Notifications
About
This helps you manage your workflow and tasks. There are various notifications depending on the access rights you have been given.
When are notifications triggered?
Some notifications are triggered by pay references for each pay group. Some are triggered by completion of another task in the workflow. A full list of when notifications are issued can be found by clicking on 'Notification Support Document'.
What types of notification can I expect?
Depending on what stage you are at on AssistMe different notifications will be activated. Each step is detailed below:
Assessment: recipient can be the scheme or data administrator
| Notifications |
Process Step |
| Please prepare assessment data for [pay group name] pay group |
Upload file (pre-assessment) |
| Please upload full data for [pay group name] pay group |
Upload file (full assessment) |
| Verify data changes for assessment for [pay group name] pay group |
Process employee data |
| Verify assessment results for [pay group name] pay group |
Assessment summary |
| Download assessment data for payroll for [pay group name] pay group |
Next steps |
| Verify contributions for [pay group name] pay group |
Contribution reconciliation |
| Review and confirm all data for [pay group] pay group |
Review & confirm |
Generate communications: recipient can be the scheme or data administrator
| Notifications |
Process Step |
| Communications for [pay group name] are ready to be downloaded |
Send comms |
Authorise payment: recipient can be the scheme administrator or payment authoriser
| Notifications |
Process Step |
| Data has been processed. Please authorise payment for [pay group name] pay group |
Authorise payment |
Opt out received: recipient can be the scheme administrator
| Notifications |
Process Step |
| One or more opt outs have been received since the last alert. Click Go to run the Opt out report |
Opt out received |
Making changes to your notifications
To change your notifications you need to amend the dates in your pay date calendars. You can do this by clicking on 'Amend paygroup & calendar' from the homepage. Here you can then click on view/edit calendar and make changes to your dates.
Managing your scheme
About
This section allows you to view and amend your current scheme arrangements.
Amend AssistMe users
This screen lists all users that have been setup to use AssistMe along with their assigned roles. Only scheme administrators can make changes to this.
Adding a new user
Click on the 'Add new user' button to open the user details window. Complete the fields. Your User ID will be the users email address. Please note the email address must be unique to that individual.
You also need to select what access levels are required, this will depend on the users role and responsibilities.
Once you have completed all the fields, just click on Add. This will then generate a secure email to that users email address containing there password. Note, this initial password is only available for 3 days so please make sure they are aware of this as they will need to log in and set a new password immediately.
Amending an existing users permissions
Click on the 'edit' button next to the user you need to amend. From here you can amend the permissions by selecting the relevant radio button. Once complete, make sure you save these changes.
Removing a user
To remove a user you simply just need to click on the waste bin next to the person you wish to remove. This will remove their access to your scheme and prevent them from accessing immediately.
Role responsibilities
| |
Scheme setup |
User management |
Payroll management |
Automatic enrolment assessment |
Contribution processing |
Authorising payments to pension providers |
Opt Out Reports |
| Scheme administrator |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Data administrator |
|
|
|
X |
X |
|
|
| Payment authoriser |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
|
Amend employer details
This screen allows you to amend your employee communication settings, for example company address, contacts, and signatories. Any changes are immediate so make sure these are accurate before saving.
You can also add, amend or delete your company logo in this section. It's not mandatory to include a logo on your communications but here you have the ability to cater for one if necessary.
Please ensure that your logo meets the following criteria:
- Should be .jpg format (JPEG)
- Should be no more than 400 pixels wide by 100 pixels high
- Has a horizontal and vertical resolution of 96dpi
View the quick guide
Amend scheme
This screen allows you to view and amend scheme details. This includes allowing you to choose your communication preferences for each scheme section. A default preference will have been setup as agreed during implementation but you can change these here. Selecting the 'Finish' button will save any changes made.
You are limited to what you can amend here however if you notice that any information is incorrect and you can't change it, please contact our support team who will be able to amend this for you.
Email
Email is a great way to ensure your communications are issued cost effectively and quickly. If you select email, this will be generated automatically once you have completed your assessment, you will not see this prior to being issued.
For specific email settings you should refer to the technical requirements in our user guide. The AssistMe domain is a sub domain of scottishwidows.co.uk(assistme.scottishwidows.co.uk).
For some new AssistMe users, the encrypted credentials email sent out to new users containing their username and password may end up in their Junk Mail. If an expected credentials email does not arrive, please check your Junk mail folders.
The email will provide core information about workplace pensions and attached will be a PDF that contains the important assessment information for your employee. These communications will be either postponement notices or assessment letters.
PDF
If you have chosen PDF, once your assessment is completed, a notification will be generated advising you that your assessment letter and/or postponement notice is available for you to download. Once downloaded you can save, print and issue these by post as they will have already been populated with employees address details based on your input file.
Timescales for creating PDFs
This will all depend on the size of the payroll as AssistMe will mail merge the letters. It could take anything from a few minutes for a small file to a few hours for a very large file (3,000+ employees) so please be patient. If you have large volumes at staging, letters will be provided in batches of 100.
You can change your communication preference to email at any time. Please ensure you refer to our guidance on email setting prior to doing this.
Amend Paygroup and Calendar
This screen allows you to view and edit the pay date (date employees are paid) and the reminder date (payroll cut off date).To do this click on view/edit calendar, make changes as required and click 'save'. The system will automatically attach a warning next to any pay dates that fall on a weekend prompting you to make a change if required.
You can also amend the paygroup name. Click edit paygroup, amend as required and click 'confirm changes'. Please be aware that changing your pay group name will only be reflected on AssistMe.
Communications
About
This screen will allow you to search and retrieve historic communications which have been previously created and issued.
Search
You can search by using the employee's personal details (Last name, First name, Employee ID and NI Number). Once searched the PDF will be available for you to save, print and issue.
Filter by
Using the 'filter by' option, you can search the database by using your pay group and/or notice type. You can then filter your date ranges. Please note this will list on an individual basis.
Reporting
About
With the introduction of the new automatic enrolment duties there is a new legal requirement on employers and trustees to keep certain records to demonstrate that they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties. The Pensions Regulator may ask an employer to submit records at any time and failure to produce them will incur fines. AssistMe automatically retains the required information and you can use this tool to print down key reports.
Employee opt out
By entering your pay reference period start and end date, along with your pay group you can produce and employee opt out report which will detail a list of employees which have opted out during that specified pay reference period.
Employee assessment summary
By entering your pay reference period start date and end date, along with your pay group you can produce an employee assessment summary report which will detail your employee assessment results.
Contributions report
By entering your pay reference period start date and end date, along with your pay group you can produce a contribution report which will detail all your employees contributions during that specified pay reference period.
Employee workforce profile
This report will show you, per pay group your employee enrolment statuses. You can sort and filter the page accordingly and then export the data via excel, CSV and/or PDF.