Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Effectively immediately, the email sent to you for approval that accompanies all loan and distribution requests submitted online, will now include the plan name and participant name.
This new information will be available for the following transaction types:

• Loans 
• Distributions
• Hardship Withdrawals
• In-service Distributions

Click here for a sample communication.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Search Capabilities: We've added an efficient and user-friendly search capability to the Plan Information and Plan Administration pages. This allows you to search across all column headers (i.e. advisor, dollar amount, plan name, participant count, etc.).

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Streamlined Auto-Reporting

Beginning in April, Transamerica will offer plan-level reports automatically.

Reports Available
The following reports are available on a quarterly and year-end basis:

• Investment Summary Report
• Account Data Report (in Excel and CSV format)
• Loan Register Report
• NEW Forfeiture Summary Report

How You Are Notified
Once all of your firms' reports have been generated, an email will be sent to plan administrators, notifying them of report availability. This will be sent around the 16th of the month following each quarter end.

How to Access the Reports
The reports are housed on www.TA-Retirement.com behind login, under Plan Reports>Scheduled Administration Reports.

• Click on the check box to select plan(s)-Maximum of 20 plans
• Option to sort by clicking on column heading
• Option to search by Plan Name, Company Name or Contract ID using 'Search all' box
• Click on the arrows above the check boxes to view your selections on one page
• Click on Submit to view your reports

This time-saving new feature puts reports containing all of a plan's financial activities at a TPA administrator's fingertips in seconds.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Streamlined Vesting  Process
         
Moving forward, anytime you attempt to make an update and certain individuals are not enrolled, Transamerica will accept the file and display a message listing the social security numbers of those not in our system. You are able to print out the message for your convenience. This prevents a complete file rejection and allows the updating for all other participants.

Click here to view vesting  update screenshot.

This change saves you time by preventing multiple upload attempts.  

Real-time Forfeiture Sweeps

Simplified  Money-Out Viewing

The Check Status menu has been renamed Disbursement Status as we now display both ACH Deposit and Check Status information. To access, follow these menus: Plan Administration >> Select your plan >> Loans and Distributions  >> Disbursement Status.

Click here to view  disbursement screenshot.

Click here to view ACH Status screenshot.

Promote Your Firm

We are able to showcase our TPA Partners to prospective plan sponsors through our integrated Proposal system. After you log in to our system, you can provide us with a Firm Profile (an introduction of your firm) in a Microsoft Word format only, and also supply a potential fee schedule. The fee schedule simply acts as a representation and is not meant to be exact.

Click below for instructions to:

Upload Profile

Enter TPA Fees

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Plan Design

Online Distribution Question

The question "Will the plan allow online distributions?" has now been moved from the Special Features section and is now located under Plan Design>Loans and Distributions.

This change makes this selection more intuitive and reduces confusion.

Loan Documents

Loan documents online

Loan documents for both paper and online requests are now available for TPAs, plan sponsors, and participants at www.TA-Retirement.com.
 
To access the documents online, navigate to Plan Administration > Select Your Plan > Loans and Distributions > View History. The TPA, Sponsor and Participant will receive an email notification once loan documents are available for viewing.

This feature easily puts all loan documents at your fingertips, saving time and needless paperwork.

Participant Automated Clearing House (ACH) Processing

Automated Clearing House (ACH) processing

Participants can elect to have their funds electronically transferred to their U.S. bank account, if online loans and distributions are elected features of the plan.

Note: If the ACH funds are returned by the bank for any reason, Transamerica will issue a check to the mailing address on file. ACH is not available for TPA entered loans.

Gives participants direct access to funds in a faster timeframe, great green alternative that eliminates the need to print a paper check.

Check distributions

Check distributions

Participants can now request a loan or distribution check be sent with overnight delivery. During the approval process, you can also now request a loan or distribution check be sent directly to participants' homes or to an alternate address via U.S. mail.

This gives you another level of service to your participants, helping them receive funds within 24 hours.

Loan and distribution check status

Check status

You now have the ability to view participant check statuses for loans, in addition to distributions.

Simply log into your account and access the Check Status link under Plan Administration > Loans & Distributions.

This feature is yet another way that you can offer stellar customer service. With the click of a mouse, you can quickly find the check status for any loan or distribution.

Online Beneficiary Maintenance

Beneficiary Maintenance

For plans with online enrollment, participants are able to choose a beneficiary at the time of enrollment. If they are already enrolled, they can make beneficiary changes online. Participant beneficiary reports are available online to you and your clients.

This time-saving feature let's participants make beneficiary elections quickly and efficiently with no paperwork.

Plan Design

Special Features Section

The Special Features section, under Plan Design has now been grayed out so you will no longer need to manage the election options – they will be managed by the plan sponsor. If you would like to make changes, please contact the plan sponsor directly, or call TPAConnect.SM

Click here to preview the Special Features section.

This change gives the plan sponsor the option to make selections, removing the responsibility from the TPA.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

TPA Choice Election Report

We created a report that captures your involvement with Loans, Distributions and Vesting for each of your plans with Transamerica. If any of your plans have elected one or more PASS services, those are also displayed on this Excel report. Accessing the report is really simple. On the Plan Information screen, select "Download" and your report will appear in a new window. Click here to view screenshots.

The TPA Choice Election Report provides an efficient & effective way for TPAs to determine their involvement in Loans, Distributions and Vesting. Also, if any plans have PASS Services, TPAs are quickly able to see which of these services they have elected.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Audit Indicator

We have added a  question on the Plan Type & Features area of our website (Plan  Information>Plan Provisions>Plan Type & Features) that reads: "Is  the plan required to obtain an independent audit?" If the "Yes" radio  button is selected, Transamerica will automatically post the annual audit  package to the Document Center for you and the Plan Sponsor.

This enhancement increases efficiency — all you need to do is answer the question once and the Annual  Audit Package will be generated and appear in the Document Center when appropriate. Calling Transamerica to request Audit Packages is no longer required. If an Audit Package has been  generated in the past, Transamerica will be populating a "Yes" answer to this  question for you (completion date 12/31/11).

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Condensed  Loan Documents

New  Participant loan documents are now available in a condensed 2-page format. Participant signatures are no longer required and their signature on the check  will serve as consent to the terms and conditions of the loan.

Enhanced  Loan Check Design

Loan  checks now feature a new design with additional disclosure, which clarifies the  responsibilities of the lender(s). Newly issued checks also contain language stating that lenders are required to disclose in writing the interest rate,  finance charges, and amount being financed

Reporting

New Report – Loan Register*

A new loan report is available that brings together all loan data into one report. Its CSV format provides an easy way to manipulate data fields. This report can be accessed under Plan Reports>Loan>Loan Register. Simply enter your date range and select the plan.

*Report only  available for plans record kept at CSC.

This report allows  you to reconcile loan activity at both a participant and plan level.

Survey Tool

TPAConnect^SM Survey

A new monthly-generated survey is  available that allows you to give us feedback based on your customer service experiences with TPAConnect^SM during the prior month. If you have any feedback that you would like to share outside of the survey, please contact your TPA Development Manager directly.

Your feedback will  help us continue to raise the bar in offering best-in-class service.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

TPA Choice

TPA Choice icon

A TPA Choice icon will display next to every TPA plan. When you roll over the image, you will see how that plan is set up for Vesting, Loans and Distributions.

Having these icons makes it easier for you to quickly get TPA Choice information saving you valuable time.

PASS

Plan Administration Service Support

PASS icon

A PASS icon will display next to each plan that has PASS services. When you roll over the icon, you will see which PASS services the plan elected.

You are able to see at-a-glance which services under the PASS offering was selected.

New Plan  Administration Report

A new report is  now available called the Plan Administration Report that can be run for a given  date range in real-time. This report shows:

Page  1    

• Plan-level at-a-glance views of beginning, ending  and loan balances
         
• Participant and employer contributions and loan  repayments
         
• Distributions and dollar amounts in the forfeiture  account

Page  2

• Forfeiture detail, showing distributions (date,  participant, distributed amount and amount forfeited)

Page  3

This report ties  forfeiture amounts to the participant, and provides a full and complete summary.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Business Promotion

Feature Your Website

By populating a simple field in the plan design screen, plan sponsors will be able to easily link over to your website. Find out more...

In addition to showcasing your firm, this link gives your clients a direct pathway to review or download any documents that sit on your website.

Audit Packages

Paperless Audit Packages

In an effort to "go green" and streamline the audit process, our annual audit packages are now available in a secure environment on our website and accessible to you and your clients.

The majority of participant data will be combined into one usable file regardless of product type, and loan information will be consolidated into one single file, eliminating the need for eight prior existing reports.

Forms

Transamerica Forms-Wizard

As we continue to expand our platform, we've created a tool that allows you to pre-populate certain forms for distributions and rollovers before you provide them to participants. Find out more...

This helps you add a simple, yet effective, layer of additional client service.

Reporting

Reporting Updates

The Account Data report has been enhanced to show participant first and last name and shows division/location codes for participants.

This report saves you time by providing all pertinent information in one report, and prevents you from having to research participant names elsewhere.

Loans

Loan Requests

When a loan is requested, our system now automatically defaults the date to the current date.

This eliminates any loan miscalculations from manual request date entries

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Fee Schedule

One fee schedule on proposal system:

You can enter proposal fees online.

This simplifies the online proposal fee entry by using only one web form instead of two.

Proposal

TPA Profile:

You can upload a firm biography online to be used with all proposals.

This enables us to showcase your firm in proposals to potential clients.

Loans and Distributions

Real-time Vesting updates:

You can update vesting in real-time prior to approving or submitting a transaction; without having to deny the request.

This new process saves considerable time with processing distributions and loans.

Hierarchy for loans and distributions:

You can now set the available withdrawal sources and related hierarchies at the plan level.

Removes the need to provide a hierarchy per transaction, saving processing time.

TPA Involved Online Loans and Distributions:

You can choose to either be involved or to outsource loans and distributions to Transamerica on any given plan.

By answering certain questions up-front it's easy to set your preferences during new plan set-up.

Vesting

TPA Involvement:

TPAs can choose to either be involved or to outsource Vesting updates to Transamerica.

This provides TPAs with choice and flexibility for working with Transamerica.

Working with Transamerica

Setup your level of involvement with Loans, Distributions and Vesting when working with Transamerica:

For new plans, new questions are asked as part of plan design so you can set preferences up front.

Example: If a TPA does not want to handle vesting for a certain plan, you can set the appropriate provision.

This provides TPAs with choice and flexibility for working with Transamerica.

Category

Efficiency Building Enhancement

Benefit

Distributions

Sequencing Change:

Online distributions now have one flow.

Participant>Sponsor Review/Approval>TPA Review/Approval

This new process simplifies the review and approval process for all distributions.

Vesting Maintenance

Simplified Vesting Upload File:

New file with only the SSN, Name and Vested Percentage needed to upload.

Helps expedite vesting updates by including only necessary fields.

Reporting

New Investment Summary Report:

This new report shows subtotals by source and fund, plan and participant level data, forfeitures, and separate subtotals.

Easily access data in one user-friendly report.

Reporting

Account Data Report:

This report condenses participant-level data, shows loans by source, and participant listings by fund

Breaks plan level information into three separate categories; helping to expedite plan data review.

Reporting

Plan Information Page:

This page provides a summary of your book of business with Transamerica. (plan year-end date, financial advisor information, # of participants, assets, AUM, and more).

This gives a full book of business snap shot that can be accessed anytime.

Year-
End Reporting

Schedule D:

Plan level Schedule D information available online. Excel file details only the funds within the plan.

Helps expedite data gathering for year-end reporting.

Year-
End Reporting

Schedule C:

Large plan filers can now access this information online.

Helps expedite data gathering for year-end reporting.

Administrator Trainings

TPA Training Event Library:

Audio visual recordings are made available for every TPA Administrators Training

Review and stay up-to-date on new trends or enhancements, even if you can't attend the live event.

Industry Leaders

Speakers Bureau Event Library:

Audio visual recordings are made available after every Transamerica Industry Speakers Bureau event.

Stay informed of regulatory changes, the financial landscape and much more, even if you can't attend the live event.

Plan Design

Installation Enhancements:

Online enrolment is no longer a requirement. In the plan design module, notes can be entered, fields can be skipped, and save-in-processes are allowed.

This allows completion of plan design without having to stop the process due to a field requirement.

Reporting

Check Status:

A new quick search status page is available for distributions that show – Issue date, check#, amount, participant, check status and the withdrawal type).

This gives a TPA a snapshot without having to search multiple places for this information.