Benefits enrollment workflow fails when dependent information incomplete, blocking enrollment period

HCM Ceridian Dayforce
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1

We’re having a critical issue with our benefits enrollment workflow in cd-2023.1 during our open enrollment period. When employees try to enroll dependents in health plans, the workflow fails if any dependent information fields are incomplete - specifically missing SSN, birth date, or relationship proof documentation. Instead of allowing employees to save partial information and complete it later, the workflow completely halts and throws a validation error.

The error messaging is generic (‘Enrollment cannot be processed - validation failed’) which doesn’t help employees understand what’s missing. The validation rules are configured in the workflow designer and appear to be set correctly, but they’re too strict for our enrollment process. Employees should be able to save their progress and submit documentation later, but the current validation logic blocks any forward progress.

This is causing major problems - we have over 200 employees who started enrollment but can’t complete it due to missing dependent documentation. Our HR team is manually collecting information and trying to complete enrollments on behalf of employees, but we can’t sustain this for the entire enrollment period. The workflow resubmission process is also unclear - if we fix the validation issues, how do we restart the failed enrollments without making employees start over?

Validation rule configuration snippet from our workflow:

<validation rule="dependent_info_complete">
  <required>SSN, BirthDate, Relationship</required>
  <enforcement>BLOCK</enforcement>
</validation>

Has anyone dealt with validation rule setup that’s too restrictive during open enrollment?

2

The error messaging issue is separate from the validation rules. You need to customize your validation error messages to be more specific. Go to Configuration > Validation Messages and create custom messages for each required field. Instead of generic ‘validation failed’, configure messages like ‘Dependent SSN is required’ or ‘Please upload relationship proof document’. This helps employees understand exactly what’s missing without changing the validation enforcement level.

3

The issue is your enforcement setting. Change BLOCK to WARN in your validation rule. This will allow the enrollment to proceed with a warning message but not block submission. Employees can then submit incomplete information and you can follow up later. The validation will still flag the missing data for your review, but it won’t stop the workflow. Update your XML to enforcement=WARN and republish the workflow.

4

Your benefits enrollment workflow validation issue requires systematic changes across all three focus areas: validation rule setup, error messaging configuration, and workflow resubmission process. Let me provide a comprehensive solution for your open enrollment crisis.

VALIDATION RULE SETUP: Your current validation configuration is too restrictive for a user-friendly enrollment experience. The BLOCK enforcement at the dependent information entry stage is the primary cause of your 200 failed enrollments.

Here’s the corrected validation approach:

  1. Implement Progressive Validation: Replace your single rigid validation rule with a multi-tiered validation strategy that matches enrollment workflow stages.

Update your validation XML to:

<validation rule="dependent_info_draft">
  <required>Relationship</required>
  <enforcement>WARN</enforcement>
  <workflow_step>add_dependent</workflow_step>
</validation>

<validation rule="dependent_info_submit">
  <required>SSN, BirthDate, Relationship, ProofDoc</required>
  <enforcement>BLOCK</enforcement>
  <workflow_step>final_submit</workflow_step>
</validation>

This configuration:

  • Allows employees to add dependents with minimal information (just relationship type) during initial enrollment
  • Shows warnings about missing SSN and birth date but doesn’t block saving
  • Only enforces complete validation when employee clicks ‘Submit Enrollment’ for processing
  • Gives employees the entire enrollment period to gather documentation
  1. Configure Field-Level Validation Timing: In cd-2023.1, you can control when each field validation fires:
  • Navigate to Benefits Administration > Configuration > Enrollment Workflow
  • Edit your enrollment workflow
  • For each dependent information field, set ‘Validation Timing’:
    • SSN: Validate on ‘Final Submit’ only
    • BirthDate: Validate on ‘Final Submit’ only
    • Relationship: Validate on ‘Field Exit’ (immediate)
    • ProofDoc: Validate on ‘Final Submit’ only

This ensures employees get immediate feedback on relationship type (required to determine plan eligibility) but can save draft enrollments without complete documentation.

  1. Add Validation Bypass for HR Admin: Create an override capability for your HR team to complete enrollments on behalf of employees:
  • Workflow Designer > Enrollment Workflow > Security Settings
  • Add validation bypass permission: ‘Allow validation override for role: Benefits Administrator’
  • This lets your HR team submit enrollments with pending documentation when needed
  • The system will flag these for follow-up but won’t block submission

ERROR MESSAGING CONFIGURATION: Generic error messages are making the problem worse by not guiding employees to resolution. You need specific, actionable error messages for each validation failure.

Configure detailed validation messages:

  1. Create Custom Message Templates:
  • Configuration > System Messages > Validation Messages
  • Create new message category: ‘Benefits Enrollment Validation’
  • Add specific messages for each validation rule:
<message code="DEP_SSN_MISSING">
  <severity>WARNING</severity>
  <text>Dependent Social Security Number is required before final submission. You can save this enrollment as a draft and add the SSN later during the enrollment period (ends {{enrollment_end_date}}).</text>
  <action>Continue Editing</action>
</message>

<message code="DEP_BIRTHDATE_MISSING">
  <severity>WARNING</severity>
  <text>Dependent birth date is required to calculate plan costs. Please add the birth date or save as draft and return later.</text>
  <action>Continue Editing</action>
</message>

<message code="DEP_PROOF_MISSING">
  <severity>WARNING</severity>
  <text>Relationship proof document is required for final enrollment submission. Acceptable documents: birth certificate, marriage certificate, or legal adoption papers. Upload document or save as draft.</text>
  <action>Continue Editing | Upload Document</action>
</message>
  1. Map Messages to Validation Rules:
  • Workflow Designer > Enrollment Workflow > Validation Rules
  • For each validation rule, assign the corresponding message code
  • Set message display location: ‘Inline at field level’ for immediate context
  • Enable ‘Show all warnings in summary panel’ so employees see complete list of pending items
  1. Add Progress Indicators:
  • Configure enrollment progress tracking: Benefits Administration > Enrollment Settings > Progress Tracking
  • Enable ‘Show completion percentage’ to display how much of enrollment is complete
  • Configure completion criteria: ‘Employee info (25%), Dependent info (25%), Plan selection (25%), Document upload (25%)’
  • This helps employees understand what’s missing without cryptic error messages

WORKFLOW RESUBMISSION: You need an immediate solution for the 200 stuck enrollments and a sustainable process for handling future validation failures.

Immediate remediation for stuck enrollments:

  1. Bulk Reset Failed Enrollments:
  • Benefits Administration > Enrollment Management > Enrollment Status Dashboard
  • Filter: Status = ‘Failed’, Reason = ‘Validation Error’, Date Range = Current Enrollment Period
  • Select all 200 enrollments
  • Action Menu > ‘Reset to Draft Status’
  • Check option: ‘Preserve entered data’
  • Check option: ‘Notify employees of reset’
  • Execute bulk reset

This operation:

  • Moves enrollments from ‘Failed’ back to ‘Draft’ status
  • Preserves all data employees already entered
  • Sends automatic email notification that enrollment is ready to complete
  • Allows employees to add missing information and resubmit
  1. Configure Automatic Retry Logic: For future validation failures, implement automatic workflow recovery:
  • Workflow Designer > Enrollment Workflow > Error Handling
  • Add error handler: ‘On Validation Failure’
  • Action: ‘Return to previous step with warning message’
  • Do NOT use: ‘Terminate workflow’ (your current setting)
  • Enable: ‘Allow resubmission from last successful step’

This prevents future enrollments from completely failing - they return to the last successful step instead.

  1. Create Pending Documentation Queue: For enrollments submitted with warnings (incomplete documentation):
  • Benefits Administration > Enrollment Management > Create New Queue
  • Queue Name: ‘Pending Documentation Review’
  • Filter: Enrollments with validation warnings
  • Assign Queue: Benefits Administration Team
  • Configure follow-up workflow:
    • Day 7: Automated email reminder to employee
    • Day 14: Second reminder with deadline warning
    • Day 21: HR team member assigned to contact employee
    • Day 28: Enrollment marked for manual completion
  1. Enable Self-Service Resubmission:
  • Employee Self-Service Portal > Benefits > Enrollment History
  • Enable ‘Resume Draft Enrollment’ function
  • Employees can click on any draft or warning-status enrollment to continue
  • System automatically loads saved data and highlights missing fields
  • No need to start over or contact HR

IMPLEMENTATION STEPS FOR IMMEDIATE RELIEF:

  1. Tonight (before next business day):

    • Update validation XML to use WARN enforcement for draft stages
    • Change enforcement to BLOCK only for final_submit step
    • Deploy updated workflow configuration
    • Test with a sample enrollment to verify warning messages appear correctly

  2. Tomorrow morning:

    • Bulk reset the 200 failed enrollments to draft status
    • Configure and deploy custom validation error messages
    • Send communication to affected employees explaining the reset and how to complete enrollment
    • Provide clear instructions on what documentation is needed

  3. Within 48 hours:

    • Implement the pending documentation queue
    • Configure automated reminder emails
    • Set up progress tracking display
    • Train HR team on new validation bypass permission for urgent cases

  4. Before next enrollment period:

    • Review validation rules for all benefits workflows
    • Implement progressive validation approach across all enrollment types
    • Configure comprehensive error messaging for all validation points
    • Document workflow resubmission procedures for HR team

LONG-TERM RECOMMENDATIONS:

  1. Validation Rule Audit: Review all benefits workflow validation rules to identify other BLOCK enforcements that should be WARN during draft stages. Common candidates:
  • Beneficiary designations
  • FSA contribution amounts (should allow draft saves without amounts)
  • Evidence of insurability documents

  1. User Acceptance Testing: Before next enrollment period, conduct UAT with actual employees to identify validation pain points. Have test users attempt enrollment with incomplete information to verify the warning system works as intended.

  2. Analytics Dashboard: Create monitoring dashboard for enrollment workflow health:

  • Track validation failure rates by rule type
  • Monitor draft enrollments with pending documentation
  • Alert on enrollments stuck in draft for > 14 days
  • Measure time-to-completion for enrollments with validation warnings

Your immediate priority is updating the validation enforcement from BLOCK to WARN for the dependent information entry steps, then bulk resetting the 200 failed enrollments. This will get your enrollment period back on track. The error messaging and queue management improvements can follow within the next few days to prevent future issues.