In DB Precision, the Plan Document is where all of the plan coding and parameters are stored. If a question comes up regarding the way that plan benefits or eligibility are determined, these rules are defined in the Plan Document. Coding a plan involves creating different plan components (like building blocks) and combining them using Benefit Payment Set Definitions.

Benefit Payment Set Definitions define a final set of benefits payable under the plan. They combine other plan document components to form a final benefit that is payable.

While a plan can have more than one Benefit Payment Set, this is rare and most plans only have one (usually named benefitsRet). In general, the only time that a plan would have additional Benefit Payment Sets is if it had benefits set up for other contingencies such as disability or death (rather than retirement/termination).

It is important to note that if a plan has more than one Benefit Payment Set Definition, it may only reference one of these within a single Export Definition. An Export Definition may not reference more than one Benefit Payment Set Definition.

Export Definitions define the data components, plan components, layout and files to be used for the purpose of extracting information from DB Precision. A plan may contain an unlimited number of Export Definitions but in general, a plan will include 3. One for benefit statements, another for benefit estimates, and finally, one for benefit elections forms.

As described above, coding a plan document involves creating different types of plan components and then combining them using a Benefits Payment Set Definition. When you look at a plan in DB Precision, you will see many branches with different descriptions (Service Definitions, Derived Dates, etc.). These are the different types of plan components (called Plan Definitions) that you can create.

There is an important distinction between the terms Plan Definition and Plan Provision.

A Plan Definition is something that has a name and can be referenced in other parts of the Plan Document. Few types of Plan Definitions are used to define plan rules however. Plan rules are primarily defined in the Plan Provisions.

A Plan Provision is something which has an Effective Date and possibly a stop date. The period between these two dates is called the Effective Period which is the period that a provision's rules are effective. A definition will have more than one provision when there are different rules for that definition for different periods of time.