Benefit Offer 

Definition

The sum of plans that an employee is eligible to enroll in or make changes to on a key date.

Use

When you start enrollment processing for an employee, the system displays a list of offer types that are valid for the employee. You select the offer type for the enrollment you want to perform and the actual offer is generated.

The benefit offers that are valid for an employee depend on:

To determine the eligibility of employees, the system examines the ongoing eligibility criteria assigned to each plan within the employee's benefit program. For more information about the Customizing of eligibility criteria, see the Benefits Implementation Guide (Flexible Administration ® Programs ® Employee Eligibility).

For each type of offer, the system takes any prerequisite enrollments that are specified in Customizing into account, and only includes those plans in an offer for which enrollments in prerequisite plans have been made at the latest on the day before enrollment in the new plan.

Waiting periods defined in Customizing are taken into account in order to determine the precise date on which an employee becomes eligible for a plan. If the waiting period for a plan ends after the enrollment processing date but within the enrollment period, the plan is included in the offer and available for enrollment (although participation only starts once the waiting period is over). Similarly, if your organization allows advance enrollment for plans, can appear before the waiting period has passed. For more information about how the system determines eligibility dates, see Calculation of Eligibility Dates.

The following types of offer are supported by the system:

Adjustment Offer

An adjustment offer is a restricted offer and is only available if the employee has a valid Adjustment Reason record (infotype 0378). The enrollment period for an adjustment offer is dependent on the time allowed for changes after the adjustment reason event, as defined in Customizing, and is identical to the validity period of the Adjustment Reason record. For adjustment reasons defined as "anytime" events in Customizing, changes are allowed at any time after the adjustment reason event.

The changes that are possible for this type of offer are controlled per plan type by adjustment permissions. These permissions are assigned to a combination of adjustment reason and employee group in Customizing.

For more information about the Customizing of adjustment reasons and adjustment permissions, see the Benefits Implementation Guide (Flexible Administration ® Benefits Adjustment Reasons).

Open Offer

An open offer is the most unrestricted type of offer. It is available for enrollment/changes for the entire duration of the open enrollment period and does not require an employee to have an adjustment reason.

Automatic Offer

This offer type contains plans marked as automatic plans in the Customizing of standard selections. If defined, automatic offers are available for enrollment/changes at all times period and do not require an employee to have an adjustment reason.

Default Offer

This offer type contains plans marked as default plans in the Customizing of standard selections. If defined, default offers are available for enrollment/changes at all times and do not require an employee to have an adjustment reason.