Position Control - Other Jurisdictions No. 021965
OLA#: 034-02
LEGISLATIVE ANALYST REPORT
TO: Honorable Members of the Board of Supervisors
FROM: Gabe Cabrera, Office of the Legislative Analyst (OLA)
DATE: September 10, 2003
SUBJECT:Position Control in Other Jurisdictions (File No. 021965)
Summary of Requested Action
Motion (sponsored by Supervisor Gonzalez) requesting that the OLA survey human resources departments in other cities and counties which use "position control" systems to track the number of vacant positions and the duration of vacancies. The survey should include, but not be limited to, the effect of position control on filling vacant positions and preventing the transfer of salary appropriations for other uses.
Executive Summary
Position control generally refers to a system of tracking information based on positions. Under position control, every position is assigned a unique ID number. For example, if the Police Department has 50 authorized positions, then each of those positions is numbered one through fifty. The primary purpose of this system is to manage positions more precisely and thus enable more accurate monitoring of departmental spending.
Position control by itself would not produce cost-savings for the City. It would however allow City staff to (continuously) track vacancies, personnel turnovers, upward and downward substitutions and part-time employees. This may in theory lead to cost-savings as accounting errors or misuses of funds are identified and as decision making on spending becomes better informed.
The City and County of San Francisco (the "City") has not yet implemented a position control system. Instead its payroll and personnel services may be generally described as decentralized. The Controller's Office maintains financial data that pertains to the specific employee. It also operates the City's payroll system. The Department of Human Resources (DHR) maintains personnel information that pertains to the specific employee.
Position control would allow City staff to link financial data to the relevant personnel data. As discussed later, there are at least three strategies for how the City might implement a position control system.
The Legislative Analyst believes that implementing position control in San Francisco would necessitate the formation ofa working group comprised of representatives from DHR, Controller, Mayor's Budget Office and the largest City departments to address numerous policy, strategic and technical issues.Deciding to implement position control in San Francisco is of course a policy matter for the Board of Supervisors.
Background
What is Position Control? Position control allows any organization to create a framework of position numbers for all of its jobs without regard to whether those jobs are filled or vacant. A position number is a unique ID number that identifies a specific position.
Position control tracks payroll data like salaries (budgeted versus actual), vacancies and duration of vacancies. It also tracks personnel data like employee contact information, start and end dates, benefits, training and certifications. In effect, position control is a combined payroll and personnel system. The following is an example of a position-based system that could be modified to track other data such as upward and downward substitutions and the number of part-time employees occupying one FTE position (as discussed later).
Table: A Position-Based System
Job | Position No. | Budgeted Salary | Incumbent | Actual Salary | No. of Vacancies | Cost Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | 0001 | $80,000 | Joe Smith | $80,000 | 0 | 0 |
Accountant | 0005 | $60,000 | - | - | 1 | ($60,000) |
Manager | 0008 | $58,000 | Gus Jones | $58,000 | 0 | 0 |
Secretary | 0189 | $34,000 | Laura Brown | $30,500 | 0 | ($3,500) |
Total | 4 positions | $232,000 | 3 incumbents | $168,500 | 1 vacancy | $63,500 under budget |
Current Practices
Currently, the City depends on a number of City agencies for tracking payroll and personnel information, each with defined roles as follows.
The Payroll and Personnel Services Division (PPSD) of the Controller's Office provides payroll/personnel services for 27,000 employees and ensures compliance with City, State and Federal tax, wage and hour regulations. The division receives and processes large volumes of automated input and over 160,000 paper documents annually which result in the issuance of about 800,000 paychecks.
The Information Services Division (ISD) of the Department of Human Resources (DHR) provides information systems support and technical assistance to DHR, the Civil Service Commission, decentralized personnel units and other departments who are users of the PeopleSoft Human Resources Management System (HRMS) and other DHR applications.
The Accounting Operations and Systems Division (AOSD) of the Controller's Office controls the financial activities of the City. The division certifies contracts, pays vendors, approves personnel requisitions and reviews, monitors, controls and projects departmental expenditures on a continuous basis to asses overall fiscal condition. The division is also responsible for maintaining the City's Financial and Accounting Management System (FAMIS).
The City's payroll and personnel services may be generally described as decentralized. AOSD uses FAMIS to track-authorized positions, salaries, vacancies and other financial data that pertains to the specific employee. DHR uses PeopleSoft-HRMS to track employee contact information, start and end dates, job classifications and titles, benefits, training, certifications and other items that pertain to the specific employee.
The following are a few areas in the way the City currently does business that could be improved by implementing position control.
Vacant Positions. Determining the number of vacant positions in a given department is not as easy as opening its departmental budget and pointing to a line item entitled "vacant positions." Instead DHR calculates this figure by comparing the total number of filled positions in each job class to the total number of budgeted positions in each job class. Put together, the number of vacancies in each job class totals to the number of vacancies in a department. Position control would allow City staff to determine the total number of vacancies within departments at any given time.
Upward and Downward Substitutions.During the fiscal year, a department may fill a vacancy at a lower or higher classification than what was originally budgeted. This practice is referred to as "TX-ing" and may be upward (switching for a position where the rate of pay is higher) or downward (switching for a position where the rate of pay is lower). Currently, neither FAMIS nor PeopleSoft have the capacity to track these changes.1 Instead they are registered by the Mayor's Budget Office only after departments submit their budgets for the following year. Position control would allow City staff to identify substitutions performed by departments at any given time.
Part-Time Employees.A full-time equivalent (FTE) is the amount of work that is expected to be performed by an employee working full-time for a full year. In most cases, one full-time permanent employee will fill a position that has one FTE allocated to it. However, with respect to temporary positions, in some cases more than one part-time employee fills one FTE. DHR can currently track part-time employees in temporary positions, but the Controller's Office cannot. Position control would allow all City staff to identify the number of part-time employees occupying one FTE position at any given time
Other Jurisdictions
The OLA was asked to identify position control systems in other jurisdictions. To this end, we contacted various "human resource" groups and associations.2 The California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) and International Personnel Management Society (IPMS) were the most responsive. They advised us to survey their members directly. Attached is a summary of survey responses from nine cities within California and three other jurisdictions in the United States.
Discussion
Based upon our preliminary analysis, the following are a few approaches for how the City might implement a position control system.
Expand PeopleSoft, FAMIS or the City's Payroll System.Because the Controller's Office already operates two of the three systems, it is reasonable to assume that that office could begin tracking personnel information too. However, FAMIS and payroll were designed for specific purposes. Altering the functions of these systems may destabilize them, according to the Controller's Office. The more likely candidate for expansion is DHR's PeopleSoft. This software has a Financials Module, which the City has not yet purchased, but could presumably be used to track financial and payroll data.
This scenario becomes problematic quickly however when one considers that DHR's expertise lies in personnel (not financial) matters and the Controller's Office has no experience using PeopleSoft's products. Neither is therefore currently capable of operating a combined payroll and personnel system. Equally troublesome is that PeopleSoft may not be the best software for the City's financial needs. According to DHR, simply because the City already owns PeopleSoft is not enough reason to adopt it as our position control system. The Legislative Analyst concurs with this assessment.
Bridge the Gaps Between the Existing Systems. In an effort to implement a kind of position control, DHR and the Controller's Office could connect their systems together, but continue to operate them separately. The goal of this alternative would be to improve information sharing. Our office contacted several software companies and inquired about their position control software.3 We learned that they would probably need to customize their products to meet the City's particular needs and constraints. This would inevitably lead to higher start-up costs. However, this is not the worst that could occur. If the connection fails, the existing systems may be temporarily or even permanently destabilized. It is important to keep in mind that these systems were not designed to connect with one another.
Create a New Position Control System. This would be a massive undertaking that will affect all City departments, according to City staff. Data for thousands of City employees would have to be consolidated into a single system. Under this scenario, there are numerous issues that need to be addressed prior to implementing position control. For instance, will DHR and the Controller's Office retain their respective functions? Who will be responsible for maintaining the new system? Will the system be "home-grown" or will the City purchase it from a private vendor? Will the budget process drive position control, as is the case in other jurisdictions? Within this context, the Legislative Analyst believes that the City's first step towards implementing position control could be to create a working group comprised of representatives from DHR, Controller, Mayor's Budget Office and the largest City departments to address the above issues. Working together these individuals could gradually implement position control, while simultaneously keeping current payroll and personnel services functioning properly.
Conclusion
Implementing position control in San Francisco would be a massive and perhaps expensive undertaking but it has the potential to provide the City with a mechanism for managing positions more precisely. Position control by itself would not produce cost-savings. It would however allow City staff to link financial data with the relevant personnel data. This tracking may in turn lead to cost-savings as accounting errors or misuses of funds are identified and as decision making on spending becomes better informed. However, the Legislative Analyst believes that the cost of implementing position control in San Francisco should be weighed against its potential to produce cost-savings.
Notably, none of the jurisdictions surveyed reported using position control to prevent departments from transferring their salary appropriations for other uses.
If the City desires to implement a position control system in San Francisco, it should firstcreate a working group comprised of representatives from DHR, Controller, Mayor's Budget Office and the largest City departments to address numerous policy, strategic and technical issues.Implementing position control in San Francisco is of course a policy matter for the Board of Supervisors.
Name of Jurisdiction | Date | Operating | Major | User | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
City and County of San Francisco, CA | No response | PeopleSoft software, FAMIS and a payroll system (all purchased from private vendors) | Separate payroll and personnel systems - DHR administers the PeopleSoft software which includes two modules: Human Resources Management and Benefits Administration - The Controller's Office operates FAMIS and the payroll system - Positions are tracked by the Controller's Office according to cost centers (funding sources) | Each system operates independently and information is not shared efficiently or effectively. | Ray Wong 415-557-4833 Sandy Holmes 415-558-7862 |
City of Alameda, CA | 1998/99 | Pentamation software | Combined payroll/personnel system - Every job class has a unique ID number, as does every position in each job class - Tracks incumbents, prior employees and turnovers - Uses different sequence of numbers for part-time and full-time positions - Uses position control only for filling authorized positions, not for budgeting positions | It will not allow an employee to be paid without first creating a position for that employee. It will allow a start and end date for a temporary position. The employee cannot be paid until the start date or after the end date. It did require substantial setup time when it was first set up. Once it's set up it's easy to make a change. | Laura Gwynne 510-748-4540 |
City of San Rafael, CA | 2002 | Eden Systems software | Combined payroll/personnel system - Every position has a unique ID number - Information from system may be downloaded onto Excel spreadsheets for analysis and reporting purposes - Used for budgeting | The system exactly matches the personnel positions authorized by the City Council. It is possible to underfill/overfill within this system. For instance, if 10 positions are authorized but 11 employees are hired, the system tracks the overfilled employee. Plus if a position is filled by more than one employee, the system is still set at one salary per position. We use the system to track vacancies and...to develop and drive a two-year budget process. | Ken Nordhoff 415-485-3055 |
City of Shreveport, LA | Approximately 1983 (updated annually) | Integral System software | Combined payroll/personnel system - Every position has a unique 5-digit ID number. Separate tables are cross-referenced to derive salaries, payroll, job classes & titles and other position information - No multiple occupancy of single positions - Uses position control only for filling authorized positions, not for budgeting positions | We're very accustomed to our system and therefore find it meets our needs. The software has been tinkered with considerably over the years to give us the reports we need without many hassles. I can't imagine a substantive improvement within the context of our present operating system. | Joseph Lunt 318-673-5199 |
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PA | 1992 | In-house system | Combined payroll/personnel system - Every position has a unique ID number - Tracks vacancy duration with "position vacated date" - Used for budgeting | Since 1992, the current system has given the agencies (departments) the capability of managing their salaried and wage complement within the budgeted FTE figures and control their own usage of the positions. The system is used by the Governor's Office of the Budget in preparing agency spending plans on behalf of the Governor. | Ralph Winters 717-705-5626 |
City of Berkeley, CA | No response | HTE Government Software | Combined payroll/personnel system - Each position has unique ID number. - Tracks information for employees who hold multiple positions - Uses position control for filling authorized positions - Reports generated regularly. | Disadvantage: When positions are added or deleted, HTE requires a shadow note system. | Nicki Spillane 510-981-6807 |
City of Long Beach, CA | No response | No response | No response | Currently, the City of Long Beach uses position control when approving requisitions. We compare the budgeted number and the filled number to determine if there is indeed a vacancy for a classification in position control. | Mariel Sipman 562-570-6649 |
City of Oxnard, CA | No response | HTE Government Software | Payroll system only - Uses position control for filling authorized positions | We do not use it as a true position control system. It is too difficult to maintain with acting and temporary assignments. We allow HR to add unfilled positions to make it easier for processing new hires and changes. However, HR must maintain a manual list. We clean up the authorized positions during the city's budget process. | Bruce Dandy 805-385-7478 |
City of Lancaster, CA | Approximately 1996/1997 Revised in 2003 | In-house system | Combined payroll/personnel system - Every position has a unique ID number - Tracks vacancies - Tracks positions filled at a lower or higher job classification and the number of part-time employees occupying one FTE | It requires some maintenance, and because it is able to track authorized classifications/positions over more than one division, it requires several like classifications to be changed if the authorized number is increased or decreased. | Gary Hill 661-723-6035 |
City of Whittier, CA | 2002 | In-house system | Personnel system only - Tracks positions by classification - Uses position control for filling authorized positions | The system is easy to use, but it is not linked to payroll system as cross check for phantom checks. | Fred Weiner 562-464-3390 |
City of Escondido, CA | 1996 | PeopleSoft software (not customized) | Personnel system only - Every position has a unique ID number - Tracks positions and part-time employees occupying one FTE | The system is cumbersome given the volume of positions we have. It also can be complex as it links to job data changes. Does not track job class changes, vacancies or surplus salary data. | Gail Sullivan 760-839-4587 |
Clark County, WA | No response | Banner software by SCT | Combined payroll/personnel system - Every position has a unique ID number - Tracks authorized positions, salaries, payroll, job classes and titles, start and end dates, vacancies and duration of vacancies - Tracks positions filled at a lower or higher job classification and the number of part-time employees occupying one FTE - Linked to applicant tracking processes | It is flexible enough to help us with the various ways we fill positions. However, this can also be a disadvantage because there really is no "electronic" checks and balances. If we accidentally fill a position twice, the system does not care. We will be converting to another system sometime next year (2004), Oracle's HR product. We hope it will contain some of the flexibilities of our current system, yet also have some checks and balances that our system doesn't have. | Carol Chislett 360-397-2456 |
City of San Clemente, CA | No response | No response | Personnel system only - Every position has a unique ID number (The first 2 digits identifies class, next 2 identifies grade and last digit identifies overlap where multiple job titles carry the same pay scale) | It is difficult to make sure that all of these positions add up to the appropriate FTEs. Position control is not used to track open vacancies or duration of vacancies formally. No reports generated on a regular basis. | Tom Rendina 949-361-8312 |
1 There is however a certain type of tracking that occurs throughout the fiscal year. The Controller's Office periodically compares authorized spending versus actual spending. Ultimately, it will release only those funds that have been appropriated by the Board of Supervisors. If a department expends or will expend its budget before the end of the fiscal year, typically it will ask the Board for a supplemental appropriation.
2 The California Society of Municipal Officers (CSMFO), International Personnel Management Society (IPMS), Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA), National Human Resources Association (NHRA), Northern California Human Resources Association (NCHRA), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), International County City Management Association (ICCMA) and International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR).
3 PeopleSoft Inc., InfiSoft Software, Pentamation Software, Inetgral System Software and HTE Government Software.