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Narratives (and Settings)

About Narratives

Your organization’s Affirmative Action plan will include Sections for Minorities/Women, Veterans, and Individuals with Disabilities. balanceAAP provides boilerplate language for these Narratives and tools for customizing their content. The results from plan calculations will be merged into the Narratives text, and reports will be included to build a complete narrative.

Determine Narrative Settings

After determining the settings below, click [Save].

Include Reports

To automatically insert the required reports within the final AAP document, check all of the following:

  • Include Reports for Minorities/Women
  • Include Reports for Individuals with Disabilities
  • Include Reports for Protected Veterans

For information on exporting or printing the final narrative, see: Select Reports.

Quick Tip: Leave the boxes unchecked to review drafts of the narrative texts.

Select Workforce Analysis or Organizational Display

Either of the following two reports satisfies the requirement for submitting an organizational profile. Check off one:

  • Organizational Display (Reporting Structure > Department Hierarchy must be established.)
  • Workforce Analysis (Grades must be sequenced, see: Reference Tables > Grade)

This option may be preselectedpre-selected for you, based on earlier settings you made in the system.

(If===(If applicable) Turn on REACH IntegrationIntegration=== If Good Faith Efforts data are available from BALANCEhubBALANCEhub REACH and you would like to include the data in this Affirmative Action plan, check the box under: Reach Integration.

(Optional)===(Optional) Add a Header or FooterFooter=== Under Header and Footer, check the box next to: Include Header and Footer. If applicable, click: Include on the title page.

You may enter text for either the Header or Footer or both, using the Add Header Text and Add Footer Text menus.

Import Narrative Settings

Narrative elements can be imported from another plan into this plan, using the Narratives > Settings tab. Select the items to import:

  • Settings
  • Tag Values
  • Templates
  • Supporting Documents

Then select the Company, Establishment, and Plan from the provided drop-downs. Click [Import].[Import].

Edit Tags and Values

Text is inserted into the proper place in the narrative based on tags. For example, the Affirmative Action Chief Policy Signer is a tag, for which you need to populate with the name of the chief policy signer. The text assigned to the tag will appear wherever the tag is placed in a template. Use Narratives >Tags and Values tab to enter the text for each tag.

The list of tags appears on the left side of the screen. Tags with a [In use] icon next to them are currently in place in one of the narrative Templates and should be updated with the relevant information. Tags with a [Value Assigned] icon indicate that information has been supplied. Tags without an icon are currently not in use in narrative Templates.Templates.

Select a tag from the list. Any text already applied to the tag will appear in the Tag Description field. Enter the appropriate information for each tag into the Tag Description field and click [Save],[Save], and then continue with the other tags.

Add a Tag to the System

Create a tag by clicking [Add a New Tag].Tag]. Enter:

  • Tag Name
  • Tag Description
  • Number of Rows (from 1 to 6, which will be available in the narrative for tag content)

Click [Save].[Save]. Tags created in one plan can be used in any plan in your organization. (For instructions on including the tag in the narrative, see the next heading below: Edit the Narrative Templates.)

Delete the tag (for all plans in your organization) by clicking [Delete].[Delete]. You can only delete tags you have created.

Edit the Narrative Templates

Access the Templates tab to view the boilerplate language. Here, you can edit the text, change the formatting, and insert tags. Changes to Templates affect only the current plan. However, Templates can be imported from plan to plan to carry over changes that would apply (see: Import Narrative Settings).

Select a Templates tab, either Minorities/Women, IWD, or Veterans.Veterans. Then, using the drop-down, choose the Section you wish to edit. The default (or previously saved) template content will appear in a text editor.

Check one of the following options to edit the template Section:

  • Enter the template text—text— Review and edit the template, using the provided text display and text editing toolbar. Use this option when tags must be included in the Section (described below).
  • Upload a file—Browsefile—Browse for a PDF file to use for the Section.* Use this option to include exhibits that your organization has developed elsewhere (e.g., self-identification form).

    • Revert to the default template text editor at any time by selecting: Enter the template text.

    Click [Save].[Save].

    Insert a Tag into the Narrative

    Some default (and created) tags will already exist in the narrative template. To insert a tag, place your cursor in a location, and click [Insert Tag].Tag]. Select the desired tag from the drop-down, and click [Insert].[Insert].

    Quick Tip:Tip: Filter the drop-down by selecting:

    • User Defined Narrative Tags (insertions you defined, using the Tags and Values tab)
    • Calculated/Generated Tags (insertions the system calculates from plan data)
    • Report Tags (insertion of full plan reports)

    At any time, you can change the narrative template back to BALANCEaap’sbalanceAAP’s default by clicking [Revert to Default].Default].

    To exclude a particular section from the narrative completely, uncheck the box for: Include this section in the Narrative.Narrative.

    Review the Published Narrative

    The Published Narrative tab displays a final preview of the narrative sections.

    To edit the narrative locally without changing the template, select a narrative Section from the drop-down, and click the [Edit] button. Confirm by clicking [Edit] again. The Published Narrative will appear in a text editor. Make the edits, and click [Save].

    Important Caution: If you edit a plan narrative and then republish it due to updated calculations, all edits made on the Published Narrative tab will be lost. It is recommended that only the Narrative Template (described above) be edited.

    Republish the Narrative

    If calculations or merged information has been updated, return to the Published Narrative tab. Click the [Edit] button. From the Edit pop-up window, click the [Republish this section now] button. (The Republish alert will also display on the Select Reports page, if the system detects changes to plan data.)

    Important Caution: Any edits made on the published Narrative since the Section was last published will be lost.

    (Optional) Manage Documents for the Select Report list

    Appendices and other documents can be added at the end of a narrative, by clicking the [Manage Documents] button.

    From the tab header, select the narrative to which the supporting documents should be added. Click Browse, and find the document. add [Add Another File] as necessary. Click [Upload]. Multiple documents will appear under Uploaded Documents in the order of upload.

    Next, review their order of appearance, as this order will be reflected on the Select Reports > Narratives list. To edit a document’s location, use the [Move Up/Move Down] arrows at the right of the File Name. Once the order is suitable, click [Save].

    Note: On the Select Reports list, the document(s) will appear directly after the associated narrative, in the order you determined.

    Click the edit [Edit] icon to change how the document’s Display Name appears on the Select Reports list.

    Click the delete [Delete] icon to remove one of the Uploaded Documents.

    When the Upload list is satisfactory, click the Return to Settings tab.

    (If applicable) Special Notes for Master Plan Settings

    All edits made, using menus on the Narratives > Settings tab apply to the sub-plans, and these settings cannot be changed within the sub-plan.

    The following elements may be cascaded to sub-plans by using a Master Plan option, which will display where applicable and be checked by default:

    Uploaded Documents that were added through [Manage Documents] (above) Tags & Values Content for each Narrative Template (e.g., Minorities/Women, IWD) These elements may be edited within a sub-plan for the specific needs of that plan.

    Quick Reminder: If a sub-plan setting (e.g., option, tag, content edit) applies to all sub-plans, determine it within the Master Plan.