Purpose
To explain how the OSC e-Government and payroll application (PayServ and Control-D) time-outs work and how to effectively manage multiple windows in PayServ and PSQuery.
Affected Employees
All PayServ, PSQuery, and Control-D users.
Effective Date(s)
Immediately.
Background
The implementation of OSC’s e-Government infrastructure and browser-based payroll applications resulted in changes to the time-outs that users experience. There are now several time-outs in the system that occur at different times, result in different messages/options for users and affect 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.
Time-outs in OSC e-Government Web Site, PayServ and Control-D
There are several time-out windows that users may encounter when using these payroll applications:
The OSC e-Government Web site will time out after 15 minutes of inactivity.
After 15 minutes of inactivity in the OSC e-Government Web site, a screen will appear that allows users to re-authenticate or close the window. 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.
PayServ
PayServ will time out after 30 minutes of inactivity.
PayServ displays a warning message after 25 minutes of inactivity for each active window.
When the warning message is displayed, click on 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 25 minutes for the corresponding window, the user will receive the warning message again.
Failure to click the OK button within 5 minutes will result in termination of the corresponding PayServ window and returns the user to the PeopleSoft 8 expiration page.
If the user has more than one window open and the inactive window is on the taskbar, the time-out window may be flashing only on the taskbar. The user may not see the warning message before the additional 5 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.
Control-D
Control-D will time out after 20 minutes of inactivity.
An error message will appear after 20 minutes of inactivity. Click on OK to close the error message.
Click on Disconnect in the Control-D application to return to the e-Government Website to sign in again.
Multiple Windows in PayServ and PS Query
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 on to the OSC e-Government Web site a second time.
Exiting PayServ and e-Government Sessions
To properly exit PayServ and 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, PSQuery, and Control-D users.
Questions
Questions regarding time-outs should be directed to the OSC Help Desk at (518) 486-6745.