How to Simplify DB Pension Administration for Your TPA

Reduce manual work. Roll out new plans faster. And finally use a system that evolves with you.

Most TPAs are still juggling three or more systems just to manage a single DB pension plan.

Eligibility is in one spreadsheet. Contributions come in through another portal. Benefit formulas live in a PDF — or worse, someone’s head. When even simple changes take days or weeks, and onboarding a new plan feels like open-heart surgery, something’s wrong.

Legacy systems. Spreadsheets. Bolt-ons. Chaos.
Sound familiar? You're not the only one. But we’ve built something different — a way to run DB plans without duct tape, delays, or full-time vendor babysitting.

Why It’s So Painful Right Now

Defined benefit pensions are complex — no surprise there. But that complexity gets out of hand fast when you’re running multi-employer plans, each with different rules for:

Eligibility
Accrual and vesting
Retirement types
Contribution tracking
Employer reporting

Add in late remittances, last-minute plan amendments, and compliance deadlines, and you’ve got a recipe for frustration.

But the real problem isn’t the plans. It’s the systems.

Most of the software out there wasn’t built to handle this level of variation — and it definitely wasn’t built to change. Updating a rule, generating a report, or onboarding a new plan often turns into a months-long process.

The Systems You’re Using Can’t Keep Up

We’ve heard it over and over from TPAs:

“We could take on more plans — if our systems didn’t get in the way.”

And that’s the truth. You’re not limited by what your team can handle. You’re limited by outdated, inflexible tools that weren’t built for the work you’re doing today.

Making even a small change — a vesting tweak, a new eligibility rule, a benefit estimate — means opening a support ticket, waiting weeks, and writing another check. That’s not scalable.

We built Pension OS to fix that.

A System That Grows With You

This is the part that gets us excited — because it’s what sets Pension OS apart.

Most systems fall into one of two buckets:

Rigid and hard-coded — dependable, but nearly impossible to change without developers.
“Flexible” but so complex it takes a consultant just to make a field editable.

Pension OS is different. It’s configurable — by your team.

That means:

You can spin up new plans based on templates.
You can modify eligibility and accrual logic without writing code.
Your IT team can test and launch updates safely — no engineering bottlenecks.

Need to change a retirement formula? Add a new plan type? Shift your reporting structure? Do it in the admin panel — and move on.

The platform was designed to evolve. It keeps up with your business, your clients, and the tech around it. APIs, integrations, automation — it’s all there when you need it.

What “Simplified” Actually Looks Like

We’re not pretending DB plans are simple. But running them doesn’t need to be this hard.

Here’s what we mean by a “simplified” process:

Everything in one place. Participant data, employer contributions, benefit logic — centralized and always up to date.
Automated logic. No more recalculating eligibility by hand or re-running benefit estimates every time hours change.
Real-time contribution tracking. Spot issues as they happen — not at month-end.
Built-in self-service. Members, employers, actuaries — everyone gets the access they need, when they need it.
Audit-ready reporting. No more scrambling when the actuary or compliance team asks for data. It’s already clean and structured.

Real Example: One TPA’s Shift from Stuck to Scalable

One of our clients — a TPA managing over 20 DB plans — came to us fed up with their old system. They wanted control, flexibility, and a real path to scale. Here’s what happened:

They launched their first plan in under 30 days
Their internal team handled ~80% of the configuration
In Year 2, they are on pace to add 15 more plans — with the same headcount
Form 5500 prep went from weeks of manual work to a few clicks

It wasn’t magic. It was a system that actually supported the way they work — and let them grow without hiring a small army.

Ask Yourself This

If making a plan update takes two weeks and three vendors…
If every new plan rollout feels like a mini software implementation…
If you're saying no to new clients because you can’t risk breaking what’s already working…

Then maybe it’s time to rethink the system.

What You Get With Pension OS

Here’s what our platform is built to do:

✅ Support multi-employer DB plans — with all the rules and edge cases that come with them
✅ Let your team configure and launch plans on their own timeline
✅ Automate the admin work you’re tired of repeating
✅ Give your clients and members the transparency they expect
✅ Scale — without increasing overhead or complexity