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About Creating Sub plans for a Master Plan

In this section:

  • Choose Annual Plan or Update Plan
  • Set Plan Dates
  • Enter General Information
  • Allow Berkshire to View/Edit Plan
  • Choose Single Plan or Master Plan
  • Use Zip Code Information to Build Recruitment Areas
  • Use Prior Year Plan as the History Source
  • Select EEO Schedule
  • Collect IWD/Veterans Data
  • Determine Audit Status
  • While creating an Affirmative Action plan in BALANCEaap, you will be asked a series of questions, regarding options for the basic structure of the plan.

Plan Type

Select Annual or Update Plan

Choose one of two plan types, either Annual Plan or Update Plan.

Note: Once your organization completes an Annual Plan, an Update Plan must be prepared to evaluate interim progress at least six months into the plan year.

Plan Dates

Set Plan Date

Based on the selection above for Annual Plan or Update Plan, enter the plan date.

The plan date for an Annual Plan is the effective date, or the date when the Affirmative Action plan begins.

The Update Plan date will follow the Annual Plan’s effective date by a maximum of six months. If for example, you have a January 1, 2013 Annual Plan, the Update Plan date will likely have a date of July 1, 2013.

Enter Personnel Action Date Range

The Personnel Action Date Range for an Annual Plan is the 12-month period prior to the Annual Plan’s effective date. For example, a January 1, 2013 plan will have a Personnel Action Date Range from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012.

The Personnel Action Date Range for an Update Plan begins on the Annual Plan’s effective date and ends on the day prior to the Update Plan’s start.

Enter General Information

Company Name: Enter your company’s name as you would like it to appear on 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, a Plan Name might be: "January 1, 2013 Annual Affirmative Action Plan."

Establishment Name: For your Establishment Name, you may use a geographical location—for example, "Vienna, VA." If you are creating a Master Plan, your the Establishment Name should be "Master Plan" or similar text. Later, you can input the specific Establishment Name (location) for each sub plan.

Allow Berkshire to Edit or View the Plan

Should you require technical assistance, two checkboxes on the General Information menu allow you to give Berkshire permission to either view or edit the plan. You may return to the Plan Information screen at a later time to determine this setting.

Multiple Plans

"Will you be creating multiple plans from a master plan data set?"

Select Yes if you have multiple establishments that will be covered under a Master Plan (and sub plans).

Select No if you are only creating a single plan for one location.

Quick Tip: If your organization has multiple locations that share Human Resource processes or a common database, consider the efficiencies of creating a Master Plan.

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 the multiple plans only. Note: Only one type may be used. Zip code settings for External Availability are also included in the Recruitment Wizard.

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. The newer census data source is required as of January 1. 2014. For information on converting the census occupation codes, see Help for: Auto Census Coding.

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 a prior year Annual Plan to 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 must use the Availability settings from the governing Annual Plan.

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 BALANCEaap’s desktop or client server version, then select this third option. Once you hit the button to Create Plan, you will be prompted to locate the balanceAAP file for the previous year plan you want to use as the History Source. For more information, please refer to: System Tools.

Update plans must use the Availability settings from the governing Annual Plan.

Individuals with Disabilities/Veterans

For plans after March 24, 2014, the system will collect Affirmative Action data for Individuals with Disabilities and protected Veterans. Therefore, this option is checked by default.

Note: This setting activates the IWD/Veterans area in balanceAAP. If the IWD/Veterans screen is not available in a plan, prepared after the above date, return to Plan Information, and ensure that the option is selected.

EEO Schedule

Select the appropriate organization type:

  • 1-Private
  • 4-Governmental
  • 5-Educational(Elementary & Secondary Education)
  • 6-Educational(Postsecondary Education)
  • IPEDS

Determine Audit Status (Master Plans Only)

If any sub plan is under audit, they may be displayed on the BALANCEhub’s Executive Dashboard as such. Check the box for: Is this plan under audit?

Note: The setting to display audit status for sub plans on the BALANCEhub display must be set during Master Plan creation.