RADAR, Issue 03, June 2020
RADAR, Issue 03, June 2020
PAY ACTION REQUESTS and the TRUSTED SOURCE
Since the consolidation of pay in 2016, the way to get a new Pay Action processed at the Pay Centre has been to submit a Pay Action Request (PAR) to the Pay Centre via the Trusted Source.
When PARs don’t meet the requirements of the Pay Centre, they are rejected, delaying payments and creating work for everyone.
Thanks to your careful use of the PAR and the work of the Trusted Source, who ensure every request is completed correctly, the rejection rate for PARs for our Department is the best of any large department served by the Pay Centre.
The most common reason for rejection is that PARs required Trusted Source authentication but were not sent to the Trusted Source.
So trust the Trusted Source with your PARs. We are here to help!
DID YOU KNOW?
- DYK: PARs sent directly to the Pay Centre will be rejected?
- DYK: If you have questions about how to submit a PAR, you can reach out to the Trusted Source for guidance?
- DYK: Only 25 in 10,000 PARs sent via the DFO Trusted Source are rejected by the Pay Centre?
- DYK: The Trusted Source process 4500 PARs per month, on average?
PEOPLESOFT ENTRIES
driving pay!
Last year, the PeopleSoft Transaction Centre of Expertise (PTCoE) was created to dedicate resources to the entry of data in PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft entries flow directly into Phoenix and so drive pay calculations.
Despite an increase in volume during the COVID-19 response, the team continues to manage all of the new entries expeditiously while simultaneously making great strides in solving long term problems, such as fixing system limitations related to short term actings for Fleet.
At the same time, accuracy of data entries has improved with 70% fewer errors. That means there are 100 employees or more, every month, whose potential pay issues were prevented. The challenges have been significant, but so has the progress!
NEW PAY CODES - Persistence is key
After years of persistence, 16 missing and broken pay codes in Phoenix have finally been implemented allowing our Fleet colleagues to be paid automatically, without the need to send PARs to the Pay Centre. This is good news for everyone:
- Fleet employees will now be paid on time for these amounts.
- Fewer enquiries will be submitted to the MyPay team related to these missing payments.
- 2.3 FTEs at the Pay Centre can now focus on resolving other DFO cases.
USEFUL LINKS
- What does the Trusted Source do for you?
- Pay Action Request form (PAR) accessible outside the VPN
- Send your PAR or enquiry to the Trusted Source
- PAR Quick Reference Guide accessible outside the VPN
NON-AUTOMATED PAY PROCESSES
TRANSACTIONS WE PROCESS OURSELVES
Over the past few years, members of the DFO-Coast Guard Pay Team have gained approval to process a variety of transactions, just like compensation advisors at the Pay Centre can.
The Compensation Processing and Escalations Unit is a small team who uses this capability to work on and close complex cases from the backlog as well as working on special projects like Fleet actings unpaid back to 2016, updating leave service dates for transfers, and others.
There are transactions we can’t process (because they are processed by specialized teams at the Pay Centre) but you can still contact MyPay for advice and assistance in submitting these requests.
TRANSACTIONS DFO CANNOT PROCESS:
- Garnishments
- Leave with Income Averaging
- Pre-Retirement Transition Leave
- Death in Service
- Medical Retirement
- Maternity/Parental
- Disability
- Isolated Post Allowance
- WFA (workforce adjustment)
- EX level transactions
- Mass revisions
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Temporary changes to Pay Action Request (PAR) requirements
- Pay tools and messages available outside the VPN
Why Timeliness Matters:
When submitted on time, most pay actions can be processed automatically by Phoenix, without the need for a compensation advisor (CA) to intervene. But when pay actions, especially staffing actions, are submitted late, not only can they create pay issues for employees but they also require manual intervention by a CA, which takes time away from the CAs working on our transactions in the backlog. As such, in order to help the timeliness of staffing processes and limit negative impacts on pay, the department has implemented new measures effective April 1, 2020. Start dates for HR staffing actions should be 17 days following the letter of offer date (or 5 days if it is an acting). Next time you receive a letter of offer, you may want to verify if these conditions are met. From HR, to management, to employees... we are all in this together!