TABLE OF CONTENTS

Top

After logging into the reporting web site that is maintained by the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) for covered employers, the Employer Home page of the Employer Reporting and Information System (ERIS) appears. The ERIS Home page has been designed to facilitate your movement within ERIS.

In the top right corner of the ERIS Home page (and all ERIS task windows) is a link to on-line Help (?) which provides topic instructions to ease your use of ERIS and a glossary of common terms used within the ERIS system or this help manual. The glossary is the last item in this help manual and can only be viewed by scrolling to it.

Help text appears in a separate browser window so that you can view the information and have a specific ERIS Task screen such as Enroll Member, open at the same time. Help information has been organized into sections that support each task. In other words, if the Enroll Member window is open and the Help link is selected, ERIS will display the help content about that window.

• Clicking Help will display information about the open ERIS window. All Help topics can be viewed by scrolling through the online text using the mouse. To print the entire Help text click Print on your internet browser. No print button has been established within ERIS for printing the Help text since it is intended to be an online reference tool that will be modified as ERIS enhancements are made.

Top

Located in the center of the ERIS Home page is the Broadcast Message box which is updated periodically by PERA staff to provide important announcements about ERIS to employers. Immediately below the Message box is summary information about data privacy and a link to details about the terms and conditions for ERIS use.

• Please review the Broadcast Message after entering ERIS to see if it is new information.

The last line on the ERIS Home page contains links to useful PERA reference documents and information that are located in PERA's Web site, such as the Employer Manual.

Top

Movement within ERIS must be done through the Navigation Menu and cannot be initiated using the "forward arrow" or "back arrow" on your Internet browser. These arrows have been disabled while you are in the ERIS system because their use can have unpredictable results that include loss of previously entered data.

• To perform a task that is listed on the Navigation Menu, use your mouse to move the cursor over the name of the task you wish to perform, such as Enroll Member, and click the mouse. In some instances a task will be broken down into specific subsets that can be selected. The tasks available as of June 2003 are:

The Member Account module allows you to access the accounts of current and former PERA members of your agency. This module enables you to update member personal information on active members, such as name and address changes; and change the member's employment status.

Search includes two subsets: Employer and Benefit Recipient. The Employee search allows you to search for employee (both past and present) associated with your six-digit PERA Employer ID Number. With the Benefit Recipient search you can enter a Social Security Number to see if PERA is paying a benefit to the person with that Social Security Number.

Enroll Member allows you to enroll employees as new members of PERA's Defined Benefit Plans or Defined Contributions Plans.

The Contacts module allows you to add, change and delete the PERA contacts within your organization and select how these individuals receive some PERA publications.

Admin has two subsets: Manage Access Rights and Change Your Password. The Manage Access Rights window is used by the System Administrator within each agency to create new users or change contact data, status, and access rights on existing users. The Change Your Password window may be used by any ERIS user to obtain a new password.

Transmit File is used to send a data file to PERA over our secure Internet connection.

Log Out is the window used to exit the ERIS Web site. It is important to always use the Log Out task on the Navigation Menu to exit ERIS properly. If you log out of ERIS, but do not use the close function (x in right-hand corner) to end your internet session you will be blocked from re-entering ERIS for 30 minutes.

To move between screens within ERIS, you must use the Navigation Menu. The "back arrow" and "forward arrow" on your Internet browser become disabled upon entering ERIS. This is being done because use of these browser arrows can have unpredictable results and cause loss of previously entered data.

When in ERIS, you will remain online as long as the system detects activity at 20-minute intervals or less. As a protective measure, ERIS has a time-out feature which automatically logs out a user whenever there is no activity on a screen for 20 minutes. This feature reduces the risk that another individual will gain access to your account and helps safeguard data in the system if you leave your desk without logging out. When you are automatically logged off, any updates you made that had not been saved are lost.

Top

The Member Account module allows you to access a member's record by entering a Social Security Number. This module does not include a search feature so you must have a valid SSN in order to use this module. The Member Account module separates information on all members by displaying personal data on the Member Account Information screen and employment data on the Member Employment screen.

Member Account Information is the data PERA has on an individual member that makes him or her unique in our system, such as name, Social Security Number and address. Member account information is established when a New Member Enrollment is submitted.

In the Member Account module you may update a member's name, date of birth, gender and address if the person is employed by your agency; and add the effective date of the change. Additionally, the Member Employment section allows you to change an employee's employment status. In certain instances, you may be able to add or modify the Position Title, Position Class and Pay Schedule. You may also view enrollment history and status history through the Member Employment page.

Member Account

To access Member Account, follow these steps:

1. From the Navigation Menu, click Member Account.
2. Enter a valid SSN in the text field. It is not necessary to type the hyphens (-).
3. Click Submit.

Member Account information will appear on the screen. Data contained in the following fields may be changed on your active employees.

To change the Member Account Information data, follow these steps:

1. Delete the existing data by entering new data in the appropriate field(s).
2. Click Submit. The browser window will change to a screen that indicates the submission was successful. Or, you will receive an error message stating that invalid data was entered in one or more fields.
3. Click OK to return to the Member Account Information page.

Top

Member Employment

To access Member Employment, click the Employer Number, Employer Name or Plan Description field at the bottom of the Member Account Information page.

Data contained in the following fields may be changed on your active employees:

To change Member Employment data:

1. Delete the existing data by entering new data in the appropriate field(s).
2. Click Submit. The browser window will change to a screen that indicates the submission was successful. Or, you will receive an error message stating that invalid data was entered in one or more fields.
3. Click OK to return to the Member Account Information page.

An employer cannot edit certain fields. If you note apparent errors in the Plan, Enrollment Date, Hire Date or Eligibility Date, please contact PERA. Similarly, the Exclusion Code field will only have data if there was an exclusion code reported at the time of enrollment.

The Member Employment page also includes Enrollment History for employees enrolled after December 6, 2004 and Employee Status History on all employees.

To access Enrollment History:

1. Select a date from the Select History field. If no date appears in the Select Enrollment History field, no additional data other than the current window is available.
2. Click View Enrollment History. A browser window displaying the Member Enrollment data associated with that enrollment history will appear.
3. Click Return to go back to the Member Account Information page for the employee.
4. Click Cancel from the Member Account Information page to return to the Member Account page to look up a new record or to get access to the Navigation Menu to perform other tasks or to Log Out of ERIS.

To access Employee Status History:

1. Click View Status History. This is a view-only section to see other status changes that have been reported for that employee. An employer only has access to information submitted by that employer. Information submitted by other employers is not accessible. If any information appears to be inaccurate, please contact PERA.
2. Click Return to Employment to return to the Member Employment page.
3. Click Cancel to return to the Member Account Information page for the employee.
4. Click Cancel from the Member Account Information page to return to the Member Account page to look up a new record or to get access to the Navigation Menu to perform other tasks or to Log Out of ERIS.

Correctional Plan Certification

When an employee is enrolled in the Correctional Plan, a certification to verify the individuals eligibility in the Correctional Plan must accompany the enrollment. The certification can be sent electronically through ERIS.

To submit a Certification from the Member Employment page, follow these steps:

1. If you know the individual's SSN, select the Member Account module from the Navigation Menu
2. Enter the SSN to display the Member Account Information page
3. Select the Employer Number, Employer Name or Plan Description from the Employment List found near the bottom of the screen to display the Member Employment screen.
4. Select the 'Submit Certification' button. The Correctional Plan Certification screen will be displayed. At this point, you cancel the function to not submit the certification at this time, print the certification for your records, or Authorize the Submission.
5. Selecting the 'Authorize Submission' button sends the electronic certification to PERA.
6. You will then receive a message indicating the submission was successful. Click OK to return to the Member Employment page.

Note: Once the Certification has been submitted, the 'Submit Certification' button will not appear on the Member Employment page.

Top

All employers are able to perform two types of searches using ERIS  Employee and Benefit Recipient. And, if you submit information via Demographic Data Files, you can also use Track Demographic Records to search those files.

You can use the Employee module to perform various types of look-ups relating to the current or former employees of your particular agency. Alternatively, you can use the Benefit Recipient module to find out if a specific person is receiving a monthly PERA retirement or disability benefit. The Track Demographic Record search enables you to access files submitted by your particular agency to check the status of the file, view the contents or check for possible errors or missing information. Help performing each of these tasks follows.

Search for Employees

The Employee search module allows you to obtain PERA membership status information on a single current or former employee of your agency or several current or former employees of your agency. The results of each employee search is a list displaying Social Security Number, Name, Plan under which the employee(s) have employment records for your agency, and the last employment status recorded under your agency along with its effective date. ERIS will also indicate the total number of records returned.

Perform an Employee Search
The following fields can be used to perform an employee search. The more fields that are filled in the more detailed the search will be. The fields are not case sensitive. It is not necessary to capitalize names.

To perform a search, fill in one or more of the data fields that appear on the Search - Employee window and select the SEARCH button. You will receive one of two results:

If you wish, you can rearrange the returned employee data to sort by any column listed by clicking a specific column title. For example, if you would like the returned data to be arranged by Social Security Number, click the SSN column heading and the data will then be sorted numerically based on the Social Security Numbers.

To print the list or to view the entire list, click the PRINT ALL button found below the list of records. A new window will appear showing all names that matched the search criteria. To initiate printing, select the PRINT button in the upper right-hand corner of the View All Employee Search Results window. When your print browser window opens, select OK. To return to the Employee Search window, select the RETURN TO SEARCH button.

To copy an entire list that has been returned to you by Employee Search and place it into Excel or another spreadsheet application on your PC, do the following:

Top

Benefit Recipient

The Benefit Recipient search module of ERIS is used to determine if a particular individual is receiving a monthly benefit from PERA. This search tool allows you to search using a Social Security Number to see if the individual is receiving retirement or disability benefits from PERA.

This type of search reads PERA's entire payment system and enables you to find out the payment status of individuals who are not associated with your PERA employer number. However, due to data privacy laws, the only information that will be displayed to you in ERIS is a statement indicating whether or not a retirement or disability benefit is being paid to the person associated with the Social Security Number that had been entered.

• Access to Benefit Recipient Search is found under the Search task on the Navigation Menu. The steps to perform are as follows.
  1. Move your cursor to the word Search and perform a left mouse click. The word will be highlighted and an additional menu will appear to the right of the Navigation Menu.
  2. Select Benefit Recipient.
  3. Type the Social Security Number of the person you wish to research and select the SEARCH button. Note: It is not necessary to type the dashes (-) with the Social Security Number. Additionally, if you enter digits other than numbers in this field, you will receive an error message. After acknowledging the error, you must correct your entry before continuing.

A valid search request will result in one of two situations as follows:

• If the SSN was found in the PERA payment system and is associated with a person who is actively receiving monthly benefits, you will receive a message stating, "PERA Benefit Recipient. Do not withhold PERA contributions, if under age 67 report earnings only in Exempt Plan 99." Note: If you try to enroll this individual using the Enroll Member module, ERIS will not allow you to enroll the individual in a plan other than the Exempt Plan.

• If the SSN is not found in the PERA payment system, or was found but represents a person who is not currently receiving monthly benefits, you will receive a message that states, "Not a PERA Benefit Recipient. Enroll in PERA if eligibility requirements are met."

For more information on enrolling employees using ERIS, see Enroll Member.

Track Demographic Record

The Track Demographic Record search module allows you to view information about Demographic Data Files that have been submitted to PERA. Demographic records should be sent to PERA to report the following changes for a covered employee: a) enrollment in PERA for a new or reinstating member, b) termination of service, c) leave of absence, d) return from leave, e) death, and f) change in name and/or address.

You are able to confirm that a file was received, see the status (Processed, Unprocessed, or Cancelled) of one or more Demographic Records submitted to PERA in the last six months, view the contents of a Demographic Record on one or more employees, and look at possible errors or warnings associated with the records.

Perform a Demographic Record Search
The following fields can be used to perform a number of different Demographic Record searches.

To perform a search, fill in one or more of the data fields that appear on the Search Demographic Record window and select the SEARCH button. You will receive one of two results:

1. If no records are found as a result of your search, the message "No Matching Records Found" will appear above the category headings.
2. If records match the search criteria you established, you will receive a list of the Demographic Records associated with your six-digit Employer Number. The list will show the File Received Date, the members SSN, the members name, Record Status, Record Type, Reporting Method, Employer Number, File Name and File ID. The default order is by Record Status.

If you wish, you can rearrange the returned Demographic Record data to sort by any column listed by clicking a specific column title. For example, if you would like the returned data to be arranged by Record Type, click the Record Type column heading and the data will then be sorted based on the Record Type.To print the list or to view the entire list, click the PRINT ALL button. A new window will appear showing all records that matched the search criteria. To initiate printing, select the PRINT button in the upper right-hand corner of the View All Employee Search Results window. When your print browser window opens, select OK. To return to the Employee Search window, select the RETURN TO SEARCH button.

To copy an entire list that has been returned to you by Employee Search and place it into Excel or another spreadsheet application on your PC, do the following:

1. Click the PRINT ALL button found below the list of records that appears in the Employee Search window. A new window will appear showing all names that matched the search criteria.
2. Select and highlight all fields including the column headings. To do this, left-mouse click in the first column of SSN, and with the mouse continually depressed, move the cursor to the right to the last column of Effective Date and then down until you get to the end of the list. (You should see all fields become highlighted.)
3. Right-mouse click and select COPY (all fields must still be highlighted).
4. Open Excel or Word on your PC, right mouse click and select PASTE to insert your highlighted data.
5. Close and name the new Excel spreadsheet.
6. Return to the View All Employee Results window that should still be active on your PC task bar.
7. Select Return to Search.
8. If ready to close ERIS, click Log Out on the Navigation Menu.

Top

Enrolling a new member into a PERA-covered DBP or DCP is a task option that may be selected from the Navigation Menu. The Enroll Member task is used to add personal and employment data on employees who become eligible to contribute to PERA. Employers are encouraged to use this option as an alternative to the paper enrollment process. Employees must be enrolled as new members of PERA before any contribution can be posted to their individual accounts.

• The Enroll Member task requires the completion of three separate screens. The complete process follows.

1. The first screen that appears is the Enrollment Request window, which requires the following data items: DATA FIELD DESCRIPTION Plan Name A drop-down list appears containing the names of the DBP and DCP to which your employer agency may enroll employees. If the plan name that appears in the field is not the appropriate plan for this enrollment, select from the list using the down arrow. SSN Type the employee's 9-digit Social Security Number without dashes. This number must match the SSN in your official records on this employee. An SSN of all zeroes (000000000) or all nines 999999999 is not valid. ReEnter SSN Re-type the employees 9-digit Social Security as it appears in the SSN filed above. 2. Select the OK button after completing Plan and SSN fields. If an invalid SSN was provided or the two SSNs you typed do not match, you receive a message asking that you re-enter the SSNs. To remove the message, select the OK button and you will be returned to the previous screen to begin the enrollment process again. If a valid SSN was provided, you will receive a Confirmation screen, which requires that you re-enter the SSN and select OK. If a valid SSN was provided but enrollment for this employee in the Plan you have selected cannot be validated, a Confirmation screen will appear with a message describing the situation. Select OK to close the message window and return to the previous screen. Below are messages that might appear in this first stage of the Enrollment Request process along with explanations and instructions for each. DATA FIELD MESSAGE IF DATA NOT VALIDATED EXPLANATION Plan Name Employee not eligible for Basic Plan ERIS found that this person is not currently active in the Basic plan in another employer agency. To continue, restart the Enroll Member process using the Coordinated Plan. Exempt Plan invalid employee not receiving benefits ERIS found that this person is not drawing a monthly retirement or disability benefit so s/he cannot be enrolled in the Exempt Plan. To correct, restart the Member Enroll process using the proper Defined Benefit Plan. Employee only Eligible to participate in the Exempt Plan ERIS found that this person is drawing a monthly retirement or disability benefit so s/he must be enrolled in the Exempt Plan. 3. Once ERIS validates the SSN and Plan data, it determines if the employee is already in the PERA member system based on current or previous public employment. When the employee is found in the PERA system, a Confirmation window showing the person's SSN and first name appears. a. If the name displayed matches that of your employee, insert the person's date of birth (mm/dd/yyyy) and select OK. Your data is checked against PERA's member system and a match will result in you receiving the next screen. If a match doesn't occur, you will receive a message. To continue, select OK and you will be returned to the re-enter SSN window where you may cancel the process or begin again using a different date of birth. b. If the name displayed does not match that of your employee, select CANCEL and contact PERA to determine how to proceed. 4. The third and final step of the Enroll Member task requires you to provide necessary personal and employment information on this employee. Below are the data fields that will appear. All fields are updateable and bold headings indicate required fields. Complete as many fields as possible including those which are not mandatory. Use the TAB key on the keyboard or the mouse to move between fields. Tabbing will highlight existing data, when applicable, which can be deleted using the delete key on the keyboard or by backspacing before typing new data. DATA FIELD CONTENTS Last Name Type the employee's last name without punctuation. Also leave out the space in names such as McArthur and VanBurgen, and the apostrophe in names such as O'Connor. This will aid in subsequent member searches or sorts that are performed. First Name Type the employee's first name without punctuation. Middle Initial Type the employee's middle initial without punctuation. Title or Suffix Use drop down arrow or begin typing the data to select the proper suffix such as Jr. Sex (gender) Use drop down arrow or begin typing the data to select the gender of this employee. Birth Last Name Type the data (if known) without punctuation or spaces. Date of Birth Type the employee's date of birth as mm/dd/yyyy. ERIS will perform a validation of the DOB received to ensure that the employee is older than 14 and younger than 99 years of age. Street 1 Type the street address, PO Box, or Route Number for the employee. Include apartment numbers as part of Address 1 whenever possible. Note: You will not enter the City and State associated with the person's address because ERIS uses US postal-certified software to validate the street address and zip code you enter and then automatically add the city and state to the record. Street 2 Use this field only if the address for the employee will not fit in Address 1. Follow US Postal standards to determine what information to put in each address field. ZIP Record the 5-digit postal zip code for the address. Note: Upon entering data in Address 1 and ZIP, ERIS will try to validate the mailing information using US postal-certified software. Although completion of this field is optional, a record cannot be saved with invalid mailing data and you will receive a message if the combined Address 1 and ZIP are not validated. Pay Cycle Use the drop-down list to select the appropriate cycle. The list shown has been created using data recorded in PERA's employer system. This is required if PERA generates Salary Deduction Reports for your agency to use to report contributions. Job Title Type the actual job title of the position held by the employee. Position Appointment Classification Use drop down to select the proper appointment classification such as Full-time, Part-time, etc. Hire Date Type the date that reflects the day the employee began working in this position based on his or her current employment. ERIS accepts future hire dates that do not exceeds120 days from the date the enrollment is submitted to PERA. Eligibility Date Type the date (mm/dd/yyyy) that the employee became eligible for membership in the plan to which this enrollment applies. This date cannot be before the Hire Date. The eligibility date should coincide with the pay cycle in which the first PERA deduction will be withheld for the employee for this Plan. Position Title Use the drop down list to select the proper entry such as police officer, fire fighter, elected official, city manager, other, etc. Exclusion Code Use the drop down list to select the entry that explains a delay in membership by more than 30 days. 5. Select one of the following: The ADD button to try to save the record. In doing so, you will receive one of two possible Confirmation windows: a. A confirmation stating that you successfully added the member. At this point, the New Enrollment Information screen will redisplay. You may then either click the PRINT button if you wish a printout of the New Enrollment Information screen or the OK button and you will be returned to the Request Enrollment screen. In certain instances you will receive a message reminding you to complete a Correction Plan Certification form or submit a governing body resolution on a Police and Fire Plan member. Select OK and you return to the New Enrollment Information screen b. A message indicating that required fields are empty or the data entered were not validated. If you wish to view details about each error, click the SHOW DETAILS checkbox. To return to the New Enrollment Information window to make data corrections, select OK. Below are messages that might appear in this final stage of the Enroll Member process along with instructions or explanations for each. DATA FIELD MESSAGE IF DATA NOT VALIDATED INSTRUCTION OR EXPLANATION Plan Employee not eligible for Basic Plan The Enroll Member task must be cancelled and restarted using the Coordinated Plan rather than the Basic Plan. This happens when ERIS finds that this person is not currently active in the Basic plan in another employer agency or does not have a termination date under the Basic Plan that is within 30 days of the hire or eligibility date of this employment. Last Name Missing Last Name Type data Note: If data item is not available for entry, CANCEL the Enroll Member task. First Name Missing First Name Type data Note: If data item is not available for entry, CANCEL the Member Enroll task. Date of Birth Invalid Date of Birth Check the date for proper formatting (mm/dd/yyyy). Check for valid age (date may not result in an age under 14 or older than 99. Street 1 or Street 2 Invalid address Check for possible data entry error in this field or in the ZIP field and correct if found. If you cannot provide a valid Street 1 and ZIP, leave these fields empty. ZIP Invalid ZIP Check for possible data entry error in this field or in the Address 1 field and correct if found. Remove contents of this field and Address 1 if you cannot provide a valid data in both fields you must remove their contents before the record can be saved. Pay Cycle Missing Pay Cycle The list shown has been created using data recorded in PERA's employer system. Completion of this field is required if PERA generates Salary Deduction Reports for your agency to use to report contributions. Select the appropriate cycle from the list box using the mouse, the tab key on the keyboard, or by typing the first letter of a single selection. If you need to select more than one cycle, use the mouse to select and highlight all cycles needed for the employee being enrolled. Position Appointment Classification Missing Position Appointment Classification Completion of this field is required for all Police and Fire Plan enrollments. Use the list box to select the proper appointment classification such as Full-time, Part-time, etc. Hire Date Missing Hire Date Type missing date Invalid Hire Date Check for proper format (mm/dd/yyyy) Check for valid connection to Eligibility Date (Hire date cannot be after Eligibility date.) Invalid Future Hire Date Check data for accuracy and correct it. Note: CANCEL the enrollment process if the hire date is in the future. Eligibility Date Invalid Eligibility Date Check for proper format (mm/dd/yyyy). Check for valid date by comparing to Hire Date (The eligibility date cannot be before the Hire Date.) Position Title Missing Position Title Use the drop down list to select the proper entry such as police officer, fire fighter, elected official, city manager, other, etc. Exclusion Missing exclusion code Use drop down arrow or begin to type data to select the exclusion that explains the more-than-30-day gap between the Eligibility and Hire dates entered. CANCEL to leave this screen without saving the new member information.

Top

The Contacts module of ERIS is used to maintain information about the specific individuals within your agency that PERA staff may contact to discuss or resolve various reporting tasks. It is also used to designate which of PERA's standard publications an individual wishes to receive and in what format (paper or electronic). Through this module, an agency's System Administrator or Representative (if given authority) can add a new contact person, edit information concerning an existing contact, establish or change the PERA mailings that will be distributed by PERA, or delete a contact from PERA's system.

View Employer Contact Records

From the Navigation Menu on the Home Page, Contacts. The Maintain Contact Information window will appear displaying the names of all of the individuals that have been established as contacts for your agency. To see the detail information that is recorded for a specific individual, click on the person's name. The detailed Maintain Contact Information screen will appear. Select CANCEL to return to the previous window.

Add a Contact

After selecting Account from the Navigation Menu, click Maintain Contact. The Maintain Contact Information window will appear.

To add a new contact, following the steps below.

1. Select the ADD NEW button. A data entry window appears.
2. Record the following contact information about the person being added (fields in bold are required):

3. Identify which (if any) of the periodic PERA publications are to be sent to the contact person. ERIS allows an employer contact person to receive the member newsletter, employer newsletter, Annual Member Service Schedule, CAFR and/or Employer Reporting Manual via paper (postal mail) or e-mail. For each publication that is to be sent to the contact person, change the delivery method from the default of "None" to either Mail or E-mail using the drop-down menu.

4. To complete the Add New Contact function, select the SUBMIT button. One of two situations will occur and are handled as follows:

• If the recorded information was validated by ERIS, you will receive a confirmation window. Choose OK to return to the Maintain Contact Information screen.
• If the recorded data could not be validated, you will receive a confirmation window with a message describing the situation. Select OK to close the message window and return to the previous screen to make the necessary corrections.

Below are messages that might appear at this point in the Maintain Contact process along with the explanations and instructions for each item.

MESSAGE IF DATA NOT VALIDATED	INSTRUCTION OR EXPLANATION
Email Address Required	This message indicates that you have selected the publication method of "Email" but have not provided an email address for the contact person. To resolve this situation, add the person's email address or change the publication delivery method to MAIL or NONE.
No Role Selected	Every contact person must be given at least one PERA role. To resolve this situation, select a role from the list provided.
Required Payroll Contact	Every PERA-covered employer must have at least one person designated to have the role of Payroll Contact. This error appears if an employer tries to delete the contact record of the sole Payroll Contact. To eliminate this error, you must cancel the delete contact task that cannot be completed by ERIS. Next, you must take steps to assign the role of Payroll Contact to an existing contact person or to a new contact record you create. Once your agency has two records with the role of Payroll Contact, you can perform the Delete task on one of the records.
Address Problems	Check for possible data entry error in the Address 1, Address 2, or ZIP fields and correct if found. If you cannot resolve the error, you will not be able to update the PERA system and must cancel this add or update task. Call the PERA office immediately to report this unresolved situation.

NOTE: If you are adding a new contact person that will also need to access ERIS as a Representative, you must perform the New User Manage Access Rights function as well. For help in creating a new ERIS User, click here.

Change Existing Contact Information

To modify information that is recorded in the PERA system on an existing contact person, click the name of the person whose record you wish to edit. The detailed Maintain Contact Information screen will appear You can make changes by using the tab key or mouse to advance to the field you wish to change, deleting the existing data, and typing the new data. When you have completed all changes, select the SUBMIT button.

Delete a Contact Person's Record

After selecting Account from the Navigation Menu, click Maintain Contact. The Maintain Contact Information Detail page will appear.

To delete an existing contact record, follow these steps:

1. Place a check in the Delete box next to the name of each person you wish to delete by clicking the small open box under the "Delete" heading.

2. Select the DELETE button appearing to the right.

3. You will then see the Confirm Delete Contact screen and a listing of the contact record or records that have been marked for deletion. If you wish to continue the delete, select the YES button. A message confirming the deletion(s) will appear. (To cancel this task, select the NO button.)

4. Select the OK button to return to the Maintain Contact Information page.

The Admin module is used to perform administrative tasks related to individuals who were previously granted rights to use all or part of ERIS. It consists of two subsets: Manage Access Rights and Change Password. Only those listed as a System Administrator will have access to the Manage Access Rights windows. All ERIS users have access to the Change Password subset.

Manage Access Rights

The Manage Access Rights window is a subset under the Admin function listed on the Navigation Menu. This screen is used by the one or two individuals who are designated as an employer's ERIS System Administrators to facilitate their management of who within their employer agency may use ERIS and for what purpose. Using this window, a System Administrator can create new user Representatives as needed for the agency, update contact information on existing system users, change security settings as new ERIS tasks become available or as job duties change, and inactivate user accounts as changes in employment status warrant. When allowed by a System Administrator, a Representative may view the Manage Access Rights window but cannot perform any of its tasks.

Top

Each agency's System Administrator has the authority to grant access to the various modules within ERIS on an individual basis.

• To add a new user and assign access rights, the System Administrator takes these steps:

1. Select ADD NEW ACCOUNT. A data entry window appears that allows the System Administrator to record the following contact information about the person being given access. Unless noted below each field must be completed to save the record. DATA FIELD DESCRIPTION Last Name Record the data without punctuation. First Name Record the data without punctuation. Middle Initial Record the data without punctuation. Middle initial is optional. Job Title Record the person's job title without punctuation. Mother's maiden name Record the data without punctuation. This is requested for use if the person forgets his/her password and needs a new one. Email address Record the data (somename@someplace.extension). Each user within an employer agency must have a unique email address. If an email address is found to match one already stored in ERIS for an active or inactive user, a message will appear indicating that the record cannot be saved. To remove the message, click OK and correct the email address for the user, or click the CANCEL button if a unique email address cannot be recorded. ERIS uses the email address to send a temporary password to the new user. Street 1 and Street 2 Record the street address, PO Box, or Route Number for the user's business location as Street 1. Use the Street 2 line only if the information will not fit in Street 1 following US Postal standards to determine what information to put in each field. NOTE: A System Administrator will not be able to enter the City and State associated with the person's address because ERIS uses US postal-certified software to validate the street address and zip code entered and then automatically add the city and state to the record. ZIP Record the 5-digit postal zip code for the address. Upon entering data in Address 1 and Zip, ERIS will attempt to validate the mailing information using US postal-certified software. You will receive a message if the address is found to be invalid. A record cannot be saved with invalid mailing data. FAX number Include area code with the 7-digit phone number. (optional field) Work Phone Include the area code with the 7-digit phone number. 2. Use the lower portion of this screen labeled "Security Rights" to assign access privileges to the user. The table that appears shows the name of each task that can be performed using ERIS. For each one, select the security setting desired using the drop down list. Security settings assigned are used to establish the links the user will have on the Navigation Menu. The System Administrator should grant security rights based on the job duties of each individual. Security Rights Settings 0 Select this setting if the user will not be allowed to view or perform the named task. 1 Select this setting if the user will be allowed to view the windows under the named task but will not be able to modify the online information displayed. 2 Select this setting if the user will be allowed to modify any of the online windows associated with the named task. 3. Visually verify data entered for accuracy and completeness. Bold-letter data fields are mandatory. Select either SUBMIT or CANCEL at the bottom of the page. If you choose SUBMIT, the system will try to validate the new information. a. If the data are successfully validated, a Confirmation window will appear asking you to inform the new user of the User Name that has been assigned. The User Name appears in the Confirmation window and should be written down before selecting OK. When communicating the User Name, provide a printed copy of the Terms and Conditions document for ERIS that is accessible from the Registration page. The authorized ERIS user will immediately receive a temporary password from PERA through an email. b. If data could not be validated, a Confirmation window that identifies the fields which require correction. If the CANCEL button is selected, you will exit the Manage Access Rights window without having created a new user.

Top

Modify Data
The System Administrator is responsible for keeping contact information and security rights of users current. This is done with the Manage Access Rights window, a subset of Account.

• To modify data on a user, the System Administrator must first select the record of the person by following these steps:

1. Two methods are available for locating the account record of a user: Key in the last and first name of the user and click the SEARCH button; or Leave the name fields empty and click SEARCH. The results of the search will appear on the window. When you receive a list of all users for your employer agency, select the record you wish to modify by clicking either the person's name in the list or the ARROW button in the last column labeled "Select Record." 2. Once the detailed user record is displayed, advance the cursor to the data fields you wish to change and key in the new information. You may overwrite current field information by highlighting it and then entering the new information over it. 3. Select either the SUBMIT button to save the new information or the CANCEL button to exit without saving. If you choose SUBMIT, the system will try to validate the new information. If each item was validated, you will receive a confirmation message If items could not be validated, a Confirmation window informing you of the fields requiring correction will appear. In this instance, note the message, click OK, correct the information, and SUBMIT again. If you select the CANCEL button, you will exit Manage Access Rights without creating a new user.

User Name
Each person given access to ERIS receives a unique User Name that is assigned by the system. PERA notifies individuals of their User Name through an e-mail that is sent immediately after registration (for System Administrators) or after a New User record is submitted by a System Administrator. If the email notice is printed it must be kept in a safe place to ensure that unauthorized individuals do not have access to it. If a System Administrator loses and forgets his or her User Name, s/he must contact PERA by telephone to obtain the data. If a Representative loses and forgets his or her User name, s/he may obtain the data from the System Administrator within the employer agency.

• The System Administrator uses the following procedures to find a person's User Name:

1. Select Account and Manage Access Rights from the Navigation Menu.
2. Search for and select the person's detailed account record following the procedures described previously in this help manual under Modify Data.
3. Scroll down the user's record to the "Status" section and you will see the User Name.
4. Select the CANCEL button to exit the record without making any changes to it.

Reset Lock
To enter ERIS, each authorized user must Log In from the main ERIS Home Page of PERA's Web site using the assigned User Name and Password. If three incorrect log-in attempts occur without a successful log-in, the person is locked out of the system. System Administrators are locked out for 24 hours unless they call PERA to regain access within a shorter period. Representatives are also locked out for 24 hours; however, they can contact their internal System Administrator to have the lock-out feature reset immediately.

• To reset a Representative's Account that has been locked, the System Administrator uses these steps:

1. Select Account and Manage Access Rights from the Navigation Menu.
2. Search for and select the person's detailed account record following the procedures described previously in this help manual under Modify Data.
3. Select the RESET LOCK button at the bottom of the screen. The Representative should now be able to log into ERIS using a valid User Name and Password. (NOTE: The RESET LOCK button is available only for accounts that are in a locked status. If a user is unable to log in but the RESET LOCK button has not been activated, the problem may be that ERIS was not closed properly. (See Log Out help information.)
4. Select CANCEL when the Registration window is displayed.
   
5. Wait 2-3 minutes before attempting to log in.

If the user is timed-out due to system inactivity, follow the procedures outlined under Timed-Out.

Top

Entry into ERIS is allowed only when an individual logs in using a valid User Name and Password. The password must be 8-30 characters in length with at least 1 number and 1 upper case letter (such as passwOrd1). When a person logs into ERIS for the first time, s/he uses a temporary password which must be changed immediately. This gives each person the opportunity to create a password that might more easily be remembered and ensures that no one else knows the password (not even a PERA employee).
Passwords are valid for six months and are to be changed before they expire. As a convenience, the expiration date of each person's password appears on the ERIS Home page. The Change Password window facilitates the process of changing a password.

• To change your Password, do the following:

1. Select Account and Change Password from the Navigation Menu.
2. Enter your current (or old) password.
3. Enter a new password two times, once as the New Password and once on the Confirm Password line. The password must conform to established requirements or an invalid password change message will display.
   
4. Select OK and a message box will appear informing you that the password has been changed. When you click the OK button, the system will automatically log you in under your new password.

Top

If a System Administrator or Representative loses their password, they must request a new password using ERIS. In either situation, no assistance is needed from PERA staff to obtain a new password and PERA staff cannot look up a person's password.

• If you have forgotten your password and cannot log in to ERIS, do the following:

1. Select FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD link located on the ERIS Registration window that is accessible from the ERIS Home Page of the main PERA Web site.
2. Key in your User Name
3. Key in your Mother's Maiden Name.
4. Click OK. The system will validate the information you entered and issue a new temporary password to you. The password will be sent in an email to the address that PERA has in your ERIS user account record.

Top

Employers who want to send contribution or demographic files to PERA over the Internet do so using the Transmit File module.

1. From the Navigation Menu, click Transmit File.
2. Identify the file you wish to send by either typing the file name in the text field or clicking Browse to find the file on your computer. The file must end with .sdr as the extension.
3. Click Submit. The system will then notify you if the file transferred successfully by providing the date and time of the transfer and a Transmit ID number. Please make note of the Transmit ID Number assigned for future reference. (If the file fails the initial validation that is done within ERIS (for reasons such as record format, an error will be displayed.)
4. Click OK to go back to the Transmit File window.

To transmit another file, repeat steps 2-4 or use the Navigation Menu to access a different module or Log Out.

Top

Introduction

The SDR Reporting module is designed to allow employers to submit their pay period salary and contribution data through our Web site. The module consists of two sections—New SDR and SDR History. The New SDR section is for creating and submitting a Salary Deduction Report (SDR). The SDR History section, on the other hand, is for locating and accessing SDRs that have been created and saved (but not submitted to PERA) or SDRs that have been created and submitted to PERA.

New SDR

This process requires the completion of three components—1) Create the SDR, 2) Add data, and 3) Submit the SDR in electronic format to PERA. Each component has separate tasks which must be completed before moving to the next component. The full process follows.

To create a New SDR follow these steps:

1. From the Navigation Menu, select New SDR
   1. The first time you enter this module, the following question will be presented to you for a response: Do you wish to stop receiving by mail PERA Generated SDR Reports?
      • Select “YES” if PERA may stop mailing pre-printed SDRs to your agency.  If you choose this response, you will not be asked this question again.
      • Select “NO” if you wish to continue receiving paper pre-printed SDRs in the mail for a short period. This question will be presented to you each time you access the New SDR module until you subsequently choose the response of “YES.”
2. The SDR information that is needed in order to create a report will appear on the screen for your completion.  Data presented with default values may be changed as needed.

3. Select the Submit button after completing all fields.
   THE SYSTEM WILL VALIDATE THE REPORT DATA YOU PROVIDED AND WILL EITHER CREATE THE SDR OR DISPLAY A MESSAGE INDICATING THE FIELDS REQUIRING CORRECTION.  THIS MAY TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO PROCESS.
   1. If the system builds an SDR, follow the steps in the next section under SDR Detail -- Adding Data.
   2. If an error prevented the SDR creation, use the information in the following table to resolve the issue.  Then follow the steps listed in the next section under SDR Detail -- Adding Data.

ERROR CODE	MESSAGE IF DATA NOT VALIDATED	EXPLANATION AND SOLUTION
ECO220	Begin Date cannot be greater than End Date	The SDR Begin Date falls after the End Date recorded.  To continue, change the Begin or End Date, whichever is incorrect.
ECO221	Begin Date cannot be more than 120 days from current date	An SDR cannot be created for a period that is in the future by more than 120 days (4 months). If the SDR Begin Date entered is incorrect, key in the valid date. If the Begin date is valid, you must delay the SDR creation until you are within 120 days of the pay period begin and end dates.
ECO222	End Date cannot be more than 120 days from future date	An SDR cannot be created for a period that is in the future by more than 120 days (4 months). If the SDR End Date entered is incorrect, key in the valid date. If the date is valid, you must delay the SDR creation until you are within 120 days of the pay period End Date.
ECO251	Paid Date cannot be more than 120 days from current date	An SDR cannot be created with a Paid Date that is in the future by more than 120 days. If the SDR Paid Date you entered is incorrect, key in the valid date. If the date is valid, you must delay the SDR creation until you are within 4 months of the Paid Date.
ECO571	For All Pay Schedules (except Yearly) that have a Pay Type of Regular, the Pay Period cannot exceed 300 days	An SDR covering Regular Pay cannot be created for a coverage period that is longer than 300 days unless the Pay Schedule is Annual. If the SDR Begin or End dates entered are incorrect, key in the valid date(s). If the pay actually represents Retroactive wages rather than Regular Pay, use the drop-down list to change Pay Type. In all other situations, call PERA using the Employer Response Line to correct the situation.
ECO740	Difference between Pay Period Begin and End Dates must be greater than 2 days	An SDR cannot be created for a period that is equal to or less than 2 days. To continue, key in the dates for a period of at least 3 days.

Salary Deduction Report Screen

The Salary Deduction Reportscreen has four components or tabs as follow:

• Detail tab contains a list of employees who met the Pay Schedule, Plan Type and Pay Period Begin Date as defined on the New SDR screen. This window is for reporting PERA-eligible earnings and for initiating a system calculation of PERA contributions due based on the wage amounts you enter for your members. You have the ability to override any of the system-calculated Member Deductions as needed to ensure that PERA’s records will match those of your payroll system. You can also add additional member lines to the SDR Detail screen as required for other types of pay or to report the wages of new employees who are not yet enrolled into PERA.
• 
  
• Summary tab shows the contribution totals for the entire SDR and for each plan that has member wages. As can be done in the Detail tab, you can override any of the system-calculated amounts to ensure that PERA’s records will match those of your payroll system. The Summary tab is the only place from which you can submit the SDR to PERA.
• 
  
• Notes tab provides a place for you to type an important message about the SDR you are processing for review by PERA staff. The information you type will be sent automatically to PERA in email format when you submit the completed SDR to PERA.
• 
  
• Message tab displays all of the data warnings or errors that the system encountered when it tried to save your SDR entries.

Each of the four SDR tab screens has up to six buttons on the upper right-hand side that provide additional capabilities as follows.

Instructions on how to use each of the four Salary Deduction Report tabs are described below.

SDR Detail

The Detail screen is used to report PERA-eligible earnings on all employees who are PERA members. In addition, from this screen you can initiate the calculation of PERA member deductions and employer contributions based on the wage amounts you have entered for your members. This screen also provides access to each employee’s individual account so that you can easily update the member’s employment status, name, or address. The upper left-hand corner of the SDR Detail screen shows information about your entity and the SDR you are currently processing, including its current status. Directly below this information is a Last Name Search field. Below that search field is the list of PERA-covered employees that met the criteria used to create this report. The SDR Detail screen will be broken down into pages whenever you have more than 20 members listed. To move around within a multi-page report, you can use the page links (Next or Previous) located on the right-hand side of the window at the top and bottom of the SDR.

Detail Screen - Adding Salary Amounts

1. When a new Detail screen is presented to you, the cursor is located in the PERA-Eligible Earnings column corresponding with the first member on the page. Before you can key an amount into the salary field, you must highlight or delete the data (0.00) appearing in this member line. Use one of the methods listed below.
   1. Delete the 0.00 salary amount by backspacing three times.
   2. Highlight the 0.00 salary by clicking the left mouse quickly three times in succession.
   3. Highlight the 0.00 salary by clicking the left mouse once and then hold the left mouse down while you scroll backwards over the data.
2. To place an amount in the salary field (that is either blank or highlighted), type the amount and press the ‘Enter’ key or ‘Down Arrow.’ The system will display the amount you entered, advance the cursor to the next employee’s salary field and automatically highlight the 0.00 data for subsequent replacement by your next entry. It is important that you follow these guidelines when you key salary amounts.
   • If you enter the entire amount, including cents, and omit the decimal, the system will automatically add the decimal point to the dollar amount after you press ‘Enter’ or the ‘Down Arrow.’ (Example: An entry of 67575 will become 675.75).
   • At your option, you may key the decimal point as part of your salary entry. Example: An entry of 500.00 will remain 500.00 after you press ‘Enter’ or the ‘Down Arrow.” In the case of whole amounts, you could key in 500. and the system would add the 00 cents automatically after your manual decimal point; thus an entry of 500. will become 500.00 after you press ‘Enter’ or the ‘Down Arrow.’
   • If you enter a whole number and omit BOTH the cents and the decimal point, the system will insert the decimal two places from the right. In these situations, be sure to check the amounts for accuracy. Example: If you want to record five hundred dollars in wages and key only 500 (without the 00 cents or without the decimal point (.), the system will place the decimal two spaces from the right and record the salary as 5.00 rather than the intended 500.00.

   Note: If you have a multi-page report, you will need to perform step #1 above each time a new SDR page is presented to you in the Detail screen. As occurs on the first page, once you successfully replace the first member’s 0.00 salary with another amount and use the ‘Enter’ or ‘Down Arrow’ to advance to the next line, the system will do the highlighting task for you.

3. When you reach the last employee on the SDR page, you will not be able to use the ‘Down Arrow” because there are no other lines on the report. Instead, press the ‘Tab’ key and you will then see the formatted salary data for this final person.
   1. If you have other SDR pages to complete, select the ‘Next’ link to move to the next page and repeat steps 1-3 until you have completed the full report.

Detail Screen — Saving Data and Calculating Contributions

After inputting salary amounts into the Detail screen, you can have the system calculate the member deductions and employer contributions due on the recorded wages. This is done automatically as part of the save process. When working on a multi-page SDR, we recommend that you press the ‘Save’ button periodically to ensure that your work will not be lost if a connectivity issue surfaces.

To save an SDR and Calculate Contributions

1. Press the ‘Save’ button appearing on the Detail screen.
2. When you receive the pop-up message confirming that the SDR data has been saved, click the ‘OK’ button to return to the Detail screen of the Salary Deduction Report page.
3. Note that for each member, except members of the DCP Ambulance Plan and the Exempt Plan) an amount now appears in the Member Deduction field for each employee that had salary amounts. As necessary, you may compare these amounts to those appearing on other payroll reports you have to ensure that PERA’s records will match your’s.
   1. For DCP Ambulance Plan members, you will need to input the Employer Contributions and, if applicable, Member Deductions as these amounts are set by your agency.
   2. For Exempt Plan members, no deductions can be reported on the SDR. If you have mistakenly taken PERA deductions from the wages of a PERA benefit recipient, please contact PERA for instructions on how to make the correction.

   Note: ERIS also utilizes an automatic save feature that is initiated when you move between the tabs in the Salary Deduction Report window (Detail, Summary, Notes, or Messages). If you select the Summary tab immediately after keying in salary data for your employees, you will note that the Member Contributions and Employer Contributions are immediately calculated and the totals are displayed on the Summary tab. At this point, if you go back to the Detail tab, you will see that Member Deductions appear for all employees for whom earnings had been recorded.

Detail Screen — Modifying Member Deductions

If the calculated member deductions do not match the contributions you actually withheld from an employee’s pay, you can override the calculated amount by manually replacing it with another dollar amount.

To modify an employee’s deduction amount after it is calculated by ERIS, follow these steps.

1. Highlight or delete the calculated Member Deduction amount you wish to modify/replace. Use the same steps used previously to highlight the first salary amount on an SDR Detail screen.
2. Key in the new dollar amount. Use the same guidelines used previously to key in salary amounts on an SDR Detail window.
3. Press the ‘Save’ button on the Detail screen.
4. When you receive the pop-up message confirming that the SDR data has been saved, click the ‘OK’ button to return to the Detail tab of the Salary Deduction Report window.
5. The contribution amount you entered now appears in blue, while all other calculated Member Deductions appear in black.

   Note: Please review the last column of the SDR to see if your manual entry has resulted in a data discrepancy or error. For example, if the deduction amount you entered is not within $1.00 of the amount due based on the reported salary and plan under which the member belongs, the word “warning” will appear in the Review Level column of the SDR Detail. You can select the ‘Messages’ tab to view descriptive information about any and all messages associated with the SDR you are processing. You may send an SDR to PERA even if it has data discrepancies or errors; however, whenever we encourage you to resolve these discrepancies whenever you can. You will be contacted by the PERA staff in those instances in which an SDR contains warning or error messages.

Detail Screen — Modifying Member Salary Amounts

A salary entry that you made is not set in stone; it can be subsequently modified at any time before the SDR is sent to PERA.

To modify the salary data for a specific employee, follow these steps.

1. Move the cursor to the salary field for the particular employee. To move within the SDR, use either the ‘Last Name Search’ field or use the ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ page links and the ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ arrow keys.
2. Highlight the particular salary amount you wish to modify. Use the same steps you followed when adding salary to the first employee’s transaction on an SDR Detail window.
3. Key in the new salary amount. Use the same guidelines you previously followed when you input salary amounts on an SDR Detail window.
4. Press the ‘Save’ button appearing on the Detail screen.
5. When you receive the pop-up message confirming that the SDR data has been saved, click the ‘OK’ button to return to the Salary Deduction Report page.
6. The salary amount you entered will be displayed (in black) and a new calculated Member Deduction amount will also appear (in black). As necessary, compare these amounts to those appearing on other payroll reports you have to ensure that PERA’s records will match your’s.

Detail Screen — Adding a Member

The ‘Add Member’ button is specifically for adding a person to the SDR. This will be useful in two situations as follows:

• When you want to report two types of salary payments for one employee. For example, you have Regular wages to report for the pay period and you also have a retroactive pay increase amount that covers more than just the current pay period. Similarly, if you have Regular wages for a particular employee and you also have salary paid as Compensatory Pay, Grievance Pay, or Omitted Deductions and that compensation covers previous pay periods. In these instances, you must take steps to ensure that the particular employee appears on the SDR in two places—once with Regular wages and once with wages associated with another pay type, such as Retroactive pay, Grievance pay, etc.
• When you have hired a new employee and have not yet submitted the individual’s enrollment data to PERA. In these instances, you may use the ‘Add Member’ button to not only add the new employee to the SDR but also to create the necessary new member enrollment record in PERA’s database.

To add a second line to the SDR Detail for a current member, follow these steps.

1. Select the ‘Add Member’ button in the right-hand portion of the Detail screen.
2. Enter the Social Security Number (without dashes) of the employee for whom you wish to add a second transaction line.
3. Press the ‘Enter’ key or press the ‘Tab’ key to advance to the ‘Submit’ button on the screen and then press ‘Enter.’
4. Once the system has located a record in PERA’s system for this employee, the member’s Social Security Number, Plan, and name will be displayed for your review.
   1. If the system has selected the appropriate member, press the ‘Submit’ button to add a line to the SDR for that employee.
   2. If the system has not selected the correct member, press the ‘Cancel’ button and you will be brought back to the SDR Detail screen. Repeat steps 1-4 again making sure that you are providing an SSN for an employee who is already enrolled in PERA under your entity.
5. This additional SDR line will appear above or below this person’s “original” line. Once you advance to the new line, insert the salary amount you need to report and change the Pay Type as well as the Pay Period Begin and End Dates as necessary to properly distinguish this compensation from the other Regular Pay you are also reporting for this employee.

To add an SDR Detail line for a new employee not yet enrolled in PERA follow these steps.

1. Select the ‘Add Member’ button in the right-hand portion of the Detail screen.
2. Enter the Social Security Number (without dashes) of the new employee to be added to the SDR.
   1. If you receive a pop-up message stating that the SSN is invalid, click the OK response and review your entry to see if it contains a dash or another non-numeric entry. Once you modify the SSN to be only numbers, you can continue.
3. Press the ‘Enter’ key or press the ‘Tab’ key to advance to the ‘Submit’ button on the screen and then press ‘Enter.’
4. The system will now check the PERA system to see if this individual has ever been a PERA member. If the system did not find any record of past membership, you will receive a Confirmation message asking if you want to enroll the member.
   1. Select “YES” if you will be able to provide the data that is needed for enrollment (such as the person’s Date of Birth, Date of Hire, Position Title, etc.) and complete steps 5 through xxx below.
   2. Select “NO” if you are not able to provide the needed enrollment. In this case, you can still add a line for this employee to the SDR and you can provide the enrollment data for this individual at a later date.
5. Use the drop-down list to select the PERA retirement plan in which the person will participate. On the next two lines, input his or her SSN and press the ‘Submit’ button.
6. Fill in the enrollment data fields presented and press the ‘Submit’ button.
7. When you receive a message that the submission was successful, select the ‘OK’ button. The personal and employment data of this member will now be displayed.
   1. To obtain a copy of this data, press the ‘Print’ button.
   2. To return to the ‘Add Member’ screen, press the ‘Return’ button.
8. To insert a line into the SDR for this new member, press the ‘Submit’ button.
9. The SDR Detail screen will re-appear and your new employee will have been inserted within the alphabetic list of members under the applicable plan. You may need to move within the SDR Detail pages to find the new line or use the ‘Last Name Search’ field to advance to this employee’s transaction line.
10. After moving to the SDR line for this new member, you can highlight the 0.00 salary amount; replace it with the correct salary; and press the ‘Save’ button to have the Member Deduction calculated.

SDR Summary

Once all member salary data is entered and contributions have been calculated by the system (or entered manually by you), you must access the Summary tab to view the payment amount due for this SDR and to submit the SDR to PERA over its secure Internet line.

Summary Screen — Viewing plan and report totals

The Summary tab contains the following main sections:

Contribution Summary
For each plan for which salary and/or deductions appear in the Detail screen, you will see the sum of all Member Earnings and Member Deductions. In addition for each plan, you will see the system-calculated Employer Contributions (and the Employer Additional Amount if applicable), based on the sum of the Member Deductions. The final column of the Contribution Summary shows the total of all Member Deductions and Employer Contributions for each individual plan.

SDR Remittance Summary - All Plans
In this section of the Summary screen you will see the sum of the Member Deductions listed on the full report and the sum of the Employer Contributions as they appear in the Contribution Summary for all plans. The sum of these two amounts is listed under the ‘Sub Total. Column.

In certain instances you will see details about outstanding invoices. This information will appear directly below the SDR Remittance Summary.

At the bottom of the Summary page is the Grand Total, which represents the total amount that is payable to PERA for this SDR.

Summary Screen — Modifying Employer Contribution Amounts for an SDR

If you determine that you need to override the system-calculated Employer Contribution amounts, you may do so from the Summary screen before you send the SDR to PERA.

To modify the Employer Contribution amounts for an SDR follow these steps.

1. Move the cursor to the ‘Remitted” field that contains the calculated amount you wish to modify.
2. Highlight or delete the amount in that field using one of these methods.
   1. Highlight the amount by clicking the left-mouse button three consecutive times.
   2. Delete the amount by positioning your cursor on the first number of the amount and pressing the ‘Delete’ button.
   3. Delete the amount by positioning your cursor on the last number of the amount and pressing the ‘Backspace’ key.
3. Key in the new Employer Contribution amount. Use the same guidelines you follow when you input members’ salary amounts on an SDR Detail window.
4. Press the ‘Save’ button appearing on the Summary screen.
5. When you receive the pop-up message confirming that the Summary data has been saved, click the ‘OK’ button to return to the Summary page.
6. The amount you entered will be displayed (in black) on the Remitted line. The amounts that had been calculated by the system remain visible just above that line for comparison purposes.

Note: Please review the last column of the SDR Summary to see if your manual entry has resulted in a data discrepancy or error. For example, if the Contribution amount you entered is not within $1.00 of the amount due based on the reported plan’s Member Deductions, the word “warning” will appear in the Review Level column of the Summary screen. You can select the ‘Messages’ tab to view descriptive information about this error and any other messages associated with the SDR you are processing. You may send an SDR to PERA even if it has data discrepancies or errors; however, whenever we encourage you to resolve these discrepancies whenever you can. You will be contacted by the PERA staff in those instances in which an SDR contains warning or error messages.

Summary Screen — Submitting your completed SDR to PERA

To submit your saved SDR to PERA follow these steps.

1. From the Summary screen, select the ‘Submit to PERA’ button.
2. You will receive an online confirmation message providing the date and time of submission and the unique SDR number assigned by the System. Click ‘ OK’ .
3. At this point, the entire SDR is displayed on the Salary Deduction Report window.
   1. To obtain a copy of the full report, press the ‘Print’ button.
4. Select the ‘Close’ button.
5. You are now able to easily access PERA’s EFT site by using the mouse to click the blue EFT link provided; otherwise, select the ‘Close’ button.
6. If you are done using ERIS, be sure to log out properly using the ‘Log Off’ button in the top right-hand corner.

Top

The Pending Reports section is the result of PERAs ongoing automation initiatives designed to make reporting more efficient, accurate and cost effective for employers and PERA. The reports listed in this section were previously generated on paper and mailed to employers for completion.

If PERA requires your agency to complete an ERIS report, an email will be sent to your ERIS Administrator and any ERIS Representatives who have rights to complete the report. In addition, upon logging on to ERIS, the Administrators and Representatives will see a message informing them that a pending report exists.

To open a Pending report:

1. Identify the report title that appears under the Pending Reports menu on the main ERIS page.
2. Left click the report that you wish to view.

Top

Missing Enrollment Report

Background: The Missing Enrollment report is generated every other month identifies new members of your agency who are missing required enrollment data. PERA regularly receives payroll contributions for employees who have not yet been enrolled by their employers. In these cases, we create a partial member record using the employees name and SSN, which allows the employee contributions to be posted. This is a temporary measure, however, as the absence of full enrollment data causes subsequent processing issues. The data required to complete an enrollment helps us to credit deductions properly, mail member brochures, and prepare estimates of future pension benefits.

The Missing Enrollment Report Contents

The left-hand corner of the report contains information about your entity, followed by the report instructions.

The employee data listed is as follows:

To Complete the Missing Enrollment Report

1. For each person listed, click the Update Enrollment link to the left of the employee detail.
2. Enter the missing data on the Update Enrollment window. If the enrollment was invalid due to contributions sent in error, select the Invalid Enrollment check box and provide an explanation.
3. Click Submit once the employees data has been provided. A message will appear confirming successful submission. You will then have an opportunity to print a copy of the enrollment data before returning to the report.
4. Once enrollment information has been submitted for each employee listed, the report is complete and will no longer appear under Pending Reports.

Top

Police & Fire Certification Report

Background: The annual P&F report helps PERA calculate the amount of employer contributions paid to the Police & Fire plan for which the municipality may be entitled to receive Police State Aid the following fall for police officers as defined in Minnesota Statutes Section 353.64. This is a separate validation from the PA-1 that employers complete for the MN Department of Revenue.

The Police & Fire Certification Report Contents

The left-hand corner of the report shows information about your entity and the report you are processing. This includes the following:

• The reporting year under review by PERA
• The date that PERA created the report
• The date in which the completed report is due to PERA
• The report status. This is listed as Pending until the report is submitted to PERA. Once submitted, the report will no longer display under Pending Reports.

Directly below this information are:

• The report instructions.
• The Save Do Not Submit to PERA and Save Submit to PERA buttons
• The No Changes All PERA Data is Correct check box. Select this box only if you have reviewed the report information for all members and there are no changes needed.

The report lists individuals who were members of the Police & Fire plan during the reporting year under review. The employee data contained is as follows:

To Complete the Police & Fire Certification Report

5. For each person listed, review the position titles and classifications that were extracted from our database and make any necessary corrections using the drop-down options available. Position information is needed for each person, even if an individual is no longer employed.
6. To save changes and return to the report at a later time, click Save Do Not Submit to PERA. We also recommend that you click this button periodically when you are working a long report to ensure that any changes are not lost if a connectivity issue surfaces.
7. Once the report is complete, click Save Submit to PERA
8. After the report is submitted, the system will ask if you wish to print a copy of the report. This is the only opportunity to print the report.

Top

Status Verification Report

Background:PERA generates the Status Verification Report twice a year as a way to verify the current employment status of members who have not had any recent activity.Generally, only one report will appear unless previous reports for your entity were not completed and submitted to PERA.

The Status Verification Report Contents

The left-hand corner of the report shows information about your entity and the report you are processing. This includes the following:

• The period under review by PERA
• The date that PERA created the report
• The date in which the completed report is due to PERA
• The report status. This starts at Pending and will change based on any subsequent actions you take. For example the status may change to Submitted, Complete with Submission, Complete without Submission.)
• The report ID assigned by PERA
• The person who last modified the report.

Directly below this information are the three main sections of the report. This report has three tabs.

• Tab A lists any active members or reemployed retirees who have not had any salary reported to PERA for more than 8 months.
• Tab B lists any members who have been on an authorized layoff for 13 months or longer.
• Tab C lists any members who have been on an authorized leave of absence for 13 months or longer.

The employee data contained under the tabs is as follows:

To Update a Status Verification Report

9. Open each tab so that you are aware of which ones require entries from you. If there are no employees under the tab, you will see the message no members in this category.
10. For members under Tab A, the Employment Status and Effective Date fields are open for you to complete for each person.

Data Field	Description
Employment Status	Use the drop down arrow to select the next status that explains why the listed employee did not have salary for the period in review. Choices are: Death, Indefinite Layoff, Layoff, Maternity/Paternity Leave, Medical Leave, Military Leave, Personal Leave, Termination, or Workers Comp. Select the No Change choice if the person is currently employed, but did not work in the period under review.
Effective Date	If you changed the employees employment status to anything other than no change, add the effective date of the status change.

1. When working a long report, we recommend that you press the Save Do not Submit to PERA button periodically to ensure that your work is not lost if a connectivity issue surfaces. Note: You can export the report details to Excel using the Export to Excel button.
2. When all of the open employee records are completed, use the Print button if you want a hand copy of the report; then send the report to PERA by selecting Save Submit to PERA.

Note for employers who remit status changes via demographic files.

As an alternative to complete each line of the online report, you may prepare demographic record in your software and submit it to PERA via Transmit File. The day after you submit the file, you may open your Status Verification Report to see if all of the records have been updated.

Top

Annual Exclusion Report

Background: Under Minnesota law, every school and governmental unit that is eligible to participate in PERA is required to submit an Annual Exclusion Report at the end of each school or calendar year so that PERA staff can try to confirm that the membership exclusion is appropriate. The report must provide information about all employees including elected officials who worked any amount during the reporting year and were not members of a PERA Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution Plan or another Minnesota public retirement system.

For school districts, the exclusion report covers employment from July 1 through June 30 and is due by Aug. 31. All other employers submit reports based on the calendar year of Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, with reports due by Feb. 28 of the following year.

There are two options for using ERIS to submit an Exclusion Report:

1. Select New Exclusion Report 20XX that appears under the Exclusion Reporting menu on the main ERIS page. This will allow you to create your own online Exclusion Report and submit it to PERA electronically. This is also the option that should be used when all employees, including elected officials, are enrolled in PERA or another public pension plan and there are no excluded employees to report.
2. Select Transmit File to send a data file that meets PERAs file format specifications. This can be a text file (.txt) with fixed length fields or an Excel file (.xlsx preferred, but .xls is acceptable). File format specifications are available on the Exclusion Reporting page of the PERA website.
   

Online Entry (Option 1)

The left-hand corner of the report shows information about your entity and the report you are processing. This includes the following:

• The name and Employer ID of your entity
• The calendar or fiscal year the report covers
• The date that PERA requested the report
• The date by which the completed report is due to PERA
• The report status. This will remain in Pending status until you click Save Submit to PERA. Once the report is submitted, it will be Complete and no longer visible on the main ERIS page.

Directly below this information is a check box labeled Check here ONLY if you do not have any excluded employees/elected officials to list on your report. This should be only be used by employers when all employees are enrolled in PERA or another public pension plan. Even though there are no employees to list on the Exclusion Report, the employer must inform PERA that there are no excluded employees by checking this box and clicking on Save Submit to PERA. Once your report is received, PERA will confirm that you are submitting contributions on behalf of one or more employees.

Below this area is the section that allows you to create your report. For each excluded employee/elected official, provide all of the requested information and click Save Add to Report. Continue to add excluded employees until your report is complete.

The employee data requested is as follows:

Each excluded employee added to the report will display in the Report View section at the bottom of the screen. A status of Error indicates that the record has missing data which must be corrected before the report can be submitted. To edit a record, click the “Edit” or “Error” link under Status. The data from that record will populate the data entry section above, allowing you to make corrections and save the data to the report.

Once your report is complete, click “Save-Submit to PERA” at the top of the screen. PERA will review your report and contact you with any questions.

Transmit File (Option 2)

Create a properly-formatted fixed length text file (.txt) or Excel file (.xlsx or .xls), following the file format specifications that are available on the Exclusion Reporting page of PERAs website.

Select Transmit File from the menu on the left side of the main ERIS screen. Click the button next to Exclusion Reporting File and select Choose File to identify the file you are uploading. Next, click Submit to transmit the file to PERA. We will review your report and contact you with any questions.

Top

When you are done using the ERIS application use the LOG OUT task on the Navigation Menu to sign off. To exit the system properly, follow these steps:

1. Click Log Out on the Navigation Menu to display the Log Out window.
   
2. Select the LOG OUT button. (You may stop the Log Out process at this point by selecting CANCEL.)
   
3. To exit ERIS completely, click the close function (X) in the right-hand corner of your internet browser. This step is required to protect data in the application and prevent others from being able to access it through the Internet.

Note: If you omit step 3 above and do not close your internet session, you will not be able to re-enter ERIS for 30 minutes.

Top

A Time-out occurs when the system has been inactive for 20 minutes or more. When this occurs, the user will receive an error message stating, "IntraWeb Application Error - Session not found. Session may have expired." when he or she attempts to perform an ERIS function. The user should close his or her Internet browser and re-sign on to ERIS.

Top