ESTI Consulting Services - Group Life System (GLS)

Group Life System (GLS)

With the departure of a key team member from the Saskatchewan Teachers' Superannuation Commission (STSC) a cost effective solution to perform the task of reconciling, tracking and calculating Group Life Benefit deductions was needed. ESTI along with the STSC developed and implemented the Group Life System (GLS) to facilitate this process. The Group Life system allows for the timely reconciliation of the school board information and calculation of individual taxable benefits.

Bette Cooper

The GLS project was a sprint from start to finish. Due to a number of factors the GLS was unable to kick-off until approximately six weeks prior to the departure of a key STSC team member. The shortened time-line meant that the requirements had to be finalized quickly so that development could proceed. An iterative approach was taken so it was imperative to get a working model in front of the users so that feedback could be incorporated back into the system. An Oracle Forms interface along with several Oracle Reports were created to maintain and report on the new system. One of the most exciting aspects was the method for calculating the premium amounts and applying them to the individuals within each school board to accurately generate the expected deduction amount.

The Group Life benefit information is now recorded in an Oracle database instead of Microsoft Excel. The crucial new capability of the Group Life System is the automation of the expected deductions as well as the Government's share. The GLS calculations allow for a quick and precise reconciliation of all the funds and the generation of taxable benefit information for each member. The GLS system will be used to validate the deductions and quickly determine the taxable benefit amounts for T4As.

Cindy Mucha

Congratulations to the STSC on another successful project.

STSC Team

Bette Cooper S
Cindy Mucha
Anne Bellinger
Shirley Robertson

ESTI Project Team

Shaun Herron, Principal Analyst, Project Manager
Ryan Gerstmar, Senior Analyst
Jim Russell, Analyst