State Agencies Bulletin No. 405

Subject
Job Requests, Transfer Requests and Job Request Status
Date Issued
July 1, 2003

Purpose

To provide an overview of Job and Transfer Requests and highlight the changes resulting from the Payroll System upgrade.

Affected Employees

All Employees

Overview

The Job Requests and Transfer Request pages are used by the agency to submit requests for changes to an employee’s Job Data record. These transactions include Transfers, Position Changes, Pay Changes, and Data Changes. These transactions are evaluated by a combination of system validations and auditor review. Upon approval, the Job Data record will be updated.

Edits have been established to improve the accuracy of the data entered and provide better internal controls. System validations have been added that will enable some transactions to be automatically approved. OSC will continue to validate other aspects of the transactions through a variety of means in addition to system validations. Agencies will continue to be required to submit documentation, as appropriate, and respond to auditor inquiries.

Path

Administer Workforce>Administer Change Request>Use>Job Action Requests

Administer Workforce>Administer Change Request>Use>Transfer Requests

Administer Workforce>Administer Change Requests>Inquire>Job Request Status

New Hyperlink

General Comments

New Fields

Job Request Status

Changes to the Job and Transfer Request Pages

Job and Transfer Request Pages

Many changes have been implemented that affect both how the pages look and how they function.

  • The Job Request panels in the current payroll system (PaySR) have been combined into one page. Job Request 1 and Job Request 2 will now appear on the Job Request page. The same change has been made to the Transfer Request page.
  • Functionality has been added to ensure that appropriate information is entered when processing transactions. Based on the Action/Reason code entered, only certain fields will become available for data entry. Additionally, of the fields that are available, certain fields must be completed in order to save the transaction. Error messages will appear if the required fields are not completed. The field requirements are based on current payroll rules and can vary by agency and bargaining unit. If no data is entered into an optional field, the data from the prior row will be carried forward. Data entry is not required, unless the data is changing. Job Requisitions contains a list of required and available fields for each Action, Action/Reason combination.
  • All Data Changes must now be submitted using the Job Request page.
  • There is a hyperlink to General Comments directly from the Job Request page. There is no General Comments hyperlink on the Transfer Request page because the employee is not in the new agency until after the Transfer is inserted into Job Data.
System Edits

The payroll system has been modified to provide more edits. If data is entered that is inconsistent with these edits, the user will receive either an error or a warning message.

  • Error messages prevent the user from saving a transaction if information is in error or incomplete. The data must be corrected before the transaction can be requested and saved. Error messages for Data Capture agencies will be returned to the agency for resolution and on-line entry.
  • Warning messages advise the user to review a transaction for accuracy. If the transaction is accurate, the user may save it. If the transaction is inaccurate, the user must correct the data in question, and then request and save it. If warning messages occur upon entry of Data Capture agency transactions, the transactions will be saved and will be reviewed by the OSC audit unit. The Data Capture unit will document the warnings and forward them to the applicable agencies, using established procedures.
Auto Approvals

Once a transaction is successfully requested and saved, additional system validations will occur to determine if it can be automatically approved. If the transaction meets the criteria for auto approval, it will automatically update the Job Data page. The words “Auto Approved” will appear on the screen. These validations are based on existing payroll rules.

The rows will be approved and moved to the Job Data page in chronological order. Each row will pick up the data from the prior row if the data has not been changed. This will cut down or eliminate data moving to Job Data in the wrong order with incorrect data. Subsequent rows will still be required when entering retroactive rows to Job Data.

If multiple transactions are entered for an employee, the system will respond differently depending on the order in which the transactions are entered. When a transaction that does not auto approve is followed by a transaction that would ordinarily auto approve, both transactions remain in Requested status and require auditor approval.

If the effective date of a requested transaction that would ordinarily Auto Approve is earlier than the last effective-dated row on the employee’s Job Data page, the transaction will remain in Requested status and require auditor approval.

NOTE: All validations for Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers will be based on the NYS Position number. If an employee has a NYS Position number that is an under-fill of the Position Number, the under-filled grade level will be validated.

Description of Significant Validations

Salaries, Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates

Edits for Salary Amounts, Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates have been implemented according to various rules and regulations. Not every transaction can be validated by the system; an auditor will review those that have no edits.

Position Change – Change Line

Edits have been implemented for the Action/Reason of Position Change/ CHL (Change Line). Only the Position Number field and NYS Position field will be available for data entry. Validations have been established that compare the attributes of the current position to the attributes of the requested position, including the Approved Salary amount on the Position Data page for employees in grade 600, 560 and 980.

An error message will be received if any attribute other than the line number is changed.

A warning message will be received if the approved salary on the Position Record is less than the current salary on the Job Data Record for employees in grade 600, 560 or 980.

The agency must determine if the wrong Action/Reason Code has been entered or if the wrong Position Number has been entered and change the transaction accordingly. If an employee is in a NYS Position, the NYS Position Number must be reentered and remain the same as the existing prior row.

Transactions meeting all of the validation criteria will auto-approve.

Pay Change - New

Edits have been implemented for the Action/Reason of Pay Change/New for newly-hired employees in certain graded positions in UCS and Executive agencies. The system will confirm that the salary is at the hiring rate of the grade and that the anniversary date and increment codes are appropriate.

Error and/or Warning messages will be received if the data entered is inconsistent with the validations. The agency must review the transaction and correct the data if necessary, perhaps using a different salary or entering another Reason code, such as Increased Hiring Rate or Rein Commission.

The transactions that are requested and saved with warning messages will be reviewed by the OSC audit unit. Transactions that meet all of the validation criteria will be auto-approved.

NOTE: There will be payroll periods when the transactions will not auto approve because of overlapping action dates and effective dates that will prevent the system from validating the increment code. During these payroll periods, these transactions will be reviewed by an OSC auditor. No warning message will appear.; The transaction status will be marked as Requested.

Transfer Request

On a Transfer Request page, the Full/Part-time indicator, Part-time percent and Benefit Flag are now required, in addition to the other required fields.

Additional Processing Requirements

A transaction that has been Requested and Saved by an agency cannot be altered by the agency. If the agency needs to change a Request, the saved Request must be deleted and a new one entered.

Approved Requests cannot be changed or deleted by the agency. If the request has been Approved and moved to the Job Data page, the agency must submit another Request to correct the previously approved action appearing on the Job record. If the Request has been Approved and has not yet moved to the Job Data page, the agency must call OSC to delete the approved Request. After OSC deletes the original Request, the agency must submit a new Request with the correct data.

Changes to the Job Request Status Page

The new Job Request Status page will summarize the requests entered by the agency for a particular employee with the fields that are on the Job Request page. The agency will be able to track the status of each Request. The status of each transaction will be noted with one of the following:

  • Initiated will remain in the system until the agency either requests or deletes the transaction. OSC does not review Initiated transactions.
  • Requested will remain in the system until they are processed.
  • Approved will remain on the summary until they are moved to the Job Data pages.
  • App/w Chg (Approved with Changes) will remain on the summary until they are moved to the Job Data pages.
  • Processed (auto approvals marked with a “Y”) are temporarily stored on the Job Request Status page and the approved transactions are inserted on Job Data.
  • Proc w/Chg (Processed with Changes) will remain in the system for 30 calendar days.
  • Denied will remain in the system for 30 calendar days.

Agency Action

Agencies must enter transactions according to the applicable rules, regulations, and procedures. The agency must respond to the error. Agencies should review warning messages and adjust the transaction if necessary.

Questions

Questions that relate to Job and Transfer Requests resulting from the Payroll System upgrade may be directed to the Payroll Audit mailbox.

Prior to August 4, questions will be answered within two business days. After August 4, questions will be answered within 24 hours.