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New ESS District Setup - No Kiosk Data Conversion

New ESS District Setup - No Kiosk Data Conversion

Owned by Michelle Drewes
Last updated: about 6 hours ago
5 min read

This guide describes the steps to create/set up an instance for a district new to Employee Self Service.  This page assumes no dependency on Kiosk for any processes. 

Installation Steps

  1. For those districts who host with the MCOECN, please refer to the VRA installation documentation provided by the MCOECN.

  2. For those district who host locally, please refer to the Employee Self Service Installation Guide to walk you through the setup of the Employee Self Service application.

    1. NOTE: If your districts currently do not have a workflows engine (they are not using USAS requisition approval or USPS onboarding), ESS is dependent on workflows if districts plan to use the leave request approval system or timesheets in ESS. The ESS Installation Guide provides information on how to set up workflows.

Post Installation Steps

The following are recommendations post-installation.

USPS

  • In USPS, please verify the following:

    • In Core>Codes, you will need to ensure Building Code Types' Building IRN contains a valid IRN for each building they wish to filter on in ESS. If there are obsolete building codes, those can be ignored and not updated.

    • If you have districts that never updated SSNs to EMPIDs in Classic (prior to migrating to USPS-R), you have the ability to mass load them in USPS. Please click here for further details.

    • If your district intends to use Timesheets in ESS, the ‘Timesheet Required' checkbox must be enabled if the employee’s position is a timesheet position. Also ensure the timesheet position has a supervisor assigned to it. Please refer to USPS Mass Load chapter for details on how to mass load these fields

ESS

  1. Ensure the following is reviewed/set up under System>Configuration:

    1. Application Configuration: Ensure the instance type ‘Production’ is selected as well as both ‘External Notification enabled' and User Job Execution Enabled are both selected.

    2. ESS Functionality Configuration: Ensure the district’s desired functionality options are selected. NOTE: These changes made will not take full effect until the page is refreshed

    3. Email Configuration: If the district is using Leave Request in ESS, the email configuration must be configured in order for users, approvers and other roles to receive email notifications.

    4. Employee Profile: If the district would prefer to hide specific fields from displaying under the Employee Profile record, deselect the fields they do not wish to display.

    5. Forgot Password Configuration: Change default settings if desired. NOTE: Affects local authentication only

    6. Job Status Configuration: Determines the employee’s positions displayed in various areas of the application.

    7. Leave Balance Details: If the district would prefer to hide specific fields from displaying under Leave Information, deselect the fields they do not wish to display.

    8. Leave Expenses Configuration: If district is using Professional Leave Requests and would prefer to hide specific fields from displaying under Leave Expenses area on the form, deselect the fields they do not wish to display.

    9. Leave Time Configuration: If district is using Leave Requests in ESS, ensure the leave time configuration aligns with the district’s preferences.

    10. Leave Type Configuration: If the district is using Leave Requests in ESS, ensure the leave type configuration aligns with the district’s preferences.

    11. Password Expiration Configuration: Ensure the password expiration configuration aligns with the district’s preferences.

    12. Payslip Configuration: If payslips are enabled, by default all USPS payslips, including archived (classic) payslips, will be included. If district does not wish to include archived payslips, deselect 'include archived payslips”.

    13. Position Details Configuration: If district would prefer to hide specific fields from displaying under Position Details record, deselect the fields they do not wish to display.

    14. Registration Configuration: If ALL users authenticates externally (i.e. Active Directory) in the district, ensure this flag is selected. When a users account is created, it will be automatically be flagged for external authentication.

  2. Ensure the following is reviewed/set up under the System menu

    1. Organization: Enter the district’s organization information.

    2. Test Connection: Testing the connection between ESS, USPS and Workflows is part of the post-installation procedures from the Employee Self Service Installation Guide. Please ensure the connections are successful.

  3. ESS user accounts must be created. You have two ways (or a combo of the two) of handling this:

    1. Recommended: Local, 2FA or External Auth Users may self register, especially those who do not need additional roles. It will create their ESS User account (automatically pulling their USPS info and assigning the default User role.) NOTE: In order to self register, each user must be notified ahead of time of the district’s username format (i.e. first initial last name) and the user’s USPS employee number.

      1. NOTE: If your district uses External Authentication, please ensure your ESS username matches your External Authentication username and ensure the ‘externally authenticated’ box is selected during self-register process.

      2. NOTE: For those that do not use External Authentication, self register process includes creating your own permanent password for ESS.

      3. NOTE: If the user needs additional ESS roles assigned to their account, the ITC (or district staff with Admin or District Manager role) will need to add the additional roles (either manually via User grid or via System>Mass Load).

    2. ITC (or district staff with Admin or District Manager role) can create all user accounts prior to making ESS available to staff. (Local, 2FA or External Auth ESS user accounts can be added manually via User grid or a CSV spreadsheet may be used to mass load users via System>Mass Load).  Please refer to the User Import Criteria in the Mass Load documentation for CSV format requirements. Once the user accounts are created, an additional step must be completed to create temporary passwords for local and 2FA users. Temporary Passwords can be created by:

      1. User creating the temporary password via 'forgot password link on the Login page. Forgot Password will then allow them to establish a permanent password.

      2. ITC (or district staff with Admin or District Manager role) can use Bulk Reset Passwords option from User grid. Please refer to the User documentation on how to bulk reset passwords.

  4. System>USPS Data Sync: Once user accounts are established, run the Position and Leave Balances Syncs and ensure they complete successfully. NOTE: When syncing positions, it will automatically sync employee data as well.

  5. Set up Groups/Group Chains

    1. If the district is initializing Leave Requests (and/or Timesheets) in ESS, under the User menu, Groups and then Group Chains must be created in order for leave requests/timesheets to flow through a workflow approval process. Please refer to the User chapter for more information on how to create Groups and Group Chains.

  • Further information on ESS roles is provided in the User guide on Kiosk/ESS Role Crosswalk as well as a guide to the ESS Menu Options available by Role.

  • Further information on ESS/Absence Management Integration is provided here.

  • More information on Timesheets is provided here.

  • Please refer to the November 2024 SSDT Newsletter for a list of mini recordings demoing the ESS menu based on a certain role(s). It may be helpful to share these recordings with new users of the software.