Create an Affirmative Action Plan
KEY TOPICS:
- Determine if Annual or Update plan
- Set Plan Date and Personnel Action Date Range
- Enter General Information
- Determine if Single Plan or Master Plan with sub plans
- Use Zip codes to build Recruitment Areas
- Select Census Data Source
- Select Prior Plan as History Source
- Turn on Disability/Veteran Status Tools
- Select EEO Schedule
- Select Audit Status (for BALANCEhub display)
Note: A Master plan (with sub-plans for locations) is suited for organizations with multiple locations, sharing a common data set.
Plan Type
Select Annual or Update
AnSelect whether you are creating an Annual Plan is the regular plan, created every year, while an Update plan isor an interim planUpdate to monitor progress between Annual Plans.Plan.
Plan Dates
Enter Plan Date
The plan date for an Annual Plan is the effective date your affirmative action plan begins. The date can be any date you choose. You may want to consider choosing a date that coincides with your business cycle, or other programs that you want to roll-out at the same time, or simply when the HR department is the least busy and can dedicate time to work on the plan.
The plan date for the Updateannual PlanAffirmative isAction plan, or the date youit choosebegins. toData evaluatefrom the progressyear youprior havewill madebe towards meeting your goals setused in the annualplan's plan.calculations You(as described below).
Contractors must also complete at least a sixsix-month month update to your AnnualUpdate Plan.
Example: If for example you have a January 1, 2013 annualAnnual Plan, your update plan date, (if completed at the sixUpdate month point),Plan will be dated July 1, 2013.
Enter Personnel Action Date Range
The personnel action date range for an Annual Plan will be the 12 month12-month period prior to yourthe Annual plan date.
Example: For example, if you have a January 1, 2013 plan, yourthe personnel action date range will bespan from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012.
The personnel action date range for an Update Plan will be fromspan the beginningtime ofbetween the Annual Plan update toand the dateUpdate prior to your update planPlan date.
Example: For example,an ifAnnual you have decided to do a six month update to your annual plan which isPlan, effective January 1, 2013, yourthe updatesix-month planUpdate Plan date is July 1, 2013. AndTherefore, yourthe personnel action date range for the July 1, 2013 update plan will bego from January 1, 2013 throughto June 30, 2013.
General Information
Enter—
Company Name: Enter your company name as you would like it to appear on yourplan reports.
Plan Name: The plan name should include the effective plan date as well as whether it is an annual plan or an update plan. For example, if you are creating a January 1, 2013 annual plan your plan name will be January 1, 2013 Annual Affirmative Action Plan.
Establishment Name: For establishment name, you may use a geographical location—for example, "Vienna, VA." If you are creating a master plan which will be broken down into multiple sub plans, your establishment name for the master plan should be entered as "Master Plan" or similar text to identify the plan as such. Later in the process you will be able to input the specific establishment name (location) for each of your sub plans.
Multiple Plans
"Will you be creating multiple plans from a master plan data set?"
Select Yes if you have multiple establishments since you will need to create a Master Plan from your data set. This Master Plan will then be broken down into multiple sub plans later in the process.
Select No if you are only creating a single plan from your data set. Single plans are created when you only have one establishment or location.
Determine Availability Settings
From the Availability menu, answer the following questions:
"Will you be using zip code information to determine recruitment areas for your job groups?"
Select Yes, if zip code fields will be included in Roster, Applicant, or Plan Code data. If zip code information is not available or zip codes will not be used to build recruitment areas, select No.
Note: Geographic recruitment areas for each job group will be defined later, using Recruitment Areas tools. Employee zip codes or other options can be used to determine these areas; see Help for: Availability/External Availability
If the answer is Yes, the system asks: Which zip code would you like to use when calculating External Availability in your plan?
Select one of the following options:
- Roster Work Code
- Roster Home Zip Code
- Applicant Zip Code
- Plan Code Zip Code — for multiple plans only Note: Only one type may be used. Zip code settings for External Availability are also included in the Recruitment Wizard.
Select the Census Data Source
"Do you want to use 2000 census data or EEO 2006-2010 ACS Tabulation data for external availability?"
Choose between the two types of data released by the U.S. Census Bureau to be used when calculating External Availability.
Note: The EEO 2006-2010 data uses four-digit census codes for occupations in place of the three-digit codes used previously in the 2000 census data. Choose the option that matches how your organization’s data is coded.
Prior Year Plan
"Do you have a prior year plan in BALANCEaap or balanceAAP?"
When you are creating a new annual plan you will need to indicate whether you have an annual plan from the prior year which you can use as a history source. The prior year’s plan is used to evaluate your progress on your goals set in that previous year’s plan.
Option 1
I do not have a prior year plan in balanceAAP or balanceAAP.
If you do not have a prior year plan that was created in balanceAAP (our client server or desktop version) or balanceAAP, then select the first option. Later in the process you will be able to select an alternate history source for this plan.
Option 2
I want to use a prior year plan from balanceAAP.
If you have a prior year plan created in BALANCEaap, check this second option and then select the plan from the Company, Establishment, and Plan drop-down list.
Note: Update plans utilize the availability settings from the annual plan for which it is updating. Select an annual plan from the Company, Establishment, and Plan drop-down list as the history source for all update plans created for that plan year. For example, if you are creating a July 1, 2012 update plan to evaluate the progress you made towards meeting the goals set in your January 1, 2012 annual plan, then the January 1, 2012 annual plan should be selected as the history source.
Option 3
I want to import a prior year plan from a balanceAAP file.
If you have a prior year plan that was created using our desktop or client server version of balanceAAP, then you want to select this third option. Once you finish the create plan screen and hit the Create button, you will be prompted to locate the BALANCEaap file for the previous year plan you want to use as the history source. Please refer to the System Tools section for more information on the balanceAAP Import.
Update plans utilize the availability settings from the annual plan for which it is updating. Select this annual plan from the Company, Establishment, and Plan drop-down lists. For example, if you are creating a July 1, 2013 update plan to evaluate the progress you made towards meeting the goals set in your January 1, 2013 annual plan, then the January 1, 2013 annual plan should be selected as the history source.
Turn on Disability/Veteran Status Tools
Most users should retain the default selection to include analysis on individuals with disabilities (IWDs) and protected Veterans, a setting required as of the 2015 plan year.EEO Schedule
Select the appropriate EEO schedule from the following options, based on your company type:
- 1-Private
- 4-Governmental
- 5-Educational (Elementary & Secondary Education)
- 6-Educational (Postsecondary Education)
- IPEDS [[Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System]
Audit Status
To use audit status as a filter option for the BALANCEhub report distribution display, check the box for: Is this plan under audit?