Providing the Best with WRS



This past August, the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) and Saskatchewan Teachers' Superannuation Commission (STSC) implemented a number of important enhancements to their Web Remittance Systems (WRS). Since 2002, WRS has enabled the School Boards to easily view, modify and correct payroll contribution data and remit the data to the STF, the STSC and Saskatchewan Teachers' Retirement Plan (STRP). The data is securely submitted over the Internet using raw data payroll files. This project implemented enhancements to accept and display additional teacher data which included:

  • Income Continuance Premiums
  • STF Fees
  • Contingency Fees
  • Donor Contributions
  • Group Life Premiums

Further to the addition of new information, data tests were also incorporated into WRS to help prevent data errors in the amounts being remitted. These data tests reduce the number of potential adjustments that otherwise would be required later in the school year.

In addition, more file types are now accepted by the WRS; they have been expanded to include:

  • Comma separated files which are commonly generated from Excel (CSV)
  • Extensible Markup Language files (XML)

With the popularity of WRS growing amongst the School Boards, these enhancements could not be implemented at a better time. The new fee and contribution data, combined with additional data tests, ensure accurate data at the time it is posted to the STF systems. As this data is further incorporated into the existing STF, STRP and STSC systems, additional opportunities to move information electronically will no doubt be presented.

ESTI would like to congratulate the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation and Saskatchewan Teachers' Superannuation Commission on this successful project. The benefits will be apparent for school boards, the STF, the STRP and the STSC for years to come. While working with these clients, ESTI provided project management, system design, software development, and training workshops in order to implement the new WRS enhancements. The combination of the hard work by the steering committee, testers, and developers has paid off by yet again increasing the level of service provided by the STF, the STRP and the STSC.

Project Team

  • Natalie Zealand - STF, Budget and Accounting Advisor, WRS Steering Committee
  • Bob Walbaum - STF, Coordination and Business Advisor
  • Colleen Billingsley - STF, Subject Matter Expert, WRS Steering Committee
  • Marguerite Hyde - STSC, Subject Matter Expert
  • Richelle Favel - STSC, Group Life, Subject Matter Expert
  • Jeff Banow - ESTI, Principal Analyst, Project Manager
  • Dan Simair - ESTI, Senior Analyst, Project Lead
  • Lawrence Cheng - ESTI, Analyst

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