Glossary of AAP Terms
Annual 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 (AAP), prepared annually, consists of statistics and narratives as specified by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). By looking at the 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 must be taken.
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.Append
When working with updating data, "Append" means to add the incoming date to the existing data or in other words, to augment the existing data set.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
Availability is the percentage of a protected class, which is calculated to be available for employment openings within a job group at a work location, including external candidates and internal incumbents. In determining External Availability, U.S. Census Bureau data 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.Data Tables
A data pull from Human Resource records is necessary for AAP preparation. This data set is separated into Data Tables, containing information for the following:- Roster
- Applicants
- New Hires
- Promotions
- Terminations
For more information, see: BALANCEaap Data Requirements Guide.
The codes used in the Data Tables are catalogued in Reference Tables.
Department Hierarchy
Necessary for those developing the 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.EEO-1
Documenting the gender and race of employees, theEEO-1 report is submitted to EEOCEmployment
Relative to an AAP, "Employment" represents the number or percentage of minorities and females among those employed at a work location. Protected-class Employment is compared to the Availability 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 are assigned to establish the relative importance of Internal and External Availability factors in determining the total Availability of candidates for jobs at your organization. balanceAAP provides tools to help you choose settings that reflect your organization's hiring and promotion practices.Feeder Jobs
In determining Internal Availability, 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:- Data entry
- Start Point Analysis
- Import from existing balanceAAP plan
Job Group
As the fundamental unit of analysis in an Affirmative Action plan (and often as a subset of an 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 is an effective way 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
As part of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has overall responsibility for ensuring that government contractors and other covered entities comply with Federal regulations, including those concerning Affirmative Action.Organizational Display
The Organizational Display is one of two accepted methods for describing your organization's demographics in an Organizational Profile. (The other option is Workforce Analysis.) Displayed in list form and based on your organization's Department Hierarchy, the Organizational Display shows race and gender demographics by department for both supervisors and staff personnel.Overwrite
When updating data, "Overwrite" means to replace all existing data with the incoming data.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 Goal
If protected-class utilization in a Job Group falls below Availability to the level defined by the governing Utilization Rule , 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; balanceAAP can make Promotion Calculations, or read feeders from the Promotions and/or Transfers data, if sufficient data are included in the plan's data set.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)
Reasonable Recruitment Area
A Reasonable Recruitment Area (RRA) is the geographic region from which your organization recruits and hires candidates for a work location or job group. In preparing an AAP, the area may range from a specific locality to the entire United States.balanceAAP is loaded with U.S. census data and tools to help determine the appropriate areas.
Reference Tables
The data set underlying your organization's AAP is comprised of two parts (as reflected in BALANCEaap's Data module). The first part includes Reference Tables, which are legends, or keys, for the data coding used in the second part, Data Tables.For more information, see: BALANCEaap Data Requirements Guide.
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 serve as 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 a Sector Report, 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.Update Plan
An Update plan for an interim period (no more than six months) is developed to monitor utilization and measure progress towards goals set in the prior Annual plan.While a new data set (describing the Roster and personal actions for the interim period) is required, Reference tables, Availability figures, and other settings originate in the existing balanceAAP Annual plan.
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
- Whole Person/Eighty Percent
- Significant Difference