Internal (Availability Factor 2)

Feeder Jobs

Internal availability is calculated from the pool of employees already in the organization that can promote into another job group. To calculate internal availability, you need to identify the feeder jobs for each job group. A feeder job is a staffed job that provides a normal promotion path into another job group.

On the Internal Availability screen, select a job group from the Job Group drop-down list. We will refer to the selected group as your target job group. If there are any feeders already assigned to this group, they will be listed on the page.

To add feeders to the target job group, click Add Feeders. The Add Feeder page will appear.

From the new page, select the group (which we will refer to as the source job group) that contains jobs that feed the target job group. The staffed jobs within this source job group will appear on the page. Select the individual jobs that feed the target group by checking the boxes and then click Add Feeders. The selected jobs will be assigned as feeders to the target job group. You may select feeders from different source job groups for a particular target job group. For example, target job group 1B may have feeders from source job group 2A and 3A.

Repeat these steps for each job group, assigning the jobs that feed the target job group.

Note: Some job groups, particularly entry level groups, will not have jobs that feed them. Therefore, it is common to have some job groups with no assigned feeders.

Allow Feeders to be Selected from Other Plans

If your company has multiple locations, and jobs from one location that would be considered feeders for another location, select this option. When you click Add to add feeders to the target job group, additional drop down lists for Company, Establishment, and Plan will appear on the Add Feeder page. These drop down lists will default to the current plan.

To assign a feeder from a different plan, select the appropriate Company, Establishment, and Plan. When you then select the source job group, the staffed jobs in the newly selected plan will appear.

Allow Weights to be Assigned to Feeders

By default, employees in any job assigned as a feeder count equally towards the internal availability calculation. Because the jobs are feeders to the entire job group, this is usually an accurate way to perform the calculation.

However, you may have certain jobs that are far more likely to promote into the target group. In this case, you may want to assign that job a greater weight in the availability calculation. Select this option to turn this functionality on.

The feeders will now be listed with an additional weight field for each. When first applied, all feeders will be assigned a uniform weight. To add more weight to a feeder job, update the weight field to the desired value. Because the weights must always add up to 100 percent, you will need to adjust one or more other jobs to bring the total back down to 100.

After adjusting weights to their desired level, and ensuring the total equals 100, click Save Weights to save your changes.

Clicking Distribute Weights will distribute the weight evenly across all the feeders.

Allow Feeders to Feed Their Own Job Group

By definition, feeders should represent potential movement which results in a new opportunity in the resulting job group. To this end, balanceAAP does not allow jobs to feed their own job group by default. If you wish to allow such feeders, you must select this option.

Assigning Feeders by Job Group

balanceAAP is set by default to allow you to assign feeders by individual job codes. But for some organizations, feeders to a job group will always consist of every job in another job group. To simplify assigning feeders in this case, choose the option to assign feeders by job group.

When applied, you will no longer see a list of job codes when assigning feeders in the Add Feeders page. Instead, you will see a list of job groups. Simply select the job groups that feed the target job group and click Add. All jobs within the feeder group will count equally towards the availability calculation of the target group.

Cascade to Sub plans

Most settings in this section can be carried down to the sub plans by selecting the Cascade to Sub Plans option.

Read Feeders from Promotions and/or Transfers

If your promotion information is representative of your typical promotion activity, balanceAAP can help you identify feeders by reading them from your promotion data. Though not as common, balanceAAP can also use your transfer information to define feeders, if appropriate.

Click Read Feeders to access this function. Select the appropriate options as follows:

• Read Feeders from Promotions or Transfers – Select one or both tables. The job code the employee moved from will be added as a feeder to the job group of the job code they moved to.
• Apply to Current Job Group or All Job Groups – Select whether you want the function to apply to all job groups in your plan, or only the job group currently set as the target group.
• Append or Overwrite – Select Append if you already have feeders assigned to groups that should not be lost. Select Overwrite, and any existing feeders will be replaced with the feeders added by the function.
• Cascade to Sub Plans – Available only in a Master Plan. Select Yes to have the feeders carry down to the job groups in the appropriate sub plans as well.

Once you have selected your options, click Apply Read Feeders.

Import Feeders from Existing Plan or External Files

If you have your feeders in an external file, or you have done a plan in the online version of balanceAAP in the past, you can import the feeders assigned in another plan into this plan.

Click Import to access this function. Choose From an Existing Plan or From an External File.

If you selected the From an Existing Plan option, choose the Company, Establishment, and Plan from the drop-down lists, and click Import Feeders.

If you selected the From an External File, choose a file type from the drop-down list from Excel, Access or a text file. NOTE: If your file is in Excel or Text format, you have the option to indicate if the first row in the file contains column headers. Also, if your file is in Text format, select the appropriate field delimiter from the drop-down list. Click Browse to select the file and click Next.

Select a file and the appropriate file options (e.g. spreadsheet, table name, etc.). You will then be prompted to match your fields. A preview of the data to be imported will be displayed. Click Next when completed. Click Import to complete the import process.

Remove Downward Movement

By definition, feeders should represent only upward movement within your company. If you have assigned feeders based on your promotions or transfers, it is advised to ensure inappropriate feeders have not been assigned. Click Remove Downward Movement to automatically remove any feeders in which the feeder is in a higher job group than the target job group it is feeding. A pop-up window will appear with the option to apply this function to the current job group or all job groups. Select the desired option, and click Remove Downward Movement.