When importing a benefit, DBP needs to determine whether or not the benefit being imported already exists for a Person. If the benefit already exist, DBP will update the existing benefit, otherwise a new benefit will be added. To determine whether or not a benefit exists, DBP looks at the following. Note that when comparing benefits where a Sponsor has multiple Plan Documents, DBP only compares the imported benefit to existing benefits that have the same plan number.

• Benefit Effective Date: if the imported benefit has the same effective date as an existing benefit for a person, DBP assumes an update to the existing benefit is to be made.
• Benefit Amount: if the benefit effective date for the imported benefit does not match the effective date of any existing benefits but the benefit amount matches that of an existing benefit, DBP assumes an update to the existing benefit is to be made.
• Existing Benefit with Missing Effective Date: if the effective date and amount of the imported benefit do not match any existing benefits but one of the existing benefits has a missing/unknown effective date, DBP assumes an update to the existing benefit with the missing effective date is to be made.