Participants are the employees in each retirement plan you administer. The Plan Admin page in Stax.ai CX is where you view participant data, filter it by plan year, and fix data issues before they become problems. CX runs automatic scrub checks on participant data and flags errors — like invalid Social Security Numbers or missing compensation — so you can resolve them quickly.
Note: This page was previously called Participants. It's the same page — just a new name.
Navigate to your participants
Click Plan Admin in the left sidebar. The Plan Admin page opens, showing plans grouped by the selected plan year.
Click a company or plan in the table. The participants list for that plan opens.
The table gives you key details at a glance: company name, tags, status, plans, employee count, data status, errors, and last payroll date.
Tip: Hover over a data status or error message in the table to see details and suggestions for fixing it.
Filter and search
Use the filters at the top of the page to narrow what you see:
Click the plan year dropdown and select a year. The data updates to show that plan year.
Add more filters as needed — plan assignee, plan type, custom data fields, tags, or payroll provider.
Filtering by plan year is also how you view history. Select a prior year to see that year's participant activity, employment statuses, and contributions.
View and edit a participant
From the participants list, click a participant. The participant's detail page opens.
Review their details — personal information, gross compensation, elective deferrals, employer match, and more.
Click a field to edit it if something is wrong (for example, a typo in a birth date). CX recalculates related values, such as eligibility and entry dates, after you save.
A few things to know while editing:
If the company has a connected payroll provider (like ADP Run), fields such as gross compensation update automatically from payroll.
CX automatically detects service requirements, like hours of service for eligibility.
Watch for warnings before changing deferral or match entry dates. Changing them can cause discrepancies in records.
Track your own data with custom participant fields
CX comes with the standard participant data every TPA needs, but most firms track something extra — a union code, a division, a note about a specific arrangement. You can add your own fields for that.
There are two kinds, and the difference matters:
Custom Employee data stays with the person. Use it for facts that don't change from year to year, like a location or an employee classification.
Custom Census data is specific to a plan year. Use it for anything that can differ year to year, so last year's value doesn't get overwritten by this year's.
To create them:
Go to Library > Views.
Create a view with the resource type Employee or Employee Census, depending on which kind you need.
Add your fields.
Once they exist, every participant page shows a Custom Employee Data section and a Custom Census Data section alongside the standard details, and you can filter the participants list by them.
They travel with the census file. Custom fields are included when you export participant data and are read back in when you import it — so you can populate a whole plan's worth in a spreadsheet rather than one participant at a time.
Resolve flagged data issues
CX highlights fields with potential errors or missing data.
Look for highlighted fields or error flags on the participant page or in the participants list.
Hover over a highlighted field. A message explains the issue and what to do.
Correct the data, or confirm it's right. The flag clears once the issue is resolved.
Bulk actions
When you need to update many participants at once — for example, marking a group of contractors as inactive — use Bulk Actions from the More menu on the participants list. See Participant Census Data and Statuses for the full walkthrough.
Best practices
Work one plan year at a time. Set the plan year filter first so you're always editing the right year's data.
Clear errors as they appear. Small issues (a bad SSN, a missing hire date) are much easier to fix before census season crunch.
Let payroll do the typing. A connected payroll provider keeps compensation data current without manual entry.
Pick the right kind of custom field up front. If a value could ever differ between plan years, make it a Custom Census field — moving data between the two later is manual work.
Related articles
Plans Overview
Participant Census Data and Statuses
Exporting Participant and Plan Data
Provisions, Eligibility, and Compensation