While Open Enrollment takes place within UKG Benefits, successful enrollments are often driven by the preparation and visibility that organizations gain through CORE HCM.
Think of CORE HCM as the foundation that helps HR, Payroll, and Benefits teams navigate the Open Enrollment process with confidence.
Before enrollment begins, organizations need to understand:
- Who is eligible for benefits
- Which employees have experienced status changes
- Which employees are on leave
- Which new hires may be entering eligibility windows
- Which organizational changes could impact enrollment populations
- What employee groups require targeted communication
Rather than waiting for issues to surface during Open Enrollment, CORE HCM provides the workforce visibility needed to identify potential challenges early.
This allows Benefits teams to focus on configuring plans and supporting employees while reducing last-minute enrollment issues.
Use CORE HCM to Prepare Before Enrollment Opens
One of the most effective Open Enrollment strategies is conducting a workforce review before launching enrollment.
Using CORE HCM reporting and employee records, organizations should review:
- New hires
- Recent terminations
- Leave of absence populations
- Status changes
- Transfers
- Organizational changes
- Employees approaching eligibility milestones
The objective is not to audit benefits elections.
The objective is to ensure the right employees receive the right enrollment experience when Open Enrollment launches.
By addressing employee record issues before enrollment begins, organizations can significantly reduce troubleshooting efforts later in the process.
Preparing Benefit Plans for the New Plan Year
Once workforce planning is complete, attention can shift to the Open Enrollment configuration itself.
Organizations should review all upcoming plan-year changes, including:
- Medical plans
- Dental plans
- Vision plans
- Voluntary benefits
- Life insurance plans
- HSA offerings
- FSA offerings
For each plan, Benefits teams should validate:
- Plan design changes
- Employee contributions
- Employer contributions
- Eligibility requirements
- Deduction structures
- Carrier requirements
The earlier these decisions are finalized, the more time teams have to test payroll deductions, employee elections, and carrier integrations.
Carrier Integrations: The Most Critical Component of Open Enrollment
Employees may believe Open Enrollment ends when they click Submit.
In reality, one of the most important phases begins after elections are made.
Organizations must ensure enrollment information is accurately transmitted to carriers and vendors.
This is where integration management becomes critical.
Successful Open Enrollment teams continuously monitor carrier integrations before, during, and after enrollment—not just when a problem occurs.
Starting New Carrier Files
When introducing a new carrier, planning should begin months before Open Enrollment launches.
Organizations should:
- Review file specifications
- Confirm transmission methods
- Validate file layouts
- Coordinate testing timelines
- Establish production schedules
Carrier implementations frequently require substantial lead time, making early planning essential.
Stopping Existing Carrier Files
When plans or carriers are changing, existing integrations should be reviewed carefully.
Organizations should identify:
- Files that need to be retired
- Final transmission dates
- Vendor transition requirements
- Historical file retention needs
Failing to stop an existing carrier feed appropriately can result in duplicate enrollments, incorrect billing, and enrollment discrepancies.
FSA and HSA Transition Planning
Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts often require additional planning during Open Enrollment.
Benefits teams should review:
- Annual election requirements
- Contribution limits
- Goal amount resets
- Payroll deduction schedules
- Banking integrations
- Carrier transmissions
Because these plans frequently require new elections each year, they should be reviewed independently from traditional medical plans.
Organizations should also determine whether any existing FSA or HSA integration files need to be stopped, modified, or restarted as part of the new plan year transition.
Sending Elections to Carriers
Once employees complete Open Enrollment, organizations should validate the information being sent to carriers.
This includes reviewing:
- Employee counts
- Coverage levels
- Effective dates
- Dependent enrollments
- Deduction amounts
The most successful Benefits teams don’t assume elections were processed correctly.
They verify the information before and after transmission.
Maintain Ongoing Integration Reviews
One of the most common mistakes organizations make is treating carrier integrations as an Open Enrollment-only activity.
Carrier feeds should be reviewed regularly throughout the year.
Best practices include:
- Monthly integration reviews
- Carrier reconciliation audits
- Error monitoring
- Enrollment validation
- Deduction-to-carrier comparisons
By maintaining integrations year-round, organizations can identify issues before they impact employee coverage and reduce the amount of cleanup required after Open Enrollment closes.
Open Enrollment doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Whether you need help with benefits configuration, carrier integrations, employee communications, testing, reporting, or day-to-day administration, CORE HCM has the expertise to support your team every step of the way.
Our consultants help organizations reduce risk, save time, and create a smoother enrollment experience for both administrators and employees.
Need an extra set of hands this Open Enrollment season? Let’s talk. info@corehcm.net
CORE HCM: Helping organizations implement, optimize, and maximize their UKG investment.