Purpose
In the Federal Government, layoffs are called reductions in force, orRIFs. While the word "RIF" certainly has negative connotations, italso has another side as an objective system that determines howemployees may compete to stay in the organization when employmentreductions are necessary. The RIF process is focused on the rights ofemployees to remain when job cuts are made.
The law provides that OPM's RIF regulations must take into account fourfactors in releasing employees --1) tenure of employment (e.g., type ofappointment); (2) veterans' preference; (3) length of service; and (4)performance ratings. The Reduction in Force report generates both thecompetitive area and level registers which place employees in retentionorder based on the four factors listed above. Employees are releasedfrom the competitive level register in the inverse order of theirretention standing.

Prerequisites

IMG Steps
Maintain Competitive Areas
Maintain Competitive Levels
Maintain Appointment Types
Maintain Feature for Tenure Group Decision
Maintain RIF Appraisal Bonus
Maintain Calculation Processes for CareerTenure/SCD

Personnel Administration Infotype Maintenance
Infotype,,Subtype,,Description
0016 ,,,,Contract Elements
0041 ,,,,Date Specifications
0077 ,,,,Additional Personal Data
0081 ,,01 ,,Military Service
0552 ,,USF1 ,,Prior Federal Service
0552 ,,USF2 ,,Prior Leave w/o Pay
0552 ,,USF3 ,,Prior Tenure Years

Time Management Infotype Maintenance
Infotype 2001 Subtype 1025 Leave w/o Pay

Personnel Development Infotype Maintenance
Infotype 1660 US Federal Position Attributes

Appraisal Maintenance
Maintain appraisal models and data within system.

Organizational Structure
Maintain organizational structure of agency.

Features

Selection
The RIF report uses the standard selection screen from the logicaldatabase PCH. In order to run the RIF registers, the plan version ofthe organizational structure and the organizational unit involved inthe RIF must be entered as parameters. The reporting period shouldalways be "Today" or a key date, presuming that the date the report isexecuted is the date of the RIF. The evaluation path is O_S_P, whichallows for all the positions and employees within an organizationalunit to be evaluated during the RIF processing.
There are additional RIF report settings on the selection screen thatallow the user to further specify processing options. These options aredescribed below.
Register Type
The user can choose to run either the master or competitive levelregister. The master register displays a ranking of all employees inthe competitive area using the OPM retention factors. The competitivelevel register displays a ranking of employees in the competitive areaby competitive level using the OPM retention factors.
Competitive Area
The register can be run for a specific competitive area within anorganization. The area can be specified using this selection parameterto generate a master or competitive level register consisting of onlythe positions and employees in the specified competitive area.
Competitive Level
The register can also be run for a specific competitive level. Sincethe competitive level is a breakdown of levels within a competitivearea, the competitive area of that level must also be specified as aparameter.
Show Tenure Group 0 Employees / Vacant Positions
The user also has the option of displaying tenure group 0 employees andvacant positions on the register.
Earliest Appraisal Date
The earliest appraisal date can also be set on the selection screen.This will be the cutoff date for the retrieval of appraisals, anyappraisals before this date will not be used for determining anemployee's performance credit.
Override SCD (Service Computation Date)
The user has the option to override the service computation datecalculated by the RIF report with a date type from Infotype 0041 "DateSpecifications". If this option is selected, the date type that isselected will be used to override the service computation date for allemployees that have the specified date type in Infotype 0041. This canbe used in case the SAP system does not calculate the correct SCD dueto special circumstances or the customer wants to use a different SCDfor a specific employee.
Absence Type(s) Used for Evaluating Leave Without Pay
The federal rules for calculating the length of service were summarizedearlier in this document. The amount of leave without pay directlyaffects the length of service for an employee. SAP recommends that thecustomer maintain only one leave without pay absence type for RIFpurposes, however if the customer needs to use more than one absencetype they can specify the absence type(s) to evaluate using thisparameter. Note: If the customer chooses to use different absence typesfor the evaluation, they must override the standard SAP CalculationProcess with new selection rules for each absence type. This parameteris used to help determine whether or not a calculation process needs tobe evaluated for an employee. If an employee lacks certain data recordshis SCD is always the hire date (Ex. New hire).

Output

Master Register
The master register displays a ranking of all employees in thecompetitive area using the OPM retention factors.

Competitive Level Register
The competitive level register displays a ranking of employees in thecompetitive area by competitive level using the OPM retention factors.

Activities
Enter plan version for organizational structure.
Select organizational unit affected by RIF. Note: If an organizationalunit that has subordinate units is selected, the subordinate units willbe processed for the RIF as well.
Enter date of RIF.
Select register type.
Select competitive area to be processed.
Select competitive level within competitive area to be processed.
Determine if you want tenure group 0 employees displayed on registers.
Determine if you want vacant positions to be displayed on theregisters.
Enter the earliest date for appraisal evaluation for determining RIFBonus Year Awards. Note: The default date is 4 years prior to the keydate as suggested by OPM.
Decide if an override of SCD is necessary and select the appropriatedate type to use.
Enter the absence type(s) used for evaluating leave without pay for RIFpurposes.