JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO – RANDOLPH, Texas, October 24, 2013 (AFNS) – Civilian employees who are not accurately aligned under their supervisors in the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System might have delays in processing important personnel actions, Air Force Personnel Center officials said.
The position hierarchy maintenance tool, accessible via DCPDS, allows supervisors to accurately align themselves with their employees in DCPDS. If the position hierarchy is not accurate, supervisors will be unable to review employees’ records and suspense notices identifying such actions as within grade increases or certifying career promotions.
All supervisors are required to ensure they have access to the Position Hierarchy Maintenance Tool and that their access is tied to their personal accounting symbol code, said Jo Anne Dimitriou, AFPC central civilian classification division chief.
“We’ve been working with the personnel community to ensure all supervisors have access to the required hierarchy tool,” she said. “But we still have a good number of supervisors who don’t have the tool nor have they ensured their employees’ positions are linked to them.”
Supervisors should check in MyWorkplace to see if all of their employees are accurately showing. If they are not, supervisors need to align them using the position hierarchy maintenance tool, if they have access to it. MyWorkplace and the position hierarchy maintenance tool are available only to those positions with 1, 2, 3 or 4 supervisor level codes.
“If your supervisor level code is a 1, 2, 3 or 4 and you don’t have this tool, you’ll need to contact the Air Force Personnel Operations Agency to request it,” she said. “You should be working with your local CPS first, to verify their process when submitting the request to add this tool to your DCPDS account.”
To request the tool, email the AFPOA service desk at afpoa.a1.sd@us.af.mil. In the email, provide the existing DCPDS user name and this statement: Request Position Hierarchy Tool be added. For additional information, call the service desk at DSN 665-5004.
“Remember, access is tied to supervisors PAS code only,” Dimitriou said. “Once this tool has been added, you’ll be able to establish or update the position hierarchy.”
Access is a challenge when a supervisor is on extended leave or retires, or when a military supervisor has a change of station move, if the hierarchy is not updated.
“If a supervisor is absent for a significant period or retires before updating the hierarchy, the system won’t be able to send the new supervisor suspense notices, and the new or interim supervisor won’t be able to review and update employees’ information, so in addition to establishing the hierarchy, we need organizations to identify primary and alternate points of contact who have overall access to their organization and who can serve as back up when supervisors are on extended leave or a position becomes vacant, ” said Dimitriou.
In addition to routine supervisory tasks, compliance with the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 requires supervisors to determine employee telework eligibility, and notify employees of their eligibility status. Outdated and inaccurate hierarchies make it impossible for supervisors to accomplish this.
“More than 70 percent of the hierarchies are accurate which means we’re making strides, but it’s imperative that we get this number to 100 percent. We need all supervisors and managers to take care of this responsibility,” Dimitriou said.
For more information about the position hierarchy maintenance tool, how to request the tool and instructions on using it, go to myPers at https://mypers.af.mil, and enter “Civilian Hierarchy – Supervisors Tool” in the search window.