jdean@govexec.com
The Interior Department Friday began a six-month pilot program that,
if successful, will add human resources automation services to its
widely used Federal Personnel Payroll System (FPPS).
The pilot will automate services such as applicant tracking, training
management and skills analysis.
"Interior has had significant downsizing in our personnel
management component," said Timothy Vigotsky, director of
Interior's National Business Center. "Our personnel staff wanted
additional resources. This project answers that need."
FPPS, an online payroll system, serves all 66,000 Interior employees.
In addition, FPPS entrepreneurs have garnered the payroll business of
agencies such as the Education Department, the Federal Trade Commission
and the Social Security Administration, who outsource their payroll
needs to FPPS. As a result, FPPS handles the payroll for over 200,000
federal employees throughout the government.
Interior is working with all eight of its internal bureaus, including
the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S.
Geological Survey, on the pilot. SAP Public Sector and Education Inc.,
will integrate its software with the help of Integrated Concepts and
Research Corp.
True to the entrepreneurial spirit of the FPPS crew, the new human
resources components of the system could be used to market FPPS to even
more agencies for payroll and human resources-related processing.
But "our number one focus is Interior," Vigotsky said.
"After Interior is taken care of, then we can take a look at
marketing FPSS's new functionality to other agencies."