This is a collection of questions frequently asked regarding Payroll Personnel System Decision Support (PPS DS). Please send comments to PPS Decision Support Team.
QUESTION:What data is accessible through PPS DS?
ANSWER: PPS DS includes personnel data similar to what is seen on the IDOC (the old
Personnel Action Form (PAF)), monthly Expense transactions and reference table (e.g. Job Title
Listing, Home Department Code Translations). The Personnel reports (appointment and distribution
data) are for the current month only with no ability to go back 6 months and recreate a report.
The Expense reports however can be run for the entire fiscal year.
QUESTION:I already have a PPS userid for EDB Inquiry and On-line Time Reporting
(OPTRS). Will this work?
ANSWER: No. You must apply access to PPS Decision Support.
QUESTION:What records will I be able to see?
ANSWER:Access to the PPS DS system is controlled through the 6-digit Home
Department Number. Every employee has a primary or administrative home department as well
as home departments associated with individual payroll distributions. What ever department
funded that distribution may view that employee's record. If the employee's distribution
with your department ends, you will be able to access the expense information for that
employee for the period worked but you will no longer be able to view the employee's
personnel records.
QUESTION:I have changed departments and need my userid's access changed so I can
use PPS DS to create reports for my new department.
ANSWER:If you change department, submit a new application.
to cancel your old user ID and request to apply for a new PPS Decision Support user ID. Indicate this in the "intended
purpose block on the application.
QUESTION:A person in our department who has access to the PPS Data Warehouse and
PPS Decision Support has left the University. What is the procedure for terminating their
access?
ANSWER:Complete and submit another application
to terminate their access. Ensure to indicate the person's user id on the application, if applicable. Forward the
application to the PPS DS Administrator. You can also forward an email message to notify the
PPS Administrator of the forth-coming application.
QUESTION: When I compare the distribution report from PPS DS to the on-line PPS
screens, my PPS DS report is missing a change I made yesterday.
ANSWER:The PPS DS uses the local PPS Data Warehouse. The appointment and
distribution data in the local data base is currently updated daily (EDB Table), weekly
(CTL Table), or monthly (EDW, FIS, Expenses and Lien) from the production payroll database.
For more information on the data update schedule, please see
the PPS Data Warehouse Update
Schedule page.
QUESTION:Employees belonging to other departments are printing on my personnel
reports. What is wrong with my access?
ANSWER:Employees are listed on the Personnel reports under their primary administrative department.
If an employee works for more that one department, all of the departments that are either the administrative
department or are paying one or more of the employee's distributions (this is identified by the home department
assigned to chart/account), can see all of that employee's current job appointments and pay distributions.
If you do not recognize this employee or think there may be another problem, please contact
the Payroll Help Desk.
QUESTION:What is the difference between access to the PPS Data Warehouse and PPS Decision Support?
ANSWER: The PPS Decision Support system (PPS DS) is a "user-friendly" way
to access the existing data in the PPS Data Warehouse using a web browser. The PPS Data Warehouse is a copy of
the payroll data from Office of the President. No changes can be made to this data. Access to this system requires
a usercode, a query tool (such as Microsoft Access) and knowledge of the data structure. For more information on
the structure of the PPS Data Warehouse (tables, data fields) please see the
PPS Data Warehouse Web Site.
QUESTION: What is the different between PPS on-line system, the PPS DS and the PPS
Web Inquiry?
ANSWER: The PPS Web Inquiry System is like the PPS on-line system; the difference is
you only can inquiry information. It has a Production Section
like the on-line system with same access log in, but is web-based. If you have questions concerning
the PPS Web Inquiry, please addressed them to the PPS
Coordinator. Refer PPS Overview page.
QUESTION: When trying to print a large report from the browser (HTML) I get a
DATA MISSING error.
ANSWER:Increasing your cache in Netscape has resolved some users' printing
problems. You can accomplish this in Netscape 4.05 by:
1. Selecting EDIT->PREFERENCES from Netscape menu bar
2. Double-click on ADVANCED, located in left side of window
3. Select CACHE underneath ADVANCED
4. Increase the amount of MEMORY CACHE (3500, 5000K or more).
QUESTION: I added an account/valid account in DaFIS yesterday and I can't see it in
PPS DS today?
ANSWER: It takes about a four business days for this process. Example:
Day 1: Your account is APPROVED and added into the DaFIS system;
Day 2: The Accounting and Financial Services Computing Unit forward the approved file to
UCOP for processing;
Day 3: The file is processed and stored in the PPS/UCOP systems at UCOP;
Day 4: The file is transferred to the UCD PPS Data Warehouse and now in the PPS DS system.
Last Updated: September 1, 2005