General Memo 532

Executive Summary

The Employer Access area of the IMRF website has been significantly enhanced. New Employer Access will go live on May 15, 2005. Changes include enhanced Web Wage Reporting and direct updates to IMRF’s mainframe computer systems. IMRF’s 2005 Advanced Authorized Agent Wage Reporting Workshops will provide an interactive demonstration of the enhanced Wage Reporting function.

If you have an existing Employer Access account, you will be asked to change your password the first time you log in to new Employer Access. If you do not have an Employer Access account, you will be able to register online for an account.

Enhanced Wage Reporting function

By reporting wages and contributions via Employer Access, your wage report will always balance, and you will be less likely to receive letters from IMRF about your report.

• You can enter your wage and contribution detail directly online. This enhanced function replaces the Automated Employer Reporting Software (AERS) and provides an easy-to-use and accurate method of creating your wage detail file.
• You can create the wage and contribution detail file via Excel or your current payroll program and import that file. You can also download an Excel spreadsheet pre-populated with your member information and formatted for IMRF wage reports.
• The new Wage Reporting function automatically creates IMRF Form 3.10,Wage Report Summary. You provide your member wage and contribution detail, and the Wage Reporting function computes your totals and creates the wage summary.
• A new step (“validate”) makes sure your wage report is correct and in balance before you send it to IMRF.
  1. If you do not report wages for a member, the Wage Reporting function will prompt you to either enter wages or to confirm “no wages” for the member.
  2. If you report wages for an employee IMRF does not recognize as an active member, the Wage Reporting function will prompt you to confirm that the employee should be reported:
     • If a member is being reported under the wrong plan, you can easily report him or her under the correct plan.
     • If the employee should not be reported, you can remove the employee from the report.
     • If the employee should be reported, you can report the wages, and the Wage Reporting function will remind you to submit an enrollment form.
  3. If a member’s contributions do not match the percentage to be withheld for the member’s plan, that member will be identified. You can correct the wages or have the Wage Reporting function automatically correct the contribution amount.

Email Confirmations

You will receive an email confirmation of any online transaction you complete.

Online registration

Registering for an Employer Access account is easy—no more paper form to complete. The Authorized Agent would visit www.imrf.org, click on the “Employer Access” link on the left side of the page, and click on the “Register Here” link. It will take approximately five business days to receive the Employer Access account information.

We have also made it easier for you to maintain accounts for your Web Assistants and Security Administrator. A Security Administrator can perform all Employer Access functions, including creating Web Assistant accounts. Web Assistants are given access to specific functions by either the Authorized Agent or Security Administrator.

We strongly recommend you establish separate accounts for employees who use Employer Access. Creating separate accounts creates a proper record of who submitted information to IMRF should there be any dispute.

Web transactions recorded in real time

You will continue to be able to submit member terminations and member information changes via Employer Access. In the past, that information was received and entered into our mainframe computer systems by IMRF staff.

With new Employer Access, when you submit a termination or member information change, the information you submit will update our mainframe computer systems in real time. However, wage reports and wage adjustments require additional processing by IMRF.

Developed with employers’ help

While we were developing new Employer Access, we worked to get input from the people who will use the improved site: our employers. Employers helped us by participating in focus groups, serving as beta testers, or by using new Employer Access during a pilot roll out. We thank those employers for their opinions and insights.

Since November 2004 when we released the beta version:

• More than 250 employers have used new Employer Access
• More than 100 different employers have submitted approximately 110 Member Information Changes, 130 Member Terminations, and 170 Web Wage Reports
• Web Wage Reports vary from an employer reporting four members to an employer reporting more than 3,100 members

Employers both small and large who have used new Employer Access tell us the enhanced Wage Reporting function “is easy to navigate,” and “Thank you for helping make my job a little easier!”

Existing Employer Access accounts

If you have an existing Employer Access account, the first time you log in to new Employer Access you will be asked to change your password.

If you currently report wages electronically, you will receive a Special Memo detailing the changes in wage reporting.

If you don’t have an Employer Access account

You register for an Employer Access account online—no paper form to complete. Visit www.imrf.org, click on the “Employer Access” link on the left side of the page, and click on the “Register Here” link.

Interactive demonstrations of new Employer Access Wage Reporting

IMRF’s 2005 Advanced Authorized Agent Certification Wage Reporting Workshops will include an interactive demonstration of the enhanced Web Wage Reporting Function. You will find the dates, locations, and registration information on pages 5 and 6.

We’ve worked hard to create an Employer Access area that meets your needs and makes the job of administering IMRF a little easier.