Pay System Codes and Pay Plans (including NSPS)
DCPS Type Hour Codes and Budget Builder Payroll Accounts
Step 00 Employees in the Payroll vs. Personnel Report
Invalid Calculator Combinations
Air Force Overhire Reporting in Budget Builder
Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) Certification
“Overseas” Costing in Budget Builder
FEHB Premium Conversion Effective 10-8-2000
Information Technology (IT) Rates Effective Jan 2001
Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) Rates – 2004
Changes
User Guide Version 8 (dated 22 Oct 2002) Deletions
Following are fiscal year calendars in many colors.
Calendar colors are ranked by frequency of download.
These are one page calendars in small PDF files.
Government holidays are squared. Pay period ending dates are circled.
===== FY 2011 Calendars
===== FY 2010 Calendars
===== FY 2009 Calendars
===== FY 2008 Calendars
===== FY 2007 Calendars
===== FY 2006 Calendars
===== FY 2005 Calendars
===== FY 2004 Calendars
Supported
operating systems for Budget Builder: Windows 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP, and
Vista 32 bit.
Please note that 64 bit Vista is not supported.
Budget Builder software is only licensed to reside on individual PCs. There is not a server version at present. Budget Builder requires 640K memory and about 28 MB local hard drive disk space.
User data can be located on a local hard drive or on a server drive. Users may easily merge separate files from subordinates or other users by tagging and clicking Merge. Budget Builder users can share data files by email or on a common drive. Budget Builder is a single user application meaning different users cannot access the same file at the same time.
Budget Builder reports may be printed or output to the Windows clipboard for quick pasting into Excel, Word, emails, etc. All Budget Builder data may be easily exported to Excel, Word, email, or other programs using special Clipboard commands within Budget Builder.
Budget Builder does not dial. Budget Builder for Civilian Personnel DCPS data is downloaded from DFAS using local procedures. DCPDS data normally arrives from a personnel office as a text email attachment.
Duty status codes are assigned by personnel and are contained in Budget Builder DCPDS_02 personnel files. Duty status 00 employees are employees in a normal pay status. When an organization has several employees not in duty status 00 (such as mobilized employees) duty status codes are useful to identify these employees. Typically these codes explain why employees may appear in a personnel file and not in payroll file on the same date.
00 No Action
Pending
10 CAO PCS
Reassignment
11 Separation
(With Obligation)
20 LWOP-Mil
21 Furlough-Non-Military
Over 30 Days
22 Furlough-Non-Military
30 Days or Less
23 Suspension Over
30 Days
24 Suspension 30
Days or Less
25 LWOP and
Drawing Injury Compensation From OWCP
30 LWOP Over 30
Days (Except When Drawing Injury Comp)
31 LWOP 30 Days or
Less (Except When Drawing Injury Comp)
32 Detail With
Same CCPO
33 Detail To
Another CCPO, Agency Etc
34 Pay-Status/Non-Duty
Status (Interim)
89 Leave With Pay
Pending Disability Retirement
90 Maternity Leave
99 SES/Faculty
Sabbatical (Non-Duty Status With Pay)
Personnel data uses Pay Plans. Payroll data uses Pay System Codes instead of Pay Plans. The Pay System Code is a code describing the various categories of personnel for accounting purposes. Pay System Codes are generally collection of Pay Plans. Technically Pay System Codes are derived from the Pay Plan Code, Special Program Indicator, and Employee Type Code. The Pay System Codes workbook has a tab with Pay System Codes and Pay Plans and a tab showing Pay System Codes only.
Budget Builder uses the DCPS type hour code to assign costs to a payroll account. Payroll accounts are used to collect the 200+ type hour codes into 19 significant budget categories. The Type Hour - Account worksheet shows the Budget Builder payroll account assigned to each DCPS type hour code.
Purpose:
The Dates button is to allow users to enter FY, quarter, month, or pay period dates
by clicking rather than typing. The
Dates button appears in many reports, the calculator, and several other
windows.
Problem:
When the Dates button is clicked AND a 2007 pay period date is chosen - the
previous pay period dates are returned - not dates for the pay period
clicked. In 2007 fiscal year, quarter, and month dates are correctly
returned - only pay periods are not. Previous pay period dates are
returned in 2007 and 2018. In all other years all dates are correctly
returned.
Solutions:
1 – a user can type dates rather than use the Dates button.
2 – a user can click below the 2007 pay period desired to get the correct dates
(this is what we do)
We
can not fix this 2007 Dates button problem by posting a utility.
Issue: Some users run a Payroll vs. Personnel
Report and noticed that some employees are listed on the report as being in
payroll but not in personnel – but the employees are in the personnel
file. These are all Step 00 employees.
Action:
Ensure DCPDS_02 personnel data is as of or before the first day of the pay
period used in the comparison.
Explanation: The issue occurs because the DCPDS_02 data is not on or before the
first day of the pay period used in the comparison. In one case the
DCPDS_02 data was dated 10/16/2006 and was being compared with pay period
ending 10/14/2006. In other words the personnel data was after the end of the
pay period.
Here is the larger issue.
For step 00 employees (i.e. employees not paid on a pay table) a DCPDS_02 file
provides data Budget Builder uses to determine the employees hourly rate of
pay. A DCPDS_02 file is a snapshot of employee information. It does
not provide historical data. So Budget Builder only knows the rate of pay
effective the day of DCPDS_02 file. This is different than a pay table
employee. For employees paid from a pay table Budget Builder can look up
pay rates on different days.
In
Budget Builder for Civilian Personnel Version 9 a payroll forecast does not
result in these two cases.
1 - an imported pay period was incorrectly named
2 - the filter and forecast buttons are used together in one report
1
- An imported pay period was incorrectly named
If a payroll file is totaled by pay period
and two pay periods have exactly identical dollar amounts to the penny this
indicates the same payroll has been imported twice under different names.
The solution is to delete the incorrectly named payroll batch and import it
again correctly.
The reason an incorrectly named pay period prevents a forecast is because
Budget Builder correctly excludes retroactive payments in the last pay period
when forecasting. Retroactive payments are payments reported in one
period but earned in previous period.
Example - Suppose the payroll ending 5/13/06 is incorrectly named and imported
as 5/27/06. Although the file is said to be for PPE 5/27 Budget Builder
sees payments as earned in pay period 5/13 because payroll files internally
contain the date payments were actually earned. Therefore no costs are
actually earned in PPE 5/27 and the forecasts using the last pay period amounts
are missing or widely inaccurate.
2
- Filter and forecast buttons used together in one report
Budget Builder does not prepare a payroll forecast when a report filter is used. For example, in a Super Payroll Report, if the Filter button is used (i.e. it is not Off) and the Forecast button is used (i.e. “Include recommended forecast” is chosen) the resulting report will not include a forecast. This limitation is not stated in the Budget Builder User Guide.
At present there are two workarounds:
1. For small and medium size payroll files.
Run a forecast using the desired filter as a sort sequence. For example if a UIC filter was desired, run a report that uses UIC as the first sort sequence. The resulting report will include the desired UIC forecast.
2. For large payroll files (over 200,000 records).
Create a new file with only the desired records to forecast. For example if a UIC filter was desired, then copy payroll records in that UIC to a new file and forecast using the new file.
A new file can be created by using Count to set a filter then using Copy to create the new file.
Problem: There have been two reports of users being unable to use the calculator after entering invalid combinations.
Background: Calculator costs are updated after every change entered in the calculator. If invalid combinations are entered by a user (such as pay plan=GS and grade=19) an "invalid combinations" message is displayed which says:
“Note: Pay=0 with current calculator settings. This is often due to an invalid combination of pay table, plan, grade, and step. Use the Pay button to avoid invalid combinations.”
Solutions:
1. Normally this is not an issue. Users simply correct the incompatible values and get correct results.
2. In two reported cases users were unable to use the calculator just by choosing valid combinations.
In
this case to get the calculator working again a user can:
a) exit Budget Builder
b) using My Computer
delete file BBCALC.MEM in the Budget Builder directory.
The Version 9 of Budget Builder has a
"NSPS Payouts" option on the main civilian personnel
screen. NSPS guidance issued after Version 9 was released is
different than anticipated and programmed in the "NSPS Payouts"
item. This makes the "NSPS Payout" item on the main screen
ineffective for applying payout percentages to employees in a personnel
file. Report # 23 Payout Cost Report is also ineffective because
programmed before NSPS guidance was issued.
The Pay and Benefits Calculator in Version 9
does correctly apply the NSPS payout percentages when calculating NSPS costs.
Budget Builder can be used to closely manage
Air Force overhire costs. The following
provides a short summary of the basic procedure followed by a detailed step by
step description.
Overhire
Reporting – Summary of Basic Procedure
To report overhire costs:
Step
1. Name a Budget Builder local field to contain overhire information
Step
2. Create a SSN file to identify the SSNs and Org codes of overhires
Step
3. Use Assign Budget Codes to insert overhire codes into the payroll file from
the SSN file
Result: Now you can report overhire using any payroll
report by sorting and/or filtering on the overhire field.
Overhire
Reporting – Detailed Procedures
Step 1. Name a local field for overhire
information
On the main screen click Name Local Codes and
enter a name in one of the local fields to designate that field for overhire
data. In this example we choose to use
local field 1for overhires and enter “OvHire” as the name for local field
1. Local field names are limited to six
characters.
Step 2. Create a SSN file to identify overhires
by name, SSN, and organization
a. On
the main screen click SSN Files Menu,
choose
Open SSN Files Dialog,
then
click New and a new SSN file will appear.
b.
Rename the new file as desired.
OH_SSNS.DBF for overhire SSNs would be a good name.
c.
Enter the name, SSN and organization of each overhire in the new SSN
file.
Since new files already have one record click
Edit to enter data for the first overhire, then click New to create a new
record for each additional overhire SSN.
Organization codes may be up to 8 characters. We recommend organization
codes preceded with uniform characters like “
OH-CE,
OH-SPTG,
OH-WING,
etc
This coding allows filtering overhires separately from other positions by using wildcard filters
in reports.
Step 3. Insert overhire data into the active payroll
file from the SSN file
a.
Insure the desired payroll and SSN files are active (i.e., shown on the
main screen)
b. On the main screen click Assign Budget Codes, then specify these options and click OK.
Assign
To - Payroll File
Codes -
Local codes only
From
-
SSN File
Action
-
When finished the number of successful
assignments (payroll records with matched SSNs) will be shown.
Result
The payroll file now has all overhire costs
identified. Any standard Budget Builder
payroll report may be used to report overhire costs in by Org, Name, PEC, RCCC,
BA, etc (as well as other normal reporting options)
To interactively view, sort, count or total
overhire costs in payroll:
a. open
the payroll file
b.
choose a view containing the OvHire field (e.g. Local 1-5)
or
use
Show Column from the View menu to add the OvHire column to the desired view
c. use
the Sort, Count, Total, and other view function as desired
Version 9 imports Air Force 1092 reports.
Q: Why import the Air Force 1092 report?
A: Several Air Force users requested it. Work year costs on the 1092 are sometimes used in deciding fund allocations. Therefore analysts want to verify the report. It can be time consuming to verify the 1092 calculations. For example, columns on a 1092 contain both hours and dollars so simple totals of hours and dollars require effort to obtain. Also some desired work year costs, e.g. by PEC, do not appear on the 1092. Once imported into Budget Builder work year costs by PEC and other codes are available using the Work Year Cost Report.
To import a 1092 report the 1092 file to be imported must be named as follows:
Position 1 always G
Position 2 last digit of CALENDAR year.
Positions 3-6 last day of month in MMDD format
Positions 7-8 optional
Extension always TXT
Example: G50331.TXT is a correct name for importing a 1092 report for the period ending Mar 31, 2005.
All 1092s used for testing had BVB as the first three characters in the 1092 report text file so we decided to use the BVB characters to identify a text file as a 1092 report. Now, a few Air Force activities have shown us 1092 report files that will not import because the 1092 file does not contain BVB as the first three characters. The solution is to open the 1092 file and type BVB in all caps as the first three characters of the file. In the next version of Budget Builder we will look for another way to identify a 1092 text file.
Import Accuracy Test
The test for an accurate import of the 1092 report is to run a WY Cost report. These costs should match exactly:
Budget
Budget
During import Budget Builder does this:
Puts the 1092 page number in the Name field.
Puts the 1092 cost descriptions in the Remarks/DCPSJO field.
Nr Paid is not used.
The 1092 report displays eight pay systems columns horizontally:
GEN SCH WAGE
EMP GEN MGR SES
NON-US NON-US NON
OTHER
TOTAL
DIRECT
INDIRECT CHARGE
During
import Budget Builder creates separate records for each pay system resulting in
a vertical arrangement where each pay systems record is in a separate
record. The following two character
codes are used:
Codes for 1092 pay system headings
GS = GEN SCH
WG = WAGE EMP
GM = GEN MGR
SE = SES
ND = NON-US DIRECT
NI = NON-US INDIRECT
NC = NON CHARGE
OT = OTHER
One consequence of this coding is that most useful 1092 reports will use PaySys as the 1st sort.
Pay
systems will sort in this sequence in Budget Builder.
GM = GEN MGR
GS = GEN SCH
NC = NON CHARGE
ND = NON-US DIRECT
NI = NON-US INDIRECT
OT = OTHER
SE = SES
WG = WAGE EMP
When a 1092 line relates to a specific type hour code that type hour code is used.
When a 1092 line does not relates to a specific type hour code these Summary Type Hour codes are used:
R+ Regular
O+ Overtime
B+ Benefits
T+ Other
In Version 9 a new view named “Air Force 1092” is included for viewing imported 1092 data
Also Report 70.13 -- AF 1092 Work Year Costs is included.
Other custom reports and views may be created by users.
Most useful Budget Builder reports using 1092 data will use Pay Sys as the 1st sort since Budget Builder creates separate records for each pay system. With Pay Sys as the first sort data will be reported alphabetically by pay system.
Example:
Pay Sys GM Gen Mgr
Pay Sys GS Gen Sch
Pay
Pay
Pay Sys NI Non-Us Indirect
Pay Sys OT Other
Pay Sys SE SES
Pay Sys WG Wage Emp
Budget Builder now has the option to import payroll data from the biweekly Army AVK 692 report. This is not preferred because the standard gross pay file is far superior to an AVK 692. The AVK 692 does not have type hour codes, FTE and non FTE hours, UIC, Org, and other codes that are contained in gross pay files.
Q: Why import the AVK 692?
A: (1) Some Army activities cannot receive their gross pay file
(2) In a few unusual situations an Army activity cannot extract their employees from a gross pay file because they are scattered among various major commands, UICs, etc.
To import an AVK 692 report the AVK 692 file to be imported must be named as follows:
Position 1 always V
Position 2 last digit of CALENDAR year.
Positions 3-6 pay period ending date in MMDD format
Positions 7-8 optional
Extension always TXT
Example: V50219.TXT is a correct name for importing an AVK 692 report for the pay period ending Feb 19, 2005.
During import Budget Builder does this:
The
AVK 692 report displays costs in these columns horizontally:
|-----
EMPLOYEE NAME -----| |------ USER NAME
------|
|-----------------------------EMPLOYER
CONTRIBUTIONS--------------------------|
SOCIAL NAF
SECURITY GROSS
OTHER SEVERANCE TSP OASDI 401K
APC
NUMBER PAY PAY PAY
TSP BASIC
CSRS FERS SEGURO
MEDICARE FEHB FEGLI
SERS
During import Budget Builder creates separate records for each column resulting in a vertical arrangement where each cost is in a separate record according to DCPS type hour codes. The following type hour codes are used:
DCPS Codes for AVK 692 columns
When an AVK 692 column relates to a specific DCPS type hour code that type hour code is used. When an AVK 692 column does not relate to a specific type hour code then summary type hour code with a + sign are used. These codes are used.
R+ GROSS PAY
T+ OTHER PAY
YP SEVERANCE PAY
UI TSP
UD TSP BASIC
UB CSRS
UC FERS
UJ OASDI SEGURO
UF MEDICARE
UH FEHB
UG FEGLI
UU 401K
SERS
The test for an accurate import of the AVK 692 report is to run a Super Payroll Report by cost center (Program Director). AVK and Budget Builder cost center totals should match exactly:
A new view (Army AVK 692) is included for the AVK 692
Other custom views may be created by users.
Several Budget Builder reports have an Overtime column. This column will be empty since the AVK 692 does not identify overtime.
The AVK 692 Gross Pay column will appear in the Super Payroll Report Regular column.
The AVK 692 Other Pay column will appear in the Super Payroll Report Other column (as will other costs).
Sequence: FSN, PD, APC, SSN
Totals:
SSN – 2 lines – no totals
APC – “APC SUB TOTAL”
PD – “Total Dollars”
These totals are not normally shown on field level AVK 692 reports.
FSN – no totals
Report - “Grand Totals”
The AVK 692 does not have UIC, AMS, MDEP or D/R (Direct/Reimbursable) codes. However these codes may be assigned to a Budget Builder AVK 692 payroll file from an APC master file by using Assign Budget Codes.
The AVK 692 has vertical column totals but does not have a column to show the total of cost of pay period costs in a row.
Budget Builder has been NMCI certified. Budget Builder 2000 Version 4 (including Civilian Personnel version 9.1) was certified in March 2006. Budget Builder versions are being run on NMCI desktops by many users.
Hawaii,
Alaska, and other COLA areas
Naples,
Iwakuni, and other overseas areas
Type
Hour Description
=== ==============================
YE Living Quarters Allowance (LQA)
YF Post Allowance (foreign)
YH Separate Maintenance Allowance (SMA)
YJ Temporary Quarters Subsistence (TQS)
Personnel data does not have the data needed to calculate these costs.
Payroll Projection (revised 6-30-03) has minor revisions to earlier payroll worksheets by the same name.
Personnel
Projection Worksheet
Personnel Projection (revised 6-30-03) has minor revisions to earlier personnel worksheets by the same name.
The construction of the general schedule has varied over the years. The method currently in use is described in this document. This describes the process used by the Office of Personnel Management to calculate a new General Schedule when an across-the- board pay increase goes into effect. The process is based on the desire to maintain equal within-grade amounts and has been followed for many years. Note that the resulting dollar values vary slightly from those that would occur if all rates of the previous schedule were simply increased by the amount of the pay raise.
1. Increase the step 1 rates from the previous schedule by the amount of the pay raise, i.e., x 1.02 for 1995, and round the resulting salary to the nearest dollar.
2. Divide the step 1 rate by 30 and round the result to the nearest dollar to calculate the within-grade dollar amount (3.33%).
3. Calculate step 2 rates by adding one within-grade amount to the step 1 rate, step 3 rates by adding one within-grade amount to step 2 rates, etc.
Rates for GS-1, steps 1 through 9, and GS-2, steps 1 through 4, are out of alignment with the rest of the schedule because wage and price policy in 1979 resulted in higher increases for these steps than granted to the rest of the pay schedule. These steps at grades 1 and 2 are derived by increasing the previous rate by the amount of the pay raise, i.e., times 1.02 for 1995. GS-1, step 10, and GS-2, steps 5 through 10 , are derived in the normal fashion using step 1 rates that would be in effect if the 1979 adjustments had been uniform. Pay rates for GS-1, step 1, and GS-2, step 1 used for this process for the 1995 schedule are $11,682 and $13,214, respectively. The within-grade amounts for GS-1, step 10, and GS-2, steps 5 through 10, are derived from these amounts, not from the actual step 1 schedule rates.
This information
was provided
OASDI
and Medicare are computed differently beginning
The employees share of their FEHB plan amount is needed to accurately compute employer OASDI and MEDICARE contributions. Budget Builder has always stored the employer FEHB contribution in the benefits database – but not the employee FEHB share. In Version 7 we have added the employee FEHB share to the benefits database so benefits may be computer accurately. Users of Budget Builder versions 4, 5, and 6 may enter an Object Class 12 (benefit) adjustment to maintain a completely accurate budget.
The new IT special rate tables use a different calculation method than previous special rate pay tables. All special rate tables published by OPM from 1989 to 2001 used a fixed step interval. Special rates were calculated as a multiple of the fixed step interval. The 2001 IT rates do not use this procedure. They use different logic. They do not have standard step intervals. All IT special rate tables show "Varies" as the step interval. This difference between IT special rates and other special rates is visible by inspection of pay tables on the OPM web site.
Due to the new IT procedures a revision to Budget Builder was required to process these rates. This change is included in Version 7 and later. Users of Budget Builder versions 4, 5, and 6 should handle the new IT rates as Hourly rates. This will allow IT costs to be calculated precisely.
Employer contribution rates for these FERS retirement plans are effective 3 Oct 2004.
Retirement code K 11.2% (+0.5%) Regular FERS
Retirement code L 23.1% (+1.2%) Air Traffic Controller FERS
Retirement code N 13.9% (+0.7%) Military Reserve Technician FERS
Retirement code M 23.8% (+1.1%) Law Enforcement Officer FERS
FERS 05.XLS is a worksheet showing the increased FY 2005 costs by grade for each retirement plan.
The version 8 User Guide is dated 22 October 2002. Please mark your User Guide with these deletions.
These items were inadvertently not removed when the User Guide was printed
a. Delete paragraph “Review Imported Data” on page 64
b. Delete paragraph “Delete Excess Payroll Records” on page 65
c. Delete illustration “Review Imported Data” and
the sentence above this illustration on page 74
d. Delete everything on page 75