Listed below are the available configuration settings for the ESS application.

Role: District Manager or Admin role.

Absence Management District Configuration

In order for a district to integrate ESS with Frontline’s Absence Management (AESOP) application, the AESOP District Configuration needs to be enabled.

• More information on the Absence Management Integration is listed here.

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• Enable Absence Management Integration: Enables the integration of ESS with Frontline’s Absence Management system.

• API Key: Used for Employee Self Service/Absence Management integration. Provided by Frontline.

• Leave Balance Sync

  • Enable Leave Balance Sync (Push) to Absence Management: If enabled, it will sync employee leave balance information between Absence Management and ESS.

  • Scheduled Leave Balance Sync Time: By default, Absence Management leave balances are synced with ESS weekly (Friday at 7:00 PM). If your district would prefer a different time period, it will allow you to select a Time, day of the Week, and Period (Weekly, Biweekly) to run the AESOP Leave Balance Sync job.

• Absence Sync

  • Enable Absence Sync (Pull) to Absence Management: If enabled, it will sync absences from Absence Management to ESS. For the initial pull, ESS will pull in Absence Management absence requests with dates up to 60 days prior to the integration date and 90 days after. After initial pull, the scheduled job will pull every 15 minutes. When performing the initial pull, the absences with dates prior to the integration date will either be pulled in as ‘approved’ if they are not in an AESOP approval workflow or as ‘initiated’ if they are in an approval work flow. If districts do encounter duplicate leave requests in ESS as a result of the initial pull, they can either cancel the duplicate leave requests in ESS or export them (via the CSV export method) and do not import the CSV fie into USPS.

  • Org ID: Organization identification number. Provided by Frontline.

  • Vendor ID: Vendor Identification number. Provided by Frontline.

  • Vendor Pin: Vendor Personal Identification Number. Provided by Frontline.

  • The following Template IDs are provided by Frontline.

    • Absence Data Template:

    • Absence Data for Update Template

    • Absence Cancelled/Deleted (Absence Log Data) Template

    • Absence Updated (Absence Log Data Template

    • Substitute Assigned (Absence Log Data) Template

    • Substitute Removed (Absence Log Data) Template

    • Employee Information Template

    • School Information Template

    • Absence Reason Type Template

  • Enable Absence Management (AESOP) Data Integration Flag - STAFF ID: Checkmark if it was checked in district’s Kiosk application it is a way that AESOP uses inside of their integration systems to confirm users within all their other systems.

NOTE: You may have an extra template ID # from Frontline called ‘Absence Approved’ that is not found in the Absence Management Configuration window. This template ID# is currently not used in Employee Self Service. The data found in this template isn’t for any business logic in ESS and is not included in the configuration.

Application Configuration

This configuration option will default to Production with External Notifications and User Jobs enabled unless the APPLICATION_INSTANCE_TYPE is updated in the Docker Configuration. When configuring Non-Production instances (training/demo) this can be used to prevent scheduled jobs or notifications from sending from both the live database and test database. Uncheck the corresponding check box to disable External Notifications or User Job Execution.

• "External Notification Enabled":  If this option is disabled, then any "notifications" (email, FTP, etc) which are addressed to any non-local system will be disabled.   Internal notifications or notifications involving "localhost" will remain enabled.

• "User Job Execution Enabled":  If this option is disabled, all jobs scheduled by users in this instance will not execute at the scheduled time.

The above options default to "enabled" when the APPLICATION_INSTANCE_TYPE is set to "Production".  All other instance types will default to disabling both external notifications and user jobs

For additional information see the Redesign Technical Documentation page for How to Configure Non-Production Instances. ?

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Data Change Email Configuration

If data change requests are configured for the district, the data change email configuration must be configured (select ‘enabled notifications for Data Change Submissions’) in order for data change managers to receive email notifications when employee data change requests have been submitted. This option also allows you to customize the verbiage on the default emails sent if preferred.

Default Substitute for Appointment Type Configuration

• Certificated: When checked, the ‘Substitute Needed’ on the certificated employee’s leave request will always be checked, by default, regardless of the type of leave selected on the leave request. When submitting leave, they won’t have the option of unchecking ‘Substitute Needed’.

• Classified: When checked, the ‘Substitute Needed’ on the certificated employee’s leave request will always be checked, by default, regardless of type of leave selected on the leave request. When submitting leave, they won’t have the option of unchecking ‘Substitute Needed’.

ESS Functionality Configuration

Select the ESS functionality available for a district. NOTE: You will receive a pop-up when saving “NOTE: This change may not take full effect until page is refreshed. Click here to refresh”. Once you refresh, the change will take place.

• Announcement Board:  If selected, it displays the Announcement Board panel on the Home screen.

• Data Change Requests: If selected, ‘Create New Data Change Request’ will be available for users to request data changes to be made on their Employee Profile record.

• Employee Time Sheet: If selected, it displays Timesheet capabilities on the menu for timesheet enabled users to create timesheets in ESS

• Leave Analysis Parameters: If selected, for Supervisor roles, it displays ‘Supervised Leave Analysis' option under Leave Requests menu. For Leave Manager role, it displays ‘District Leave Analysis’ under Leave Management menu. Provide supervisors and leave managers the ability to view leave balance information (as well as leave request details) for their staff/district.

• Leave Requests: If selected, it displays the Leave Requests capabilities on the menu in order for users to create leave requests in ESS.

• Payslips: If selected, it displays the View/Print Payslip option on the menu in order for users to view and/or download payslip information that came from USPS.

• Substitute Needed: Currently, not in use. It will be removed with ESS-425.

• W2 Wage and Tax Statements: If selected, it displays the View/Print W2 option on the menu in order for users to view and/or download W2 information that came from USPS.

Email Configuration

If using Leave Request Approval workflows in ESS, the email configuration must be configured in order for users and approvers to receive email notifications.

• Application Link is the full URL to the district’s Employee Self Service application. When filled in, leave request and timesheet emails will include the link in the email. Without the URL, no link to the application will be included in the leave request or timesheet emails.

• Default Administrator Address is not being used at this time.  It is potentially to be used for reporting outages or email replies from an administrator but this is not something that has been implemented at this time. This can be left either as "root" or can be left blank and emails generated from the software (jobs) will come from the Default From Address.  (The Default Administrator Address could be something like "root@mx.servername.com.)

• Default From Address is a valid Email Address of the sender. It will be used when sending emails from the application.

• The SMTP Host and Port information must also be entered for emails to be sent. Generally, the Port and SMTP Host information would be known by the ITC. (The port is often, but not always 25).

• Username and Password: (optional) login credentials if required to access the mail server

• Enable Start TLS is an email security protocol. For example, the box should be checked if the district has MS Exchange Office 365 with SMTP authentication enabled. 

Employee Profile Configuration

Controls what is displayed under a user’s Employee Profile. All options are selected by default.

If the following are selected, they will display under the Profile tab on the Employee Profile record:

• show ID Information

• Show Name Information

• Show Other Information

If the following is selected, it will display under the Contact Info tab on the Employee Profile record:

• Show Contact Information

If the following is selected, it will display under the Dates tab on the Employee Profile record:

• Show Employee Dates Information

If the following are selected, they will display under the Qualifications tab on the Employee Profile record:

• Show Experience Information

• Show Qualification Information

Forgot Password Configuration

Allow you to change the forgot password settings. Default settings are displayed below but can be changed if necessary.

• NOTE: Local Authentication only

• Minimum Minutes until Expiration that can be set is 5 minutes

• Minimum Temporary Password length that can be set is 8 characters.

Job Status Configuration

Determines the job statuses on employee’s position that are displayed in Position Details and when creating a leave request. The statuses are pulled from USPS and may include Active, Deceased, Inactive and Terminated status, depending on if it is selected (checkmarked).

Example: If only ‘show active’ is selected on the Job Status Configuration:

• when viewing a user’s position details, only positions that have a job status of ‘active’ in USPS will be displayed on their Position Details record.

• when creating a leave request, the user can only select from positions that have a job status of ‘active’ in USPS.

• when viewing a leave calendar, it will only display leave requests that have an associated ‘active’ position on the calendar

• when viewing leave requests on the leave requests grid, all leave requests will be displayed regardless of the associated position’s job status.

Leave Balance Details Configuration

Controls the columns displayed under a user’s Leave Information>Leave Balances tab. All boxes are checked by default.

• Show Accumulation Max: If deselected, ‘Absence Max’ column is removed

• Show Balance: If deselected, ‘Balance’ column is removed

• Show Beginning Balance: If deselected, ‘Beginning Balance’ column is removed

• Show Leave Type: If deselected, ‘Leave Type' column is removed

• Show Monthly Accrual: If deselected, ‘Monthly Accrual’ is removed

• Show Unit: If deselected, ‘Unit’ is removed.

Leave Expenses Configuration

• Used primarily for Professional Leave requests if the district prefers employees fill out estimated leave expenses when creating their leave request. The configuration settings allow you to control what is displayed in the Leave Expense area of the leave request. For more information on how to include the Leave Expense area when creating a specific type of leave request, please refer to the Leave Type Configuration’s Capture Expense option.

• Mileage Rates: You can enter a mileage rate for certified and classified staff. Entering a mileage rate in certified will apply to staff with an appointment type of certified and the classified rate will apply to staff with an appointment type of classified.

• If the following are selected:

  • Show Budget Account Approvers: Displays ‘Budget Account Codes’ section on leave request form in order to allow approvers the ability to enter/edit registration, lodging and/or mileage budget accounts on their staff’s leave requests prior to approving it.

  • Show Budget Acct Everyone: Displays ‘Budget Account Codes’ section on leave requests form in order for the originator to enter their registration, lodging and/or mileage budget accounts on their professional leave request form.

  • Show Estimated Costs: Displays ‘Estimated Costs’ section on the Leave Expense area of the leave request

  • Show Event Location Displays ‘Event Location’ section on the Leave Expense area of the leave request

  • Show Leave Purpose: Displays ‘Purpose of Leave/Leave Description’ section on the Leave Expense area of the leave request

  • Show Vendor Location: Displays 'Vendor Location' section on the Leave Expense area of the leave request.

Leave Request Workflow Configuration

Allows you to customize the verbiage on the default emails sent during the leave request workflow approval process. Variables listed in image below are included in the following email details. Please click on the arrow to view the details of each email.

• Request Submitted Email Details: Email sent to Leave Request Submitter when their leave request has been initially submitted.

• Approver Email Details: Email sent to each approver in a group when a leave request requires their approval.

• Request Approval Email Details: Email sent to Leave Request Submitter when their leave request has been approved.

• Request Rejection Email Details: Email sent to Leave Request Submitter when their leave request has been rejected.

• Escalated Approval Email Details: Email sent to Leave Request Submitter when their leave request has gone through escalated approval.

Leave Time Configuration

Ability to set the leave time increments for daily and hourly leave increments when creating a leave request. Recommendation: should be set the same way it is configured in USPS

Daily Increments:

• No restrictions

• 1/4 day

• 1/2 day

• 1 day

Hourly increments

• No restrictions

• 1/4 hour

• 1/2 hour

• 1 hour

Leave Type Configuration

If your district has configured the use of Leave Requests, the Leave Type Configuration option will allow you to further define each leave type.

Listed below are the available Leave Type Configuration options:

• Available Leave Types: By default, all leave types are checked. If your district does not want to implement one or more of the leave types listed, uncheck the desired leave type(s) and it will not appear as a listed leave type when creating a leave request.

• Reason Required: If checked on specific leave type(s), it will require users to enter a Reason when creating a leave request.

• Default Substitute Needed: If specific leave type(s) requires a substitute, check the appropriate leave type(s) and the ‘Substitute Needed’ box will be checked automatically when creating a leave request. Once the leave request has been submitted, the ‘Substitute Needed’ box cannot be unchecked.

• Capture Expense: If specific leave type(s) requires estimated expenses to be defined, check the appropriate leave type(s) and the Leave Expenses area will be displayed in the leave request allowing the user to enter estimated expenses.

• Sub Category Required: If you require staff to select a sub category for specific leave type(s), check the appropriate leave type(s). Additional prompting will be provided in the leave request where the user can select a sub category. Sub Categories are defined under the Leave Management menu.

• Disallow Blackout Date: If you want to restrict leave requests from being created for black out dates (defined under the Leave Management menu) for specific leave type(s), check the appropriate leave type(s). TIP: Please refer to USPS calendars for the black out dates that need to be created in ESS.

• Required Cancellation Reason: For specific leave types, if you require staff enter a reason when canceling an existing leave request, check the appropriate leave type(s).

• Disallow Negative Balances: If you want to restrict leave requests from being created due to negative leave balances, please check the appropriate leave type(s).

Password Expiration Configuration

Ability to set the password expiration on a user account. If set (i.e. 90 days), when a user selects the ‘change password’ option in ESS, it will auto populate the password expiration date field to a date 90 days after the created date. The user’s password will expire on the password expiration date and the user will be required to change the password after this date. NOTE: This will not affect users with Active Directory accounts.

You may select No Expiration, 30 Days, 90 Days or 180 Days.

Payslip Configuration

If payslips are enabled for the district, it will, by default, pull all payslips from USPS, including the archived payslips from Classic USPS and display them in the employee’s Payslip grid. If the district doesn’t wish to include the archived Classic USPS payslips, you can uncheck ‘Include Archived Payslips', and the Classic USPS payslips will no longer be displayed under the user’s payslip grid.

Position Details Configuration

Controls what is displayed under a user’s Position Details.

Please refer to the image below. If any of the following fields are deselected in the Position Details Configuration, those fields will no longer be displayed under the user’s position details record in ESS.

NOTE: Compensation Pay Rate should be the Unit Amount from USPS'

Timesheet Configuration

Controls the Time Entry Precision in order to increase/decrease ‘Hours Worked’ and ‘Break Time’ on a timesheet employee’s form, enable overtime reason to be required and select if an email notification should be set when a timesheet has been edited.

• The Time Entry Precision option sets the increment for the Hours Worked and Break Time number fields in the user’s Timesheet form.

  • Hourly increments

    • No restrictions

    • 1/4 hour

    • 1/2 hour

    • 1 hour

• The Require Reason for Overtime Items option determines if lines items that have a Timesheet Activity of type “Overtime” require a reason to be entered.

• Email User on Timesheet Edit: When enabled, the timesheet submitter will receive an email notifying them if another user (i.e. approver) has edited their timesheet.

Timesheet Period Close Configuration

If a district would like their timesheet periods to close automatically, the ‘Automatically Close Periods’ setting must be selected. The district can then specify how many days after the period ending date the timesheet period will be closed. For example, if the timesheet end date is 09/28, and the ‘days after end date to close’ is set to 3 days, the period will automatically close on 10/1.

This setting applies to both manually and automatically created timesheet periods. The maximum ‘days after the the end date to close’ is 7 days.

Timesheet Workflow Configuration

Allows you to customize the verbiage on the default emails sent during the timesheet workflow approval process. Variables listed in image below are included in the following email details. Please click on the arrow to view the details of each email.

• Timesheet Submitted Email Details: Email sent to Timesheet Submitter when their timesheet has been initially submitted.

• Approver Email Details: Email sent to each approver in a group when a timesheet requires their approval.

• Timesheet Approval Email Details: Email sent to Timesheet Submitter when their timesheet has been approved.

• Timesheet Rejection Email Details: Email sent to Timesheet Submitter when their timesheet has been rejected.

• Escalated Approval Email Details: Email sent to Timesheet Submitter when their timesheet has gone through escalated approval.

White List Configuration

Whitelisted URLs are managed under the ‘Custom Links’ menu option and appear on the Home screen under Custom Links. If a website has been whitelisted, once a user clicks on it from the Home screen, they will be taken directly to the new site on click. For websites that have not been whitelisted, a dialog box will appear to warn the user they are navigating to the website. If a district would prefer only White List links to appear on the Home Screen, they can check the Show White List Links Only under the White List Configuration menu.