Create, Edit and Archive Award Cycles Follow

Topics Covered
Award Cycle

Target Users
Local Staff Awards Coordinator and HRO

Required Permissions
HR Admin

How to Create, Edit and Archive an Awards Cycle

Cycles allow you to group annual award nominations together and define the required approvers. Multiple cycles can overlap, for example, you may have a spring cycle for Honor Awards and simultaneously, an LE Staff of the Quarter cycle because the two cycles require different JCAC members.  You can view, edit, add or archive cycles at any time.  It is important to note the EXEC role will be assigned each cycle, not under Mission Profile -Assign Roles.

Create an Awards Cycle

1. From the left hand menu, go to the Mission Admin Area and select the Cycles link.

2. To add a new  cycle, click the + New Cycle button.

3. A pop up window will appear with a form to fill out. The award cycle year and number must be a unique combination, to ensure this, OAS will auto-generate the Cycle Number. To make changes to the cycle, open the cycle and change any of the necessary fields. To extend a Cycle Closing Date or JCAC End Date open the pop-up calendar and change the date. Click Save to update the award cycle. 

Fill out each field as required.

Cycle Year determines the year of this award cycle.

Number unique number auto-generated by OAS and assigned to this awards cycle.

Name the awards cycle which will be visible in OAS.

Call Date is the date HR sends out the call for nominations.

Opening Date is the first day HR will be able to assign nominations to this cycle.

Closing Date is the first day the cycle is closed and HR will no longer be able to assign nominations.

JCAC Start Date is the first day JCAC members can view and vote on nominations added to the cycle.

JCAC End Date is the first day the JCAC members will no longer be able to view and access nominations to vote.

Ceremony is the name of the awards ceremony. You must first create a ceremony before assigning a ceremony in the Cycle Settings.

4. Click the Posts & Roles button to define approvers for this cycle.

5. In Post Associated, click inside the text box to find the Posts you can assign to this cycle. Only nominations from the Posts selected will be eligible to be assigned to this cycle.

6. Define each user role in this cycle by typing the employee name next to each role in Cycle Assigned Roles. Then click Save to finish and return to the previous screen. 

A. EXEC Officer is a USDH role for the Chief of Mission or their designate. The EXEC Officer will have the final approval on each Annual Award. The EXEC role is only assigned in each award cycle.

B. Financial Analyst will enter the fiscal data for all cash awards. Usually this role is assigned to LE Staff, however, USDH can also be assigned this role as well. 

C. Finance Officer is a USDH role to review the fiscal data entered and verify the available funding for each award.

D. JCAC Chair is a USDH role responsible for reviewing votes entered by the JCAC Members and signing-off on nominations with a recommendation of action for the EXEC Officer. You will receive a warning pop-up each time you add or remove a JCAC Member to let you know that changing a JCAC Member will affect the nominations which are still in the JCAC Pending status.

When removing a JCAC Member, their votes will be removed if they have recorded a vote on a nomination and it has not yet been Signed-off by the JCAC Chair. If you add a JCAC member, they will be required to vote on all nominations which have not been Signed-off by the JCAC Chair. 

E. JCAC Member can be assigned to anyone with access to OAS to review and vote on each nomination assigned to this award cycle.

F. Mission Timekeeper is responsible for managing the approved time-off awards are recorded in the T&A system.

7. Go back to the Basic & Dates tab on Cycle Settings and click Cycle Award Type Settings at the top of the page to define specific awards for this cycle.

8. Clicking Cycle Award Type Settings will take you to the page which is where you will define awards to be assigned to this cycle. Only Annual Awards which are defined in your Global Mission Award Type Settings will be available for you to select to use for this cycle.

9. You will need to select the award types you want to be able to assign to this cycle by clicking on the Active toggle next to each award type. If the toggle is set to blue, then the award is Active. If the toggle is greyed out it is Inactive. 

10. Click on the Edit Icon to edit the award details. You will not be able to update the Criteria for any award from Cycle Award Type Settings, this can only be done from the Global Mission Award Type Settings. IMAP awards cannot have the criteria edited.

Edit an Awards Cycle

Often times you may need to make changes to your Awards Cycle, this can be done at any point before, during or after the saved dates in the Cycle Settings. You can adjust the dates of the award cycle to extend an action or close earlier if your timeline changes. 

1. From the Mission Admin Area, click on Cycles.

2. Select the cycle you want to edit by clicking on the Pencil icon in the Action Column.

3. Once the cycle is opened you can change the settings depending on the tab you choose.

In the Post & Dates tab, you can change all of the fields except the Cycle Year and Number.  You can extend the cycle to allow for more time to process the awards. Click the Cycle End Date and/or the JCAC End Date.

To update roles or add/remove a Post, click on the Posts & Roles tab. Edit any role by either typing a name in the field to add a new user or click on the X in their name to remove a user from a role. You may also add or remove a Post from a cycle by doing the same. Click Save when you are finished.

4. Your cycle is very flexible and can be changed even after the cycle is underway. 

Archive an Awards Cycle

Once you are finished using a cycle, you may want to archive the cycle so it no longer appears in your Awards Cycle list. Click on Cycles from the Mission Admin Area and you will see your Awards Cycle list of all available cycles. 

Click on the Pencil Icon in the Action Column to edit the cycle.

Once the Cycle is open, go to the bottom of the page and click on the Archive toggle, then click Save.

This will remove the cycle from your Awards Cycle List and make the cycle unavailable. If you need to access this cycle again, use the drop-down menu and select Archived to view the archived cycles. 

Then type the name of the cycle in the Global Search Filter.

Click on the Pencil Icon in the Action Column to open the cycle.

Click on the Archive toggle, once the toggle is grey, click Save and the cycle will appear in the Awards Cycle List.

 

For additional help, please contact ISC at Post or ADG Support by selecting the ‘Submit a request’ button at the top of the page or by emailing adg-support@state.gov.
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