Iron Workers’ Locals No. 15 and 424 Fringe Benefit Funds
Iron Workers’ Locals No. 15 and 424 Fringe Benefit Funds of Meriden, Connecticut
came to Standard Data Corporation with a unique set of challenges. During the
period of approximately seven months, start to finish, the complex benefits and
administration processing requirements of this busy Fund were addressed by SDC.
While our implementation was driven by the Fund’s request for a rapid
deployment, all of the Fund’s specific requirements were designed into the
custom benefits administration processing system we delivered at the end of a
remarkable six-month development-to-delivery cycle.
These development challenges included:
- Conversion of a proprietary, obsolete legacy PC based system. The
database needed a special interface built encompassing multiple phases
to convert data into a production format.
- Medical eligibility rules were in the process of being re-stated in
the Fund’s SPD. The requirement for personal interaction with fund
staff was met and an up to date full function eligibility module
created.
- Pension eligibility rules were in the process of being re-stated in
the Fund’s SPD. SDC performed a comprehensive survey and analysis in
order to understand the current rules and design the Pension model
around those rules. The Fund’s business routines were taken into
consideration, and workflow was also built into the system.
- The Fund’s local phone service was creating communication problems
that interfered with necessary data interchange and communication with
third parties. SDC identified problems and worked to resolve problems
with communication carriers.
- SDC built in a system allowing for automatic posting of outgoing
reciprocal reports with no additional input from fund staff.
- When the Fund switched from Annuity carriers, SDC supported the Fund
and developed the electronic feeds necessary for smooth transactions.
- The addition of a complex new fund just before our “go-live” date.
The above represents a small sampling of the excellent development and
support SDC has delivered to one of our newest ASP clients.
SDC Enters it's 50th year in Business
August 17, 2008 - Standard Data Corporation begins its 50th Year in business providing data processing services and Benefits Administration Software solutions.
There is no better way to celebrate a half-century of business than with the introduction of what Union Office managers, Fund Administrators and Technology Consultants consider to be the most sophisticated application suite available to the Taft-Hartley union and benefits processing market.
Based on SDC’s fifty years of industry knowledge, relentless desire to deliver excellent technology offerings, and dedication to our customer base and the marketplace which we serve, SDC has introduced the industry’s most powerful browser-based application suite. During 2009, there will be hundreds of users with our union and benefits administration software on their desktops.
The demands of today’s unions, and their associated benefits administration funds are intense. SDC's specialized platforms offer excellent value, multiple delivery models (in-house or ASP hosted), easy to learn, ease of use high quality applications, excellent production features resulting in greater output along with greater reliability.
During this milestone anniversary, SDC recognizes that our greatest asset is our staff of dedicated professionals. The people of SDC, some of whom have been with us for thirty years, are our greatest asset. Their hard work and dedication helped SDC to grow and become the company we are today.
A word to our customers:
Thank you for working with us these past 50 years. Your support and your insistence on excellence have helped us to ensure that SDC would continue to thrive. Your success has become our success. Through your loyal support, Standard Data Corporation is now one of the most recognized companies in the labor industry.
SDC Planning Installation of Six Browser-based Benefits Administration Systems during next 12 months
August 2009 - Standard Data Corporation has established the release schedule of its new JAVA-Based Benefits Processing Application.
The planned installations coincide with the SDC’s 50th Anniversary. The new release represents an enormous undertaking, which entailed the creation of 340,000 new lines of computer code.
This new Benefits Processing System makes use of the most modern open-systems technology. The flexible design of our new system permits easy implementation, and will perfectly address the specific needs of any type of Taft-Hartley plan delivered complete with Electronic Web-based Employer Remittance, Web-based Participant Remote Self-Service, Document Imaging.
During the 2007 IFEBP Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, hundreds of conference attendees viewed demonstrations of SDC's latest Java-based Benefits Processing System. Our Benefits Administration Processing Software offerings have been recognized throughout the industry for their quality, performance, and new ideas in design and presentation.
PSE&G Backfile Conversion Completed by SDC
January 2008: 100 Year Old Critical Document Archive Now Digitized
PSE&G selected Standard Data Corporation to provide a digitized integrated modernization of its infrastructure sketch archive. The new digital archive system will streamline the engineering and maintenance processes for PSE&G field crews.
The project required the on-site scanning of six-hundred thousand technical sketches at each of PSE&G's 12 field offices. In addition to the scanning of these critical and sensitive documents, some over one-hundred years old, the project required off-site data entry, and quality validation of all scanned images. The validated data and images are then migrated into an existing PSE&G database, offering enterprise-wide access for both internal and remote use.
PSE&G Routines: The main sketches are typically 8 1/2 x 11 paper forms. The filing system at each of the district headquarters is generally organized by municipality and street. Main sketches are accessed and reviewed to provide accurate markings of gas facilities. Access to these documents will assist in designing new facility installations and also aid in determining the correct action for emergency shutdown of facilities due to a leak or damage.
By scanning on-site at the twelve PSE&G district offices, not only were the documents safeguarded against loss, but minimal interference in the accessing of the sketches was maintained.
Utilizing operational staff from both SDC's Ewing and Jersey City, NJ facilities, SDC scanned at multiple districts simultaneously. SDC has shown its proven resources to correctly handle sensitive materials, and re-filed in the same order in which the documents originated. We congratulate PSE&G for this dynamic step into the future.
SDC to Exhibit at 51st Annual IFEBP Conference
November 2010 - SDC will once again be attending the annual International Foundation of Employee Benefits Conference as a participating exhibitor. This year's event is to be held between November 14-17 at the Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. SDC will be using this forum to formally introduce our latest product offering in Benefits Administration software and technology. Please take the time to visit our Booth number 328 to hear more about this exciting news.
SMW National Pension Fund Selects SDC as ASP
March 2004: The Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund has selected Standard Data Corporation as its Application Service Provider relative to their Pension Tracking system for all active participants. This system is an Electronic Document Management Solution providing real time access to all documents related to pension applicants as well as existing pensioners.
Every pension application requires a number of forms as well as correspondence as part of a request for pension. All pertinent paper documents related to that pension request are scanned and indexed locally at the SMW offices and stored electronically at SDC's data center in Jersey City.
Mark Patrick, Director of the Finance for the National Pension Fund, states that the system has vastly improved our services to our participants as it now provides immediate access to important information necessary to track close to 40,000 active pensioners on file plus several thousand new applications each year from participants seeking additional pension or vesting information.
Board of Trustees of the Connecticut Ironworkers Fund Awards ASP Services Delivery to SDC
December 2003: Standard Data Corporation is excited to announce it is the successful bidder on a project to develop, host, maintain, and support the Fund’s processing applications. SDC will provide the Fund with ASP, off-site hosting of specialized processing applications, various administrative services, Internet services, and training.
Under the terms of the award, SDC will deliver a browser-based comprehensive software solution to address the Fund’s remittance, eligibility, pension, and annuity administration requirements.
For information about this project, please contact
Robert Tomaselli at 201 533 4433 or email benefits@standarddata.com
SDC’s Disaster Procedures Successfully Activated During Blackout 2003
August 2003: At approximately 4:11pm ET on Thursday, August 14th, 2003, many sections of the Northeast and Upper Mid-West United States, and parts of Central Canada were affected by a massive power outage. As you probably know by now, this blackout has been labeled the worst blackout in U.S. history. The power outage affected nearly 50 million people in the US, and left tens of thousands of businesses, and hundreds of thousands of workers idle.
Here at SDC, our computer room lost power at 4:11pm. About the same time many of you lost power. While our Jersey City, New Jersey building switched to its emergency generator located on the building’s roof, our state of the art UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) immediately began to supply emergency battery power to our mission critical computer infrastructure. Our alert operations staff then began a controlled shutdown of our Jersey City, NJ operations, and at the same time began immediate activation of our disaster backup and recovery procedures.
SDC’s disaster recovery unit, a high-end model IBM AS/400, is located in our Ewing, NJ facility. This unit has proven capable of supporting all of the production and development requirements of both SDC and its clients. The Ewing, NJ operation has a triple-redundant battery backup and generator system that by design provides uninterruptible power to our operations for as long as the blackout might last.
Our system was tested. It performed successfully. The hundreds of end-user positions SDC supports include processing application workstations, imaging workstations, mass storage networks, print and scan stations, and other technology positions. These users, and their hardware systems were fully enabled and capable of uninterrupted productivity.
Standard Data Corporation prides itself on providing you, our customers, with the best possible services available. We are pleased to report that our disaster plan performed as expected.
SDC Awarded Electronic Content Management System Bid by Pace University
April 2003: Under the terms of the bid award, SDC will install a custom configuration of the LibertyIMS Electronic Content Management Solution, and provide ongoing maintenance and support. This application will support the day-to-day content management business requirements for Pace University’s Financial, Legal, Purchasing and Contracts, and Human Resources departments. In addition, SDC will collaborate with Pace University through-out the application delivery and support process, while monitoring application performance and service levels.
SDC brings its reputation and experience to this complex implementation to ensure that Pace (one of the largest University systems in the country) will effectively gain strategic value to its operation.
NYC District Council of Carpenters Selects SDC as ASP
March 2002: The New York City District Council of Carpenters has selected Standard Data Corporation as its Application Services Provider relative to their Job Tracking system for all active jobsites employing union carpenters. This system is an Electronic Document Management Solution providing real time access to all documents related to each jobsite as required by law.
Every jobsite requires contractors to register the site with the union to allow the tracking of union carpenters and the hours that they work. All pertinent paper documents related to that jobsite are scanned and indexed locally at the District Council offices and stored electronically at SDC's data center in Jersey City.
Scott Danielson, Director of the Out-of-Work List group, states that the system now provides immediate access to important information necessary to track the timeliness of Shop Steward reports to the District Council, thereby assuring that all carpenters are credited for hours worked.