STATE OF LOUISIANA

DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

General Circular No. 001497

To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: PPR Reporting Requirement Changes and Revised SF15

Issue Date: August 20, 2002

In the past few years, a number of agencies have made a distinction between those Un-Rated ratings that were non-compliant due to supervisory oversight or error, and those Un-Rated ratings the agency considered less egregious, such as employees who were on extended leave, or who transferred into the agency within 90 days prior to the anniversary date. In fact, some agencies, by policy, do not require supervisors to rate employees under such circumstances.

While such ratings are still considered Un-Rated as defined in the Rules, and they must be reported as such, we feel there is strong merit to recording the PPR rating data in a way that makes it clear what circumstances led to Un-Rated ratings. Also, having the capability to generate reports on such data will allow agencies to more effectively evaluate ratings rendered, identify problems, assess training needs, and determine if rating supervisors are being assessed properly by their supervisors.

From now on, when completing PPR forms reflecting Un-Rated ratings, all Rating Supervisors will be required to indicate the reason the employee received an Un-Rated.

We expect all agencies to maintain data on Un-Rated Reasons for all Un-rated ratings beginning 7/1/02, and all re-rating deadlines beginning 7/1/02.

For agencies that use ISIS HR, agencies should use the ISIS HR system Appraisal Infotype (0025) as described below so that reports can be generated throughout and at the end of, FY 02-03. We expect those agencies that submit personnel data through an electronic interface into ISIS HR to follow the same reporting requirements. See General Circular 001498 for information on identifying employees whose ratings effective 7/1/02 have already been entered into the system, and which will need to be updated or maintained with the expanded data.

In order to accommodate the new reporting requirements for Un-Rated ratings, several changes were necessary to the PPR Form. While making these changes to include Un-Rated Reasons, we made several enhancements to the form including clickable factor ratings on the downloadable version, and the addition of a continuation sheet, among others. We are asking that agencies begin using this form immediately, insofar as practicable. Please refer to General Circular 001498 for more information on the changes and for guidelines on the use of the new PPR form.

The appraisal infotype has had several significant changes made to it, summarized below:

1. A new field has been added to record the Un-Rated Reason. This field has a drop-down box with the valid reasons listed.
2. A new field has been added to enter the personnel number of the rating supervisor. Once this number is entered and validated, the name of the supervisor will be automatically placed in the rating supervisor (appraiser) name field. No longer will you have to enter the supervisor’s name.
3. When Infotype 0025 is being created or maintained to record Un-Rated ratings, the system will edit the entry to make sure that an Un-Rated Reason is selected for all Un-Rated ratings.

Enhancements have been made to the ZP117 Appraisal report in ISIS HR. A few are listed below:

1. New selection criteria by "Appraiser Personnel Number" and "Un-Rated Reason" have been added.
2. New report type "Summary by Personnel Area/Appraiser" is available.
3. New output fields have been added to the Detail report type option including "Un-Rated Reason/Code", "Appraiser Personnel Number", etc.
4. New layout, percentage fields, and totals on Summary reports.
5. The Summary report types can be exported easily into a spreadsheet.

General Circular 001498 provides more specific information on Performance Planning and Review Guidelines and Best Practices. In addition, ISIS HR users are referred to the online help for Appraisals Report ZP117 for information.

Feel free to contact Ms. Teresa Persick of our Program Assistance Division by phone at (225) 342-8274 or by electronic mail at tpersick@dscs.state.la.us if you have questions about changes to the PPR form or reporting requirements. If you have questions regarding the ISIS HR system, please contact the Help Desk at (225) 342-2677.

Sincerely,

Allen H. Reynolds

Director