mask PYRERROHRE to extract information for a specific range of dates.  

The first question asked by the mask is the PERS unit to be extracted.  Valid menu selections are PO, FI, P1 and P2.

The next two questions ask for report begin and end dates.  All pay periods starting on or after the begin date and ending on or before the end date will be selected for the extraction.  All check history for these pay periods will be processed for the PERS unit to be extracted.  The “report period” is defined as the year/month of the supplied end date in the format CCYYMM (e.g., if the supplied end date is 06/15/2017, the report period is 201706).

The next question is, “Delete the report period before adding info from this merge?”  Answer “Y” if ALL prior extracted data for this report period is to be deleted, as might be desired if data is to be re-extracted.  Otherwise, answer “N” to keep prior extracted data for the report period.

This question asks whether the user wants to include data from unpaid check history records.  The normal response to this question is “NO”; that is, only paid check history is to be extracted.  Unpaid check history is normally only extracted for testing purposes or if the user wants to produce a preliminary PERS report prior to the actual pay and distribute process and a complete subsequent re-extract.

The next question pertains to the use of Selection Criteria.  Selection Criteria may be used to extract PERS data for a limited scope or set of employees.  This will normally only be used after a normal, full-cycle extract is made, after which changes were made to only a few employees, and only those employees need to be re-extracted.

Update Data

The PYRERROHRU page provides the user with a means of adding, modifying and deleting data from the retirement utility dataset prior to producing a report and generating a file for submission to PERS.  

The first six characters in the Batch field are the report period, e.g., 201701.  The next two characters are the reporting unit (PO, FI, P1 and P2).  The trailing digit is derived from the following table:

Report and File

Mask PYRERROHRR is the final step in the PERS processing; it allows the user to produce a report and generate a file (in the PERS-dictated format).  If any information is inaccurate or missing, the user may use PYRERROHRU to make corrections and re-run PYRERROHRR as often as necessary. 

Select a Retirement Unit to process. Options are PO, FI, P1 or P2.

Enter the 4-digit report year and two-digit report month.

Selection Criteria may be used to report and generate a file for a subset of employees in case the need arises.

Enter the name of the retirement file.  A file with this name will be created in the DATA directory on the APP server.  This file can then be copied, or transmitted directly to PERS as directed in PERS’s Employer Manual.