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CAPPS Notes - September 19, 2001
If you have questions about the topics covered in this document and you are NOT a CAPPS representative, please contact your CAPPS representative in lieu of the name(s) listed.
Welcome (Miscellaneous Announcements) - Cliff Lee
- Cliff indicated that for Disaster
Relief Information from OPM, go to their site on the Web at: http://www.opm.gov/guidance/index.htm.
- Cliff indicated that he distributed
CPM 2001-09 (9/14/01), regarding the Rights & Benefits of Reservists
Called to Active Duty, to CAPPS and copies were available for those
who needed them. Also note that BAL 01-112, dated 9/12/01, was distributed.
Copies of this BAL are available at http://www.opm.gov/asd/htm/2001/01-112.htm
and it is included as an attachment to these notes.
- Questions arose regarding the
Emergency Leave Bank/Leave Transfer information Jo sent out on September
14. Many representatives indicated that they had not received it. Jo
indicated that she would resend the message - Jo resent the message
on 9/20/01 and it is included as an attachment to these notes.
- CFTC inquired about the process
for submitting T&A's for the office located in NYC destroyed in
the WTC disaster. He was asked to contact Mose Lindsay to work out the
details for submitting T&A's for employees assigned to this office.
- Questions arose regarding the
e-mail concerning PP17 Payments to the Municipal Credit Union. During
the discussion, DOJ stated that they had received a follow-up e-mail
message clarifying what was needed to access accounts. It appeared that
no other CAPPS Representative received the message so PPSPS will include
a copy in the CAPPS notes.
Note: Follow-up discussion with DOJ revealed that they received information from the NFC Certification Section that resulted in DOJ composing the attached e-mail message and forwarding it to their offices.
TSP Issues - Jody Nyers
Update on PP9-12 Errors & AD-343's. NFC is reviewing each error to ensure corrections are made properly. This is taking quite a bit of time; however, they are confident they will have all errors reviewed and the sweep completed by the end of PP 19 or October 6, 2001 if not before. An AD-343 is necessary for each employee on your TSP report, by SSN. This is necessary since NFC will run TSP Reports per employee to determine the exact amount of funds being credited to their TSP account in order to correct the error.
On the form, in the pay period window at the top right of the form, enter pay period 09 thru pay period 12, even if the error occurred only 1 or 2 of those pay periods. Enter the employee's name and SSN and other general information. DO NOT indicate a dollar amount due. Leave this field blank. In the remarks section, please type:
"In concurrence with the recent
system sweep, this AD-343 is for corrections for pay periods 9-12; please
adjust TSP 1% and/or agency matching funds."
CAPPS Reps should prepare the required AD-343's and
submit them in a single package to your Pay Contact - Louise Richard for
CV 5; Mose Lindsay for CV 6; or Nick Sicomo for CV 7. The address should
include an ATTENTION line with the appropriate name and should be sent
by September 30, 2001. NFC plans to review the actions after the sweep
and will audit the incoming 343's. Agencies should also assure each pay
periods' corrections are done properly by reviewing the information in
PQ032 after the NFC-29 processes.
Update on PP1-12 Accession Errors:
There are a number of reports that are still outstanding for the accession
actions. To date we have received reports from DOJ, DOC, SBA, FEMA, NLRB
and Treasury. Please provide your reports as soon as possible and preferably
by October 1, 2001.
Update on PP13-15 and Later: Cliff noted there are a handful of employees whose employee contributions were not deducted in PP13, 14, and/or 15. These employees must be notified of the missing contributions and given the opportunity to make up those contributions.
New HCUP Approach - Jody Nyers
Jody asked for comments as a follow-up to the August Meeting discussion. Several reps were unclear about the specifics, so notes of the discussions from the August meeting were read to refresh everyone's memory.
Problems facing users attempting to enter/process a HCUP package up to this point have been resolved by phone calls to several sections within NFC (this includes the Customer Support Office, Manual Pay or Operations, the Application Systems Division and/or the NFC North Office). Our analysis has shown that over 95% of all HCUP packages that are called about are processing issues and not systems problems. Therefore, to better service the customers and allow for NFC developers time to resolve system issues, NFC is requesting that users consider establishing a process that they feel is a better method for the customers to get their HCUP questions resolved.
They asked each agency to designate a HCUP Expert. Users with questions or problems should contact that person. If the HCUP Expert cannot determine the solution, then the Expert will contact the CAPPS/HCUP Expert Staff (CHES) and present the problem to them for resolution. If CHES cannot determine the problem, then the user will go to the NFC Operations Staff directly for assistance. CHES will be a group of HCUP Experts from various departments who agree to work as a team in resolving HCUP problems from across the CAPPS community. Small agencies that do not have an expert in HCUP will go directly to CHES for a resolution.
The CAPPS representatives responded as follows:
- Treasury indicated they were not
interested at this time and could not provide a volunteer.
- DOJ is interested only after
EPIC 2.0 (w/History Corrections) is up and running.
- DOC concurred with DOJ.
- USDA indicated they are not interested
in having CAPPS Reps review their HCUP packages and did not submit the
name of a volunteer.
- No response from any of the small
agencies.
- Bureau of Public Debt is cross servicing and they sent PPSPS the following comments and concerns:
We have one HCUP expert for the agencies we service. We agree with this Step. However, is value added by having a second-level HCUP expert at the departmental level? Treasury took this approach to NFC questions in the past, but decided the value added was not worth the costs. The concept of a CHES team provides historical knowledge, cross agency expertise, and additional training. The team is a good interim step since the NFC contacts are not personnelists. However, this group should remain the same employees based on these concerns:
a. Agencies do not have staff to detail as shown by limited participation in work groups.
b. We couldn't send volunteers to Washington for this type of assignment.
c. CHES team members need global access to the records to provide timely assistance and reduce printing, sanitizing, faxing, etc time and costs. Often a problem is the result of problems in the employee's history and not the obvious SINQ error.
d. Distribution of work to CHES team members would be difficult because everyone wants the best member to look at their problem.
e. Rotating membership reduces the historical knowledge base.
f. If the work is routed to the CHES team member at their home agency, it would not receive priority over other work assignments.
We think a better approach would be hiring an additional HR specialist at NFC-North to be the HCUP expert. NFC contacts could refer HCUP questions to this person.
Implementation of 2210 Occupational Series - George Morris
George indicated that no problems were reported in the initial implementation efforts. None were identified at the meeting.
Employee Express - George Morris
George briefly reviewed the upcoming Fall/Spring initiatives. The two major efforts are:
W-2 application on EEX (which duplicates what is currently available on Employee Personal Page), and Entry On Duty (which would allow new employees to process new data which is currently captured on paper forms in the personnel office for system input).
There was also a discussion on issues such as year-round FEHB, TSP (for new employee 60-day window) etc. George indicated that the data dictionary has been posted on the HRDN web site (off OPM's main WEB site). This package includes many of the forms that will be part of EOD.
A question was raised about the status of FEHB Child Equity in both EEX and NFC. NFC will not be ready to use the new AC@ value for some time. Until then, HR offices must track and monitor individuals under court order to provide FEHB. NFC has asked EEX to prevent employees with a AC@ from making changes once established and transmitted to Macon. Macon should refer the employee to the HR office by means of a message on the EEX window. This will require special programming at Macon, and will apply to all NFC clients. George briefly reviewed the procedures/problems for other EEX clients and explained why NFC was asking for an alternative process.
HR Briefing Dates - Cliff Lee
At the CAPPS meeting on August 15, 2001, we discussed potential dates for the 2002 Human Resources Briefing in New Orleans. Arlene Luc followed up with an e-mail on the subject reminding everyone that in selecting the proposed date, 3 factors were considered:
Availability of a large conference room at NFC,
Availability of a large block of hotel rooms at the government rate, and
Avoidance of pay week.
Since the conference room at NFC is not available in March due to activities related to a test at the Recovery Operations Center, we are left with February and April 2002. The original proposed date was the week of April 15th.The week of February 18 was proposed as an alternative date during the meeting. Representatives were asked to notify either Arlene or the Customer Service Representative of the preferred date by August 28, 2001. Many of the representatives indicated they did not want to fly anywhere for a meeting. Representatives were asked to call or e-mail their responses to Arlene.
SPPS WEB Testing - Cliff Lee
Cliff indicated that SPPS Web Testing was scheduled for the week of October 1st and that he has received a few volunteers to date. If agencies wish to nominate additional volunteers, they needed to act quickly. Participants should have their security officer contact the NFC Security Office and request for them: "SPPS WEB User Acceptance Testing in IDMS61, DICT01; and IRIS and PINQ access in the same environment." In addition, we encourage participants to provide us SSN's for testing so that we may preload them in the database. Please provide the SSN's, Agency, POI to me as soon as possible.
Note: Since the CAPPS Meeting, SPPS Web Testing has been rescheduled. It is now scheduled to begin October 16th with follow-up sessions the week of October 29th and, if needed, the week of November 5th. The opening session is now scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 16th in the Carver Room of the Shared Access Office at USDA's South Building.
Workgroup Updates
T&A - Jo Bonner
Meetings continuing; next workgroup meeting scheduled for 10/2/01 (9-12) in Lincoln 3 of the SAO.
Leave Share - Jo Bonner
Treasury/USDA/Commerce continue to be the primary participants. Other agencies that do not send representatives may not have their agency-unique issues addressed. Next meeting scheduled 9/20-21. The work group hopes to have the requirements package to CAPPS for review by the November CAPPS meeting.
Awards - Jo Bonner
Budget object class codes for awards:
Basically the agencies are getting more awards counting towards the 1153
BOC this year and less to 1152, because the nature of action codes don't
distinguish the special act or service from the other performance awards.
Looking at our Title V intro, it says OMB assigns the major object class
codes but NFC assigns the summary level and detail sub-object class codes
so 1152 and 1153 are NFC assigned.
Currently all awards (except NOAC 879, SES Performance
Award) are being reported as box 1152. If the agencies have a genuine
need to distinguish the old special act or service awards, we will need
to come up with some way to identify which 840/841's go to which BOC.
Representatives agreed to use award type code to break out types of awards
for reporting purposes.
Status of Table 43 changes; workgroup changes have been submitted to NFC and have been partially implemented-remainder of changes will be implemented by the end of year. Spot Award Bulletin in rewrite (clarifying PAY code definition and instructions; V3F unchanged).
Individuals are having a problem with using the "0" and "1" codes in EPIC. They get confused on which code should be used. Lynda suggested that EPIC use narrative descriptor instead of a numeric code. She will review the windows and send out a new requirement for comment.
FDIC indicated that Awards Remarks are not printing on SF-50b's. The problem started at the same time FDIC started using FESI to submit their awards so it could be something they are doing. No other CAPPS representative seemed to have this problem.
EPIC 2.0 Testing - Wanda Vaughan/Lynda Wilson
The EPIC/HCUP Work Group has completed the EPIC/HCUP Version 2.0 User Acceptance Testing. DOJ, USDA and DOC were the only agencies that participated in the three-week testing period. The work group STRONGLY ENCOURAGES ALL EPIC Users to PLEASE participate in the three-week "QA" Testing of EPIC Version 2.0. This new version has major changes that should be reviewed by ALL EPIC USERS!
The proposed implementation date of EPIC Version 2.0 is Pay Period 21, 2001.
QA Testing will begin September 24, 2001 and continue through October 12, 2001 from 9:00am - 4:00pm in the USDA Training Center, Resource Room (14th & Independence Ave, SW). We will be testing the Corrections and Cancellation process, new Help File, and enhancements.
Anyone interested in participating in the QA EPIC Version 2.0 Testing, should send the following information to Wanda: name, Dept/agency, phone number and the day and times the participants will be attending the EPIC testing. Access to the test area will need to be requested through YOUR Security officer. Indicate that you need an EPIC Test ID with access to: EPIC Quality Assurance area, IDMS61 clist dict02, IRIS, PMSO, PACT EPIC and HCUP. PLEASE LET THE SECURITY OFFICER KNOW THE URGENCY IN HAVING THIS REQUEST COMPLETED. The user ID they will give you should be your production ID with an "A" at the end of it. ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO HAD A TEST ID DURING USER ACCEPTANCE, WILL NEED TO HAVE THE ID UPDATED TO ADD THE QA ACCESS.
Interested representatives who would like to see a demo of EPIC 2.0 are welcome; however, new testers are not allowed. QA is simply a run-through to ensure all changes have been made. Several CAPPS Reps indicated they would like to see a demo and Lynda will e-mail the group to setup a date/time.
PODS - Mary Arnold/ Lynda Wilson
A copy of a draft letter to Pat Healy asking for reconsideration of the decision to place the development of PODS on the Web on hold was distributed and agencies were encouraged to review it and provide comments to Mary. Lynda was asked to provide a list of agencies that have expressed an interest in PODS in the past. These include: GAO, NEH, DOC, OSC, DOJ, NFC, FSIS, APHIS, FNS, HUD, FEMA, SBA, Smithsonian, OSHRC, CBO, CFTC, and FHFB. Representatives also wanted to know the alternatives in the event USDA would not reverse their decision.
RIF - Debby Berry
At the September 5th meeting the group continued the review of the RIF specification package that was developed by Kay Fields and Mary Arnold. Some of the items discussed were the downloading of the retention data, sorting of fields, and merging information from sub pay with the RIF data.
The group plans to review the final RIF package at the October meeting, October 6, 2001. They plan to have a requirements package ready for the CAPPS community to review before the October CAPPS meeting.
FESI
There was no report on the FESI User Group but Cheryl Ruf provided an update on the USDA CAMs project. They are scheduled to be on the WEB by 11/01/01.
Potpourri
DOC discussed an employee suggestion that documents mailed out from NFC not include employees SSN. Follow on suggestion that the print program be changed to suppress all but the last four digits of the SSN seemed agreeable to most. PPSPS will follow-up with a change request.
USDA reported that the Reporting Center has not updated organization structure(s) from Table 5 since 3/01. According to the Web Team, they are currently working on assuring the Reporting Center has the most current organization structure in Table 5 - this will be available prior to running the next process to update the Reporting Center. They are also working on an automated process that updates the processes for the Reporting Center whenever Table 5 is updated.
A question was asked concerning the paperless Earnings and Leave process - May agencies other than USDA use this feature? Yes they may. NFC is in the process of notifying agencies of this new feature. A copy of the letter sent to SBA is attached. Instructions for using this new feature are available on the NFC Web site (www.nfc.usda.gov).
Attachments:
Memorandum on the Rights and Benefits of Reservists Called to Active Duty
Employment Rights and Benefits of Federal Civilian Employees Who Perform Active Military Duty
E-Mail Message: RE:PP17 Payments to Municipal Credit Union in the World Trade Center
Letter to Nancy Raum, Director of Human Resources, Small Business Administration
Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
