Overview

Zeta Optima offers an intuitive web interface, wherein employers can administer various payroll benefit programs like Allowance and Reimbursement programs for their employees. This allows the employees to save taxes and increase their take-home salary. Any program administered on the Optima digital platform has to be categorised either as an Allowance or as a Reimbursement Model.

Allowance Model	Reimbursement Model
Mandatory or optional proof submission	Mandatory proof submission
Mandatory or optional bill upload	Mandatory bill upload
Mandatory or optional lien	Mandatory lien

Optima programs such as Meal Vouchers and Gift Cards do not need proof of submission.

What Is Lien?

Definition from Web: A right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged.

Meaning in context of Allowance and Reimbursement of Optima program: When an employee submits a claim for an amount greater than the limit set for that particular program, the available amount in that program will be reimbursed to the employee and the remaining amount will be reimbursed in the next payout the successive month. This amount which is said to be reimbursed in the following month is known as the Lien Balance.

Administering Allowance Programs

In an Allowance program, the corporate issues the amount to the employee up front. The issued amount is reflected in the employee's Zeta account under the corresponding benefit cards and it can be spent using Zeta App, Zeta Super Card and Zeta Super Tag.

Let us now look at the standard operating procedures (SOPs) that an organization must follow to administer allowance programs.

SOP 1: Employer Flow - Disbursal Of Funds

The employer sets up the Optima program and funding account and adds funds to the corresponding card programs opted by the employee. When an order is created, payouts will be executed from the Funding Accounts on the scheduled date.

The funds added will be used in a Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) manner for the orders placed. Hence, it is advisable to use different Funding Accounts for different card programs rather than a single Funding Account.

The employer follows the various steps to disburse funds to employees:

Actions	Description
Creating new order file	You create an order file using the email address/Phone Number, preferably email as corporates have email addresses for all their employees. For example, see Creation of Meal Voucher order Note that each program uses different excel format to create the order.
Modify the order file	You can modify the scheduled transfers which aren't processed yet and make changes to successful transfers only if the disbursed funds are unused.
View order details and statuses	Order details and statuses of orders can be viewed in new transfer details. You can also download proforma invoice for details.
Adding funds to Funding Account	The payouts will be executed on the scheduled date, provided there is enough balance in the Funding Account for the order to go through. In case of insufficient funds, funds have to be added to the Funding Account.

SOP 2: Employee Flow - Pay/Upload Bill

Employees receive the cards on the first payout and all successive payouts get added to the balance of the respective benefit card. Once you receive the benefit cards, you can perform the following actions:

Actions	Description
Pay expenses	Once the funds are added to the benefit cards, you can pay the expenses both online and offline over various payment methods.
Upload bill	You can upload bill claims on the Zeta App and on Zeta Web Console.
View transactions	You can view transactions to stay updated periodically.
Receive notifications	You will receive notifications actions and events. Partial Bill Approval/Credit This notification appears when the approved bill amount is more than the balance in the card and only partial amount has been credited to the employee. Example: If the bill amount is Rs. 5,000/- and the balance on the card is only Rs. 2,000/-, then only Rs. 2,000/- moves to the Cash Card and the bill remains partially paid until any further credits.

Administering Reimbursement Programs

In a Reimbursement program, there is no value issued upfront to the employee. This is a one time activity for each employee. The issuance works in exactly the same manner as it does for an Allowance Program but for a small change - the amount issued to each employee initially has to be zero.

Lien is enabled by default for reimbursement programs.
The amount to be reimbursed is calculated on the basis of eligibility for the period the payout is being processed.

Let us now look at the standard operating procedures (SOPs) that an organization must follow to administer a reimbursement program.

SOP 1: Employer Flow - Issuing Reimbursement Card

Employers issue reimbursement card to employees only once, which holds no value. Since there is no amount getting issued, there is no dependency on the Funding Account balance. Below mentioned steps are followed after issuance of reimbursement cards.

Actions	Description
Creating an Order File	You create a zero balance order file using the email address/Phone Number, preferably email as corporates have email addresses for all their employees Sample Order File
Modifying an Order File	You can modify an order file in case of any discrepancies in employee details or changes like addition of employees.

SOP 2: Employee Flow - Uploading Bills

Employees then receive the card and can perform the following actions:

Actions	Description
Upload bill claim	You can upload bills using the Zeta App or Zeta Web Console.
View statement	You can view your statements of reimbursement.

SOP 3: Employer Flow - Disbursing Approved Funds

After the employees have submitted their claims, the claims are reimbursed according to the limits declared by the corporate. Below are the actions involved in reimbursing the approved amounts:

Actions	Description
Calculating reimbursement amount	You have to reimburse the approved amount that is stated in the Reimbursement Master Report as shown in the sample report below Reimbursement Master Report
Creating an Order File	Once you know the approved amount, create an order file the same way as in Allowance program.
Modifying Order File	Modifying order file is similar to that of an Allowance program.
View order details/statuses	Viewing order details/statuses is similar to that of an Allowance program.
Adding funds	Adding funds to funding account is similar to that of an Allowance program.

SOP 4: Employee Flow - Receiving Approved Funds

Once the payouts are executed successfully, employees receive amount in their reimbursement card. Since lien is enabled on all the reimbursement programs, the amount gets moved to the Cash Card immediately. An immediate credit in the Cash Card for the reimbursed amount is seen. You will receive notifications via E-mail, Push, SMS and Inbox. Employees can now see their statements in the app, which gives them a detailed view of all transactions.

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Program Administration Guidelines

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