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Purpose and Overview

Purpose The purpose of this guide is to provide information to assist Army NSPSSpiral 1 organizations with end of cycle pay pool processes. This guide is

specifically for the rating cycle ending on 30 September or 31 October 2007(Appraisal Year 2008).

How to use this

documentThis guide is arranged sequentially by the major events that need to occur inorder to successfully complete end of cycle processes. These major events

are reflected in the table of contents. Where applicable, each section provides

links to additional documentation with more detail, such as guides for usingautomated tools.

Relatedinformation

Information about the performance management aspects of the end of cyclecan be found under the Performance Management tab on the NSPS page of 

CPOL. This includes such things as information for employees on writingtheir self-assessments, and setting up new performance plans in the

Performance Appraisal Application (PAA).

Collecting

lessons learned

information

Organizations can anticipate being asked for lessons learned at the conclusion

of the end of cycle processes; keep track of things that worked and areas thatneed improvement. This will cover many of the same types of things that

were asked following the mock pay pools, but will also cover additional

topics such as:• Were your rating and payout results what you expected? Were they

similar to the results of your mock?

• What business rules did you apply in deciding whether to give the higher 

or lower number of shares for the same rating?

• What business rules did you use to determine the split of the payout

 between base pay and bonus?

• Did you use control points or other devices to help manage pay

 progression during the payout process?

• Did you employ any automated tools other than the PAA and CWB to

assist in the pay pool panel process?

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Recommended Ratings and Higher Level Reviews

How-to

informationThe following resources are available for rating officials and higher levelreviewers. They are all accessible on the NSPS website of CPOL, under the

Performance Management tab:(http://cpol.army.mil/library/general/nsps/about-pm.html#link )

• Step-by-step guide to preparing and submitting a recommended rating in

the Performance Appraisal Application (PAA) (Word document containing

screen shots and instructions for all steps in the process for employees,

rating officials, and higher level reviewers).

• Computer video demonstrating the steps in preparing and submitting a

recommended rating (note, there are two versions of this video, the only

difference is in the picture and sound quality).

Army

requirementsCitations for use of the component use text field on the PAA:

• AI-SC 1940.9.3 (HLR) - bullet comments about the employee’s

 performance and ability to perform higher-level duties.

• AP-SC 1940.5.2.3 (RO) – address the employee’s positive support of Army

values.

There is no language to indicate that these are optional.

Both the RO and the HLR can enter text into this text block. If the RO is

using the option to document higher level review and approval of the

recommended rating (rather than actually routing the appraisal to the HLR),the RO can still obtain the HLR’s comments and copy and paste them in to

this section.

Recommended

shares and

payout

distribution

These are now part of the PAA when the RO submits recommended ratings.

It is a pay pool decision as to whether or not these recommendations will beused. Some pools may be making these determinations by calculation. If a

 pay pool is not using the recommendations, it won’t hurt anything if the RO

includes them. They will populate in the CWB, but they are not part of the

mismatch report and are not part of the final appraisal.

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Preliminary Preparation: Things to Do Now

Creating a

timelineSee Timeframes and Deadlines, pg. 7. A timeline is a must in order toaccomplish many pay pool-related tasks in the allowed time. It should be

created as far ahead of the pay pool panel meetings as possible since the panelmeetings tend to fall around the holiday season, and rating officials, higher 

level reviewers, and panel members need to have dates locked in.

Early annual

ratingsEarly annual ratings are given when either an employee is changing jobs or a

rating official is moving or separating during the 90 days prior to the end of 

the rating cycle. See Early Annual Guidance.

Rating cycle end date: 90-day window effective:

30 Sep 2007 3 Jul 2007

31 Oct 2007 3 Aug 2007

Pay-affecting

personnel

actions effective

before end of 

cycle

Pay-affecting personnel actions (e.g., promotions, reassignments with a paychange, changes to lower band, etc.) that are effective on or before the last

day of the rating cycle need to be processed in the HR system before your pay

 pool administrator pulls data for the pay pool panel. Managers need to be

aware that as a general rule, any pay-affecting action needs to be in the CPOCno later than 4 weeks prior to the end of the rating cycle to insure the action

gets processed in time. Managers should check their suspenses for actions

that are due prior to the end of the cycle such as ACDP increases for trainees.

Salary information must be correct as of the last day of the rating cycle toinsure that the total base pay, on which your pay pool funding is based, isaccurate. Any retroactive personnel action effective before the end of cycle

 but processed after the pay pool data is pulled will require modification of the

Compensation Workbench (CWB) with the attendant recalculation of the pay

 pool fund amount and share value.

Create Pay Pool

ID and update

employee

records

Pay pool administrators can create their Pay Pool IDs (PPIDs) and begin

updating employee records if this has not been done yet. See the Building

Your Pay Pool ID section in the NSPS Pay Pool Management library (all

documents).

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 Duplicate

appraisalsRating officials should delete or close any duplicate or extraneous appraisals

in the Performance Appraisal Application (PAA) prior to the pay pool

administrator running the extract process that will populate the CompensationWorkbench (CWB). For employees with more than one appraisal for the

same rating period, the extract process attempts to identify the correct

appraisal but it is preferable to only have one appraisal per employee.

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Timeframes and Deadlines

Critical

deadlineThe NSPS performance payout is effective on the first day of the first full pay period in January of each year – 6 January 2008 for this cycle. In order to

 process payout actions with that effective date, all rating and payoutinformation must have been uploaded to the Defense Civilian Personnel Data

System (DCPDS) and errors corrected by 14 December 2007.

A second deadline has been established for employees who are getting a

 payout that is being processed “manually,” that is, outside of theCompensation Workbench and mass payout processes. The deadline for 

submitting Requests for Personnel Actions (RPAs) in these situations is 28

December 2007. See Calculating salary increases based on modal ratings, pg. 17, and Movement between pay pools, pg. 17

Unique

requirementsA separate guide on end of cycle timelines and tasks is available. Although

no standard timeline will fit all pay pools, this guide presents two notional

timelines, one for rating cycles ending on 30 September 2007 and one for those ending on 31 October 2007. These are provided as examples only as

each pay pool will have its own requirements and variances.

Each pay pool will need to prepare their own timetable to accomplish the end-

of-cycle processes to meet this deadline. Some of the factors that will require

variance from the notional timelines below include:

• The size of the pay pool (affects the length of pay pool panel meetings).

• Whether or not sub pay pools and sub pay pool panels are being used.• Geographic dispersion of organizational components, rating officials and

higher level reviewers, pay pool panel members, etc.

• Mission-related requirements.

Recommended

rating and

higher level

review

Prior to the pay pool administrator pulling data from DCPDS for the CWB,rating officials must have completed a recommended rating of record and

either transferred the appraisal to the higher level reviewer, or documented in

the PAA that this review has occurred. All appraisals should be in “Pending

PPM Approval” status.

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Preparation for Pay Pool Panel Meetings

Pay pool

administrator

checklist

A checklist for pay pool administrators is available. Although there isduplication with some of the information listed in this document, the

checklist will help pay pool administrators keep on top of the tasks they willneed to perform.

Pay pool

funding levelsPay pool funding levels for Element 1 and 3 are established by theCommanders of the Army Commands, the Commanders of the Army Service

Component Commands (ASCC), the Commanders of the Direct Reporting

Units, and the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army (AASA),and may vary between pools. For Element 1, Army must meet a 2.26%

funding floor. Commands will set their funding floors based on historical

spending per ASA(FM&C) memo. Element 2 funding is 1.25% and will

remain at that level even if the actual amount of the General Pay Increase for January 2008 changes. Further guidance on Element 2 will be forthcoming.

See Funding tab, pg. 12.

Funding levels are expressed as percentages of base pay and should be known

 prior to the start of the pay pool panel meetings since they control the pool

fund size and all the payout calculations. See Army NSPS Interim Policy,section 1930.9.3 (Performance Pay Pools), and the Army Pay Pool Funding

section of the CPOL NSPS Pay Pool Management web page (recently

updated).

After the payout process is completed, Army will be required to certify thatthey met the funding floor of 2.26% for element 1 salary increases. ##

Methodology for the certification process is being developed.

Pay Pool IDs

(PPIDs)Pay pool IDs must be updated in all pay pool members’ records and must be100% accurate as of the last day of the rating cycle. The presence of the pay

 pool ID governs the selection of records for a given pay pool (records cannot

 be “manually” added to the CWB), so this must be done prior to the pay pooladministrator pulling the extract from DCPDS to populate the CWB.

Identification of pay pool members may require review by others besides the

 pay pool administrators (e.g., rating officials, pay pool manager,administrative officer, etc.). See Manage Pay Pool ID User Guide.

Also, if PPIDs were entered into records earlier in the cycle (e.g., for a mock  pay pool), pay pool administrators should check to make sure that the PPID is

end-dated in the records of any employees who were in the pay pool but have

since left. See Video on Modifying the PPID.

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DCPDS extract Once the pay pool IDs are in pay pool members’ records, the pay pool

administrator runs a process in the HR system (DCPDS) that creates a textfile (“extract”) that is imported into the Compensation Workbench (CWB).

See the Extract and Upload User Guide (24 Sep 2007 version) (section on

Extract Process), and the Video on Creating the Extract file. This process pulls data both from DCPDS (e.g., employee name, base salary), and from the

PAA (e.g., job objective ratings, recommended shares, etc.). Data pulled from

DCPDS cannot be changed within the CWB so it must be accurate in

DCPDS. Data from DCPDS reflects records as of the last day of the ratingcycle (either 30 Sep or 31 Oct). Data from the PAA is current as of the day

the extract is generated.

 Note: A new CWB and extract process was released on 30 Sep 2007.

However, for pay pools whose rating cycle ends on 30 Sep, wait until at least

15 Oct 2007 before pulling the extract. This will help insure that any

 personnel actions that were effective on 30 Sep (which is the start of a new pay period) would have been processed in DCPDS.

 Note: You cannot create extract files for individual sub pay pools; one extractfile covers a pay pool and any of its sub pay pools. Sub pay pools can be

identified during the import process. See Sub pay pool CWBs , pg. 11.

Obtaining

appraisal data

for the panel

Employee Appraisal Report was added on 14 Oct 2007 to PP Admins and PPMgrs (and alternates). This allows the PP Admin to generate a report with

assessment data for the pay pool panel’s use.

Recommended sections to print for pay pool panel use:

• Relevant Organization Mission / Strategic Goals

• Job objectives

• Employee Self-Assessment for Closeout Assessment

• Rating Official Assessment for Closeout Assessment

• Employee Self-Assessment for Annual Performance Appraisal

• Rating Official Assessment for Annual Performance Appraisal

• Performance Rating, Shares, and Payout Distribution*

* If your pay pool is not concerned with rating official recommendations onnumber of shares and/or payout distribution, just select Performance Ratings.

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Preparation of 

panel reference

materials

Each panel should have the following available (as a minimum):

• Populated CWB or equivalent (see next section).

• Hard or electronic copies of appraisals (see above).

• Your Pay Pool Business Rules.

•  Nondisclosure statements for signature.

• Performance Indicator s and Contributing Factor Benchmark Descriptors

(this document combines the performance indicators and contributing

factors by pay band and is therefore easier to use by pay pool panels).

• J ob objective rating descriptors, contributing factor descriptors, and

converting average adjusted rating to rating of record (this is a one-page

reference sheet for panel use).

• 2007 NSPS Pay Schedules and Pay Band Market ranges applicable to

your pay pool (2008 NSPS Pay Schedules when available).

• Contact information (phone numbers and/or e-mail) of rating officials

and higher level reviewers.

Logistics Arrangements may need to be made for some or all of the following:

• Meeting room(s) (consider privacy issues).

• Computer and projector.

• Computer(s) or laptop(s) for panel members’ use (with appropriate

network access).

• Printer for generating hard copies of appraisals or other documents.

• TDY arrangements and travel orders for panel members.

• Telephone(s) and/or email access.

EPI and OAR 

awardsIf your organization is using EPI and OAR awards, determine how the

recommendations will be obtained.

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Preparing the Compensation Workbench (CWB)

Preparing the

Compensation

Workbench

Shortly before the panel meeting, the CWB needs to be prepared. Thisincludes populating the spreadsheet using the extract file pulled from

DCPDS, completing the funding tab, identifying specially-situatedemployees, setting up control points (if used), and identifying employees who

may require prorating of their payout. These are discussed briefly below; for more information, see the CWB User Guide.

Obtaining the

CWBThe CWB for end of cycle has been modified from the version used by the

mock pay pools. A preliminary version with dummy data is available for testing and training, and the final version is here. The test version cannot be

used for the actual end of cycle pay pools.

Importing

recordsThe CWB is populated from the extract file created in DCPDS. Remember,

you cannot “manually” add records into the CWB. All entries must comefrom the DCPDS extract file. See the Extract and Upload User Guide (24 Sep

2007 version).

Sub pay pool

CWBsOne extract file is created per pay pool, which includes any sub pay pools.

If sub pay pools are being used, the pay pool administrator will need to make

a copy the CWB for each sub pay pool (naming the copies appropriately) and

import only the members of that sub pay pool (pay pool IDs, including sub pay pool IDs, are displayed in the revised import process in the new versionof the CWB). See CWB User Guide (section on Importing Data into the

Spreadsheet).

Combining sub

pay pool CWBsOnce sub pay pool panel meetings have been concluded, their updated CWBsneed to be provided to the (main) pay pool administrator so they can be

combined into one master CWB for the entire pay pool. This is done using

the “Import” function on the “Instructions” tab, and selecting the “Pay Pool

Data from Sub Panel Spreadsheets” option. See CWB User Guide (Importing

Data into the Spreadsheet, “To combine the sub-pool spreadsheets to create anentire pay pool”).

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Funding tab On the funding tab, set the three funding element percentages assigned to

your pay pool, set the “Select Share Value” to the “calculated” option, and set

the “Assign Salary Increase” option to either percentage or amount dependingon how your pay pool panel is going to work the payout distribution. See

CWB User Guide (section on Funding Worksheet). Note: Element 2 has

 been set at 1.25% by default in the new version of the CWB; the amount willnot change even if the GPI is changed. 

Specially-

situated

employees

The CWB requires that employees be identified as to whether or not their 

salary is to be included in the pool, whether they are eligible for rating, and

whether they are eligible for a payout. See CWB User Guide (section on PayPool Panel Worksheet, “Eligibility and Specially Situated Employees (Modal

Ratings)”) and Specially Situated Employees which contains helpful

information about how to treat different situations within the CWB. Also see## (post and add link) TM Pay Pool Bulletin 07-09, Calculating Payouts

Based on Modal Ratings, for instructions on calculating modal ratings.

A series of Business Objects reports is under development to assist pay poolsin identifying people who might be covered by some of these special

situations. These reports will be available through the “Corporate

Documents” section of the Central Site Business Objects; a separateannouncement will be made of the report names and further instructions.

Running the reports does require that the user have a Business Objects user 

ID, so some pay pools may need assistance from their Commands.

Control points If control points are being used, set them by pay schedule-pay band on theControl Points tab, or by individual employee on the Pay Pool Panel tab. See

CWB User Guide (section on Control Points).

 Note: if you are using control points, be aware that the rate ranges reflected

in the CWB have all been adjusted up by 1.25% (or the amount of Element 2

funding, if different). You may need or want to adjust your control points upalso. 

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Prorating of 

individual

records

Some records may require prorating of the salary increase and/or bonus

 portion of the payout. See Army NSPS Interim Instruction, section AI-SC

1930.9.6.3.2 (Prorating the Payout) and Appendix 3, and ## post updatedversion TM Bulletin: Pay Pools and Prorating, which has a modified

 prorating table to account for different spiral-in dates for this rating cycle.

 Note: The salary increase portion of payouts that are reduced as a result of 

 prorating does not return to the pay pool fund. If there are a number of 

employees in this situation (e.g., a large number of new hires whose salaryincrease portion is being prorated), you may not be able to fully expend all

the funds allocated for salary increases. See Balancing the payout

distribution , pg. 14.

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Pay Pool Panel Meeting

Panel meeting

agendaAn agenda should be developed in advance, based on the pay pool’s businessrules. Some suggested items for inclusion on the pay pool panel agenda

include:• Signing of nondisclosure agreements.

• Examine rating patterns by rating official.

• Examine rating patterns by similar jobs.

• Review and consider EPI and OAR recommendations.

• Recusal of panel members for final review of ratings by pay pool

manager.

Sub pay pool

panel meetingsThe primary function of the sub pay pool panel is to reconcile the

recommended ratings of the members of that sub pay pool. Other sub pay pool panel functions will depend on the organization’s business rules (e.g.,

review recommended shares, recommended payout distribution, nominations

for EPI and OAR awards, etc.).

Contact with

rating officials NSPS implementing issuances (SC1940.11.4.2) require that if recommendations are changed by the panel, the new recommended ratings of 

record, share assignments, and/or payout distributions will be communicated

 back to the rating official along with the rationale for the change(s). Therating official will then be afforded the opportunity to provide further 

 justification before the change(s) becomes final. The panel will need to

determine how, and by whom, this contact will be made.

If rating officials are unavoidably going to be TDY during the panel meeting

 period, consider having them carry copies of the appraisals of their employees

with them in the event that the panel needs to discuss their recommendations.

If the original RO is not available to respond to the pay pool panel's request

for further justification (has separated, changed jobs, etc.), either the newrating official or the higher level reviewer will need to provide this input.

Balancing the

payout

distribution

At the pay pool level (not at the sub pay pool level), adjustments may need to

 be made to attain the desired percentage for Element 1 (salary increases),

 particularly if there are a number of prorated salary increases in the pool. Theactual percentage being used (on the CWB funding tab) may need to be

adjusted upward slightly to make sure that the final dollar amount allocated is

equal to the dollar amount originally budgeted. (Payouts will adjustautomatically in the CWB when the funding percentage is changed as long as

the calculated share value option is used).

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End result The end result of the pay pool panel process and the pay pool manager’s final

approval is a completed and accurate Compensation Workbench (includingsub pay pools if used). The pay pool manager must certify that the CWB is

correct, and then the CWB must be validated; see CWB User Guide (sections

on Validating Data and Certifying Data) by the pay pool administrator. Finalrating and payout data will then be uploaded to DCPDS where it will

eventually update employee records and performance appraisals, and provide

the payout information necessary for processing personnel actions.

Changed

recommend-

dations

When the pay pool panel or pay pool manager makes a change to arecommended rating, the rating official must modify the performance

appraisal in the PAA to reflect the final decisions. This may also require

some re-wording of the supervisory assessment. (Note, this does not pertain

to changes made to recommended shares or payout distribution.)

The Army deadline for making these changes is 14 December 2007, although

specific organizations may require an earlier date.

To “unlock” the PAA in order for the rating official to make changes:

• The Appraisal Administrator has to change the status of an appraisal that

needs to be changed to “PPM Returned for Review.” That “unlocks” the

appraisal and allows the RO to make changes.

• Once the changes are made, the RO uses the “Re-submit” button. That

returns the appraisal to “Pending PPM Approval” status.

For more information on the appraisal administrator function, see theAppraisal Administrator User Guide.

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Upload and Preview

Deadline 14 December 2007 is the deadline by which rating and payout data from

the CWB must be uploaded to DCPDS and errors fixed.

Upload and

previewAs soon as the pay pool panel is done and the pay pool manager has certified

all ratings, shares, and payouts, the pay pool administrator creates an export

file from the CWB and uploads it to DCPDS. This creates a “preview” screenlisting all members of the pay pool and showing any error conditions (alert

messages). See the Extract and Upload User Guide (24 Sep 2007 version)

(section on Upload Process, and Appendix C, Error / Warning ConditionsScenarios). The preview can be “refreshed” periodically to see the progress

on correcting errors. Some errors may require coordination with or assistance

from the servicing CPOC.

Preview

naming

conventions

The process of uploading appraisal data into DCPDS and generating the preview screen (with the alert messages) requires a name. The actual upload

and creation of the preview is done by the pay pool administrator, but the

finalization process has to be done by HR (CPOCs) (see Finalization of 

Ratings, pg. 20). Therefore it is crucial that pay pool administrators follow anaming convention when creating the process. For Army, that convention

will be:

CWB + (underscore) + Pay Pool ID (main PPID, not a sub pay poolID) + (underscore) + date (format 2007-11-23). Example:

CWB_SE3W6D2AAB_2007-11-23.

Only one preview per pay pool can reside in DCPDS at a time; if a

subsequent preview is uploaded, it will overwrite the first (alternately,

existing previews can also be “refreshed” to check on progress of error fixing). Use the same naming convention but with a different date.

CWB changes If base data in the CWB has to be changed (e.g., a retroactive salary change

effective before the end of the rating cycle), or if a rating is changed or the

number of shares awarded is changed, the share value and all payout amountschange. The pay pool administrator will need to create a new extract from

DCPDS for the records that changed and import these individually into the

CWB. See CWB User Guide (Importing Data into the Spreadsheet, “If youdiscover a mistake in the personnel data” section).

For practical purposes, this does not apply if these types of errors or changesare discovered or made after 14 Dec 2007.

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Correcting

mismatchesThe most common errors resulting from the upload/preview process are rating

mismatches between the PAA and the CWB. The pay pool administrator needs to unlock the PAA and contact the rating official to make the change(s).

This is done by changing the appraisal status to “PPM Returned for Review.”

After the changes are made, the rating official re-submits the ratings, whichchanges the appraisal status back to “Pending PPM Approval.” This is the

status that all appraisals should be in prior to the finalization process (see

Finalization button, pg. 20). See the Appraisal Administrator User Guide.

Calculating

salary increases

based on modal

ratings

Certain employees who were not eligible for a performance rating becausethey were not under an approved performance plan for at least 90 days are

still eligible for a salary increase. This includes employees on LWOP-US,

employees who have been on workers’ compensation, deployed civilians,

employees on long-term training, and employees on long-term approved paid

leave. See ## (post and link) TM Pay Pool Bulletin 07-09, CalculatingPayouts Based on Modal Ratings, for more details on coverage and the

calculation process.

Movement

between pay

pools

Movements between pay pools occurring after the end of the rating cycle but

 before the payout need to be tracked carefully and payouts for these

employees must be handled manually outside of the CWB and mass payout

 processes. See ## (post and link) TM Pay Pool Bulletin 07-10, Movements between Pay Pools.

The two basic rules:• The employee's actual location as of 30 Sep will govern which pay pool his

rating is reconciled in.

• The employee's actual location as of 6 Jan will govern which pay pool pays

him.

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Performance Appraisal Conversation

When to

conductAfter ratings are approved by the pay pool manager, but before the payouteffective date (6 Jan 2008), rating officials are expected to conduct a

 performance appraisal conversation with the employee. There will beexceptions, e.g., employee or rating official on TDY or use or lose leave, but

rating officials should make every effort to meet this deadline. As a practicalmatter, employees will be able to see their annual rating in their record

(through My Biz) after the finalization process is run in early January, so an

earlier conversation is recommended.

What to

provideDuring the conversation, the rating official provides the employee with a copy

of their completed appraisal (DD Form 2906) (this will be a “working copy”

until appraisals are finalized in early January), and the supplement to the DD

Form 2906 (see below) which shows the employee’s number of shares, payout amount, and distribution of the payout. Rating officials may also want

to present overall pay pool statistics so the employee can see where he/she

fits, and provide information on the reconsideration process.

Employees should be advised that the share value and payout amount may

change slightly since any correction or change to a single rating or share onthe CWB will result in a slightly different share value and hence a slightly

different payout for everyone in that pool. Also, the employee should be

informed that the deadline for submitting reconsideration requests begins on

the day that the rating official provides the final rating to the employee. 

Supplement to

DD Form 2906The CWB provides the functionality to “Generate Employee Notices” which

contain the number of shares awarded, the value of a share, the amount of the

 payout, and the distribution of the payout. The pay pool administrator should

generate these notices for each rating official separately by filtering on eachrating official, generating the sheets for that RO, then emailing the file to the

RO. The supplements are in the form of Excel worksheets and are formatted

to print one per page. See CWB User Guide (Generating Employee Noticessection). Rating officials should notify employees that any last minute

changes in pay pool calculations could result in small changes to the share

value, which will also effect the payout amount (up or down); the Employee Notice should be considered an estimate.

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Documentation

of conversationAfter the conversation, the rating official must document that the conversation

took place in the PAA. This is done in the PAA after the finalization process

in early January, so if the conversation was held prior to that, the RO needs tokeep track of the date(s) to be entered in the PAA. The date is important

 because this is the date that starts the clock for reconsideration requests. See

Documenting the performance appraisal conversation, pg. 20.

OPF filing and

signature

requirements

If the performance plan has been built and the annual rating documented inthe Performance Appraisal Application (PAA), no hard copy of the appraisal

is needed for the performance folder of the Official Personnel Folder (OPF).

However, if a hard copy or fillable form version of the DD Form 2906 was

used instead of the PAA, it must be printed out in final form, signed, and sent

to the servicing CPAC for forwarding and filing in the performance folder of the OPF.

Email from CPMS, 16 Jul 2007 to Component PMs:

According to OPM, the employee performance records are covered by theGovernment-wide system of records, OPM/GOVT-2. Agencies may decide

what records to maintain and where to store such records. When an employee

leaves (transfers to another agency or separates from Government), someinformation from the employee performance records must be put in the

Official Personnel Folder. Those records can be either written or electronic

 but you will need to be able to produce a paper copy should the employeeneed it when he/she leaves their current organization for another. If your 

organization is using the PAA, an electronic copy is sufficient.

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Finalization of Ratings

Finalization

buttonAfter 1 January 2008, the actual “finalization” button on the upload processscreen can be used. This button is only available to HR users; this will be

done in the CPOCs. The finalization process causes the following:

• Final ratings are updated in employee HR records (employees will be

able to see their ratings through My Biz when this is done).

• PAA status changes to “Approved by PPM” (for all appraisals that do

not have errors or mismatches).

• Payout data is “staged” in DCPDS for processing the payout actions.

See the Extract and Upload User Guide (24 Sep 2007 version) (section on

Upload Process). 

Mismatches

after

finalization

Failure to make changes in the PAA to match data from the CWB will preventappraisals from finalizing. This means that the status of the appraisal will not

change to “Approved by PPM” and the rating official will not be able to print

a “final” copy – the appraisal remains a “working copy” until mismatches

have been corrected.

After finalizing, the status of all appraisals with mismatches will

automatically be changed to “PPM Returned for Review,” and the ratingofficial will have access to make necessary changes. After making the

changes, the rating official uses a new “Validate” button which will check 

against the data uploaded from the CWB; if OK, the appraisal will switch to“Approved by PPM” status and will be final.

Documenting

the

performance

appraisal

conversation

After the finalization process has been completed, all appraisals that do not

have mismatches will be in “Approved by PPM” status. At that point, rating

officials need to open each appraisal and document the date of the performance appraisal conversation. They can also, if necessary, change the

name of the rating official who actually conducted the conversation (if 

different). Those are the only changes that can be made to the appraisal at

this point. When done, the rating official uses a “Complete” button which

moves the appraisal to the “Completed Plans / Appraisals” area, at which timethe completed, approved appraisal is accessible to both the rating official and

the employee (through My Biz).

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Processing of Payout Actions

CPOC action The CPOCs will process the payout actions (some special cases may requiresupport from the pay pool administrator or manager). These actions are being

 processed at the same time as the general pay increase is being processed for all General Schedule employees, so it requires close coordination between the

CPOCs. The NSPS pay actions will be done using three mass processes:1. Rate range adjustments and local market supplement changes are

 processed first for all eligible NSPS employees. The rate range

adjustment is a change to base pay, with the local market supplementincrease calculated automatically based on each employee’s duty

location. The amount (percent) is announced late in the year. For this

cycle, 1.25% of the ECI portion (the portion of the GPI representingacross-the-board increase to GS rates) of the GPI is going to the pay

 pool as funding element 2, with the remainder of the ECI being used

for rate range adjustments. 2. A new mass process is being developed that will generate a second

salary increase action for NSPS employees who were not eligible for a

rating and payout (ref: DepSecDef memo of 12 Oct 07). This will

give them the 1.25% of the GPI (ECI portion) that they wouldotherwise not get.

3. All NSPS performance payout actions are generated by a third mass

 process. Employees who are receiving a performance-based payoutwill receive one or more personnel actions documenting the payout.

Types of actions The table below shows the type of personnel actions that can potentially begenerated during the payout process:

NOAC Text Description

894 Pay Adj Rate range adjustment and local market supplement

891 Reg Perf Pay Salary increase portion of the NSPS performance payout

885 Lump Sum Perf Payment RB-ILPA

Bonus portion of the NSPS performance payout(RB-ILPA = rating-based, in lieu of pay adjustment)

886 Lump Sum Perf 

Payment RB-NILPA

Bonus portion of any Extraordinary Performance

Increase (EPI)

889 Group Award-Other Bonus portion of any Organizational AchievementRecognition (OAR) award

890 Misc Pay Adj Second salary increase for NSPS employees who

were not eligible for a payout; also used to terminate pay retention

892 Irreg Perf Pay Salary increase portion of any ExtraordinaryPerformance Increase (EPI)

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896 Group Incr Salary increase portion of any Organizational

Achievement Recognition (OAR) award

Manual

payouts

Some pay actions and payouts are not handled by the mass processes. RPAs

need to be generated and submitted to the CPOCs for these manual actions by28 Dec 2007 in order for the CPOCs to process these RPAs for the 6 January2008 effective date. See Calculating salary increases based on modal ratings,

 pg. 17, and Movement between pay pools, pg. 17.

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Processing of Reconsideration Requests

Reconsideration

request

timeframes

Pay pool members (employees) should be aware of the reconsiderationrequest timeframes and exclusions as delineated in the Implementing

Issuances (SC1940.12.4) and Army Supplemental Instructions (AI-SC1940.12.4).

The date on which the final rating was communicated to the employee is the

date that starts the clock running for the submission of reconsideration

requests.

Form letters Standard form letters for use during the reconsideration process are available

for use; see ## (to be posted and linked here). Although they are optional,

they are recommended for use.

Payout

calculationsReconsideration requests that have been resolved in the employee’s favor result in an increase in the rating of record and the number of shares. The

following information needs to be provided to the servicing CPOC in order to

 process these actions:

## What data needs to be provided to the CPOC to process? May need a

worksheet that does the calculations

These changes do not affect the rest of the pay pool.

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Analysis of Results

Lessons learned ## Lessons learned request may be issued, covering what specifically to look for and report on

Some of the lessons learned may result in a need to modify pay pool business

rules to make the process more efficient and effective the next cycle. For instance, pay pools may need to be restructured, or there may be some

recommendations for improvements to the automated tools.

Data collection

and

presentation

At the conclusion of the pay pool process, organizations will want to collectand analyze data. This may include some or all of the following:

• Rating distributions, org-wide and by pay pool

• Share distributions, org-wide and by pay pool

• Rating distributions between like pools

• Average ratings and average number of shares

• Share value by share, org-wide and by pay pool

• Average, high and low payouts by share level and by pay pool

• High and low salary increase percentages

• Ratings by gender and RNO

Also consider how much of this type of information should be publicized tothe workforce. In no event should statistical data be published that would

identify a specific individual (e.g., pay pool stats by pay schedule including a

 pay schedule with only one person represented).

Pay pool

analysis toolCPMS has developed a new tool to assist in analyzing pay pool results. This

tool will allow analysis of one or several pay pools and automatically

generates most of the types of data as shown above, plus others. Input for this

tool is either the actual CWB files from the desired pay pool(s), or the extractfiles created from the CWB that are uploaded to DCPDS. This tool will

greatly assist in the collection and presentation of both individual and

multiple pay pool data, and is particularly well suited to an analysis acrossPRA lines, or even up to the Command level.

## post and add link to tool and user guide

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Help and Resources

Policy questions

and assistance

For pay pool policy questions contact Greg Wert (greg.wert1@us.army.mil),

Hoffman phone 703-325-1840 dsn 221-1840; Aberdeen phone 410-306-0231dsn 458-0231, or Chris Lessard (chris.lessard@us.army.mil), phone 703-325-

1586, dsn 221-1586.

For performance management policy questions contact Tony Wai

(tony.f.wai@us.army.mil), phone 703-325-4391, dsn 221-4391.

Automated tool

helpA 4-level tier support system is in place for automated tool problems:

1. Transition Manager designated person(s) in the organization.

2. Servicing CPAC.

3. Helpdesk at the servicing CPOC.4. HQDA G-1(CP) central helpdesk.

References and

resourcesAll resources referred to in this document are available on Army CPOL under 

the NSPS logo, or through this link:

http://cpol.army.mil/library/general/nsps/

Updates occur frequently so be sure to check often to make sure you aregetting the most current information.

The Pay Pool Management tab on the NSPS page is the primary source for most documents (from the Pay Pool Management tab, select Pay Pool

Management Guidance and Tools). Some references (particularly those

relating to the PAA, appraisals, and assessments) are found under the

Performance Management tab.