State Agencies Bulletin No. 601

Subject
Managing OSC e-Government Sessions
Date Issued
December 5, 2005

Purpose

To explain how the OSC e-Government and payroll application (PayServ and Control-D) warnings and time-outs work and how to effectively manage multiple windows in PayServ and PS Query

Affected Employees

All PayServ, PS Query, and Control-D users

Effective Date(s)

Immediately

Background

Due to revisions, there are now several time-outs in the system that occur at different times, resulting in different messages/options for users and affecting application availability. To make the best possible use of the payroll applications, users should understand how each of the time-outs works and interacts with the others and know how to effectively manage multiple windows.

Related Bulletins

This Bulletin updates Payroll Bulletin No. 505 issued 10/26/04.

Warnings and Time-outs in OSC e-Government Web Site, PayServ, PS Query and Control-D

There are several time-out windows that users may encounter when using these applications:

OSC e-Government Web Site – Authentication System

The OSC e-Government Authentication System will time-out after 20 minutes of inactivity. (Note: The PayServ system time-out warning pop-up is recognized as activity by the Authentication System.)

After 20 minutes of inactivity in the OSC e-Government Web site, the following screen will appear that allows users to re-authenticate or close the window.

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If the user chooses to re-authenticate, the e-Government Web site is displayed and the user must sign in using a password.

Users who have not worked in the OSC e-Government Web site and return to it after an extended period of time will be brought directly back to the OSC e-Government Web site sign-on screen (shown below).

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PayServ

PayServ will time out after 37 minutes of inactivity.

PayServ displays a warning message after 15 minutes of inactivity for each active window (shown below).

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When the warning message is displayed, click OK to continue the session. The session will continue for as long as the user remains active. If the user becomes inactive for an additional 15 minutes for the corresponding window, the user will receive the warning message again.

Failure to click the OK button within 20 minutes will result in termination of the corresponding PayServ window and returns the user to the PeopleSoft 8 expiration page (see below).

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If the user has more than one window open and the inactive window is on the taskbar, the time-out window may be flashing on the taskbar. The user may not see the warning message during the additional 20 minutes if the user does not click on the taskbar.

Once the PeopleSoft 8 expiration page is shown, click on Return to OSC Sign In to go back to the OSC e-Government Web site.

PS Query

Long-running queries terminate after 30 minutes.

When executing a long-running query, a warning will be displayed after 15 minutes. The warning pop-up will appear “frozen” (without text) and will wait for the query to finish.

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If the query finishes in less than 30 minutes, the warning pop-up will be filled with text and an OK button. Clicking the OK button will prolong the PeopleSoft session.

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If the query does not finish within 30 minutes, the PS Query session will expire and the query will be terminated.

Users are reminded that for help with developing and running queries, they should contact their agency query liaison. Agency query liaisons may email [email protected] or contact Dan Crowe at 518-474-1530 for assistance.

Control-D

Control-D will time out after 20 minutes of inactivity.

An error message will appear after 20 minutes of inactivity (see below).

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Click OK to close the error message. Click on Disconnect in the Control-D application to return to the e-Government Web site to sign in again.

Multiple Windows in PayServ and PS Query

Although users are able to access PayServ and PS Query within the same OSC e-Government Web site session, both applications cannot be used efficiently in the same session. While one of the application windows is actively processing, the second application is "frozen," waiting for the other process to complete. To efficiently utilize both applications, users should open a second browser window and sign in to the OSC e-Government Web site a second time.

Exiting PayServ and e-Government Sessions

To properly exit PayServ and other OSC e-Government applications, users should click on the “Sign Out” and “Log Out,” rather than clicking “X” in the upper right corner of the page. While it is acceptable to click "X" to exit a page, failure to properly sign out of the PayServ and e-Government applications causes the sessions to remain active, tying up valuable server resources and potentially slowing down system response times.

Agency Actions

This Bulletin should be distributed to all PayServ, PS Query, and Control-D users.

Questions

Questions regarding warnings and time-outs may be directed to the OSC Help Desk.