Pension Administration Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Pension Administrator, Compensation and Benefits Specialist and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CB-026

Before you join: Participants should have practical exposure to HR operations, payroll, employee benefits, pension administration or a related shared-services role.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Pension administration depends on accurate member data, correctly interpreted plan rules, timely payroll and payment processing, and clear evidence that each decision was authorised. Errors can create underpayments, overpayments, missed enrolments, incorrect contribution allocations, privacy incidents and member complaints. As pension teams introduce workflow systems, interfaces and robotic process automation, they must retain effective controls over calculations, exceptions, approvals and data changes.

This course examines the administration of defined contribution, defined benefit and hybrid pension arrangements from enrolment to retirement, transfer, death and payment. Participants learn to translate plan provisions into administration rules; reconcile payroll deductions and contributions; process lifecycle events; manage actuarial data; and maintain audit-ready records. The course also addresses process mapping, business-rule catalogues, workflow design, robotic process automation suitability, interface controls, user acceptance testing and change control.

Instruction combines focused briefings with pension administration cases, calculation reviews, data-reconciliation tasks, control design discussions, workflow simulations and group analysis of system exceptions. Participants apply methods to realistic situations involving payroll mismatches, delayed member elections, benefit-payment changes, data conversion defects and automated case routing. They leave with a pension administration control and automation improvement pack containing reusable templates, checklists and an implementation plan for their own operation.

The course is suited to HR, rewards, payroll, pension operations, trustee-support and shared-services professionals who already work with employee benefit data or pension processes. It is delivered over five days in the classroom in 50+ cities or live online. Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret pension plan rules and convert them into administration requirements
  • Calculate contributions, accruals, vesting outcomes and benefit-payment instructions
  • Reconcile payroll deductions, employer contributions, member records and payment data
  • Design control matrices for pension calculations, approvals, data changes and payments
  • Map pension administration processes and identify suitable automation opportunities
  • Define business rules, workflow routing and exception-handling requirements for pension systems
  • Plan user acceptance testing, parallel runs and controlled pension-system changes
  • Produce a pension administration improvement plan with measures, owners and milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence interpreting plan rules and resolving administration exceptions
  • Practical methods for checking pension calculations before member communication or payment
  • Ability to identify data defects causing contribution and benefit-processing errors
  • Experience specifying workflow and automation requirements for technology teams
  • A structured improvement plan for reducing manual rework in pension operations

For your organisation

  • Fewer contribution, benefit-calculation and payment-processing errors
  • Stronger evidence for internal audit, trustee review and regulatory inspection
  • Improved reconciliation between HR, payroll, pension administration and finance records
  • Reduced manual case handling through well-controlled workflow automation
  • More reliable member service levels, communications and complaint resolution

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define the roles, events, documents and service responsibilities within a pension administration operating model.

  • Defined benefit, defined contribution and hybrid plan administration operating models
  • Plan rules translated into eligibility, vesting, accrual and payment events
  • Employer, trustee, administrator and custodian responsibilities mapped through RACI
  • Member lifecycle events from enrolment through retirement, death and transfers
  • Service-level agreements, administration manuals and delegated authority controls
  • Jurisdictional legislation, plan documents and policy hierarchy distinguished

Participants can establish data requirements and reconcile core pension administration records.

  • Data dictionary fields for member identity, service, salary and beneficiaries
  • Source-to-target mapping between HRIS, payroll, recordkeeping and finance systems
  • Data profiling tests for completeness, validity, uniqueness, timeliness and referential integrity
  • Master-data ownership and correction workflows using accountable data stewards
  • Reconciliation of payroll deductions, employer contributions and investment allocations
  • Retention schedules, consent records and privacy access controls documented

Participants can apply plan rules to eligibility, contribution, accrual and vesting calculations.

  • Eligibility rules configured from age, service, hours and employment status
  • Contribution calculations using pensionable pay, caps, tiers and matching formulas
  • Defined-benefit accruals calculated using final salary, career average and service
  • Vesting, forfeiture and break-in-service rules applied to member records
  • Payroll interface exceptions investigated through control totals and variance thresholds
  • Calculation audit trails retained for review, correction and member explanation

Participants can process common pension lifecycle events using controlled case-management workflows.

  • Enrolment notices, beneficiary nominations and opt-out elections processed within deadlines
  • Life-event workflows handle leave, promotion, divorce, disability and death
  • Transfer-in and transfer-out cases reconciled against receiving scheme instructions
  • Retirement quotations tested for eligibility, options, tax and payment dates
  • Benefit-payment authorisation separates calculation, approval, release and bank-file transmission
  • Case-management queues prioritised by regulatory deadline, financial value and member impact

Participants can administer defined benefit cases and control high-risk benefit payment activities.

  • Actuarial valuation data packs reconciled to administration records and census extracts
  • Benefit calculations distinguish normal, early, late and ill-health retirement factors
  • Guaranteed minimums, survivor benefits and commutation options checked against plan rules
  • Annuity purchase, lump-sum and periodic-payment instructions validated before settlement
  • Mortality notifications trigger payment stops, overpayment recovery and survivor-case workflows
  • Exception logs document assumptions, approvals, recalculations and member correspondence

Participants can design controls and retain evidence for key pension administration risks.

  • Control matrices link pension risks to preventive, detective and corrective controls
  • Segregation-of-duties analysis identifies incompatible calculation, approval and payment access
  • Daily cash and payment reconciliations investigate unmatched items and ageing
  • Four-eyes review evidences high-value adjustments, benefit awards and bank changes
  • Internal audit evidence packs retain logs, reports, approvals and exception resolution
  • Root-cause analysis uses five whys and corrective-action ownership

Participants can identify, specify and control pension administration automation opportunities.

  • Process maps identify handoffs, rework, decision rules and automation candidates
  • Business rules catalogues convert plan provisions into testable system logic
  • Workflow engines route cases by event type, value, deadline and exception
  • Robotic process automation suits repetitive, rules-based tasks with stable interfaces
  • API and file-interface controls validate transmission, acknowledgements and rejected records
  • Straight-through processing thresholds reserve exceptions for human review and approval
  • Automation benefits measured through cycle time, error rate and touchless completion

Participants can plan testing and controlled change for pension administration systems.

  • Requirements traceability matrix links plan rules, configurations, tests and approvals
  • Test scenarios cover normal, boundary, negative, regression and end-to-end cases
  • User acceptance testing confirms calculation accuracy, workflow routing and correspondence
  • Parallel runs compare legacy outputs, new-system results and reconciliation differences
  • Defect triage ranks severity, root cause, workaround and release decision
  • Change-control records capture impact assessment, sign-off, deployment and rollback

Participants can manage member communications, service measures, complaints and pension reporting.

  • Member communications explain contributions, vesting, investment choices and benefit options
  • Plain-language correspondence separates factual information, guidance and regulated advice
  • Service dashboards report volumes, turnaround, first-contact resolution, errors and complaints
  • Complaint handling records acknowledgement, investigation, response, escalation and closure dates
  • Trustee and employer reports reconcile membership, contributions, payments and exceptions
  • Management information distinguishes leading indicators from retrospective service measures

Participants can prepare a prioritised plan for improving pension administration performance and control.

  • Administration operating model aligns people, process, technology, data and controls
  • Capacity plans convert case volumes and handling times into staffing requirements
  • Vendor governance uses scorecards, service credits, issue logs and review meetings
  • Month-end calendar coordinates payroll, contributions, reconciliations, payments and reporting
  • Implementation roadmap sequences quick wins, dependencies, owners, milestones and measures
  • Personal application plan defines priority process, control, metric and 90-day action

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Pension administration RACI template
  2. Member-data dictionary template
  3. Payroll and contribution reconciliation checklist
  4. Pension administration control matrix
  5. Automation opportunity assessment model
  6. 90-day administration improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Pension Administrator — needs consistent methods for member events, calculations and records
  • Compensation and Benefits Specialist — manages pension design interpretation and operational delivery
  • Payroll Manager — reconciles deductions, employer funding and pension-file exceptions
  • HR Operations Manager — oversees employee data, service delivery and lifecycle processes
  • Pension Operations Manager — improves controls, productivity and administration service levels
  • Trustee Support Officer — prepares reliable reporting, evidence packs and exception information

Skills and tools covered

Pension calculationsMember data governancePayroll reconciliationAdministration controlsWorkflow automationSystem change testing

Tools and standards

RACI matrix, Five Whys, Requirements Traceability Matrix, Robotic Process Automation

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by structured pension administration cases, group exercises and calculation reviews. Participants examine plan-rule extracts, member data, payroll files, reconciliation reports, workflow diagrams and control evidence. Simulations cover exception triage, benefit-payment approval, automated case routing and system-test decisions. Facilitated discussions compare defined contribution and defined benefit administration requirements. Each participant develops an application plan based on a process, control or automation issue relevant to their own pension operation.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical exposure to HR operations, payroll, employee benefits, pension administration or a related shared-services role. They should understand basic employment data such as salary, service dates, employee status and payroll deductions. Familiarity with their organisation's pension plan documents or administration system is useful but not essential. No actuarial qualification, accounting qualification, programming knowledge or prior robotic process automation experience is required. The course explains technical pension terminology before applying it to administration processes and controls.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have some exposure to HR operations, payroll, benefits, pension administration or shared services. You do not need an actuarial qualification, programming skills or previous automation-project experience.

Bring a laptop if possible, along with non-confidential examples of your pension process maps, service reports, reconciliation issues or system-change concerns. Do not bring identifiable member data, account details or restricted plan records.

The course is intended for pension administrators, benefits specialists, payroll managers, HR operations staff, pension operations managers and trustee-support personnel. It is most valuable for people responsible for pension records, member events, contribution processing, controls or service performance.

This course concentrates on administration operations: member data, calculations, payroll interfaces, payment controls, workflow and system change. It does not teach investment selection, actuarial valuation methods in depth or pension-plan design strategy.

You can use the templates to assess one existing process, such as enrolment, contribution reconciliation, retirement processing or complaint handling. The final application plan helps you assign owners, measures and milestones for a defined improvement.

The five days progress from pension operating models and data through calculations, lifecycle processing, controls, automation, testing, reporting and improvement planning. Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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