FAO: All employers
Subject: First alpha interface, Migration validation and End of Year Payroll close down
Action Required: Employers should review and share with their Payroll/Shared service provider where applicable.
Timing: Immediate
This note sets processes and advice for managing the first ‘alpha interface’ and a reminder to complete your End of year payroll.
First alpha interface
The April payroll run is the first time you will use your amended interface to pass information to MyCSP in a live environment.
As explained in EPN432, from 1 April 2015, until your first alpha interface successfully loads, we will only process alpha key life events for employers. The current administration processes will apply and you should continue to flag any urgent cases in the same way.
We have noted the date that you will run your first alpha interface and have used this information to set a ‘pending date’ on the non-critical alpha cases. It is important that we know when you will run your interface, so please let MyCSP know immediately if your schedule has changed. The Employer Engagement team will be in touch with you at regular intervals to check you are still on schedule and offer any support.
The following sections outline the process for loading the interfaces, and sets expectations for the validations around migration.
High level interface process
Please note that if the errors are significant, and additional support is required, we may need to charge you for this service.
Migration
As part of the 2015 Programme, MyCSP has marked member records with an indicative flag of what scheme we expect the member to be in. This is based on whether a member has:
MyCSP has marked the records using information from the Options Exercise and that provided by you, through such exercises as the Data Cleanse and the provision of Public Service History (EPN397).
MyCSP will issue you with a validation report that flags where they believe, based on the information they hold, a member should have been moved into alpha but this is not flagged on your interface (as per point 3b in the interface process).
You will need to check your validation report to consider if the member is in the right scheme or not, and take action to update the interface as necessary. Ideally this should happen, by the time the next interface runs.
Your validation reports will be issued and managed in the usual way. However, MyCSP’s data cleanse team will provide additional support to the systems team in the first few runs of the interfaces to manage any migration-related issues that arise.
What happens if my interface does not load?
MyCSP will let you know as soon as possible if your interface has failed and explain the reasons for the failure, so that you can take action. You should notify your IT partners/payroll providers of any issues so that any changes can be made promptly.
Thorough system testing and UAT should have been conducted by Employers before the live interface run, therefore any signigicant issues will be reported to Cabinet Office by MyCSP.
What happens if I have ongoing interface issues?
MyCSP will continue to work with you and your payroll provider to ensure your interface issues are resolved. Please note that this may incur additional charges and will be considered on a case by case basis.
What happens if only part of my interface loads?
This cannot happen – the interface will load in full if it passes the initial format checks. If progressed, member level validations will take place and data that passes the validations will be loaded and data that fails will be rejected. Any validation rejections will be reported on a member by member basis in your error and warning report. If the interface fails any format validations, the whole file will be rejected and you will be notified appropriately.
How will I be informed of member migration issues?
MyCSP will notify you via the current data validations process, if there are any variations with the marker they hold vs. migration results you provide via the interface.
Who do I contact with queries about my validation warnings and errors?
There is no change to this process so you should continue to direct any queries to your current MyCSP Systems team contact.
If the corrective work is deemed chargeable by MyCSP, how will I be informed before authorising the work?
There is no change to this process so you should continue to direct any queries to your current MyCSP Service Delivery Manager.
End of year payroll closedown
EPN426 reminded Employers to complete end of year payroll closedown by no later than June 2015. If you do not provide this information to MyCSP in time, this may impact the issuance of your Annual Benefit Statements.