Run Open Enrollment Without a Single Spreadsheet
Configure the plan year, tell every population what changes, guide each employee to a validated election, and send the carriers a file you have already audited — from one record, on the HRIS you run.
Open Enrollment is two weeks a year that decide twelve months of deductions, carrier bills and compliance. Benefits Reimagined runs it as one governed cycle: the eligibility rule that opens the window, the campaign that announces it, the recommendation that guides the choice, the validation that accepts it, and the file that carries it to the carrier all read the same employee record.
The Two Weeks That Set Up the Whole Year
“We export the census, build the rates in a spreadsheet, email everyone twice, then spend December fixing tiers that don’t match dependents and chasing carriers about people who never appeared on the file.” That sentence is the same at almost every employer we meet. Nothing in it is a benefits decision. All of it is the cost of enrollment living outside the system of record.
Configuration in a spreadsheet
Rates, tiers, defaults and EOI thresholds keyed into a template, copied into the enrollment tool, and reconciled by eye when the two disagree.
One message for every population
The same email to a plant, a campus and a corporate office — so the people most likely to miss the window are the ones who read it least.
Errors found on the carrier bill
A tier that does not match the dependents, a waived employee still on the file, an HSA elected with a non-qualifying plan — discovered in January, corrected through March.
One Cycle, Four Stages
This is the sequence a benefits team runs in Benefits Reimagined — each stage is an existing module, and each one links to its own page if you want the detail.
Configure the plan year once
Plan families, rates by tier, employer contributions, passive or active rules per plan, evidence-of-insurability thresholds and Section 125 change reasons are effective-dated configuration an administrator owns — not a development ticket. Eligibility by class, hours, location and union status decides who gets a window and when. AI-Powered Configuration reads your plan documents and proposes the setup with a rationale and a confidence; a person approves each proposal before it is committed.
Tell each population what changes for them
Communication Hub sends the launch, the reminders and the last call by audience over email, SMS and in-app — a plant on a new HDHP hears about the HSA seed; a campus on a collective agreement hears nothing about it. Every message carries a Pending, Sent, Failed or Read status, and the people who have not started get their own reminder list, not a second blast to everyone.
Guide every employee to a validated election
On Employee Home, the IntelliSuggest wizard walks the employee from coverage to a few single-choice questions to a best plan and alternatives — drawn only from that employee’s own calculated offer, with the costs copied from the offer row, straight into the normal cart. Athena answers questions in place with the policy passage cited. Every election is checked before it is accepted — tier against dependents, HSA against plan type, EOI against the threshold, surcharge attestations — so nothing reaches the file that will bounce back from a carrier.
Audit the window, then send the carriers what you audited
Essential Insights tiles on the enrollment home show completion by population while the window is open and the exception list when it closes; Ad-Hoc Reporting answers the question the tiles don’t. Elections, dependents and deductions are on one record, so the carrier file and the payroll deductions come from the same elections you reviewed — and the first carrier bill reconciles against them instead of against a spreadsheet.
What You'll Use to Run Open Enrollment
Six modules, one employee record. Each is a page of its own if you want to go deeper.
Open Enrollment & Traditional Plans
Eligibility rules, plan structures, active and passive windows, life events and evidence of insurability on one rules engine.
Explore Open Enrollment & Traditional PlansCommunication Hub
Launch, reminders and last call by audience over email, SMS and in-app, with a status on every message.
Explore Communication HubBR IntelliSuggest
A wizard inside enrollment: coverage, a few questions, a best plan and alternatives from the employee’s own offer.
Explore BR IntelliSuggestAthena for Employees
Answers plan questions in the employee’s own context during the window, with the policy passage cited — and never enrolls.
Explore Athena for EmployeesDependent Eligibility Audit
IntelliVerify checks the evidence once at enrollment, so a new dependent never reaches the carrier unverified.
Explore Dependent Eligibility AuditEssential Insights
Completion by population while the window is open; the exception list when it closes.
Explore Essential InsightsSpreadsheet Enrollment vs. Enrollment on the Record
Six moments in the window, and what changes when every one of them reads the same employee record.
| Moment | The way it usually goes | Benefits Reimagined |
|---|---|---|
| Building the plan year | Rates and tiers keyed into a template, copied into the vendor tool, reconciled by eye. | Effective-dated configuration, proposed from your plan documents and approved in Workflow before the window opens. |
| Announcing the window | One email to everyone, twice. | Campaigns by audience over email, SMS and in-app; a reminder list of who has not started. |
| Choosing a plan | A PDF comparison and a call to HR. | The IntelliSuggest wizard and Athena, on the employee’s own offer, with the cost per paycheck shown. |
| Submitting | Anything the form accepts. | Validated before submit — tier, dependents, HSA eligibility, EOI, attestations. |
| Closing | A count of who finished. | Completion by population, exceptions named, passive defaults applied by rule. |
| Sending the carrier file | An export nobody audited. | The audited elections, one 834 per carrier, acknowledgements stored, deductions from the same record. |
What Changes When Enrollment Lives on the Record
Configuration that is proposed and approved
The plan year is set up once, effective-dated, and approved before the window opens — the same lines the wizard, the carrier file and the ACA engine read.
Messages by population, reminders by status
The people who have not started get a reminder; the people who have finished get a confirmation. Nobody gets a third blast.
Validation when the election is made
Tier, dependents, HSA eligibility and EOI are checked before submit, so the carrier file carries elections that are already right.
Answers and a wizard in the flow
IntelliSuggest narrows the choice; Athena answers the follow-up with the source; the employee finishes without leaving the page.
A close you can see and audit
Completion by population, exceptions at close, and the carrier file built from what you reviewed — not from an export.
One login from the HRIS you already run
Employees arrive through SAP SuccessFactors — or Workday, UKG, ADP, Dayforce, Paycom or any HRIS — and the elections flow back as deductions.
Answer the Questions Before They Become Tickets
During Open Enrollment, Athena sits on the employee’s enrollment page with that person’s plans, dependents, deadline and elections in context. Employees get an answer with the policy passage cited and a to-do when there is one; administrators ask Athena for Admins about the window itself — who has not started, where the exceptions are, what the passive default will do on close. Athena never enrolls anyone.
- “Which plan did the wizard pick for me and why?” — the best plan and the alternatives, from the employee’s own offer, with the cost per paycheck
- “Can I add my spouse now?” — yes, the evidence required and the deadline — with the Dependents screen one tap away
- “Who at Plant 2 hasn’t started?” — the list by supervisor, and a reminder drafted for Communication Hub
- “What happens to waivers if we close passive?” — the default rule per plan family and the employees it affects
Who Usually Starts Here
Open Enrollment is an HR project with a Finance deadline and an IT dependency. Each role has its own page.
HR & Benefits Leaders
Configure, communicate, enroll and close without exporting anything — and see completion by population every day.
See the role page Owns the deductionsFinance & Payroll
Deductions come from the audited elections; the first carrier bill reconciles against the same record.
See the role page Owns the tenantIT & SAP Teams
One login from SuccessFactors, no middleware, elections flowing back to your payroll.
See the role pageRun a Mock Open Enrollment on Your Plan Design
Bring this year’s plan summary, your rates and one population you worry about. In the 45-minute walkthrough we will configure the plan year, launch a campaign to that population, walk an employee through a validated election, and show you the carrier file before it goes anywhere.
Run Open Enrollment FAQs
Two Weeks a Year. Twelve Months of Getting It Right.
Open Enrollment that starts from the employee’s own record and ends with a carrier file you have already audited — on SAP SuccessFactors today and on whichever HRIS your next entity brings.