Overview
BenefitFlow delivers six CSV datasets via SFTP, refreshed weekly every Saturday. Together they provide a complete picture of US employer-sponsored benefits: which employers offer what coverage, through which carriers, brokered by whom, at which offices, and the people at those brokerages and employers.| Dataset | File Pattern | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Employer | EMPLOYER-YYYYMMDD.csv | One row per employer — firmographics, benefits program details, primary broker relationship, and P&C information |
| Policy | POLICY-YYYYMMDD.csv | One row per policy per employer — the most granular view of coverage, carriers, premiums, and broker assignments |
| Broker | BROKER-YYYYMMDD.csv | One row per brokerage firm — aggregated metrics across all clients, offices, and contacts |
| Broker Office | BROKER_OFFICE-YYYYMMDD.csv | One row per office location — aggregated metrics for clients and contacts serviced by that office |
| Broker Contact | BROKER_CONTACT-YYYYMMDD.csv | One row per individual at a brokerage — professional details, licensing, and office association |
| Employer Contact | EMPLOYER_CONTACT-YYYYMMDD.csv | One row per individual at an employer — professional details and employer association |
BenefitFlow aggregates data from multiple public and proprietary sources. For a complete overview, see Where does BenefitFlow’s data come from?
Entity Relationships
The six datasets connect through shared identifiers. Use these keys to join across files.Join Keys
| Relationship | From | Join Key | To | Join Key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employer → Policies | Employer | Employer ID | Policy | Employer ID |
| Employer → Primary Broker | Employer | Primary Broker ID | Broker | Broker ID |
| Employer → Primary Broker Office | Employer | Primary Broker Closest Office ID | Broker Office | Broker Office ID |
| Policy → Broker | Policy | Broker ID | Broker | Broker ID |
| Broker → Offices | Broker | Broker ID | Broker Office | Broker ID |
| Broker → Contacts | Broker | Broker ID | Broker Contact | Broker ID |
| Broker Office → Contacts | Broker Office | Broker Office ID | Broker Contact | Closest Office ID |
| Employer → Employer Contacts | Employer | Employer ID | Employer Contact | Employer ID |
Key Relationships
- Employer → Policy is one-to-many. A single employer can have multiple policies (e.g., one for Health, one for Dental, one for Life). The Policy file is the most granular view of coverage.
- Employer → Broker is surfaced two ways: the Employer file carries denormalized “Primary Broker” fields (the broker with the most business), while the Policy file shows the specific broker on each individual policy. These can differ — an employer may use Broker A for health and Broker B for dental.
- Broker → Office → Contact is hierarchical. A broker firm (e.g., “Lockton Companies”) has many offices, and each contact is associated with one office.
- Employer → Employer Contact is one-to-many. Employer contacts are the people at the employer (HR, benefits, executives) rather than at the brokerage. They share the same contact data model as broker contacts but are linked to an employer instead of a broker.
Employer
One row per employer. Includes firmographics, benefits program details, primary broker relationship, and P&C insurance information.Sources: Form 5500, state-level filings, employee review platforms, Proprietary · Refresh: Weekly (Saturday)
| Column | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Type | String | Row type identifier. Always “Employer” in this file. | Employer |
| Employer Name | String | Legal name of the employer, as filed. | Walmart Inc |
| Employer Website | String | Primary company website domain. | walmart.com |
| Employer NAICS Description | String | Industry classification (North American Industry Classification System). | Discount Department Stores |
| Employer NAICS Code | String | Numeric NAICS industry code. Single-quote prefixed to preserve leading zeros. | '452112' |
| Employer EIN | String | Federal Employer Identification Number. Single-quote prefixed. | '710415188' |
| Employer Address | String | Street address of the employer’s primary filing location. | 508 Sw 8th St |
| Employer City | String | City of the employer’s primary filing location. | Bentonville |
| Employer State | String | Two-letter state abbreviation. | AR |
| Employer Zip Code | String | 5-digit ZIP code. Single-quote prefixed. | '72712' |
| Employer ID | String (UUID) | BenefitFlow unique identifier for this employer. Primary key. Use to join to the Policy file. | c86b9d4d-1b87-57dc-... |
| Total Employees | Integer | Total number of employees reported by the employer. | 2076632 |
| Benefit Eligible Employees | Integer | Number of employees eligible for benefits. | 2076632 |
| Benefits Rating | Decimal | BenefitFlow-calculated score (0–5) reflecting the richness of the employer’s benefits program. | 2.4 |
| 5500 Signor Name | String | Name of the person who signed the Form 5500 filing. | Marty Autrey |
| Phone Number | String | Employer’s primary phone number. | (800) 421-1362 |
| Funding | String | Benefits funding model. Values: Fully-Insured, Self-Funded. | Self-Funded |
| Entity Type | String | Employer plan type. Values: Single-Employer, Multi-Employer, Multiple-Employer. | Single-Employer |
| Primary Carrier | String | Insurance carrier with the largest share of this employer’s premiums. | Kaiser Permanente |
| Line of Business | String | Comma-separated list of benefit lines the employer offers (aggregated across all policies). | Vision,Health,Prescription Drug,... |
| Total Premiums | Integer | Total annual premiums across all policies, in USD. | 1077048873 |
| Benefits Renewal Date | String | Month and day when the employer’s benefits renew. | Jan 1 |
| Primary Broker | String | Name of the broker with the largest share of this employer’s business. | Mercer |
| Primary Broker Website | String | Website of the primary broker. | mercer.com |
| Commissions | Integer | Total commissions paid to the primary broker, in USD. | 160019 |
| Primary Broker Office Name | String | Display name of the primary broker’s closest office. | "Mercer - Kansas City, MO" |
| Primary Broker Closest Office City | String | City of the broker office geographically closest to the employer. | Kansas City |
| Primary Broker Closest Office State | String | State of the closest broker office. | MO |
| Primary Broker Closest Office Zip | String | ZIP code of the closest broker office. Single-quote prefixed. | '64108' |
| Primary Broker Closest Office Address | String | Full address of the closest broker office. | 2405 Grand Blvd Kansas City MO 64108 |
| Primary Broker Reported Office City | String | City of the broker office as reported on the 5500 filing (may differ from closest office). | Wilmington |
| Primary Broker Reported Office State | String | State of the reported broker office. | MA |
| P&C Renewal Date | String | Renewal date for the employer’s Property & Casualty coverage. | Jan 1 |
| P&C Broker | String | Broker handling the employer’s Property & Casualty insurance. | Marsh Usa Llc |
| P&C Carrier | String | Carrier providing Property & Casualty coverage. | Federal Insurance Company |
| Primary Broker ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow identifier for the primary broker. Foreign key → Broker file. | ffff65d28b1763dd... |
| Primary Broker Closest Office ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow identifier for the closest broker office. Foreign key → Broker Office file. | 88400beac1131f3f... |
| PEO | String | Professional Employer Organization, if the employer uses one. | DSH INC |
| Accounting Firm | String | Accounting firm listed on the employer’s 5500 filing. | Ernst & Young, LLP |
| Lead Source | String | Data source attribution. Always BenefitFlow in SFTP exports. | BenefitFlow |
| Export Date | Date | Date this snapshot was generated. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 4/5/2026 |
| Filing Date | Date | Date of the most recent Form 5500 filing for this employer. | 2025-01-31 |
| BenefitFlow User | String | Internal system user that generated the export. Always sftp-export-email. | sftp-export-email |
| BenefitFlow Employer URL | URL | Direct link to this employer’s profile in the BenefitFlow application. | https://benefit-flow.com/Employer/... |
Policy
One row per policy per employer. An employer with Health, Dental, and Life coverage will have at least three rows. This is the most granular view of benefits coverage.Sources: Form 5500 · Refresh: Weekly (Saturday)
| Column | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Type | String | Row type identifier. Always “Policy” in this file. | Policy |
| Employer Name | String | Legal name of the employer. | Walmart Inc |
| Employer NAICS Description | String | Industry classification description. | Discount Department Stores |
| Employer NAICS Code | String | Numeric NAICS code. Single-quote prefixed. | '452112' |
| Employer EIN | String | Federal Employer Identification Number. Single-quote prefixed. | '710415188' |
| Employer City | String | City of the employer. | Bentonville |
| Employer State | String | Two-letter state abbreviation. | AR |
| Employer Zip Code | String | 5-digit ZIP code. Single-quote prefixed. | '72712' |
| Employer ID | String (UUID) | BenefitFlow identifier for the employer. Foreign key → Employer file. | c86b9d4d-1b87-57dc-... |
| Total Employees | Integer | Total employees at the employer (denormalized from Employer file). | 2076632 |
| Benefit Eligible Employees | Integer | Number of benefits-eligible employees. | 2076632 |
| 5500 Signor Name | String | 5500 filing signatory. | Marty Autrey |
| Phone Number | String | Employer phone number. | (800) 421-1362 |
| Funding | String | Funding model. Fully-Insured or Self-Funded. | Self-Funded |
| Entity Type | String | Plan entity type. | Single-Employer |
| Plan Name | String | Official name of the benefits plan as filed. | WALMART ASSOCIATES HEALTH AND WELFARE PLAN |
| Policy Number | String | Policy or plan sequence number. | 1 |
| Carrier | String | Insurance carrier underwriting this specific policy. | Kaiser Permanente |
| Line of Business | String | Comma-separated benefit types covered by this policy. | Health, Prescription Drug, HMO |
| Line of Business, Detail | String | Additional detail on the benefit line, when available. | AD & D |
| Total Premiums | Integer | Annual premiums for this specific policy, in USD. | 276335 |
| Covered Lives | Integer | Number of individuals covered under this policy. | 14 |
| PEPM Rate | Decimal | Per-Employee-Per-Month rate for this policy, in USD. | 1644.85 |
| Total Commissions | Integer | Total broker commissions on this policy, in USD. | 16473 |
| Renewal Date | String | Policy renewal date. | Sep 1 |
| Primary Broker | String | Broker on this specific policy. May differ from the employer-level primary broker. | Cbiz |
| Primary Broker Website | String | Broker website. | cbiz.com |
| Commissions | Integer | Broker commissions on this policy. | 16473 |
| Primary Broker Office Name | String | Broker office display name. | "Cbiz - Columbia, MD" |
| Primary Broker Closest Office City | String | City of the broker office closest to the employer. | Columbia |
| Primary Broker Closest Office State | String | State of the closest broker office. | MD |
| Primary Broker Office Zip Code | String | ZIP code of the closest broker office. Single-quote prefixed. | '21046' |
| Primary Broker Office Address | String | Full address of the closest broker office. | 9841 Broken Land Pkwy Columbia MD 21046 |
| Primary Broker Reported Office City | String | Broker office city as reported on the filing (may differ from closest). | Kansas City |
| Primary Broker Reported Office State | String | Broker office state as reported on the filing. | KS |
| Broker ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow identifier for the broker on this policy. Foreign key → Broker file. | fff76d4c5138584f... |
| Lead Source | String | Data source attribution. Always BenefitFlow. | BenefitFlow |
| Export Date | Date | Snapshot generation date. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 4/5/2026 |
| Filing Date | Date | Date of the source 5500 filing. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 8/31/2025 |
| BenefitFlow User | String | Internal export system user. Always sftp-export-email. | sftp-export-email |
| BenefitFlow Employer URL | URL | Direct link to the employer’s profile in BenefitFlow. | https://benefit-flow.com/Employer/... |
Broker
One row per brokerage firm. Aggregated metrics across all of the broker’s clients, offices, and contacts.Sources: Form 5500, Proprietary · Refresh: Weekly (Saturday)
| Column | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Type | String | Row type identifier. Always “Broker” in this file. | Broker |
| Broker ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow unique identifier for this broker. Primary key. | fffe635db8ab9300... |
| Broker Name | String | Name of the brokerage firm. | Lockton Companies |
| Broker Website | String | Broker’s primary website domain. | lockton.com |
| Headquarters | String | City and state of the broker’s headquarters. | Kansas City, MO |
| Total Office Locations | Integer | Number of office locations for this broker in BenefitFlow. | 60 |
| Total Clients | Integer | Number of employer clients associated with this broker. | 3414 |
| Total Contacts | Integer | Number of individual contacts at this brokerage. | 3149 |
| Total Commissions | Integer | Aggregate commissions across all clients, in USD. | 485351164 |
| Total Carrier Premiums | Integer | Aggregate premiums placed across all clients, in USD. | 8454249674 |
| Lead Source | String | Data source attribution. Always BenefitFlow. | BenefitFlow |
| Export Date | Date | Snapshot generation date. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 4/5/2026 |
| BenefitFlow User | String | Internal export system user. Always sftp-export-email. | sftp-export-email |
| BenefitFlow Broker URL | URL | Direct link to the broker’s profile in BenefitFlow. | https://benefit-flow.com/Broker?brokerId=... |
Broker Office
One row per broker office location. Each office belongs to one broker firm and includes aggregated metrics for the clients and contacts associated with that office.Sources: Form 5500, Proprietary · Refresh: Weekly (Saturday)
| Column | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Type | String | Row type identifier. Always “Broker Office” in this file. | Broker Office |
| Broker ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow identifier of the parent broker firm. Foreign key → Broker file. | fffe635db8ab9300... |
| Broker Name | String | Name of the parent broker firm. | Lockton Companies |
| Broker Website | String | Parent broker’s website. | lockton.com |
| Broker Office Name | String | Display name of this office. | "Lockton Companies - Dallas, TX" |
| Broker Office Address | String | Full street address of this office. | 717 N Harwood St Dallas TX 75201 |
| Broker Office City | String | City where this office is located. | Dallas |
| Broker Office State | String | Two-letter state abbreviation. | TX |
| Broker Office Zip Code | String | 5-digit ZIP code. Single-quote prefixed. | '75201' |
| Total Clients | Integer | Number of employer clients serviced from this office. | 242 |
| Total Contacts | Integer | Number of contacts at this office. | 175 |
| Total Employees | Integer | Aggregate employees across all clients serviced by this office. | 4977610 |
| Total Commissions | Integer | Aggregate commissions for clients at this office, in USD. | 31718980 |
| Total Carrier Premiums | Integer | Aggregate premiums placed by this office, in USD. | 669505827 |
| Lead Source | String | Data source attribution. Always BenefitFlow. | BenefitFlow |
| Export Date | Date | Snapshot generation date. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 4/5/2026 |
| BenefitFlow User | String | Internal export system user. Always sftp-export-email. | sftp-export-email |
| BenefitFlow Broker URL | URL | Direct link to the parent broker in BenefitFlow. | https://benefit-flow.com/Broker?brokerId=... |
| Broker Office ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow unique identifier for this office. Primary key. | cd3af1aebc1f33f3... |
Broker Contact
One row per individual contact at a brokerage. Includes professional details, licensing information, and the office they are associated with.Sources: Public profiles, third-party data partners, State Departments of Insurance · Refresh: Weekly (Saturday)
| Column | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Type | String | Row type identifier. Always “Broker Contact” in this file. | Broker Contact |
| Contact Full Name | String | Full name of the contact. | John Feitelberg |
| Contact First Name | String | First name. | John |
| Contact Last Name | String | Last name. | Feitelberg |
| Contact LinkedIn URL | String | LinkedIn profile URL (without https://www. prefix). | linkedin.com/in/john-feitelberg-0b025b11 |
| Contact Email | String | Professional email address. | john.feitelberg@hubinternational.com |
| Contact Mobile Phone 1 | String | Mobile phone number in E.164 format. | +19132193802 |
| Contact Professional Phone 1 | String | Office/work phone number in E.164 format. | +14079984102 |
| Contact City | String | City where the contact is located. | Fall River |
| Contact State | String | Two-letter state abbreviation. | MA |
| Contact Job Role | String | Categorized role. Values include: Executive, Producer, Account Manager, Operations. | Executive |
| Contact Job Title | String | Full job title. | President |
| Contact Yrs. In Role | Decimal | Number of years in their current role. | 20.5 |
| Contact Yrs. At Company | Decimal | Number of years at their current company. | 40.1 |
| License Types | String | Comma-separated insurance license types held. | Health, Property, Casualty, Life |
| NPN Number | String | National Producer Number (insurance license ID). Single-quote prefixed. | '2852717.00000' |
| Carrier Appointments | Integer | Number of active carrier appointments this contact holds. | 272 |
| Company Name | String | Name of the brokerage firm this contact works for. | HUB International |
| Broker ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow identifier of the parent broker firm. Foreign key → Broker file. | ffff21332146f457... |
| Company Website | String | Broker firm’s website. | hubinternational.com |
| Closest Office ID | String (Hash) | BenefitFlow identifier of the office this contact is associated with. Foreign key → Broker Office file. | 700337998b9d9296... |
| Broker Office Name | String | Display name of the associated office. | "Hub International - Taunton, MA" |
| Broker Office Address | String | Full address of the associated office. | Taunton MA 02780 |
| Broker Office City | String | City of the associated office. | Taunton |
| Broker Office State | String | State of the associated office. | MA |
| Broker Office Zip Code | String | ZIP code of the associated office. Single-quote prefixed. | '02780' |
| Lead Source | String | Data source attribution. Always BenefitFlow. | BenefitFlow |
| Export Date | Date | Snapshot generation date. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 4/5/2026 |
| Data Last Updated | Date | Date the contact record was last refreshed in BenefitFlow. | 3/19/2026 |
| BenefitFlow User | String | Internal export system user. Always sftp-export-email. | sftp-export-email |
Employer Contact
One row per individual contact at an employer. Includes professional details and employer association. Employer contacts share the same contact data model as Broker Contact but are linked to an employer rather than a brokerage.Sources: Public profiles, third-party data partners · Refresh: Weekly (Saturday)
| Column | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Type | String | Row type identifier. Always “Employer Contact” in this file. | Employer Contact |
| Contact Full Name | String | Full name of the contact. | Lorraine Stomski |
| Contact First Name | String | First name. | Lorraine |
| Contact Last Name | String | Last name. | Stomski |
| Contact LinkedIn URL | String | LinkedIn profile URL (without https://www. prefix). | linkedin.com/in/lorraine-lo-stomski-8332622 |
| Contact Email | String | Professional email address. | lorraine.stomski@walmart.com |
| Contact Mobile Phone 1 | String | Mobile phone number in E.164 format. | +14796442094 |
| Contact Professional Phone 1 | String | Office/work phone number in E.164 format. | |
| Contact City | String | City where the contact is located. | Bentonville |
| Contact State | String | Two-letter state abbreviation. | AR |
| Contact Job Role | String | Categorized role. Values include: Executive, HR & Talent, Operations, Finance. | Executive |
| Contact Job Title | String | Full job title. | Chief Talent Officer |
| Contact Yrs. In Role | Decimal | Number of years in their current role. | 2 |
| Contact Yrs. At Company | Decimal | Number of years at their current company. | 9.5 |
| License Types | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| NPN Number | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| Company Name | String | Name of the employer this contact works for. | Walmart INC |
| Employer ID | String (UUID) | BenefitFlow identifier for the employer. Foreign key → Employer file. | c86b9d4d-1b87-57dc-... |
| Company Website | String | Employer’s primary website domain. | walmart.com |
| Broker Office Name | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| Broker Office Address | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| Broker Office City | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| Broker Office State | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| Broker Office Zip Code | String | Reserved. Not populated for employer contacts. | |
| Lead Source | String | Data source attribution. Always BenefitFlow. | BenefitFlow |
| Export Date | Date | Snapshot generation date. Format: M/D/YYYY. | 4/16/2026 |
| Data Last Updated | Date | Date the contact record was last refreshed in BenefitFlow. | 4/4/2026 |
| BenefitFlow User | String | Internal export system user. Always sftp-export-email. | sftp-export-email |
Data Delivery Details
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Protocol | SFTP over SSH (port 22) |
| Host | AWS Transfer Family endpoint |
| Authentication | SSH key-based (no passwords) |
| File Format | CSV with header row, comma-delimited, double-quote enclosed fields |
| Character Encoding | UTF-8 |
| Refresh Cadence | Weekly, every Saturday |
| Retention | ~9 rolling weeks of snapshots |
| File Naming | TYPE-YYYYMMDD.csv (e.g., EMPLOYER-20260405.csv) |
| Folder Structure | One folder per entity: broker/, brokerContact/, brokerOffices/, employer/, employerContact/, policy/ |
For connection setup and SFTP client configuration, see the Bulk Data Access Setup Guide.
Implementation Notes
Quoted fields — always use a CSV parser
Quoted fields — always use a CSV parser
Many fields contain commas within values (e.g., Lines of Business, addresses). Always use a proper CSV parser — do not split on commas.
Single-quote prefixed numbers
Single-quote prefixed numbers
Fields like EIN, NAICS Code, ZIP Code, and NPN Number are prefixed with a single quote (
') to prevent spreadsheet tools from stripping leading zeros. Strip the leading quote during ingestion and treat as strings, not numbers.ID formats
ID formats
Employer IDs are UUIDs (
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx). Broker IDs, Office IDs, and Contact Office IDs are 32-character hex hashes. Both are stable across weekly snapshots.Denormalized broker fields
Denormalized broker fields
The Policy and Employer files include denormalized broker and office fields for convenience. The Broker and Broker Office files are the canonical source for broker-level data.
'No Broker' sentinel values
'No Broker' sentinel values
Policies without a broker may show
NO Broker in the Primary Broker field and ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff as the Broker ID. Filter these when analyzing broker relationships.Constant fields
Constant fields
Record Type, Lead Source, and BenefitFlow User contain the same value for every row in a given file. They exist for system compatibility and can be safely ignored during analysis.Closest Office vs. Reported Office
Closest Office vs. Reported Office
Two broker office locations appear on Employer and Policy records. Closest Office is the BenefitFlow-determined office nearest to the employer. Reported Office is the office listed on the original Form 5500 filing. These often differ — the filing may reference a headquarters while the closest office reflects the local servicing branch.