One Portal for Any Data You Collect From Clients: Census, Renewals, 1099s

The census portal example is built around a TPA collecting a 401(k) census. But nothing in the engine knows what a 401(k) is. It knows fields, the names they go by, what kind of value each one is, and a few checks. Swap those and it collects something else.

The example has a switch above the portal with three templates. Each has its own messy sample file to try.

A benefits broker’s renewal census

Before a group health plan renews, the broker asks the employer for a census to get quotes: each employee’s date of birth, home ZIP code, hours a week and coverage, and on some carriers’ forms tobacco use and sex. The office manager’s file had:

• ZIP codes without their leading zero (2134 for 02134), and a ZIP+4.
• Coverage written six ways: “EE+SP”, “Family”, “ee+ch”, “Employee Only”, “Waive”, “FAM”. All matched to the broker’s tiers.
• “W” in the sex column, a blank coverage and a missing birth date. Asked about.
• 160 hours a week, which is a month’s hours. Questioned.
• Someone working 20 hours a week enrolled in the plan. Flagged for the broker: for the employer mandate, 30 hours a week is full-time.

An accountant’s 1099 contractor list

In January an accountant asks each small-business client who they paid as contractors. The client’s export from the books had:

• A vendor called Total Lawn Care LLC, which a simple script would skip as a totals row. The portal knows a totals row has no tax ID.
• State names written out (“Massachusetts”, “ma”). Turned into two letters.
• A contractor with no tax ID. Asked for, with the reason: ask them for a W-9.
• A corporation. Flagged: corporations usually don’t get a 1099-NEC, lawyers being the exception.
• Payments by card. Left out of the total: the card company reports those.

Then it marks who gets a 1099-NEC: $2,000 or more by check, cash or bank transfer. That’s the threshold for payments made in 2026; it was $600 before.

What a template is

For each field: its label, the column names it goes by in real files, the kind of value (date, amount, SSN, tax ID, ZIP code, state, a choice), whether it’s required, and one sentence on why it’s needed. That sentence is what the client sees when it’s missing, which is most of what makes them answer.

Then the checks: a few lines each, like “a part-timer enrolled” or “over the 1099 threshold”. Everything else (reading Excel and CSV, finding the heading row, repairing values, combining rows, the questions, the clean file) is shared.

Who else has this problem

• A payroll bureau onboarding a new client’s employees.
• A school or camp collecting enrollment and emergency contacts.
• A property manager collecting tenant and vehicle details.
• An insurance agency collecting a fleet’s vehicles and drivers.
• Any service business that asks clients for “a spreadsheet of everyone”.

Key takeaways

• Most “send us your data” work is the same problem in different fields.
• Put the fields, their real-world column names and the checks in a template; share everything else.
• Explain why each missing field matters; it’s what gets it answered.

Switch templates in the example →

Collecting data from your clients? We’ll build the portal around your fields and your checks. Because we work with AI-assisted development, it costs far less than you might expect. Let’s talk.