State of Connecticut

Core-CT Project

Application:HRMS

Module:Human Resources

Business Process:Maintain Workforce

Requirement Number:HR310

Requirement Title:Ability to automate seniority date calculation for layoff purposes

Module Leads: Lina Simonu, Lisa Lagus

  1. Requirement Description

Describe the requirement (gap). Include a description of the delivered PeopleSoft functionality.

In order to track and calculate an employee’s seniority for layoff purposes, the State of Connecticut has requested an automated seniority calculation process be implemented. There are currently several agencies that have sub-systems that perform the calculation. PeopleSoft provides Flexible Service Calculation functionality that would allow the State to define service calculation groups and rules to calculate seniority based on hire date and union association. In addition, leaves, suspensions, and time layoffs recorded in Job may also be deducted or included in the service amount based on pre-defined service rules. The delivered functionality does not take into account State of Connecticut requirements such as military time or time without pay recorded in Time and Labor. In addition, the State’s part-time proration calculation is not delivered.

  1. Business Need

Provide a justification for the requirement. Include information about frequency, volume, number of users impacted, etc.

The ability to track seniority for layoff purposes is required by the State, in the event that a layoff situation should arise. On average, this occurs 2-3 times a year within a given agency. State employees can include prior state service, military war service, workers compensation, various types of paid and unpaid leave in their seniority calculation.

This potentially impacts all State employees. There are also 7,165 part-time employees currently on APS.

  1. Required By: (Y/N)

Federal ____Agency Y____Bargaining Unit Y ____

State Statutory ____State Regulatory ____State Procedural _Y___

  1. Requirement Priority

MediumHigh, Medium, Low – please see “Requirements Prioritization Criteria”)

  1. Recommended Solution

Enter an “X” next to the appropriate category

______Process Solution

___Option Number

___X___Application Modification

_1__Option Number

  1. Explanation for Recommendation

Provide reasons for recommendation. Please do not re-state the description of the solution itself.

Due to the amount of additional manual manipulation required with the delivered Flexible Service Calculation process, the custom batch program is recommended. This program is similar to the longevity calculation and the service date calculation programs that have been recommended. The custom union rules pages could be used for all three to allow the state to manage changes online rather than within each program. In addition, the custom program would be programmed to calculate the part-time employees and incorporate military service. Manual updates would still be required if union changes cause a full re-calculation of the seniority date.

  1. Organizational Impact of Recommendation

Describe the changes to the organization that result from the recommended solution. Include a description of any role, process, statute, or bargaining unit agreement affected.

  • The Agency HR Specialist would no longer have to manually calculate the Seniority Layoff Date unless the employee changes unions. They will also need to create queries to access information from EPM to gather the information.
  • OLR would be responsible for maintaining the union seniority rules.
  • Time and Labor unit would be responsible for configuring rules as well.
  1. Process Solutions

Describe the possible Process Solutions. Include a description of impacts and benefits of each solution.

Option 1. Use the delivered Flexible Service Calculation functionality. Require the OLR office to configure the appropriate service rules and calculation groups based on the State of Connecticut union requirements. Require Agency HR Specialists to perform all leave, layoffs, suspensions that are 3 days or greater in Job so that they are included in the Service Calculation as all unions require. Require Agency HR Specialists to associate employees with the appropriate Flexible Service Calculation group upon hire and position change. Also require the Agency HR Specialists to maintain and adjust Service amounts based on union change and military service credits manually. Finally, all part-time employees service amount would need to be calculated and updated manually in the Company Seniority Date field.

This option requires tremendous effort on the Agency HR Specialists. They will need to assign employees to the appropriate Flexible Service Calculation Group upon hire and union change. They will need to run the Flexible Service Calculation process for individuals that have changed unions or been hired with military credits and make manual start up credit adjustments, and manually change the service start date based on these adjustments. In addition, for every leave greater than 3 days (depending on the union rules), they will need to process a Job Data transaction. This is a policy change, as currently Agency personnel perform these transactions for leave greater than 5 days. All other leave time is recorded in Time and Labor by Timekeepers. Once all of these steps are processed for full-time employees, if a seniority list is required, they will need to manually calculate the part-time seniority date and enter it into the Company Seniority Date field on Employment. Two lists will need to be generated as there would then be two fields that store the Seniority Date, the Service Start Date in Flexible Service for Full Time employees and the Company Seniority Date in Employment for Part-time employees.

Option 2. The Company Seniority Date will be manually calculated for each employee using the appropriate bargaining unit rules to determine what time counts and what does not when determining length of service for leave accrual purposes. This date will then be entered into the Company Seniority Date field on the Employment Dates page in PeopleSoft. The report listed in HR Requirement #HR110 would provide a list of employees in descending seniority order.

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  1. Application Modifications

Describe the possible Application Modifications. Include a description of impacts and benefits of each solution.

Option 1.

Modification Type: Batch

Complexity: Difficult

Description: A batch program will be created and run on a biweekly basis. This program will update the Company Seniority Date based on union rules and employee activity in Time and Labor and Job. A custom record and page will need to be created to store the union rules. This will require configuration and maintenance by OLR on-going. This program would also calculate part-time employees based on actual time paid through time and labor. Custom rules will need to be developed to identify consecutive days on leave, which may have a performance impact on the Time Administration process. If an employee changes unions and their union rules are now different for Seniority Layoff calculation, the system will NOT be able to re-calculate their seniority date as the data to determine consecutive leave days may not be available in production due to archiving. Instead the Agency would need to access the information to manually re-calculate the date through custom queries in EPM.

Option 2.

Modification Type: Batch

Complexity: Very Difficult

Description: Modify the delivered flexible service calculation program to include time and labor data and prorate based on actual time recorded for part-time employees. Update the Company Seniority Date based on the calculated amount.

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