Glossary of AAP Terms
Affirmative Action Plan
From the Code of Federal Regulations 41 Section 60-2.10:“An affirmative action program is a management tool designed to ensure equal employment opportunity. ... Effective affirmative action programs also include internal auditing and reporting systems as a means of measuring the contractor's progress toward achieving the workforce that would be expected in the absence of discrimination.”
Accordingly, an Affirmative Action plan, prepared annually, consists of statistics and narratives as specified by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). By looking at a 12-month period, preceding the plan date, the employer can assess the current state of employment opportunity with the organization to determine if additional actions need to be taken. Update plans for interim periods are developed to monitor Affirmative Action and measure progress.
The Agency performs periodic audits of contractors to review their Affirmative Action programs.
Adverse Impact
Adverse impact occurs in a personnel action when the selection rate of one class of applicants or employees falls below 80% of the selection rate of a complement class, taking into consideration whether the action is positive (e.g., promotion) or negative (i.e., termination). Traditional adverse impact considers the selection rate of a protected class (i.e., race or gender) against the complement non-protected class.Applicant
A person considered for a job within an organization. An applicant for the purpose of Affirmative Action reporting should be defined to ensure conformance to the regulations and support consistent practices within your organization. This term is typically limited to those who express interest in a particular job opening and who meet minimum qualifications for employment in that position.For more information on the regulatory definition, see: Definition of an Internet Applicant.
Availability
The percentage of a protected class, calculated to be available for employment openings within a job group at a work location. In determining External Availability, data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau are used to compile demographics by occupation and geographic area. Internal Availability is determined by analyzing avenues of promotion within your organization.Census Occupation Codes
Contained in the U.S. census data set, Census Occupation Codes are standardized conventions for classifying job titles. To support External Availability calculations, each job title within your organization is matched to a census occupation code.Company Name
The Company Name will appear at the top of all reports printed in balanceAAP. If multiple plans are being created as part of a Master/Sub-plan set, location identifiers will be included, separately.Comparator
A comparator is a member of the non-protected class who has been successful in being hired, promoted, transferred, or not terminated, or who receives a salary above the median. Protected class members who were not successful are then compared to the comparators in a Cohort Analysis.Department Hierarchy
Necessary for those developing an Organizational Display, the Department Hierarchy is built in balanceAAP to reflect your organization's management structure.Drilldown Reports
Developed in the Reporting Levels module, Drilldown Reports represent results by smaller units within a plan, with results displaying, based on standard or custom fields. Sectors may be used to create another level of Reporting Structure for a Drilldown.EEO Category
As defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), EEO Categories are broad job classifications, based on employer type (e.g., private organization, educational institution). The EEOC compiles job classification schedules, accordingly. EEO Categories are then applied to job groups within your organization, during AAP preparation.Employment
The number or percentage of minorities or females among those employed at a work location. Protected class employment percentages are compared to availability percentages in the Utilization Analysis.Errors
In BALANCEaap, Errors are records containing blank, invalid, or duplicate data. Because Errors prevent the records from being included in AAP calculations, they must be corrected before one can proceed.Executive Order 11246
Signed originally by President Lyndon Johnson and since amended, Executive Order 11246 forms the basis for the Affirmative Action obligations of Federal contractors and other covered entities.Establishment (or Facility)
A work location that falls under an organization's umbrella. The location must be accounted for in AAP and EEO-1/VETS reporting, according to specific regulations.Factor Weights
Factor Weights areFeeder Jobs
Feeder Jobs are staffed "source" positions within your organization that provide a normal promotion path into other "target" positions. In almost all cases, the feeder path goes up, from a lower level to a higher level.File Consistency Issues
In balanceAAP, File Consistency Issues are flagged by the system, indicating potential data discrepancies across an employee's set of records. In this case, you may continue with running AAP analyses. However, for most accurate plan results, the issues should be reviewed to ascertain whether they are correct within your data scheme or require editing before proceeding.History Data
To assess Goal Attainment, History Data are needed from the prior year's plan for goals, Availability, incumbency numbers, and Veterans. balanceAAP offers three methods for linking or obtaining the necessary data from a History Source:- Manual Input
- Start Point Analysis
- Import from Existing Plan
Job Group
As the fundamental unit of analysis in an Affirmative Action plan (and often as a subset of and EEO Category), a Job Group is a collection of job titles with similar duties, content, compensation, or opportunity level.Master Plan
For organizations with multiple plans, a Master Plan can be created to:- Control global settings and content across plans
- House the organization's data set to ensure accuracy across plans
- Produce AAP reporting for plans as a whole or in part
Narrative
The following Narratives are required elements of an Affirmative Action plan:- Women and Minorities
- Individuals with Disabilities
- Protected Veterans
In addition to outlining your organization’s commitments, policies, and actions regarding Affirmative Action, each Narrative "ties" the relevant statistical reporting together with verbiage to create a cohesive document.
OFCCP
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is a part of the U.S. Department of Labor and has overall responsibility for ensuring that government contractors, subcontractors and certain financial institutions comply with federal regulations including those concerning affirmative action.Organizational Display
The Organizational Display is one of two options that meet OFCCP requirements for creating an Organizational Profile (the other option is Workforce Analysis). Displayed in list form, based on your organization's Department Hierarchy, this profile reflects race and gender demographics by department for both supervisors and staff personnel.Personnel Action
A Personnel Action is an activity involving the employer that impacts or alters the employment status of an associated individual. Personnel actions in balanceAAP are represented by the following Data tables:- Applicants
- New Hires
- Promotions
- Transfers
- Terminations
- User-defined Personnel Action
Placement Goals
If utilization in a job group for a protected class falls below Availability to the level defined by the Utilization Rule selected, a placement goal will be set for that group equal to its Availability percentage.Plan Code
If your organization organizes multiple plans into a Master/Sub Plan set, each plan will be identified by a unique Plan Code. The Plan Code will pull in data for the appropriate employees, tying them to the correct plan.Plan Name
The Plan Name simply differentiates AAPs by year and analysis period. For organizations having set of plans (i.e., a Master plan, supported by sub-plans), the Plan Name applies to the Master plan as a whole; and the sub-plans are identified by Company (name) and Establishment (name).Promotion Calculations
An alternative to using identified feeder jobs; promotion calculations reflect the employment statistics of those jobs from which promotions actually occurred.Promotion
Data for the calculations can be drawn from the current year promotion file or the promotion history file.Protected Class
A Protected Class is a category of persons, covered by provisions of regulations or statutes. In preparing affirmative action plan statistics, the protected classes include:- Females
- Minorities
- Blacks, Asians/Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, American Indians/Alaskan Natives
- Protected Veterans
- Individuals with Disabilities (IWDs)
Recruitment Area
When using Census data, recruitment areas can be places of 50,000+ people (1990 only), counties/townships, MSA’s, PMSA’s (1990 only), CMSA’s (1990 only), states, the entire U.S. summary, or weighted or unweighted combinations. Each job group can use one census area as its Reasonable Recruitment Area in determining availability.Rollup Reports
For organizations with multiple plans that are organized into a Master/Sub Plan set, Rollups Reports, which are developed under Reporting Levels, can be created to display high-level views of plan results, above the sub-plan level.(Salary) Grades
Grades are defined by an organization to organize, label, and assign pay scales at incremental levels to job titles. Grades are used in balanceAAP to sort job titles for the Workforce Analysis and Job Group Analysis, as required by the regulations.Sector Reports
Sector Reports are management-level displays that organize AAP results in ways that reflect an organization's structure. This function can be used to create another level of Reporting Structure for a Drilldown (e.g., departments can be grouped; grades can be divided into pay ranges).When running reports for a Sector, only employees within that Sector will be included in the calculations.
Start Point Analysis
If you are creating your organization's first plan in balanceAAP, Start Point Analysis will "recreate" the prior year’s History Data, by taking the current plan's data and rolling back the information to create the necessary "snapshot." It will then calculate Availability and goals, based on the relevant settings in the current plan.Sub Plan
For organizations with multiple locations, a Sub Plan represents a location plan. While a group of sub plans is controlled by a Master Plan, customization is available at the sub-plan level.Utilization Rule
OFCCP has approved a series of Utilization Rules for use in comparing employment and availability to determine if a placement goal will be set. The rules include:- Any Difference
- Whole Person
- Eighty Percent
- Significant Difference