West Yorkshire Pension Fund drives efficiency and channel shift options with Civicas award-winning UPM pensions

administration system
8 billion fund builds springboard for streamlined operations and service innovations

London, March 1st, 2012 West Yorkshire Pension Fund has chosen the Universal Pensions Manager (UPM) system from Civica, a market leader in specialist systems and business process services, to drive administrative efficiencies as well as adopting online workload processing and more dynamic reporting to its scheme members. The West Yorkshire Pension Fund manages pensions for the countys five authorities Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale - and it is worth over 8 billion. Civicas highly configurable Universal Pensions Manager (UPM) platform enables pensions administration teams to simplify the management of different defined benefit, defined contribution, CARE, and hybrid pension schemes. Its electronic document management (EDM) and workflow modules deliver more effective and streamlined operations with greater productivity and reduced potential for error. UPM will also enable West Yorkshire Pension Fund to transform services by shifting channels towards online workload processing and flexible staff working: web-based work trays enable submission of forms and bulk data files for faster handling of member correspondence, updating of details and calculating benefits. Web trays reduce time needed for paperwork, validate data before reaching in-house teams, and eradicate security risks from any data lost in the post. In addition UPMs trustee governance module enables trustees and secretariats to more easily manage workloads. It uses Full Text Retrieval (FTR) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies for accurate document retrieval, integrated contact management and intelligent workflows while the module can grant specific user groups access to designated document categories. To simplify regulatory compliance, UPM automates data information requests required by Local Government Pension Scheme changes in 2008. The West Yorkshire Pension Funds new UPM system is scheduled to go live next month. As well as providing an integrated platform to drive system efficiencies, the product will enable the funds administration team to undertake software development to drive service innovations and provide better reporting for its customers. Jon Gibbs, product manager at Civica Pensions, said: Universal Pensions Manager is bringing about a step change in how pensions are operated. It not only enables administration teams to further streamline back office processes and reduce inefficiencies, but also enables funds to move to wider online service platforms or introduce the type of secure self-service options expected in the online age.
About West Yorkshire Pension Fund

West Yorkshire Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The fund provides pensions for employees of West Yorkshire's five councils (Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale), plus approximately another 200 public and private sector organisations. About Civica Pensions Civica provides award-winning software solutions to the pensions market, used by some of the UKs leading organisations, with total funds under administration of in excess of 43 billion. The group offers a complete process management solution to improve the administration of pension schemes in the private and public sectors. About Civica Group Ltd Civica (www.civica.co.uk) is a market leader in specialist systems and business process services. Through experienced people who understand service delivery, the Group applies software, managed services and outsourcing to help customers streamline their activities. Civica supplies more than 2,000 organisations in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada and the USA, helping our customers to achieve a successful and more cost-efficient way of working. Press contacts: Mark Walker/Lucy Houghton/Paul Crouch/Kristian Towse Chameleon PR: Tel: 0207 680 5500 civica@chameleonpr.com