Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to notify agencies of the approach to Agency Testing and Training; the Agency Testing Schedule; the information that will be used to measure readiness; and the resources available for assisting agency staff with testing.

Affected Employees

All agency PayServ users are affected.

Background

OSC is preparing to upgrade PayServ from PeopleSoft version 9.1 to version 9.2. Agency participation is required during Agency Testing and Training, which will take place from December 7 – 18, 2020. During Agency Testing and Training, all agency PayServ users will be granted access to a test environment for PayServ v 9.2. Agency users will be able to test activities they deem to be important and will be required to test a set of activities OSC Payroll has identified as necessary to measure agency readiness.

Effective Dates

Agency Testing and Training will take place from December 7, 2020 to December 18, 2020.

Testing

Online Testing

Agencies will test one or two abbreviated payroll cycles over the two weeks of Agency Testing and Training. The Agency Testing Schedule provides details on the dates and activities for testing. This schedule provides an outline of the timeline for testing and the required activities identified by OSC that must be completed in order for agencies to be considered ready for v 9.2.

File Interface Testing

Agencies that receive Master Files, or that submit Automated Interface or Time Entry files will be required to test those files during Agency Testing and Training. Other agency files will also be available during the test period. Agencies will need to request the files by emailing the Payroll Improvement Project mailbox.

Vendor File Interface Testing

OSC will conduct formal interface testing with vendors who have requested it between December 7 and 18, 2020, during Agency Testing and Training.

Check Dates

Agency Testing and Training will use check dates 09/10/20 (Inst) and 09/16/20 (Admin).

Agency Readiness Assessments

Coordination

During the testing effort, OSC will evaluate agency readiness for v 9.2. Agency Testing Coordinators (ATCs) have been identified who will act as liaisons between OSC and agency testers. There are 29 ATCs who each represent an agency or group of agencies. The items that OSC identified as required for readiness will be monitored throughout Agency Testing and Training. ATCs have worked with OSC Change Management staff to select specific agencies that will be tracked by query and through ATCs, and whose participation will be used to create Agency Scorecards at the end of testing.

Scorecards

Scorecards will be made up of three sections intended to assess readiness and participation:

1. Key Transactions - This section focuses on transactions that have changes in v 9.2. Testing these transactions will ensure agencies are comfortable with the process changes. Agencies will be required to complete each of these transactions that they currently do in v 9.1.
2. File Transfers - This section verifies agencies and OSC can send, receive, and consume files seamlessly. Testing select files will ensure successful file sharing in v 9.2. Agencies that currently use them will be required to test the Master File (NHRP501), Time Entry (NPAY502), and Automated Interface (NHRP573 and 574) files.
3. Query Cleanup - This section is meant to ensure agencies’ PS Queries have been identified for migration to v 9.2 and that, after conversion, queries continue to run accurately.

Scorecards will be updated throughout Agency Testing and Training and will be made available to agencies once the testing period has concluded.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin, or any aspect of the project, may be directed to the Payroll Improvement Project mailbox. Please reference Bulletin No. PIP-009 in the Subject line of the email.