Committee for Agriculture Payroll/Personnel Systems (CAPPS)

April 18, 2012
CAPPS Meeting Notes

I. Welcome – Renee Pellissier, Chief, GESD, Client Management Branch (CMB)

II. Review of Action Items – Renee Pellissier, GESD, CMB

All action items from the January 18, 2012, CAPPS meeting were closed and no questions or comments were presented.

III. Payroll/Personnel Operations Update – Dawn Hughes-Morris, GESD, Payroll Operations Directorate (POD)

Dawn provided an update on the Consolidated Help Desk (CHD) initiative, stating that the processes are being refined in both the Payroll System Branch (PaPB) and Personnel System Branch (PePB) so that the agencies will have a better understanding of who they need to contact. A Customer Notification (CN) will be issued within the next 30 days that will define the high level processes. Approximately 90 days before the CHD is implemented a final procedure bulletin will be issued to the customers.

• Consolidated Help Desk Initiative – Deidre Charlot, Chief, Personnel Processing Branch (PePB)

Deidre provided additional information on the CHD initiative stating that the vision of this initiative was to provide one contact number for the customers to utilize when trying to contact NFC. The CHD will implement a 3 Tier Model:

 Tier 0 – robust self service (basic information)
 Tier 1 – inquiry help desk (you will get to the agent)
 Tier 2 – log inquiry, provide incident number and additional assistance for more technical issues

o Phase 1 – PPS Core Businesses scheduled to be implemented 10/1/2012, that will include Payroll/Personnel, EmpowHR, webTA Hosting Plus, and Employee Personal Page (EPP).

EPP will be more self-reliant in order to reduce the level of calls. The process will allow users to reset their own user id and password that will be sent to their government email address. PePB is working to have the government email addresses uploaded to EPP. Users will also be allowed to have 2 personal email addresses.

To document issues, currently the Payroll/Personnel Call Center creates a Software Problem Report (SPR) and the EmpowHR Help Desk creates an Incident Report (IR), and PePB is working to integrate a better process for both by establishing resolution categories, i.e., processing error, system problem, software change request, or general inquiries.

o Phase 2 – ABCO and Retirement scheduled to be implemented fiscal year 2013.
o Phase 3 – The insurance based systems – DPRS and CLER.

The Call Center’s Hours of Operations are under consideration. Currently, the operating hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CST. Several processes will be implemented to ensure best business solutions are being utilized for providing information to customers. As promised, a flyer was issued on May 7, 2012, that provided additional information.

• Payroll/Personnel Processing/CUAT – Helen Young, GESD, Payroll Processing Branch (PaPB)

Helen stated that the CN was issued regarding the process for submitting requests for lump sum payments through SPPS. She also stated that the submission of Quick Service Requests (QSR) is designed to be a temporary fix for making advance payments to employees – this process should not be used for more than 4 pay periods. This process was originally designed as a temporary fix to allow employees 70% base pay without deductions, but this percentage can be overridden. The system will only allow up to 4 QSRs and is unable to establish additional receipt accounts. When the proper T&A is received and all deductions are not provided by the agency, the system goes back to collect the advances based on the receipt accounts which take precedence over other deductions - this can cause a problem for employees. It is incumbent upon the agency to make up missed deductions, e.g., TSP contributions. The timeframe for making up deductions is 4 pay periods. A CN will be issued by the end of May and a bulletin in 30 – 60 days, to provide information on how this process works.

IV. Treasury Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Requirement – Joe Vitale, GESD, Payroll Accounting Directorate (PAD)

Joe discussed Project 218620 (10684) in conjunction with the handout, “Treasury Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Requirements.” The date scheduled to go to mandatory EFT and Debit Card is March 13, 2013. Joe stated that the cost of issuing a Treasury paper check is $1.34 and to process an EFT payment is $.35. The majority of NFC’s salary payments are issued by EFT but there is still room for improvement.

The handout provided some exceptions; Section 1535, Miscellaneous and Salary Payments- an individual can request a waiver under subsection 1520:10a, Automatic Waivers That Require No Further Action by the Recipient and 1520:10b, Hardship Waivers That Require the Individual To Contact Treasury for Review/Approval or any agency-invoked waiver in Section 1540, Agency Waiver. Please refer to the handout for additional information. The agencies will work directly with Treasury regarding individual waivers. NFC will work with Treasury to move to EFT and the agencies should work with their employees to move to EFT.

V. Information Security Systems Officer Update – Lisa Stafford, ITSD, Access Management Branch (AMB)

Lisa provided an overview of the February 15, 2012, Agency Security Officer (ASO) User Group Meeting and stated that the presentation would be posted to the NFC Home Page but if anyone wanted to receive a copy prior to the posting, they should send an email message to nfc.aso@nfc.usda.gov. Lisa also stated that the minutes from the meeting would be posted to the NFC Home Page. Both documents were posted to the NFC Home Page on May 18, 2012.

Security is working to implement all agencies into Remedy Requestor Console (RRC) which allows the ASOs to check the status of their own security access requests. The USDA ASOs will be implemented first and if all goes well, they will implement all other agency ASOs into RRC. AMB will work with GESD to determine the best time to implement everyone into RRC.

Lisa explained that there is an established procedure for submitting an expedited request. Justification is required when submitting an expedited security request. She also stated that when expedited requests are received, this delays normal processing. AMB is in the process of developing a more refined process for handling expedited requests.

AMB has been working with several agencies to create a global Security Access Request form that should be completed by the end of the quarter. The creation of this form has been challenging but AMB feels that they currently have a very good form. The form covers Reporting Center and mainframe and is currently 4 to 5 pages including instructions. A sample form will be sent out to all ASOs for comments. AMB is planning to distribute the Person Model Security Access form within the next few weeks. If anyone wants to see the form prior to distribution, they should send an email message to nfc.aso@nfc.usda.gov. A CN will be sent once the form has been finalized.

Lisa stated they are working on Advanced ASO Training to cover topics related to reports. Several customer notifications are forthcoming with more information.

AMB is creating ASO Certification where the ASOs will sign a “Rules of Behavior Document” annually to ensure everyone is aware of their responsibilities.

Lisa provided the upcoming dates for the Security Officer Webinar Basic Training. ASOs wanting to register should send an email message to nfc.aso@nfc.usda.gov – they should include ‘ASO Training’ in the subject line. She also provided the dates for the Quarterly ASO meetings and states that ASOs wanting to suggest topics of discussion should send an email message to nfc.aso@nfc.usda.gov and include ‘ASO Meeting Topics’ in the subject line. A reminder CN will be sent.

VI. OPM Community-wide Projects – Cherie Landry GESD, Systems Requirements Branch (SRB)

Cherie stated a CAPPS notice would be issued requesting valid email (address) extensions and as promised the notification was issued on April 27, 2012.

• Project 211471 (10261), TSP Roth and Roth Catch-Up: TSP has confirmed TSP Roth will be implemented in PP 10 and CUAT system testing has begun.

Shirley Sprinkle, DOL asked if the TSP Roth would be posted on EPP. Cherie responded that it will be available in EPP in PP10.

Shirley Sprinkle also asked if there will be a FESI inbound feed change. Cherie responded it will not change, just the plan code.

Jen Sweet, USDA asked, what screen in IRIS will the TSP Roth information be housed. Cherie responded it’s on the same screen as your regular TSP information, IRIS 118 and also available in FOCUS.

• Project 323257, OPM’s Update 3 Guide to Data Standards – New EHRI Data Elements: Wendy Moore stated OPM is making changes to the Recruitment, Relocation, and Retention Incentive data elements in the EHRI feed. They are splitting the feeds by Title 5 and Non-Title 5 and for the Retention Incentive (NOAC 827) OPM is splitting out the EHRI feed by Authority. OPM has also added a new data element for Reservist Differential Amount. NFC is currently reviewing the system impact and is in discussion with the development staffs. The FRD will be created and shared with the customers as soon as it has been completed. This project is not yet scheduled for implementation.

• Project 218620 (10684), Treasury Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Requirement: Cherie stated Joe Vitale provided an update on this project in Section IV on the agenda.

VII. NFC Enterprise Reporting Solution Project Update – Renee Pellissier, GESD, CMB

Renee presented an overview of the handout regarding the NFC Enterprise Reporting Solution project. Over the next year, NFC will develop and deploy Build 1 and will provide the customers with the list of core payroll/ personnel reports and ad hoc functionality that they currently have in today’s environment. A demo of the product will be presented at the Customer Forum tentatively scheduled for November 2012.

VIII. User Groups Update – Al Guillot, GESD, CMB

Al stated the Enterprise Reporting Solution and Consolidated Help Desk were presented at all of the User Group meetings.

• EmpowHR User Group
The EmpowHR User Group meeting was held Tuesday, April 10, 2012. The group discussed the upgrade of the security role request. The next meeting is scheduled for July 10, 2012.

• EPIC User Group
The EPIC User Group meeting was held on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. The group discussed the issue with processing a name change. It was stated that processing an employee name change using a 780 NOA would wipe out all prior history on an individual. The developers are researching the issue. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10, 2012.

• Reports User Group
The Reports User Group meeting was held on Thursday, April 12, 2012. The group discussed adding additional leave categories to the Earnings and Leave Statements (E&L). A sample has been provided to the RUG community for review and the group will continue to meet to formulate the requirements. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 12, 2012.

• T&A User Group
The T&A User Group meeting was held on Thursday, April 12, 2012. The group discussed webTA and stated that there are about 4 to 5 agencies with different versions. TC-17 was discussed and it was stated that there is inadequate space on the database to accommodate the new suffixes. However, this will be discussed further at a later date. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 12, 2012.

IX. Lagniappe – Renee Pellissier, GESD, CMB

Renee informed the CAPPS members that the Customer Forum previously scheduled for May 2012 was postponed until November 2012. The next NFC Reporting Systems Training is scheduled for June 12, 2012. Al stated that the systems included CULPRPT, RFQS, PMSO, TMGT, and an overview of the Reporting Center.

X. Agency Comment Period - All

Jen Sweet asked if the outstanding IAs could be provided to the agencies during the CAPPS meetings. Renee advised that this should not be a problem but she would follow up and provide a definitive response.

Jen also inquired about the possibility of GESD establishing a process that would provide “rough” costs estimates on projects prior to performing the analysis on the project. She stated that this could deter requests for a lot of projects if the agencies had a ball park figure of what a project might cost. She was advised that NFC continues to evaluate methodology for providing costs based on the size of the project; however, NFC feels the full analysis is still the most effective method.

XI. Closing Remarks – Renee Pellissier, GESD, CMB

Renee thanked everyone for attending. Meeting adjourned.

CAPPS Attendees	NFC Staff
Linda Gandara (ARC)	Renee Pellissier
D’Juan Brady (DHS)	Dawn Hughes-Morris
James Hoebel (DOC)	Helen Young
Tamais Rambert (DOC)	Deidre Charlot
Cynthia Simon (DOJ)	Cherie Landry
Shirley Sprinkle (DOL)	Cheryl Ruf
Hans Krein (DOL)	Shavon Butler
Roy Abreu (DOL)	Mary Allmond
Natalie Tyce (FDIC)	Wendy Moore
David Kaplan (FMCS)	Mary Arnold
Sheila Thompson (GPO)	Tangie Joefield
Brenda D. Bradley (HUD)	Joe Vitale
Jennifer Johnson (IRS)	Lisa Stafford
Robin Patterson (LOC)	Louis Collins
Alice Parks (NEH)	Ashlie Horton
Bill Turner (SBA)	Keith Piner
Gloria Wright-Simms (SBA)	Penny Forbes
Jeanne Hillock (SI)	Joe Henley
Ron Alexander (SI)	Carey Turner
Jen Sweet (USDA)	CMB Personnel
Crystol Armstrong (USDA)
Kathy Orpin, TREAS