Washington State University
BUSINESS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL

---

Position Control--Summary

PDF link

Position control is the process of creating and modifying positions within WSU's Higher Education Payroll Personnel System (HEPPS). The Office of Position Control processes position transactions.

A position is a specific set of duties and responsibilities that are identified and assigned to a position number.

A department assigns accounts to positions using Position Action or Expense Assignment Action forms.

Permanent assignment changes affect allocation, base, and expense accounts. Temporary assignment changes affect expense accounts only.

See definitions for allocation, base, and expense below for additional information.

A department appoints an employee to a specific position or positions. The appointment of an employee is a personnel function, and is not administered by Position Control.

NOTE: Changes to positions (changes in salary, term, FTE, etc.) often affect employees or their appointments and may also require the preparation of Personnel Action Forms. See 60.25 for details.

Use a Position Action (PA) for position related transactions, e.g., a change of position, title code, term, or area. Also use this form for permanent changes to the assignment of accounts. See 58.02.

Use an Expense Assignment Action (EAA) for temporary changes to the assignment of accounts. See 58.03.

Use a Position Identifying Description (PIDD) for name changes only. See 58.04.

The nine-month period (or term) that coincides with WSU's academic school year, generally used in reference to faculty and assistants only.

The difference between the allocation and expense for a position calculated on a pay cycle basis.

The amount of funding permanently budgeted to a position for the current fiscal year. The allocation is adjusted for permanent changes that occur during the year.

A change to a position's permanent funding.

The 12 month period that coincides with WSU's fiscal year (July 1 - June 30).

Also referred to as Permanent Budget Level (PBL). Base is similar to allocation except that base reflects the annualized impact of transactions that have occurred during the year, e.g., percent changes, salary changes. Base is often thought of as "next year's allocation."

The full time salary amount assigned to a position, not including stipends or differentials.

The date (month and day) which is the first day within a fiscal year that a specific cyclic year for a position begins.

A period of time (or term) that is less than one full year. It is usually expressed in months, e.g., 9.50 or 10.00.

A compensation supplement to the base salary for specific additional duties, nonstandard work shift or nonstandard work place, e.g., chair duties, administrative stipend, required multilingual ability, shift differential, or location differential.

The actual payroll cost for an employee for a pay period or periods. The expense account for a position is the account supporting the payroll cost of the position.

The amount of effort associated with a position. Full-time equals 1.000 FTE and half-time equals .500 FTE.

A position that has more than one FTE associated with it. Group Position is generally used for accommodating multiple faculty or TA appointments that share a single funding source.

Acronym for the Higher Education Payroll Personnel System. This acronym identifies a mainframe computer system used to process position control, personnel and payroll data. See 85.33 for a description of HEPPS and associated access approval procedures.

A two-digit code which represents the administrative area or college to which a position primarily belongs. Positions which are shared between areas must have one designated home area which assumes administrative responsibility for the position and its maintenance. See 10.05 for a description of organization numbers.

A four-digit code which identifies the department to which a position primarily belongs. See 10.05 for a description of organization numbers.

A category of duties and responsibilities as defined by WSU or the state.

Funds which are allocated to a position, department or area and continue for the foreseeable future.

Nonmonetary compensation such as University-provided housing or meals.

The percentage of a position supported by permanent funds.

A descriptive identifier established by the department with a maximum of 20 characters. Normally this is the incumbent employee's name. See 58.04 for more information.

The percent of FTE supported by a position. The Position Effort Percent may exceed the Position Allocation Percent but must not exceed 100% for nongroup positions. See above for a definition of Group Position.

A new classified or administrative/professional position that is undergoing an HRS audit and does not yet have a Title Code assigned to it.

The full-time effort of one 100% employee for one month.

The full-time effort of one 100% employee for one year. NOTE: A full-time 9 month (academic) faculty member has 1.00 FTE but has .75 Staff Years.