PA NPAS PERS Report
Overview
The NPAS (New Pension Administration System) PSERS process will produce the files necessary to meet the requirements as published in the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System’s Employer Reference Manual.
BusinessPLUS Setup
In order to facilitate the extraction of employee data from the BusinessPLUS PY system, additional information must be provided not currently maintained in BusinessPLUS.
Employee Setup
Work Status Codes
Every employee to be reported must have a valid WORK STATUS code. These are entered in the employee’s PY Employee Definition (PYUPEM) record, Associated Codes tab, following this format:
Associated Code | Associated Description |
WORK STATUS | [work status] mm/dd/yyyy |
WORK STATUS is a keyword and must be entered exactly as shown, in uppercase letters.
The work status code (6 characters) is followed by a space and the work status effective date (format mm/dd/yyyy) are entered in the Associated Description field.
Once entered in PYUPEM, this information is then viewable on the Employee Master screen (HREMEN).
Note: Changes to work status should be made as new entries, leaving prior work status codes and work status effective dates unchanged unless a correction is being made to a work status or effective date that was invalid, misspelled, or misdated. This way, an audit trail of an employee status history can be maintained and his/her status at a specific date can be ascertained.
Valid Work Status Codes
Active Work Status Codes
ACTIVE
This is the most common status and is used when a member is actively working, contributing or non-contributing.
ACTIVW
This status should be used to indicate that the reported employee is applying for waiver.
The remaining statuses are listed below. The Leave categories, Making Contributions and Not Making Contributions, were formerly referred to as “Paid” and “Unpaid”, respectively. The new wage fields in the Work Report Record separate paid wages from unpaid wages, therefore these statuses reflect a leave where contributions are made represented by the “C” at the end of the status, and when contributions are not made, represented by the “N” at the end of the status.
Leave - Making Contributions
SABTLC
Sabbatical. This code should be used when the employee is on paid leave.
ACTMLC
Activated Military. This code should be used when the employee is in the military and was called into duty.
SSLWCC
Special Sick Leave Worker's Comp. This leave is granted to an employee who is ill, receiving worker’s compensation, and wishes to pay contributions toward retirement. Granting of special sick leave is optional and must be approved by the employer’s board of directors. The leave may not exceed one year.
SSLSSC
Special Sick Leave School Sponsored Insurance. This leave is granted to an employee who is ill, receiving school sponsored compensation from their employer, and wishes to pay contributions toward retirement. Granting of special sick leave is optional and must be approved by the employer’s board of directors. The leave may not exceed one year.
STUDYC
Professional Study. This leave is used for an employee who has been granted a leave for professional study.
EXCHGC
Exchange Teacher. This leave is granted to a school employee who exchanges teaching positions with a teacher from another country.
UNIONC
Collective Bargaining Unit. This leave is used for an employee who has been granted a leave for collective bargaining position. This leave is granted on a case-by-case basis.
Leave - Not Making Contributions
Leave accrued on the five work statuses below can be purchased at the member’s return to ACTIVE status.
ACTMLN
Activated Military. This code should be used when the employee is activated into the military, and not contributing.
SSLWCN
Special Sick Leave Worker's Comp. This leave is granted to an employee who is ill, receiving worker’s compensation, and does not wish to pay contributions toward retirement. Granting of special sick leave is optional and must be approved by the employer’s board of directors. The leave may not exceed one
SSLSSN
Special Sick Leave School Sponsored Insurance. This leave is granted to an employee who is ill, receiving school sponsored compensation, and does not wish to pay contributions toward retirement. Granting of special sick leave is optional and must be approved by the employer’s board of directors. The leave may not exceed one year.
STUDYN
Professional Study. This leave is used for an employee who has been granted a leave for professional study.
EXCHGN
Exchange Teacher. This leave is granted to a school employee who exchanges teaching positions with a teacher from another country.
WKCMPN
Worker’s Comp Leave that exceeds the one year on SSLWCC or SSLWCN.
LEAVEN
Any Other Leave not listed.
Termination or Death
These statuses automatically end date all existing Contract Records for the reporting employer.
TRMNTN
Termination. If all positions for the employee are ended, and the employee no longer works for the employer.
DECESD
Deceased. When the member dies submit one record, if multiple positions are held. This terminates all records.
CDH Setup
Contributions, deductions and hours (CDHs) defined in the payroll system and applicable to PSERS reporting must be coded with a Retirement Code in either the Code, Title, Misc Codes (one of the eight available) or Description fields (one of the ten available) in the CDH Definition (masks PYUPCC, PYUPDD and PYUPHH).
See Common Code Setup KEYWORD [RETIRE CODES], below, for instructions on how to specify which field contains the necessary code value.
Note: All employee earnings, contributions and deductions to be reported to PSERS must have a valid Retirement Code in the designated field of the CDH Definition and the same field must be used in all CDHs.
The Retirement codes to be entered use the following four-character format: R##A, where “R” identifies the CDH as applicable to retirement, ## is a number indicating the type of transaction involved (described below), and “A” indicates an adjustment entry (non-adjustment entries have a space as the fourth character of the Retirement Code).
Retirement Codes
Number | Type of Payroll Transaction |
|---|---|
01 | Base Pay: salary/wages included in the standard pay schedule for which the employee is rendering service, exclusive of earnings that exceed the IRS 401(a)(17) limitations. |
02 | Overtime Pay: compensation paid over and above the regular salary, for additional hours worked. |
03 | Supplemental Pay: compensation paid for additional duties. Also for reporting wages for a second position that does not require a second work report. |
04 | Wages No Contribution: For non-contributing employees on leave. This is salary/wages that would have been paid had the employee not been on leave, or are if paid, but not contributing. |
05 | Member POS Installment: used to reduce the receivable due from the member. |
06 | Excess Salary: earnings in excess of the 401(a)(17) limitations. Contributions are not made on this amount. |
07 | Non-Retirement Covered Compensation: wages earned that are not subject to retirement contributions (bonuses, payment for unused/sick leave, etc.). |
08 | Contributions: member’s retirement contributions withheld by the employer. |
09 | Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation: salary/wages not paid to an employee due to a leave, but on which the employee paid the contributions. |
Pay Assignments
Pay assignments are used to generate the Contract records to be submitted to NPAS. In order to provide all the information required by NPAS, additional information must be available in these assignments.
Expected Months
The number of months, usually between 9 and 12, an active employee was hired to work. If the begin/end dates of the pay assignment indicate the correct time span to calculate the expected months, this can be indicated to the system through the Common Code setup, KEYWORD [WORK MONTHS], CODEWORD [BEGIN/END], as described below.
Another method of providing the Expected Months is through an entry in one the Miscellaneous Num fields of each pay assignment, indicating which field is used through the Common Code setup.
These two options provide the system with the expected months information by pay assignment. A third, less precise, method of supplying this information is through the use of one of the Miscellaneous fields in the Employee Master (usually the second of four available). This method only provides one value for Expected Months per employee and may not be usable when employees have different jobs with different lengths of employment. Whichever method is selected, it must be used for all employees.
Expected Units
The number of hours or days an employee is expected to work can be derived from the CALENDAR associated with a pay assignment, or, if there is no calendar code in a pay assignment, through the calendar code in the Employee Master.
For hourly employees the Expected Units is extracted from the Annual Hours entered in the calendar definition.
For Salaried and Per Diem employees, Expected Units is taken from the Paid Days field of the calendar.
If the employee’s calendar(s) do not offer the correct information, Expected Units may be entered in one of the Miscellaneous Num fields of each pay assignment and the common code KEYWORD [WORK UNITS] set up accordingly. Again, all employees must use the same method to determine Expected Units.
PYRT/PARTRM## Common Code Setup
A series of common codes (NUUPCD) are used to indicate to the PSERS process where certain BusinessPLUS Payroll information can be retrieved to complete the NPAS information requirements. These common codes have a category of PYRT and values of PARTRM## (PA for Pennsylvania, RTRM for retirement, and ## is a sequential number starting at 01 and continuing through 99, as needed).
Enter as many common codes as necessary to enter all parameters but they must be in numerical order and numbers may not be skipped. The parameters defined within these common codes may be in any sequence, however, and have the general format indicated below, with each parameter using one complete line of the five Associated Values, Codes & Descriptions lines:
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
##.##### | KEYWORD | The following options are available: · cluster.attribute# ec · =value · value1,value2,value3… · CODEWORD · YES or NO |
##.##### This is a Numeric Value that may need to be specified depending on the KEYWORD.
KEYWORD Identifies the parameter. Some KEYWORD entries may only use the Numeric Value, others only the information provided in the Description field and still others may require both. KEYWORD must be entered in the Associated
Codes field of each parameter line.
The five types of entries that may be used in the Associated Description field of the common code lines are:
cluster.attribute# ec | Cluster is the four-character name of a PYDB dataset which may be used to supply the information indicated by KEYWORD. Currently, the clusters available are GENM (Entity Definition), EMPM (Employee Master) and EPAY (Employee Pay Assignments). Attribute is the six-character name of a field within a cluster. Any of the fields described for these clusters (mask PYUPCL) may be used as an Attribute. The # portion of this entry is only required when a cluster.attribute has multiple fields (for instance, there are 5 Skill Code fields defined in the Employee Master, to reference the fourth one, this parameter would be entered as EMPM.SKILL4 in the Description field). ec is an optional edit code showing how the data from the cluster.attribute# is to be returned. This code only applies to date and numeric fields. For dates, the standard BusinessPLUS date format codes apply: DT (mm/dd/yy), DU (mm/dd/yyyy), DW (dd/mm/yyyy), DV (dd/mm/yy), DZ (mm/yy), DS (mm/dd), D8 (yyyymmdd) or D6 (yymmdd). For numeric fields the standard BusinessPLUS numeric edits are used: N0 through N5 (where the number following the N indicates how many decimal positions are in the number), and an IN edit code indicating an integer with no zero suppression. |
=value | When a specific value is to be assigned to a KEYWORD, an equal sign (=) followed by the value, is entered in the Description field of the common code. For instance, if the six-character EMPLOYER ID needed for retirement reporting is 123456, this value would be entered as “=123456” (without the quotes) in the Description field of this parameter with the KEYWORD “EMPLOYER ID” in the Code field (without the quotes). |
value1,value2,value3… | This format is used when a list of values needs to be provided. The values entered are comma-delimited without a space following the comma. Multiple entries (lines of the common code) may be used when there are more values than can fit in one Description field. When multiple lines are used, the KEYWORD must be repeated in each Code field of each line. For example, the KEYWORD “FULLTIME MAP” is used to define all the codes that should be considered full-time employment. By providing a series of codes (FT,FULL,F-T,F/T, etc.) that equate to full-time employment, the PSERS process will know which employees work full-time. If more values than can fit in one Description field are needed to designate full-time employees, a second (or third or nth) line may be used with the KEYWORD “FULLTIME MAP” and the additional full-time values in the Description field. |
[CODEWORD] | his format of a common code parameter entry is used to specify a particular element and, along with the ##.##### entered in the Numeric Value of the common code, further define the use of that element. For example, if an employee POSITION is to be retrieved from the fifth part of a pay assignment pay string, the common code entry will look like Example 1. If the Adjustment REASON is to be retrieved from a CDH definition’s eighth Description field, the common code will look like Example 2. If an employee’s WORK STATUS is to be found in an Assoc Detail entry that has an Assoc Code of WORKSTATUS, the common code will look like Example 3. |
[YES] or [NO] | Certain options available in this process only require that the user enter YES or NO for the option defined by the KEYWORD to be activated (YES) or inactivated (NO). Unless otherwise indicated, if this parameter is omitted or the Description is left blank, NO is the default. |
Example 3:
| Num Value | Code | Description |
Example 1: | 4.00000 | POSITION | PAYSTRING |
Example 2: | 8.00000 | ADJ REASON | CDH DESC |
Example 3: |
| WORK STATUS | ASSOC DETAIL “WORKSTATUS” |
Common Code Examples
PYRT/PARTRM01 RETIRE CODES
Use this parameter to indicate which field of a CDH definition contains the retirement code R##A.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
[1] through [8] | RETIRE CODES | [CODEWORD] = CDH MISC |
| RETIRE CODES | [CODEWORD] = CDH CODE |
| RETIRE CODES | [CODEWORD] = CDH TITLE |
[1] through [10] | RETIRE CODES | [CODEWORD] = CDH DESC |
Entries are made on the appropriate CDH screens (PYUPCC, PYUPDD, PYUPHH).
Note: Assumption that Miscellaneous Code field 4 is not in use.
PYRT/PARTRM02 WORK MONTHS
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| WORK MONTHS | [CODEWORD] = BEGIN/END This option is used when the begin/end dates of a pay assignment can be used to calculate the EXPECTED MONTHS (9 through 12) to be reported in the Contract File/Report. That is, the time span between these two dates is used to compute work months. |
| WORK MONTHS | [cluster.attribute# ec] This parameter indicates where the EXPECTED MONTHS may be found for each employee contract. This is usually associated with a pay assignment (EPAY cluster) in one of the Miscellaneous NUM fields. If, however, a single EXPECTED MONTHS is to be used for all an employee’s pay assignments for all employees, then one of the Miscellaneous fields in the Employee Master (EMPM cluster) may be used. In this case, individual employees may have different EXPECTED MONTHS, but each employee can only have one EXPECTED MONTHS value. When the value is derived from pay assignments, an employee may have several different EXPECTED MONTHS values. |
PYRT/PARTRM03 EMPLOYER ID
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
|---|---|---|
| EMPLOYER ID | =[value] or [cluster.attribute# ec] Used to supply the Employer Id/Code required by NPAS/PSERS. This must be 6 digits. |
PYRT/PARTRM04 FT/PT
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| FT/PT | [cluster.attribute# ec] This parameter indicates which field (usually in the Employee Master) contains the employee’s full or part time code. |
| FULLTIME MAP | [value1,value2,value3…] This parameter is used to specify various values that are all to be considered as full-time employment. |
| PARTTIME MAP | [value1,value2,value3…] This parameter is used to specify all values which designate part-time employment. |
Full Time and Part Time designation is set from the employee pay assignment screen (HRPYPA) on the Misc Info tab in Special Code 6 field. Enter either FT for Full Time or PT for Part Time.
The Full or Part time status is entered in the HRPYPA screen in the Special Cds 6 field. Performing a Send Pay transfers the value to PYUPEP. Enter Values to designate Full or Part Time Status. They are FT for Full Time Status and PT for Part Time Status.
PYRT/PARTRM05 FULLTIME MAP
This common code specifies that Full Time will be designated with the value FT.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| FULLTIME MAP | [value1,value2,value3…] This parameter is used to specify various values that are all to be considered as full-time employment. |
PYRT/PARTRM06 PARTTIME MAP
This common code specifies that Part Time will be designated with the value PT.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| PARTTIME MAP | [value1,value2,value3…] This parameter is used to specify all values which designate part-time employment. |
PYRT/PARTRM07 ADJ REASON
In the example below, the location for appropriate adjustment reason will be stored in CDH description line 10. This is only for any CDHs that are used for adjustments with a retirement code of R##A.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
[1] through [10] | ADJ REASON | [CODEWORD] = CDH DESC This parameter specifies which of the 10 Description lines in a CDH definition will contain the REASON code for an adjustment. All CDHs that are used for adjustments (with a retirement code of R##A) must also have a REASON code. |
Note: Recommendation is to use manual entry for adjustment of this type, as an additional CDH with a retirement code of R##A will need to be created.
Valid entries for adjustment reasons are entered in CDH Description line 10.
ADJUSTMENT REASON CODES
Member’s reason code for the adjustment. Specific situations that require a Work Report Adjustment Record to be submitted, along with the Reason Code applicable to each situation, are identified below:
SALARY
Payroll Correction – (Code = SALARY) required when a correction to previously reported salary/wages or contributions needs to be made and a Work Report Record cannot be used to make the correction.
CNTRCT
Missing Contract Record – (Code = CNTRCT) required when a Work Report Record was not originally posted because a corresponding Contract Record did not exist. The employer must first submit the correct Contract Record and then submit either the Work Report or Work Report Adjustment Record.
LMPSUM
Lump Sum /Retro Pay Adjustment – (Code = LMPSUM) required when there is a non-court awarded adjustment such as a contract settlement and a Work Report Record cannot be used to make the correction.
SVCADJ
Service Adjustments – (Code = SVCADJ) required when there is a change or correction to hours or days previously reported. Note: If this adjustment includes a change to salary, then use the SALARY code instead.
LATRPT
Late – (Code = LATRPT) required when an employer failed to send or correct employee information on a Work Report Record and the corresponding work report has been applied. Note: All other codes supersede the LATRPT code; therefore, it should only be used when other reason codes are not applicable.
MEMPOS
POS Correction – (code = MEMPOS) required when there is a change to an employee’s monthly POS installment amount previously reported.
UNCRDT
Uncredited School Service – (code = UNCRDT) required when an employee wasn’t enrolled but received salary/wages and employee contributions may or may not have been paid, but because of an administrative error, nothing was reported. The employer must submit the salary/wages and related contribution (if withheld) and service information using a Work Report Adjustment Record. If the contributions were withheld, a delinquency will be applied to the Employer Account across the Member and Employer Contribution funds. If contributions were not withheld, the member must purchase the service.
CAWARD
Court Award – (Code = CAWARD) arbitration relating to a rate grievance, improper termination, etc. PSERS must review the court award/order before releasing any information to the employer or member accounts. If the court award spans across fiscal years and/or contribution periods, then the employer must submit an adjustment record for each fiscal year and/or contribution period with the corresponding salary and service.
PYRT/PARTRM08 POSITION
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
[1] through [18] | POSITION | [CODEWORD] = PAYSTRING This parameter is used to indicate which Part# of an employee’s pay assignment pay string contains the POSITION. Position is used to retrieve an employee’s Job Title required in Contract Reporting. |
Example if you enter 2 in Associated Numeric Values 1, POSITION in Assoicated Codes 1 and PAYSTRING in Associated Descriptions 1, this will designate that the Position is located in the second part of the Employee pay string. This will be used to retrieve the employee’s Job Title.
Determining the part number of a field within the pay string is done through PYUPGN, Pay String tab. In the next screenshot, POSITION is part number 3.
PYRT/PARTRM09 FISCAL YEAR
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
[1] through [18] | POSITION | [CODEWORD] = PAYSTRING This parameter is used to indicate which Part# of an employee’s pay assignment pay string contains the POSITION. Position is used to retrieve an employee’s Job Title required in Contract Reporting. |
| POSITION | =[value] Use this to assign the value entered to all records |
| POSITION | [cluster.attribute# ec] If some other field contains this information. |
PYRT/PARTRM10 WORK STATUS
Every employee to be reported must have a valid WORK STATUS code. These are entered in the employee’s PY Employee Definition (PYUPEM) record, Associated Codes tab. See the “Work Status Codes” and “Valid Work Status Codes” sections at the beginning of this document.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| WORK STATUS | [CODEWORD] = ASSOC DETAIL “WORKSTATUS” Note: This CODEWORD includes the literal ASSOC DETAIL and the quoted value “WORKSTATUS”. The quoted value is the actual value used in the Assoc Code field in PYUPEM. |
PYRT/PARTRM11 WAGE TYPE
This parameter indicates where an employee’s Wage Type (Salary, Hourly, Per Diem) can be obtained. Usually this will be an EPAY attribute, that is, associated with a pay assignment, so an employee who works several different jobs may be reported correctly.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| WAGE TYPE | [cluster.attribute# ec] This parameter indicates where an employee’s Wage Type (Salary, Hourly, Per Diem) can be obtained. Usually this will be an EPAY attribute, that is, associated with a pay assignment, so an employee who works several different jobs may be reported correctly. |
[1] through [8] | WAGE TYPE | [CODEWORD] = PAY CLASS If the WAGE TYPE can be assigned at the Pay Class level (because all employees in each pay class are the same wage type), then use the following parameter. Indicate in the Numeric Value which one of eight possible Miscellaneous Codes in the Pay Class definition (mask PYUPPY) contains the needed value. |
Values to designate Wage Type are SA for Salary, HR for Hourly or PD for Per Diem. This value is entered on the Pay Assignments (HRPYPA) screen on the Misc tab in Special Cds 8. The status of any employees that are changed to WAIT in the process should be changed to SEND, and a Send Pay should be performed. This will update the value on the Employee Pay Assignment screen (PYUPEP) on the Vectors/Misc Values tab in Short Character 8 field.
The Wage Type is entered in the HRPYPA screen in the Special Cds 8 field. Performing a Send Pay transfers the value to PYUPEP.
The Wage Type parameter is stored in Short Character field 8.
PYRT/PARTRM12 WORK UNITS
Note: This COMMON CODE is NO LONGER USED.
CREATE THE COMMON CODE BUT LEAVE ASSOC. CODES and DESCRIPTIONS BLANK.
PYRT/PARTRM13 EXTRACT BY
The appropriate date or dates (as indicated by the CODEWORD in the description field) from a Period definition are compared to the date range entered at run-time to determine if information from Check History for that period is to be included in the processing.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| EXTRACT BY | [CODEWORD] END DATE |
| EXTRACT BY | [CODEWORD] BEGIN/END DATES |
| EXTRACT BY | [CODEWORD] CHECK DATE |
PYRT/PARTRM14 VOTING
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
| VOTING | [cluster.attribute# ec] This parameter indicates where an employee’s Voting Status (VOTE = Yes, NOVT = No) can be obtained. Usually this will be an EPAY attribute, that is, associated with a pay assignment, so an employee who works several |
The Voting Status is entered in the HRPYPA screen in the Special Cds 7 field. Performing a Send Pay transfers the value to PYUPEP. Enter Values to designate Voting Status. They are VOTE for Yes to Voting Status, and NOVT for No to Voting Status.
PYRT/PARTRM15 WORK HOURS
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
## | WORK HOURS | Numeric Value indicates the hour base to be used to determine an employee’s hours worked. |
PYRT/PARTRM16 WORK DAYS
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
## | WORK DAYS | Numeric Value indicates the hour base to be used to determine an employee’s days worked. |
PYRT/PARTRM17 DUPLICATE PARTS
Use this parameter to indicate to the extract program which fields in a pay assignment are to be compared for equality. Multiple DUPLICATE PA entries may be used to define ALL the pay assignment fields to be compared. If all the indicated fields are found equal between two pay assignments for the same employee, only one of the assignments will generate a Contract record, the other will be ignored.
Use the CODEWORDs below and, where indicated, enter a value in the Numeric Value field of the common code to specify which one of a multi-entry CODEWORD should be used.
Associated Numeric Values | Associated Codes | Associated Descriptions |
[1] through [18] | DUPLICATE PA | [CODEWORD] PAYSTRING |
|
| [CODEWORD] BEGIN DATE |
|
| [CODEWORD] END DATE |
|
| [CODEWORD] SALARY |
|
| [CODEWORD] REGULAR RATE |
|
| [CODEWORD] CALENDAR |
|
| [CODEWORD] EFFORT |
|
| [CODEWORD] REC TYPE 1 |
[1] through [5] |
| [CODEWORD] MISC STR |
[1] through [5] |
| [CODEWORD] MISC NUM |
[1] through [8] |
| [CODEWORD] MISC CODE |
Creating NPAS Files
Files for submission to PSERS can be created once the setup is complete. The menu choices are accessed from the mask PYRERRPA (Payroll > Reports > Retirement Reports > Pennsylvania).
Demographics Extract (PYRERRPANE)
The Demographics data is extracted using mask NPAS Data Extract – PYRERRPANE.
Select the report date range, as well as” Member Demographic Data” to be used as retirement data. Click Submit to run the extract.