Planning Careers

This chapter provides an overview of Plan Careers, lists prerequisites, and discusses how to:

• Create career paths.

• Create career plans.

• Review employee career data.

• Run career reports.

• (FRA) Rate employees.

Understanding Plan Careers

This section discusses:

• Plan careers

• (USF) Plan careers

Plan Careers

Retaining and motivating employees are important aspects of an organization's success. Use the Plan Careers business process in Human Resources to ensure the organization uses employee talents to their fullest. Career planning enables you to assess and rank workers, record job preferences, create career paths, develop long-term goals, assign mentors, identify competencies, devise training plans, and create development plans.

To implement the Plan Careers business process:

1. Perform the prerequisite tasks.

2. Create the career paths.

3. Create the career plans.

Once everything is set up, review employee data and run the career reports on a regular basis to manage organizational growth and to adjust career paths and career plans as requirements change over time.

Integrations

The Plan Careers business process integrates with:

• The Manage Competencies business process in Human Resources.

  See Setting Up Competencies.

• The Administer Training business process in Human Resources.

  See Setting Up Training Programs.

(USF) Plan Careers

The Plan Careers business process for U.S. Federal Government users enables you to set up career plans and produce Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for employees' career development paths. You can track IDP progress, job move costs, training, employee appraisals, mentoring, and self-implemented career development activities. An employee or supervisor can request to work on a career plan at any time.

Once you create a career plan, the system:

1. Routes the plan along the agency's path of review and approval.

2. Tracks costs and activities associated with the plan.

3. Generates the IDP output form.

Use career plans to complement performance reviews and training programs or to prepare employees to become key managers. Career plans help you develop backup personnel for open positions.

Note. Using the Plan Careers business process is optional, and is intended to work with merit staffing practices as established by law, regulation, or internal policy.

Career Plan Tracking

The Plan Careers business process includes a sequence of steps that enable you to track the request, approval, and completion of career plans. For example, a path might include:

• Creating a career plan.

• Submitting it as a request.

• Giving reviews and approvals.

• Completing an authorized career plan.

• Producing an IDP.

PeopleSoft workflow manages routing and tracking. You assign a status, and workflow tracks and routes the career plan through the approval cycle. Reviewers change the status to either continue the review process or disapprove the plan. The system then shows the career plan status on the Career Plan page.

Career Plan Approval Process

This graphic presents an overview of the career plan approval process:

Career plan approval process

The following definitions describe the process of submitting and reviewing career plans. You can use these or adapt them to meet specific requirements.

Prerequisites

Perform the following tasks before setting up the Plan Careers business process in Human Resources:

1. Set up HRMS basic data, such as department codes.

2. Set up Human Resources job data.

3. (optional) Set up competencies.

4. (optional) Set up training programs.

See Also

Setting Up and Installing PeopleSoft HRMS

Setting Up Jobs

Increasing the Workforce

Setting Up Human Resources Job Data

Employee job data must exist in the Workforce Administration tables before you work with the Plan Careers pages. If you’ve implemented multiple business units and setIDs, the information that you use and create is determined by how business unit and setID functionality is set up for your user ID. You must create the job codes that you use in default career paths to populate identifying information in the Career Path table from the Job Code table.

See PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS 8.9 Application Fundamentals PeopleBook.

See PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources 8.9 PeopleBook: Administer Workforce.

Setting Up Competencies

Use the Manage Competencies business process to assign competencies to employees and to job codes. A significant part of planning careers is identifying worker strengths and developmental areas and establishing goals to help workers improve in their developmental areas. Competencies are discussed in PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources 8.9 PeopleBook: Manage Competencies.

See Setting Up Competencies and Accomplishments.

After the competency data is entered, you can automatically link employee competency data to an employee career plans.

See Evaluating Employee Strengths and Developmental Areas.

Tracking Competencies and Accomplishments

To enable you to easily track competencies and accomplishments, certain pages from the Manage Competencies business process are duplicated in the Plan Careers business process: Competencies (COMPETENCIES), Education (EDUCATION), Honors and Awards (HONORS_AWARDS), Languages (LANGUAGES), Licenses and Certifications (LICENSES_CERTIFS), Memberships (MEMBERSHIPS), Prior Work Experience (PRIOR_WORK_EXPER), and Significant Special Projects (SPECIAL_PROJECTS).

Note. You can only view the competencies and accomplishments of those employees for whom you have created a career plan. If you have not created a career plan, you must view these in the Manage Competencies business process

See Tracking Employee Competencies and Accomplishments.

Setting Up Training Programs

Use the Administer Training business process to help workers develop the skills they need for their current position, to acquire the knowledge they need for their next position, and to develop alternate career paths. Training programs are discussed in PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources 8.9 PeopleBook: Administer Training.

See Defining Training Courses and Programs.

You can link one or more training programs to a job code to establish default training programs for employees who have this job code. Courses can also be defaulted into employee career plans, enabling you to tailor training to the individual needs of each worker.

See Entering and Updating Training Programs.

Creating Career Paths

To create career paths, use the Geographic Preference (GEOG_PREF_TBL) and Career Path Table (CAREER_PATH_TBL) components.

This section provides an overview of career paths and discusses how to define career paths for job codes.

Understanding Career Paths

Set up default career paths for key job codes or for all job codes. Default career paths enable you to:

• Create a hierarchy or network of jobs.

• See a logical career progressions and the relationship between jobs.

• Save time when developing employee career plans.

• Save time when planning employee successions.

For example, you might want to coordinate career paths only for job codes above a certain management level, to make sure that employees in them get the necessary work experience to prepare for higher-level management positions.

Career Move Levels

Career move levels usually show a hierarchical job progression in a career path and build on the job code in the previous career-move level.

Let’s look at an example of a default career path for Job Code, PD007, Personnel Clerk. The first move from the current job is to Personnel Assistant, which leads to Personnel Staffing Specialist as a second level move from the current job. As a third level move, the job leads to Personnel Officer, and so on. You can define up to nine career moves on a career plan.

This table lists three career moves:

Some job codes have more than one possible job move in a particular career-move level. For example, Job Code PD007, Personnel Clerk, could have two job options as the first move from the current job: Job Code PD010, Personnel Assistant; and an additional option (not shown in the table) could be Job Code PD009, Personnel Staffing Assistant.

This diagram illustrates that a job code can have more than one job move:

Career path options

If you have more than one job option in a career-move level, use option numbers to sort the job codes in the proper order.

Page Used to Create Career Paths

Defining Career Paths for Job Codes

Access the Career Path Table page.

Default Salary Details

The setID, salary plan, grade, and manager level that are associated with the selected job code appear in the Default Salary Details group box. These fields are for information only.

Career Move

When you exit the Job Code field, the system completes the job details [Job Title, Mgr Level (manager level), and Function fields] and salary details (SetID, Plan, and Grade fields). The system makes these fields unavailable.

Creating Career Plans

To create career plans, use the Create Career Plan (CAREER_PLAN) component.

This section provides an overview of career plans and discusses how to:

• Enter employee job, location, and availability preferences.

• Define an employee career path.

• (USF) Submit and print the career plan.

• (USF) Add career path information.

• Rank employee potential.

• Enter career goals.

• Enter career mentoring data.

• (USF) Add career goal information.

• Evaluate employee strengths and developmental areas.

• Synchronize competency data.

• Enter and update training programs.

• (USF) Add information about a career developmental goal.

• (USF) Approve the career plan.

Understanding Career Plans

Use the Create Career Plan component to enter information about an employee’s current position, abilities, strengths, and career desires for the future. You can use this information to help plan employee careers and maintain an available pool of candidates for key positions.

Create a new career plan whenever an employee changes jobs to ensure that the career plan is based on current job information. Use the old career plans for reference to see how elements like training, goals, and ratings change over time.

Recording Input From Multiple Sources

If you gather feedback on an employee from many people or groups and each evaluator has different recommendations, don't create a new career plan every time someone contributes information. Instead, identify the contributor by specifying an input evaluation type. After weighing the evaluations, assign a composite rating for inclusion in an approved career plan.

Pages Used to Create Career Plans

Entering Employee Job, Location, and Availability Preferences

Access the Career Plan page.

Projected Retirement Date	This field automatically populates with the date on which the employee turns 65. If that is not the employee’s actual retirement date, enter the correct date.
Federal Data/Print IDP	This link appears for U.S. Federal users only. Click to display the Federal Data/Print IDP Actions page, where you submit the career plan for approval and print the completed plan.

If there are reasons that the employee can’t travel, define them in the Obstacles to Mobility scroll area.

Defining an Employee Career Path

Access the Career Path page.

Career Path

Click to create a career path based on the default career path for the employee’s job code. If a career path is defined for that job code, the system completes most of the information in the Potential Future Positions scroll area. If the employee’s path differs from the default path, modify the fields as required. Once you save the plan, the Career Path button is unavailable. However, each time you create a new career plan for an employee, the system makes the button available, and you can use the default path for the new plan. See Setting Up Default Career Paths for information about creating default career paths. Note. The system uses the date (career plan date) to determine the employee’s job code. If the employee has changed jobs since the career plan date, the default career path is based on the previous job code. To ensure that the career plan is based on an employee’s current job, create a new career plan whenever an employee changes job, and set the effective date to match the effective date on the Job Data page.

Evaluation Type

Within each career plan, there can be multiple evaluation types. Several people, such as the employee’s supervisor or mentor, might have ideas about the next job to which an employee should move. Because their input affects the same time frame, create new evaluation type records, not a new career plan.

Potential Future Positions

(USF) Submitting and Printing the Career Plan

Access the Federal Data/Print IDP Actions page.

Reason Career Plan Initiated	Select a reason for the career plan. Valid values are BU Agree (bargaining unit agreement), Car Ladder (career ladder), Car Prgm (career program), Dec Prgm (developmental program), Employee (employee requested), Period Rvw (periodic review), and Supv (supervisor requested).
Currently Participating	Select if the employee is participating in a developmental program and select the program from the list of available options.

(USF) Adding Career Path Information

Access the Federal Potential Future Positions page.

Date Need Identified	Enter the date that the career move was agreed to.
Self-Development	Select if this is part of the employee’s self-development activities.
Required	Select if the move is required.

Ranking Employee Potential

Access the Career Ranking and Potential page.

To get a better cross-section of employee skills and promotability, enter rankings of different types.

To illustrate how force ranking and career potential might work together, consider John Smith, an engineer. John ranks second out of 200 engineers who have the same job code. On the basis of force ranking alone, an executive committee might think he’s a candidate to move to a critical Kuwaiti project. However, John is about to retire, loves his current position in Bahrain, and does not want to move anywhere. You can indicate this by giving him a rating of currently well-placed, placed, in his career potential evaluation.

Entering Career Goals

Access the Career Goals page.

Actual Completion Date	Enter the actual completion date when the employee achieves the goal.
Goal (Next 1 - 3 Years)	If you’re tracking employee reviews in Human Resources, you can use the short-term goals that you enter here as the basis for short-term goals and objectives in employee reviews.
Import Long-Term Goals	This button is for U.S. Federal users only. Click this button to import goals from the employee's most recent appraisal.
Goals (3 - 5 Years)	If you’re tracking employee reviews in Human Resources, you can use the long-term goals that you enter here as the basis for long-term goals and objectives in employee reviews.

Enter Career Mentoring Data

Access the Career Mentoring page.

An employee can have multiple mentors of different types working towards different career goals.

(USF) Adding Career Goal Information

Access the Federal Coaching/Mentor Information page.

Date Need Identified	Enter the date that the goal was agreed to.
Self-Development	Select if this is part of the employee’s self-development. This indicates that the employee is paying the costs for this activity.
Activity Required	Select if the activity is mandatory.

Evaluating Employee Strengths and Developmental Areas

Access the Career Strength/Develop Areas page.

Link to Competencies

Click to transfer the employee’s competency data between the Plan Careers and Manage Competencies business processes. If you already have employee competencies, use this link to display that information and copy it into the employee’s career plan. You can also use the link to transfer the competency information from the Career Strength/Develop Areas page to Manage Competencies.

Strengths

Developmental Areas

Synchronizing Competency Data

Access the Plan Careers/Manage Competencies Link page.

Manage Competencies

In this scroll area, the system displays the competencies assigned to the employee in Manage Competencies. For each competency, the system displays the evaluation type, competency, and the employee’s rating (Strength or Development). Select the check box next to the competency to transfer to the employee’s career plan.

Career Planning

In this scroll area, the system displays the competencies listed on the employee’s career plan. For each competency, the system displays the evaluation type, competency, and the employee’s rating. Select the check box next to the competency to transfer to the employee’s competency profile in Manage Competencies.

See Also

Entering Employee Competencies

Entering and Updating Training Programs

Access the Career Training Plan page.

Training Plan

You create default training programs in the Training Program table and tie them to job codes in the Job Code table. If a training plan has been established for the job code displayed on this page, when you click the Training Plan button, the system populates the fields in the Training Plan scroll area with the information from the training program. If the employee’s training plan differs from the default plan, modify the fields as required. After you save the plan, this button is unavailable. However, each time you create a new career plan for an employee, this button is available, and you can choose to use the default for the new plan. Note. The system uses the effective date (career plan date) to determine the employee’s job code. If the employee has changed jobs since the career plan date, the default training plan is based on the previous job code. To ensure that the training plan is based on an employee’s current job, create a new career plan whenever an employee changes job and set the effective date to match the effective date on the Job Data page.

Training Program

Training Plan

USF fields

The following elements are for U.S. Federal users only.

(USF) Adding Information About a Career Developmental Goal

Access the Federal Career Plan Information page.

Self-Development	If this is part of the employee’s self-development activities, select this check box. This indicates that the employee is paying the costs for this activity.
Date Need Identified	Enter the date that the goal was agreed to.

(USF) Approving the Career Plan

Access the Career Plan, Career Path, Career Mentoring, and Career Training Plan pages.

Depending on how the approval process is set up, PeopleSoft workflow routes requested career plans to the appropriate person for approval. The reviewer can approve or change the request and send it to other reviewers and, ultimately, to a human resources person. To view the request, the reviewers open their worklist and the career plan appears. The reviewer then brings it up as a correction to approve or reject it. All of the pages routed through workflow for approval contain a Status field to indicate approval or disapproval.

To begin the approval process:

1. Access the worklist and open the appropriate page (Career Plan, Career Path, etc.).

2. View the plans that are ready for approval.

3. Review them, then change the status to indicate the review decision.

To open the worklist:

1. Select View, Navigator Display, Worklist.

2. Open the career plan ready for approval.

To approve a career plan request:

1. Access the page by accessing the worklist.

2. At the bottom of the page, click either Approve or Disapprove.

To approve a career path request:

1. Open the worklist.

   The system prompts for an employee ID.

2. Open the page and change the status to Approved or Disapproved.

To approve a career mentoring request:

1. Open the worklist.

   The system prompts you for an employee ID.

2. Open the page and change the status to Approved or Disapproved.

To approve a career training plan request:

1. Open the worklist.

   The system prompts for an employee ID.

2. Open the page and change the activity status to such as Approved or Disapproved.

Reviewing Employee Career Data

To review career-related employee data, use the Employment (EMPLOYEE_SUMMARY), Career Assignments (CAREER_SUMMARY), Immediate Family Summary (CAREER_DEPEND_SUMM), Compensation Summary (COMP_SUMMARY), and Training (TRN_STUDNT_CRS_SU1) components.

This section provides an overview of employee career data and discusses how to:

• View employee job paths.

• View summary information.

Understanding Employee Career Data

When you prepare employees for career advancements, look at the candidates’ personal and job histories and review their career plans. All the information is on the Plan Careers menu. You can access prior work experience, education, career assignments, and several summary pages. The information on the summary pages is display-only.

Note. In the Plan Careers component, you can access career-related employee data only for employees who have career plans.

Pages Used to Review Employee Career Data

Viewing Employee Job Paths

Access the Career Assignment Summary page.

The Career Assignment Summary page shows a history of previous jobs that an employee has held in the company. It does not list every personnel action; it shows only job movements. Each position, job code, salary grade, department or business unit change appears.

Viewing Summary Information

If additional employee information exists in Human Resources, such as compensation history, training history, and information about the employee’s immediate family, you can review it on the summary pages.

See Also

Understanding Compensation History

Viewing Worker Job History

Increasing the Workforce

Reviewing Training-Related Employee Data

Running Career Reports

This section lists the pages used to run career reports.

Pages Used to Run Career Reports

(FRA) Rating Employees

Within the French Public Sector, ratings are used as criteria for determining job eligibility.

Rating employees is discussed in PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources 8.9 PeopleBook: Manage French Public Sector.

See Also

Rating Employees