Customer Support

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PSTek's support program includes toll-free telephone assistance every business day. Newsletters and a user-group meeting provide you with a forum for exchanging ideas. And we are constantly working to enhance our software, with updates made available to you immediately.

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Customer Training

PSTek software is designed to emulate your everyday office procedures. As a result, your staff will be trained quickly and efficiently. We will provide you with convenient training at your site, or remotely through an online presentation. In addition to the Windows-based help, we provide a toll-free support line should questions arise. Our customer specialists are a phone call away.

Employees

Is leave of absence treated the same way as leaving employment?

It depends on the situation. You may elect to treat various leaves in a specific manner. Every action (leave of absence, military leave, promotion, etc. See System - Tables - Employee tables - Personnel Actions) has with it a check box associated with it marked ' Gone' . Only actions where this box is checked will be treated as meaning the employee has left employment. If this box is checked, the primary record will show the leave date, and no longer be available as a 'current' employee record.

If I am tracking encumbrances, do I have to reset the encumbrance in the position record each time an appropriate change is made?

No. Once you post and save the information to the employee's history file, the system will do the rest automatically.

Can a position have multiple occupants?

Yes. This is a choice the user can make in System - General Constants. However, we recommend that positions with multiple occupants have a special character signifying them. In the System - General Constants, Employees tab, enter a suitable identifier for the item 'Multiple Position Identifier' such as ; i.e. Z, *, comma, etc. Note that a special report, Multiple Occupants, enables you to track those positions having more than one occupant that are not marked as such.

How do I track probationary positions?

For each title, there is a field that tracks the number of weeks of probation an employee is obligated to serve. Referring to the employee - history section, when an employee is given a promotion, or a new employee is appointed with such a status, the system displays a box requesting a date ' probation ends on' . This will be automatically filled in by the system when a title is assigned, by adding, to the effective date, the number of days of probation for this title.

The 'Check Probationary Status' report shows all employees who are currently probationary and the date their probation ends. At the conclusion of this report, the system will check to see if any employees have had their probationary date exceeded, and are still marked for probation. If such cases exist, the system will ask if these employees should automatically be moved to permanent status. If you elect to do so, for each of these employees the system will create a new history record, dating the record with the date that probation terminated and change their status to permanent.

Positions

How can I move a position to another department or division without changing the position number?: Changing a position is a complex issue. If you change a position title, it will be retained only by the current position. All other records that at one time pointed to this position will retain the prior title. However, this can be circumvented by changing the position via department or division. Just change the current position number by placing an alphanumeric character at the end of it (i.e. ' a' ). Now create a new position, reflecting the changed department or division. The position history tab will be aware of this change and properly link the two together and successfully report it.
Can a position have multiple occupants?: Yes. This is a choice the user can make in System - General Constants. However, we recommend that positions with multiple occupants have a special character signifying them. In the System - General Constants, Employees tab, enter a suitable identifier for the item 'Multiple Position Identifier' such as ; i.e. Z, *, comma, etc. Note that a special report, Multiple Occupants, enables you to track those positions having more than one occupant that are not marked as such.
What if a position fails to track encumbrance properly?: In order for a position record to accept an encumbrance, it must be active (not abolished or reclassified), have a classification that is not exempt, and not be marked as enabling multiple occupants. Access System - General Constants - Employees tab. The classification for the position should not be the one shown in the field ' Exempt Class Code' , and the position number should not include a character shown in 'multiple position identifier' . Lastly, if the position is occupied, check the employee' s most recent record, and make certain that he/she has a permanent status.

Civil Service

In the civil service system of PSTek, where is it best to input a candidate's degree information?: There is a special place on the Applicant screen for this information. It is available in Applicant Maintenance or Add/Edit Applicants to a List (Roster) so you can input this information at any time, or when you are entering a specific application for an exam or Job Bank. Look at the right-hand side of the form. There is a box labeled "Additional Data." You can track 7 items for each applicant.

Applicants and Exams

Is there a limit to the number of characters in a reason for Disapproval or Conditional Approval?

For a Disapproval, you have two choices: If you fill out the field directly on the Add Applicant to an Exam Roster form, you may use 200 characters. If you use the pulldown list in that field for convenience, the limit is 125 characters.

A Conditional Approval can have 25 characters, whether you fill out the field directly or use the pulldown list showing you the table of Conditional Reasons (in System - System Tables - Civil Service - Conditional Approval Reasons.)

I tried to print applicant letters and got the message “Another user is currently printing letters…” But nobody else is printing letters!

This message may be true, or it may be caused by another user having improperly quit out of printing letters. Go to System - Utilities - Clear Letter Users, which will clear this conflict.

How do I remove applicants from the eligible list when their time is up?

The computer removes expired eligibles from the CR list automatically based on the "valid until" date of their exam. The eligible list is then renumbered.

What will the program do if someone takes the same CR exam more than once?

If an applicant takes the same CR exam more than once, the program will only allow that applicant to be on the eligible list once. If the applicant has more than one passing grade that is current, he/she will appear on the list with his/her highest grade. If the highest grade is not the most recent one, the applicant will remain on the list with the lower grade once the highest one expires.

In the civil service system of PSTek, where is it best to input a candidate's degree information?

There is a special place on the Applicant screen for this information. It is available in Applicant Maintenance or Add/Edit Applicants to a List (Roster) so you can input this information at any time, or when you are entering a specific application for an exam or Job Bank. Look at the right-hand side of the form. There is a box labeled "Additional Data." You can track 7 items for each applicant.

Scoring Exams and Performance Tests

How do I make an exam be continuous recruitment?: Create a new exam and check the "Continuous Recruitment?" box. Each time the exam is given, create another new exam with the same name as the first and check the box. One eligible list will be created for all current CR exams with the same name. If you create a new "Continuous Recruitment" exam with a name that has not been used before, the system will allow you to either (1) start a new CR set OR (2) attach that exam to CR exams with a different name. This allows you to change the name of a CR exam if necessary and still maintain one list.
What will the program do if someone takes the same CR exam more than once?: If an applicant takes the same CR exam more than once, the program will only allow that applicant to be on the eligible list once. If the applicant has more than one passing grade that is current, he/she will appear on the list with his/her highest grade. If the highest grade is not the most recent one, the applicant will remain on the list with the lower grade once the highest one expires.
Which information displays in the canvass, certification, and appointment section for continuous recruitment?: If an applicant is on the eligible list, ALL of his/her current canvass, certification, and appointment information is displayed on the right-hand side of the eligible list. CURRENT canvasses, certs, and appointments are ones dated after the date of the oldest unexpired exam for this list.

Letters

I tried to print applicant letters and got the message "Another user is currently printing letters..." But nobody else is printing letters!: This message may be true, or it may be caused by another user having crashed out of printing letters. Go to System - Utilities - Clear Letter Users, which will clear this conflict.
How do I find the letter templates when I'm editing them in Word.: Make the folder where the letter templates are one of your Favorites: Click File - Open and browse until you have the folder in the Look in: field. Click the Add to Favorites icon (in the row of icons at the top of the Open window) and add that folder to your Favorites. Then when you want to edit a template, click the Favorites icon (the folder with the * on it) and pick the folder from the list.

System Requirements

All PSTek software is Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP/Vista compatible and can reside on computer workstations and existing networks without any hardware upgrades or modifications.

Customer Feedback Form

At PSTek, we are customer driven. Our development team utilizes customer feedback to provide continuous improvement to our products.