Ease (Enrollment)

Overview

Ease is a group benefits administration software for brokers and their clients. To learn more, visit Ease’s site. This integration allows you to sync company, employee, plan, and enrollment data from Ease to AMS+.

IN THIS ARTICLE

Video guides

Introduction (5:54)

Video recorded on September 14, 2020

Overview (28:32)

Video recorded on January 26, 2021

Pre-setup in AMS+

Depending on how you configure the integration, you can automatically sync Ease data to AMS+ on a nightly basis. For the nightly sync to work effectively, you need to manually connect existing AMS+ Groups and Policies/Coverages to Ease Companies and Plans. You don’t need to connect all of them, just the ones you want to be part of the sync process.

If you want to bring over company/employee data, you need a connected Group in AMS+.

If you want to bring over plan and enrollment data, you need the following in AMS+:

• Your connected Groups need Policies.
• Each Policy needs at least one Coverage.
  • Each Coverage needs a Carrier Product.

The nightly sync will not automatically create any of the above records or map data connections. If you're missing any, you will need to create them in their respective system.

Creating records for data mapping

If you’re new to AMS+ but already using Ease, you can download your Ease data and import it into AMS+ to mass create Groups and Policies/Coverages. Follow these steps.

If you’re already using AMS+ and Ease, proceed to activate and configure the integration settings. When you’re mapping data connections, you may find missing Groups or Policies/Coverages. You will have the option to create those records within the data mapping process.

If you’re new to Ease, please contact the Ease support team for assistance with importing the required data into Ease.

1. Activate the integration

To activate the integration:

Go to Settings > Integrations and select “Ease”.

Select the “Connect Ease” button.

Please note, you must be the account owner to see this button.

Enter your “Ease” login credentials.

If you’re already logged in to Ease, you’ll have the option to select your account profile.

Grant access.

Upon granting access, the page will reload and you will be redirected to AMS+. You’ll next want to configure Ease settings and map data connections.

2. Configure Ease settings

Check boxes next to the data you want to sync over.

• Companies/Groups - If left unchecked, no data will sync from Ease to AMS+. If checked, you can sync data (via manual or nightly sync) from Ease Companies to connected AMS+ Groups.
• Employees/Individuals - When syncing data, we’ll automatically match and connect a company’s employees to a group’s individuals by SSN. If a match is not found, we’ll create an individual and connect it to the employee.
  • If you aren’t using SSN in AMS+, turn on the “Match on first and last name when SSN unavailable” option to expand the matching criteria.
• Dependents & Text-only Individual Relationships - If left unchecked, we won’t sync Ease Dependents. If checked, we will automatically match and connect Ease Dependents to AMS+ Text-only Individual Relationships by SSN. Learn more about text-only individual relationships. If a match is not found, we’ll create a text-only individual relationship and connect it to the dependent.
  • If you aren’t using SSN in AMS+, turn on the “Match on first and last name when SSN unavailable” option to expand the matching criteria.
• Plans/Eligibilities & Policies/Coverages - If left unchecked, we won’t sync Ease Plans/Eligibilities. If checked, we will sync plan/eligibility data for connected policies/coverages.
• Plan Enrollments & Policy Enrollments - When syncing data, we’ll automatically match and connect a plan’s enrollments to a policy’s enrollments by the policy’s coverage. If a match is not found, we’ll create a policy enrollment and connect it to the plan enrollment.
• Automated Sync - If left unchecked, you can still perform manual syncs for connected groups. However, we recommend enabling this option so all your connected groups are updated on a nightly basis. See this section for more details.

Unmatched Employees

When we can’t find an individual to match for an employee (by SSN or first name/last name), we will create a new individual. You can set the default status and type you want to assign to new individuals.

Also, by default, we don’t create new individuals for employees that have a “terminated” status in Ease. However, you can change this by enabling the “Terminated Employees” setting.

Disable Integration

If you stop using Ease or you want to stop using the integration, you can disconnect it. This will stop all syncs, and revoke access to the integration. You can reauthorize this integration at any time if you are the account owner in AMS+ and the admin in Ease. If you reauthorize, your previous settings and connections will be restored.

3. Map data connections

Note: You must belong to a security group with the "Manage Users" permission to map and edit data connections.

After configuring the Ease settings, you're ready to map your data connections. These connections tell us which records you want your data to sync to.

Connecting a Company & Group

To sync data from Ease to AMS+, you need to connect your companies to matching groups. We automatically match and connect employees to individuals by SSN and first name/last name. If an employee match isn’t found, we create a new individual.

On the Integrations > Ease > Connections - Ease Companies page, select the pencil icon.

Choose an existing group or create a new one.

Save

Set up these connections for every Ease Company you want to sync to AMS+.

Connecting a Plan/Eligibility & Policy/Coverage

To sync Ease Plan data to AMS+, you need to go into each plan and connect its eligibilities to matching policies/coverages. We use the coverage to match and connect Ease Plan Enrollments to AMS+ Policy Enrollments. If a plan enrollment is unmatched, we create a new policy enrollment.

Please note, you can map multiple eligibilities to the same policy/coverage. You typically only need to do this if the eligibility is used for things like Employee Class (e.g., salary vs hourly).

Locate a Company-Group connection, and select the “Manage Ease Plans” button.

A list of the company’s plans will appear.

Locate an Ease Plan and select the “Manage Ease Plans” button.

Please note, we show plans that have been updated in Ease within the past two years by default, but you can use the dropdown filter to show all plans.

Locate an Ease Eligibility and select the “Connect” button.

Choose a matching AMS+ Policy and Coverage.

Please note, you can only choose from AMS+ Policies that are associated with the AMS+ Group. If the group doesn’t have a policy, add one and try again. Similarly, you can only choose from coverages that are on the selected policy.

Need to add a coverage? Select the + icon to open a new tab with the policy and set up the coverage. Then, return to the tab with the Ease integrations and click the refresh icon to update the coverage list.

Save.

Set up these connections for every Ease Plan/Eligibility you want to sync to AMS+.

4. Sync data

If your data connections are mapped, we’ll know which groups and policies/coverages to update during syncs.

Automated sync

If you have “Automated Sync” enabled in Ease settings, we’ll update all connected groups and their individuals and policies/coverages on a nightly basis.

Manual sync

You can run manual syncs by choosing a connected group and selecting “Sync Record” in the action menu. This method forces a one-time update on the group and its individuals and policies. You would typically use this method for troubleshooting sync issues.

Synced data

The following field data may be updated during manual and nightly syncs:

Sync logs

This log will track any activity around a particular company/group. If the sync fails, you can check the logs to see what happened.

Common scenarios:

• Invalid Ease Authentication - Make sure your Ease login credentials are still valid.
• Invalid AMS+ Group - Re-connect the Ease Company to the AMS+ Group.
• Unable to create enrollment for AB Individual - Make sure your Ease Enrollment/Election data is up-to-date.
• Unmatchable Ease Data - We were unable to match an Ease Employee to an AMS+ Individual by SSN or First Name/Last Name.
• AB Dependent data mismatch for ease dependent - Missing SSN.

Common questions

Do syncs create new groups?
No, we recommend setting up your groups beforehand so you’ll be ready to connect them to companies. We do not create new groups during syncs.

Do syncs create new policies/coverages?
No, we recommend setting up your policies/coverages beforehand so you’ll be ready to connect them to plans/eligibilities. We do not create new policies/coverages during syncs.

Why do policies need coverages?
We need the coverage to update and create policy enrollments on policies.

Why am I not seeing all the enrollments I’m expecting to see?
We only bring over current enrollments. If an upcoming Ease Plan is renewing, its enrollments will come in once they are effective (i.e., January 1st).

How do you "un-sync" a group?
You can remove the connection in the integration setup so a group will no longer sync. Even if you stop/remove/disable the sync on a policy, it will not revert any data in AMS+.