eRecruit April Release Notes 040414 NTIS One USDA eRecruit Ap… · c. Choose a question and add to Dynamic Child Questions. d. Click Save. 2. Click Show Answers for that item. 3

eRecruit Release Notes

April 2014 USDA Staff Acquisition Solution

Date April 7, 2014

*Proprietary Information*

eRecruit: April 2014 Release Notes

Proprietary Information 2 of 17

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................................. 2

RELEASE SCHEDULE ................................................................................................................................................................... 3

PREPPING FOR TESTING ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

RELEASE CONTENT – FUNCTIONAL OR USER INTERFACE MODIFICATIONS................................................................................. 4

DUTY LOCATION SEARCH .................................................................................................................................................................... 4 SPELL CHECKER ERROR ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 GLOBAL QUESTION SHOW ANSWER OPTION ........................................................................................................................................... 6 QUESTION POINT VALUE POPULATION ACROSS GRADES ........................................................................................................................... 7 INDICATOR FOR RESPONSES WITH ASSOCIATED CHILD QUESTION ................................................................................................................ 7 AGENCY EMPLOYED BY RESPONSE VALUES ............................................................................................................................................. 8 APPLICANT POOL RESULTS WHEN ACCESSING FROM LOCATION MATRIX ..................................................................................................... 10 508 ERROR WHILE NAVIGATING CANDIDATE CARD IN ACCESSIBILITY MODE ............................................................................................... 11 PAGINATION AND COLUMNS OPTION FOR NAVIGATING LARGE LISTS ......................................................................................................... 11 POSITION SEARCH AT SELECTION STEP ................................................................................................................................................. 13 CURRENT CORE ELIGIBILITY TEMPLATE ITEMS INCLUDED IN COPY VACANCY ................................................................................................ 14 SEARCH FILTER PANEL ON APPLICANT POOL.......................................................................................................................................... 15 NON ACTIONABLE ITEMS ON HOMEPAGE ............................................................................................................................................. 15 EXCEPTION ID ADDED TO ERROR MESSAGE PAGE .................................................................................................................................. 16



Release Schedule

eRecruit Environment Deployment Date

Non-Production - TS 8:00 PM ET, April 1, 2014

• Team NTIS testing April 2 – April 7

• USDA Testing April 8 – April 14

Non-Production - TR Scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM ET, April 15, 2014

Production Scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM ET, April 15, 2014

• With approval from USDA

Prepping for Testing In preparation for testing items in this release, users will need the following announcement types.

Item 60790:

• An open interdisciplinary announcement

Item 61514:

• Access to a vacancy announcement built February 1, 2014

o Utilizing the Merit Promotion Core Eligibility Template

Item 60736:

• 2 similar EmpowHR positions with no Staffing Number

Remaining Items:

• A new recruitment request including worked through Step 1. of the workflow containing the following:

o At least two Grades

o Any series

o Case Exam

o At least 2 locations

o Any assessment type



Release Content – Functional or User Interface Modifications

The following system changes or defect resolutions are included in this release.

Duty Location Search

NTIS # n/a SM# 60488

Additional search fields have been added to allow users the capability to narrow search results by utilizing any

combination of a Keyword, Location Code, City, County and/or State/Subdivision fields when building a vacancy

announcement.

NOTE: When entering a value into the Keywords field, eRecruit will search for that value across all Job Location data

elements e.g. Code, City, US County, Country Subdivision, and Country and return in the results any location that

contains the Keyword value. Utilizing they Keywords field in combination with other fields will narrow results.

Typing Bethel Connecticut in the Keywords field will yield no results because the exact term “bethel connecticut” is

not contained in any one location field.

1. Work through building a new vacancy announcement to Step 2. Vacancy Locations.

2. Click Add Locations.

3. Click Show Search.

4. Type a single letter in the Keywords field and type Fairfield into the County field.

5. Only results with the letter you chose (in any field) for Fairfield County will return.

6. Click Clear.

7. Type Bethel Connecticut in the Keywords field.

8. Results will appear as null because the exact term “bethel connecticut” in not contained in any single

location field.



9. An appropriate use of the Keywords field would be to

a. Type Bethel into the Keywords field.

b. Choose from the 77 results.

OR

a. Type Bethel (or part of the word Bethel) into the keyword search.

b. Select Connecticut in the state field.

c. Choose from the narrowed number of results.

Spell Checker Error

NTIS # 1699 SM# 61427

Error corrected when utilizing Spell Checker during the build of a vacancy announcement.

1. Work through building a new vacancy announcement to Step 4. Vacancy Announcement Template.

2. Navigate to a text box and type an incorrectly spelled word.

3. Click the icon.

4. The misspelled word will be underlined in red.

5. Click on the word to see suggested spellings.



6. Clicking a suggestion will replace the misspelled word.

Global Question Show Answer Option


Ability to expand/view the response options for all global questions within the Questionnaire Builder step has been

added. Clicking the “Show All Answers” link displays all response options. Clicking “Hide All Answers” hides all

response options.

1. Work through building a new vacancy announcement to Step 6. Questionnaire Builder.

2. Work through building a new multi-graded vacancy announcement to Step 6. Questionnaire Builder.

3. Enter Core Eligibility, Minimum Qualification, and Assessment Questions.

4. Select View Answers for one of the Assessment Questions.

5. Click Show All Answers.

6. All response options will expand into view.

7. Click Hide All Answers to minimize all responses in your view.



Question Point Value Population Across Grades


Ability apply the same points or scores per answer across all grades on the Questionnaire Builder step

1. Work through building a new multi-graded vacancy announcement to Step 6. Questionnaire Builder.

2. Enter Core Eligibility, Minimum Qualification, and Assessment Questions.

3. Select View Answers for one of the Assessment Questions.

4. Populate scores into the lower grade.

5. Click the icon.

6. The point values will automatically populate into the next higher grade.

Indicator for Responses with Associated Child Question


Addition of visual indicator in the Questionnaire Builder step for responses that have associated child questions.

The "Select Child Questions" link is dynamically updated to read "Modify Child Questions" when a child question is

associated to an answer option.

1. In Step 6. Questionnaire Builder assign a question to a response of one of the questions.

a. Click Show Answers for an item.

b. Click Select Child Questions for one of the responses.



c. Choose a question and add to Dynamic Child Questions.

d. Click Save.

2. Click Show Answers for that item.

3. The response with the associated child question will be indicated by the link Modify Child Questions.

Agency Employed by Response Values

NTIS # 1325 SM# 60101

Agency and Sub Agency values have been updated to reflect those available on USAJOBS.

1. Complete and post your announcement to USAJOBS.

2. Log into USAJOBS as an applicant.

3. Begin an application to this announcement.

4. Complete application questionnaire down to the Federal employment status item.



5. If not already, select the “I am currently a Federal employee” response.

6. Continue completing questions to the “by which Federal Agency and Organization are you currently

employed” item.

7. All agencies will be listed in the dropdown.

8. Select an agency.

9. You will be presented with all appropriate sub agency options for that agency.

10. Select a subagency.

11. Complete and submit your application.

12. Return to the Applicant Pool of your announcement.

13. Navigate to the Candidate Card of that applicant.

14. Click View Application Snapshot.



15. Verify the Agency and Sub Agency selections show correctly.

Applicant Pool Results when Accessing from Location Matrix


Accessing applicants via the location matrix of the Vacancy Dashboard will correctly result in only applicants

meeting the series/grade combination selected.

1. Ensure you have at least 3 candidates with at least one that has not applied to all grades and locations.

2. Navigate to the Vacancy Applications section of the Vacancy Homepage.

3. Select from the locations matrix applicants for a location and grade.

4. Only applicants eligible for that grade/location combination will be shown.

5. Click Reset Search Form.



508 Error While Navigating Candidate Card in Accessibility Mode

NTIS # 1575 SM# 60728

Error received when navigating Candidate Card while in accessibility mode has been corrected.

1. Navigate to the candidate card of any applicant.

2. Switch to accessibility mode.

3. Navigate to various links within the candidate card.

4. No errors will be received.

Pagination and Columns Option for Navigating Large Lists


Option added to set the number of records and columns to be displayed on a page and the ability to select specific

page of results to view throughout lists in eRecruit.

List examples include vacancies displayed on the homepage, location results in the Vacancy Location step of the

workflow, applicants listed in the Applicant Pool, etc.

Page Navigation

1. Navigate to the eRecruit homepage or another list with multiple pages of results.

2. Notice that you have the new features below.



3. Type a number within the shown range into the Page field and hit Enter on your keyboard.

4. The correct page will display.

5. Select the icon.

6. The previous page will display.

7. Select the icon.

8. The next page will display.

9. Select the icon.

10. The last page will display.

11. Select the icon.

12. Page 1 will display.

13. Select the Records per page dropdown.

14. Modify the number of records to display.

15. The correct number of records will display and the Page range will be adjusted.

Select Columns

1. Click the icon.

2. Choose a combination of columns to remove from your dashboard and click Save and Continue.



3. Only those Columns will display.

Position Search at Selection Step

NTIS # 1600 SM# 60736

Correction of specific positions not appearing in position search results when at Selection Step of workflow

1. Create 2 similar positions in EmpowHR with no Staffing Number

2. Create a New Position Request utilizing only 1 of the positions created

3. Apply to the announcement with at least 2 applicants

4. Certify both applicants

5. Hire 1st

applicant utilizing position associated at vacancy creation

6. Hire 2

nd applicant by selecting position matching vacancy criteria

7. Positions with matching required values will be displayed and available to select



Current Core Eligibility Template Items Included in Copy Vacancy

NTIS # 1691 SM# 61514

Most current Core Eligibility Template items are included in the new vacancy’s assessment when copying an

existing vacancy. When copying a vacancy any modifications or updates to the Core Eligibility Question Set for the

vacancy’s Assessment Type will be pulled into the newly created vacancy.

1. Locate a vacancy announcement created prior to February 1, 2014 using the Merit Promotion Assessment

type.

a. Click Preview Questionnaire.

b. Note the layout and content of the Core Eligibility questions.

2. Return to Vacancy Dashboard.

3. Click Copy Vacancy.

4. Work new announcement through to Step 5. Questionnaire Builder.

5. Click Preview Questionnaire Content.

6. The question content will reflect that of the latest Core Eligibility content.



Search Filter Panel on Applicant Pool


Search Filter form by default will be collapsed when navigating to the Applicant Pool. The Search Filter Form will

expand when a user clicks the Show Search link in the Applicant Pool.

Non Actionable Items on Homepage

NTIS # UAT, SM# 59898

Modifications to the Homepage have been made to better indicate the Action to be taken and to whom the Action

is assigned.

• When a user is assigned the HR Specialist role, their Homepage will display hyperlinks in the Actions column

when the current step is a task or action assigned them.



o Users will also see all announcements for which they are the approving authority and HR Specialist

Role, even though the action is not assigned to them.

• In cases where no user has been assigned the HR Specialist role (i.e. the Assign Roles step has not been

completed), then the Assigned To column will display detail of the user who raised the Recruitment

Request.

• Hiring Managers will no longer be presented with hyperlinks in the Actions column to Workflow steps and

Actions to which they do not have permission.

Exception ID Added to Error Message Page


When an exception error is encountered, the Exception Error ID will now be presented on the page in addition to

being embedded within the webpage URL.

When presented with an exception error, users may send this ID in a help ticket for Team NTIS to review the cause.



Documents

eRecruit April Release Notes 040414 NTIS One USDA eRecruit Ap… · c. Choose a question and add to Dynamic Child Questions. d. Click Save. 2. Click Show Answers for that item. 3