CAPPS Notes - January 16, 2002

WELCOME

Lynda Wilson welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Lenny Bankston, Kathy Fernandez, Sharon Giovengo, Rick Minella, Margaret Prell, from NFC-South. Steve Cunningham from NFC participated via teleconference.

A list of the CAPPS meeting dates, times and locations for 2002 was distributed and the information will be available on the CAPPS web site.

SPPS QA TESTING UPDATE

Sharon Giovengo provided a status report on the Quality Assurance Testing of SPPS, a Windows-base Web application, which has a projected implementation date of February 3, 2002. Forty-two testers from 25 agencies participated in User Acceptance Testing in October and November. Quality Assurance Testing is taking place this week in the Customer Support Office with the last date of testing on January 17. The Chicago HUD office is also participating in off-site testing.

The mainframe SPPS application will continue to be used to submit quick service wires and to process death actions. These actions will be moved to the new system at a later date. The new Web SPPS will be used to electronically transmit all AD-343s to the payroll/personnel operations area. This will eliminate the need for faxes, e-mails, etc. It will also eliminate the need for Manlog and DOTSE. SPPS on the Web will also electronically pay credit hours upon separation; allow the processing of cash awards such as the SES bonus; and will allow the processing of lump sum back pay settlements including the calculation of interest and taxes.

NFC is also developing a SPPS Training Data Base and NFC representatives will return to DC in February to provide implementation training. Training will also be provided to those agencies who have a large number of individuals to test in a single location. Costs will be free for an indeterminate period of time. To arrange a training session, contact Sharon, preferably via e-mail, at sharon.giovengo@usda.gov or on 504-255-3557. In addition, contact Sharon if you have a site available outside the DC area that can be used as a training facility for these sessions.

REPORTING CENTER QA TESTING

Steve Cunningham provided a status report on the Quality Assurance Testing of the new functionality of the Reporting Center. The Reporting Center can be accessed by going to the NFC Home Page (www.nfc.usda.gov) and clicking on Reporting Center icon. The new functionality includes the ability to run rosters and view detail information that is currently only available in IRIS. QA is being wrapped up now and there are no show stoppers. A list of the discrepancies will be provided so they can be attached to the CAPPS Notes and posted on the CAPPS Web Site.

A letter is being mailed to each HR Director with a cc to the CFO notifying them of the new process and asking if their agency wishes to participate. A positive response is required before data will be moved to the Web server for access by the POIs and managers. Part of the data loading will include specifying organizational structure(s) down to the forth level. Individuals with access to the Reporting Center will automatically have access to the data once it is loaded; however, you will need access to both sensitive and non-sensitive data to review all the information provided in the reports.

Mary Arnold from DOC asked how she can find out who has access to the Reporting Center and how she can keep the list current. This information is not included on the regular reports they can run in TSO. She was referred to the NFC Security Office and her customer representative.

The Web Team is working on additional reports:

SF-224 Abstract of Transactions Report of receipts and disbursements for each agency - a sample report is on the Web site

SF-2812 Withholdings and Contributions for Health Benefits, Life Insurance, and Retirement Report

OPAC Tracking and Reconciliation (OTRS) Reports

Student Loan Repayment Reports

USDA Prototype of the Consolidated Financial Statement

The Reporting Center will also be one of the first applications to use PKI.

PAY

2002 Pay Adjustments: Jo Bonner reported that President Bush signed Executive Order 13249 authorizing the 2002 Pay Adjustments. NFC has updated tables, programs, etc and tested to ensure the 2002 pay adjustment process goes smoothly. Copies of NFC's schedule for processing these actions and a draft of the annual Pay Increase bulletin were distributed. The final Bulletin should be on the NFC Web site (www.nfc.usda.gov) by the end of the week.

NFC has prepared a report listing the names of employees for whom the POIs must process pay adjustments. Because of the mail situation in the Washington DC area, these reports will not be received timely if mailed to the agency office addresses. Jo asked the CAPPS representatives about having them mailed in bulk to the home address of our staff, brought to the office, and then the CAPPS representative can send someone to pick them up. All agreed to this alternative.

Agencies are cautioned not to run reports out of PHIS, or input HCUP or EPIC History Correction actions until pay adjustments have been completed.

Hostile Fire Pay: Jo also distributed copies of the section of PL107-10 which authorized the payment of Hostile Fire Pay effective September 11, 2001. The head of an Executive agency may pay an employee hostile fire pay at the rate of $150 for any month in which the employee was subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines; on duty in an area in which the employee was in imminent danger of being exposed to hostile fire or killed, injured, or wounded by hostile fire, explosion of a hostile mine, or any other hostile action.

To obtain payment, an AD-343 must be processed through the payroll/personnel operations branch. No new object class code has been designated for this payment. Concern was expressed about how agencies can generate reports on these payments. It may be that something needs to be added to SPPS or special accounting may need to be designated. Agency representatives were asked to send comments to Jo about how their agency would like to handle these payments. Comments are due by February 1, 2002.

Premium Pay BiWeekly Limitation (Non-LEO): Jo also distributed portions of PL 107-107, Sec. 5547 Limitation on Premium Pay which increases the premium pay bi-weekly limitations for non-LEOs. This regulation raises the limitation to the greater of the GS-15/10 or Executive Level V. Specifically, this impacts the 9 locality areas where the GS-15/10 exceeds the Executive Level 5. The new limits will be effective in May 2002, and NFC is awaiting more specific guidance from OPM.

TMGT - Table 001, Personnel Office Addresses: Jo urged everyone to assure the POI addresses for their agency were updated in Table 001–ASAP. These are the addresses used to mail the SF-50bs for the pay adjustments.

W-2s: Jo reported that several individuals have brought to NFC attention the fact that the parking subsidy was not included on the W-2. Research has revealed that data for transaction codes 1700 (gov auto), 1708 (chauffeur), 1709 (parking), and 1710 (transit subsidy) was not included on the W-2s for 2001. This has affected approximately 2,500 W-2s. NFC will make the necessary corrections and a report listing the names of the individuals affected will be provided to the CAPPS Representatives for distribution to the POIs.

IRS and FCC reported there was a problem with gross wages for states. Mary Arnold from DOC indicated they initially reported a problem with the state wages but then determined the differences were due to changes in spot awards processing that were implemented in pay period 17. NFC South will be asked for a status of the situation which can be included in the CAPPS Notes.

Concern was also expressed about the pre-tax FEHB figures reflected on the W-2. Jody Nyers explained that pre-tax FEHB is deducted from Medicare wages. Taxable wages are reported on the W-2 but since pre-tax FEHB is not taxable it does not appear anywhere on the W-2. Block 14B on the W-2 reflects the amount of Non-taxable Health Benefits (pre-tax FEHB) withheld for the year. Many employees are trying to add this figure to amounts in other blocks on the W-2 to obtain the total in Block 1 (wages, tips, other compensation). This will not be a correct reflection of the pre-tax FEHB figures. To determine that an employee has received the pre-tax benefit, deduct the amount in Block 14B on the W-2 from the Gross Wages YTD figure reflected on the pay period 24 Statement of Earnings and Leave and compare this amount to the total in Block 5 (Medicare, Wages and Tips) of the W-2.

BENEFITS

TSP Notification Letters Out of RFQS and Address Issues: Jody reminded everyone that anyone using RFQS to print notification letters for employees who make changes to FEHB or TSP via Employee Express, must have a valid street address for Line 1 in IRIS as this is the line that is used on the notification letter. If Line 1 reflects information other than a valid street address, the notification letter is not deliverable. For example; John Doe, Essex Terrace, New York, NY. This was an address that printed on a notification letter and was not deliverable. Please ensure your employees are aware of this, particularly when making changes to their address via Employee Express.

FEHB Cancellation Dates in the System: Jody reported the system is not accepting the last day of the pay period as a valid END date for cancellation of FEHB actions; this has been corrected. In EPIC, for a cancellation to apply you need to enter Event Code "Other" even if the cancellation is during Open Season. This will be corrected in the next EPIC update to accept cancellations with Event Code "Other" or "Open Season."

FEHB Premiums for Reservists: Jody also indicated that agencies have the authority to waive the employee's share of FEHB premiums when the employee has been called to active duty and will be in active duty status for at least 18 months. If your agency chooses to waive the employee's share; after processing NOAC 473 which places the employee on LWOP-Military Status in EPIC or PACT, submit an AD-343 to ensure the employee's share of the FEHB premium is not captured as a debt. If this is not done, the employee will be issued a bill for payment upon return to duty.

Remark B71: Jody explained that remark B71 has been in effect since 10/01/00. It is used to notify the employee that the system will automatically terminate coverage at the end of the last pay period in which premiums were paid if an employee is on LWOP status and neither elects to terminate their FEHB enrollment nor incur a debt and agrees to pay the premium. Please note that the system will not automatically terminate the employee's FEHB coverage. It is the agency's call to take positive action on the employee's FEHB coverage options rather than the system terminating coverage. This will prevent the benefits from automatically being canceled erroneously.

EMPLOYEE EXPRESS UPDATE

George advised that most EEX initiatives currently under discussion do not have impact on NFC clients (W-2, Benefits Statement, etc.). Requirements for Entry on Duty package are being initiated, and will be reported on as they are developed.

TRAINING DATA BASE

Rick reported that there will be several Training Data Bases. CS is currently loading data for agency 90 (NFC) into the STAR Training Data Base and they will provide the implementation training. Personnel/Payroll Operations is setting up the same data for SPPS Training and they will provide this training. Treasury asked to have social security numbers included in the STAR and SPPS Data Bases. Margaret Prell is the contact for agencies wishing to have social security numbers placed in the STAR and SPPS data bases.

The EPIC Training Data Base contains socials for all the agencies except Treasury. Both NFC and the individual agencies will be using the EPIC Training Data Base for training so we will have to coordinate the activities. Treasury indicated that they were working on their social security numbers for the EPIC data base and that they would have them to Lynda by COB on Friday.

Commerce asked if the EPIC Training Data Base had been defined to FOCUS for report development purposes. The NFC South data base individuals will be contacted to determine the status for moving EPIC and the training data bases into the Focus arena.

WEB STAR QA TESTING

Margaret Prell indicated that Quality Assurance has been extended until March 1 with a projected implementation date of the end of March. Doug Womac will coordinate User Acceptance Testing in the Customer Support Office during the week of February19, 2002. Agency representatives should contact the customer service representative or Doug by February 2 with the names of individuals who wish to participate. These participants will also need to obtain the appropriate security access.

Treasury has just started testing and Vicki Kline indicated they were very pleased with the response that NFC has provided when they have indicated there is a problem. Treasury personnel really appreciate the quick response and positive feedback from NFC.

Jo also stressed that now is the time to request changes. After the application is placed into production, then it will be very difficult to obtain changes so it is to everyone's advantages to test and report outstanding problems. Change requests should be sent to the T&A Work Group and problems should be reported to both the Work Group and Customer Support.

HR BRIEFING

Margaret reported the annual Human Resources Briefing will be held in New Orleans on April 16, 17, and 18, 2002. Recommended topics for this year's meeting should be e-mailed to Arleen Luc at Arleen.Luc@usda.gov. She will need the comments by February 15 so that a draft agenda can be prepared for discussion at the March CAPPS meeting. Representatives should make hotel reservations as soon as possible. NFC has arranged with the Renaissance.Pere Marquette Hotel for 85 rooms of which 40 start on Sunday and 40 go through Thursday and Friday. Reservations at the government rate may be made by calling 1-888-364-1200 and indicating the "Human Resources Customer Briefing". Do not mention NFC as it's not reserved under the words "NFC." To find out more about this newly established hotel which was once an office building in the New Orleans CBD, visit the hotel web site at www.renaissancehotels.com.

CL (CONFERENCE LANGUAGE) SUPERSESSION (NEW NFC BANNER SCREEN)

Kathy Fernandez provided an overview of the changes being implemented, and discussed the FAQs. The testing period and implementation schedule are reflected in FAQs which were distributed. Effective March 23, users logging into NFC will only see the new CL Supersession windows. Agencies were asked to designate a point-of-contact for implementation and to provide the information to their Customer Service Representative as soon as possible. Notifications regarding the new banner have been sent to approximately 150 people. The representatives asked that NFC's Security staff also notify all the agency Security Officers to insure that they understand whatever changes may be coming from the personnel staffs. Margaret indicated that there will be video conferences for field offices, beginning on 1/28/02, which would include demos of the new procedures.

Lastly, Kathy asked that representatives in agencies using agency-developed specific scripts to access NFC contact Customer Support. These agencies will need to rewrite their script and will need to test it with NFC to assure everything is working properly. This also applies to agencies that are using NFC as a "pass through".

Additional information may be found on the NFC Home Page.

USER AND WORK GROUP UPDATES

AWARDS:

• At the last meeting Jo requested comments regarding agency preferences for implementation of the 848 - Referral Bonus. All responses indicated that the IRS method of distributing only one payment is acceptable.
  
  
• On December 19th, Jo e-mailed two recommendations from NFC regarding the NFC disbursed Spot Cash Awards (840/841 - PAY). The recommendations were to 1) limit the payment to $500 per award, and 2) limit the distribution to active employees only. All e-mail comments received were in support of the recommendations. No one in attendance at the CAPPS meeting disagreed so NFC will move forward with those recommendations.
  
  
• An awards meeting is scheduled on January 23rd from 9-11 in the NFC CSO..

EPIC: Lynda announced that the next EPIC User Group Meeting will be a teleconference and is scheduled on January 23, 2002.

Rick indicated that there was a problem with future actions for pay periods 25 and 26. There are approximately 7000 documents which are missing. NFC South is running a program to restore the actions.

Rick indicated that with the implementation of EPIC History Corrections, EPIC now contains all the functionality that is in PRES, PACT, SINQ, FINQ, PEP51 and HCUP. Therefore, it is time to start looking at a date for when all customers should be using EPIC. January 1, 2003, allows agencies a year to obtain telecommunications and address the issues necessary to convert to the new application. After that time, agencies still relying on the old systems (HCUP/FINQ/PACT/PRESS/SINQ) will have to pay the costs for maintaining these systems.

IRMD has been contacted concerning the telecommunications and will have individuals available to assist when necessary. CS will contact all non-EPIC users to assure they are aware of the deadlines. Payroll/personnel operations is working with Lynda to develop the necessary EPIC/History Corrections training to replace the existing training. Agencies will be notified as soon as this training is made available.

Rick also reminded the representatives that agencies planning to convert to EPIC should advise NFC in writing of the effective pay period. This is vital as it will allow them time to load the PHIS data into the EPIC data base. The EPIC User Group is developing Implementation Guidance for distribution to all the non-EPIC users. This will be provided within the next week or two.

FESI: No rep was available from the work group to address the current status. The last meeting was mid year 2001, however Hans has indicated that he will schedule a meeting within the next month. Treasury and USDA have raised concerns regarding the 770 document (SES Perf Appr) not currently being available on FESI. Treasury/IRS has also indicated problems in transmitting PMSO records via FESI which are the result of sequencing problems. They have temporarily had the 245 edit lifted (for IRS only) to allow processing of significant numbers of reorganization actions. Both issues will be addressed by the work group at the next scheduled meeting.

LEAVE SHARE: Jo indicated that the Leave Share Work Group is continuing to meet bi-weekly. The next meeting is scheduled for January 23rd. Requirements package is presently over 600 pages.

RIF: Next work group meeting is scheduled 1/23/02. Requirements are being finalized.

T&A: The work group is continuing to meet to discuss current T&A issues, as well as, clarify some of the requirements submitted last March. Jo thanked those agencies who have responded to her request for agency criteria for credit and compensatory time. Agencies that had not responded were asked to do so ASAP.

OPERATIONS TRAINING

NFC will conduct Payroll/Personnel Operation Procedures Training in Boston, Massachusetts on April 2-4, 2002, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 23-25, 2002 and in Washington DC on December 10-12. Information can be found on the NFC web site about participating in either of these training sessions.

POTPOURRI:

Commerce asked that NFC provide better notification of system problems particularly those dealing with "pending" actions in EPIC. Mary indicated that it was at least three days before the problem of futures actions disappearing was acknowledged by NFC.