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Old 10-17-2016, 11:54 AM
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Post U. S. Coast Guard Direct Access Knowledge Base

U. S. Coast Guard- Direct Access Knowledge Base
RE: https://www.uscg.mil/PPC/gp/Whats_New.htm

Updated 13 October,2016

Note: If viewing this site on the CG Portal and the Table of Contents, Glossary or Index, are not displaying you'll need to turn off Compatibility View in Internet Explorer. Follow these steps:
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This page provides an overview of what has been recently changed or revised. The months below provide a rolling list of updates that have occurred over the last year. Also be sure to read PPC News Updates or join our mailing list for the latest updates to pay and personnel administration.
Logon address: https://portal.direct-access.us/
How to Use the Knowledge Base (A quick introduction to the features)
Navigation Guides and Demos (Getting around in MyPortalDirect)
New and Revised Procedures

Revised user guides:
My Panel Submissions -- Member and Endorser comments character limit is 1275 characters.
Special Duty Assignment Pay (SDAP) - Fiscal Year 2017 rates and authorizations added to PPC's website.
Clothing Allowance - Civilian - Fiscal Year 2017 rates added.
Clothing Allowance - Supplemental - Fiscal Year 2017 rates added.
Enlisted Clothing Maintenance Allowances - Fiscal Year 2017 rates added.
Absence Request Intro - "Paternity Leave" changed to "Spousal Leave".
Thrift Savings Plan Mailing Address: A new address type has been added to the system for TSP participants. All TSP participants must add a TSP mailing address to the system. The address must be added before you can enroll in the TSP, or if already participating, before you can change any contributions. The TSP mailing address may be the same as your home and/or mailing address. However, the address line (number and street for example) cannot exceed 25 characters. See the Thrift Savings Plan Mailing Address topic to learn how to add the TSP mailing address to your profile.
Timing of Thrift Savings Plan Contribution Transfers: TSP contributions are delivered to TSP on the first business day of the month. It can be up to five business days before your contribution posts into your TSP account.
Known Issues

New issues and/or status updates will be updated on this page as soon as we learn of them. Also see the list of DA 9.1 Known Issues.
Combat Tax Exclusion - Retroactive Transactions:

When a SPO enters a Combat Tax Exclusion transaction for retroactive start and/or stop dates in an already finalized pay calendar, the SPO MUST follow up with a PPC Customer Care Ticket requesting manual adjustment to the members tax balances.
Example - SPO enters a Combat Tax Exclusion transaction with a begin date of 1AUG2016, but the SPO didn't approve the transaction until 17AUG2016. The mid-AUG pay calendar (1st - 15th) has already been finalized, so the SPO must submit a PPC Customer Care Ticket so that PPC can manually adjust the members tax balances.
DA Programming Issue: 31ST Day of the Calendar Month (and 29TH OF FEB)

***Note: We reported, as of 29 July, that this issue had been resolved. However it has returned. Developers are researching the issue. Until they find a permanent fix, please adhere to the following guidance when inputting transactions with effective dates described below. Thank you!***
When entering ANYTHING that affects pay, and the effective date is the 31st calendar day of the month (or 29th of Feb), SPOs are directed as follows (failure to follow these steps will cause erroneous overpayments / debts):
Use the following day as the effective date (i.e. the 1st day of the following month); and,
Enter a detailed note in the Notepad to explain the true effective date; then,
Submit a ticket to PPC-DG-CustomerCare@uscg.mil to request manual credit / debit for the affected pay item, if necessary.
To be clear: DO NOT use the 31st calendar day of the month (or 29th of Feb) when entering ANYTHING that affects pay.
"ANYTHING" includes all deductions and all earnings - Forfeitures, reductions in pay-grade, CGSMR, BAH, BAS, promotions, etc.
*EXCEPTIONS:
Leave is not affected by this programming issue. You can enter Leave on the 31st of the month (and 29th of Feb).
Reserve Drills are not affected by this programming issue. You can enter drills on the 31st of the month (and 29th of Feb).
Reserve Orders are not affected by this programming issue; however, the accompanying pay items (i.e. BAH, etc.) that are based on order dates may be affected.
Overseas Housing Allowance/OUTCONUS Cost of Living Allowance - When starting OHA and/or OUTCONUS COLA be sure that the home addresses (in Direct Access Personal Information and Dependent Information) for the member and all eligible dependents are updated to reflect the OHA/COLA locality. This is important for audit and verification of the OHA entitlement. - When starting OHA and/or OUTCONUS COLA be sure that the home addresses (in Direct Access Personal Information and Dependent Information) for the member and all eligible dependents are updated to reflect the OHA/COLA locality. This is important for audit and verification of the OHA entitlement.
Recently added defects and workarounds:

My Coast Guard Member Information Report - Honors and Awards entered in 2012 or later are not appearing on the CG Member Information Report.

Training Individual - Currently only courses that are managed by sessions (courses managed by TQC and "A" Schools) can be entered in DA. Courses like the Airman Leadership School, Pre-Separation Counseling, ICS Courses, etc., cannot be entered in DA 9.1. If not entering a course impacts SWE eligibility (e.g. Airman Leadership School), submit a trouble ticket requesting a waiver for the SWE. All others, please retain the paperwork. We are working with CG-1 and CG-631 to have this functionality built into DA. We will let everyone know when it is available in DA.
Person Profile, Adding/Updating Courses and Training. Currently only courses that are managed by sessions (courses managed by TQC and "A" Schools) can be entered in DA. Courses like the Airman Leadership School, Pre-Separation Counseling, ICS Courses, etc., cannot be entered in DA 9.1. If not entering a course impacts SWE eligibility (e.g. Airman Leadership School), submit a trouble ticket requesting a waiver for the SWE. All others, please retain the paperwork. We are working with CG-1 and CG-631 to have this functionality built into DA. We will let everyone know when it is available in DA.

Contracts Do Not Always Update Service Dates. When completing contracts (Reenlistment and Extension), please ensure that you are following up to ensure the "Assigned Seniority Dates" in the "Job Labor" tab of Job Data is updated. We currently have over 180 reserve members with Expected Loss Dates that have passed (we will fix the ones we have identified). If the contract data does not update the Expected Loss Date, submit a trouble ticket to PPC.

Reservists Not Appearing on Roster (Resolved). Short-Term Reserve Active Duty Orders - Last year we sent out guidance stating to leave the "Duty Department" field on short-term reserve orders to the member's permanent duty station DEPT ID. Effective today, enter the Department ID of where the member will be performing their duty.


This will allow any pay auto-start/stops to work and keep an accurate history for the member's active duty assignments in DA. When short-term reserve orders to another DEPT ID are approved, they will show up in the gaining unit's Airport Terminal. For the duration of the orders, the member will not show up on the permanent unit's roster, they will show up at the unit they are performing active duty.


The member will show up on their permanent unit's roster when the orders are completed and sequence 99 on the order returns the member to their permanent position and department.

Enlisted Clothing Maintenance Allowances (CMA) (Resolved) - We had a programming issue with CMA not starting correctly for newly enlisted members. This has been fixed and members should see CMA, and any back pay, on their March 15, 2016 pay date.

Suspension of CG Standard Meal Rate (CGSMR) Deductions: New Form to Request Suspension of Coast Guard Standard Meal Rate (CGSMR) Deductions due to temporary Galley Closure - Federal law requires that when Uniformed Service personnel in receipt of a subsistence allowance or meal per diem and are furnished meals by government funded dining facilities (such as unit galleys, mess halls, or CGDFs), these members must pay for those meals. In cases where use of CG galleys is mandatory (sea duty aboard cutters with established CGDFs, at CG Class A Schools, or units where UPH residents are in designated ESM status), the Coast Guard has chosen to require payment for government-furnished meals through an automatic pay account deduction at the daily Coast Guard Standard Meal Rate (CGSMR). When members subject to automated pay account CGSMR deductions go on leave or TDY away from their units, pay account deductions for meals not provided are refunded to the member. In cases where the units galley is temporarily out-of-service and not able to provide meals, unit COs & OiCs may request that automated pay account CGSMR deductions be temporarily suspended for affected crewmembers until the unit galley is back in service and providing meals. To streamline the request process, the new Coast Guard Galley Temporary Closure/Suspend Collection of CG Standard Meal Rate (CGSMR) Deduction (CG-7220G) form has been introduced.

Prior to the date the unit galley goes out-of-service due to a temporary galley closure the command must request authority for temporary CGSMR deduction (former Discount Meal Rate (DMR) deductions) from Commandant (CG-1332). SPOs must not process requests from cutters or other commands to suspend automatic pay account deductions unless authority to do so has been granted by CG-1332 by memo or approved CG-7220G.

Commands shall submit requests to Commandant (CG-1332) using form CG-7220G (Coast Guard Galley Temporary Closure/Suspend Collection of CG Standard Meal Rate (CGSMR) Deduction) (http://www.uscg.mil/forms/cg/cg_7220g.pdf). Commandant (CG-1332) will review the request and, if approved, will process the CG-7220G and return it to the command, the command's SPO and PPC (MAS).

Some DD-214s Showing wrong component for Release From Active Duty (RELAD) Transactions: When members are RELAD and a DD-214 is not started until after the RELAD row has been built in Job Data, the DD-214 populates block 2 as "USCG RSV" instead of "USCG AD". Follow these steps to avoid this error:

Immediately after a RELAD type separation is submitted for approval, go to the DD-214 form in the Separations pagelet. Enter the member's employee and hit Search. Verify that block 2 (Dept, Comp & Branch) reads "Homeland Security: USCG AD" and save it. The DD-214 can be completed and finalized later. The DD-214 must be initiated (simply by opening it and saving it) BEFORE the RELAD transaction is approved or block 2 will show "USCG RSV".

Combat Tax Exclusion, Auto-Stop Upon PCS: The system isn't shutting down Combat Tax Exclusion (CTE) upon PCS departure. CTE entitlement ends on the day of PCS departure from a combat zone. SPOs must manually stop CTE when processing PCS transfers for members from combat zones until this programming discrepancy is corrected.

Reserve Active Duty Orders Overlapping PCS Orders: Prior to setting reserve active duty orders (any type) to a finished status, you must ensure that a PCS transfer was not executed at any time from when the member initiated the reserve active duty orders to when the orders are changed to a finished status. Failure to do so will put the member back into their previous unit DEPTID/POSNO. If member had PCS orders executed during this period, change the "Department" and "Position Number" fields in both the 98 and 99 rows to reflect the department/position number that the member was transferred to.

Procedures for Month-to-Month Aviation Career Incentive Pay (ACIP). The ACIP topic includes a special procedure to follow for month-to-month ACIP entitlements.

Officer Uniform Allowance: The Officer Uniform Allowance topic covers automatic and manual payments of these entitlements.

Career Sea Pay: There are three Action Requests used for Career Sea Pay in Direct Access. Review the Known Issues section of the Career Sea Pay topic to understand which action request to use.

Refund for Missed Meals (RMM): When completing Refund Missed Meals (RMM) transactions, do not cross pay calendars (ex. begin date of 10/28/2015 and end date of 11/5/2015), and do not future date beyond the current opened pay calendar.


The RMM transaction must include the dates for RMM payment, the specific reason for the payment of RMM, and list any leave taken during that period in the comments block. PAOs must not approve any RMM without the required comments.


Do not submit a RMM transaction for a period of leave. The member will be reimbursed meals via the leave transaction.

Double Leave Sold on Canceled Contracts: When an executed approved (does not apply to extension contracts that have not had the "Begin Extension" check box checked) contract that had leave sold on it is cancelled, the leave will be sold again when the cancellation transaction is approved. PPC will need to manually adjust the leave. When the cancelled contract is submitted in DA, it will be routed to PPC for approval. A ticket will need to be submitted to PPC informing us that a cancellation needs to be approved and that leave needs to be adjusted. You will need to attached all supporting documentation to the ticket.

Pay Corrections: Updated usage instructions for "Corrections". SPOs must not correct a payroll entitlement that has not processed through a payroll calculation yet. If you need to correct an entitlement that has not been fully processed yet, cancel it and resubmit it with the correct information.

DD-214 Block 4a. Grade, Rate or Rank: Enter the JOB CODE for the member's grade, rate or rank authorized upon separation. There have been a number DD-214 reissue requests submitted to PSC due to blocks 4a (Grade, Rate or Rank) and 4b (Pay Grade) being left at the default value of "N/A". This happens when the SPO doesn't enter a Job Code on the DD-214 worksheet data entry screen. Direct Access leaves this field blank for SPOs to complete because not all members separate or retire at their current pay grade. SPOs must confirm and enter the Job Code for the pay grade the member is to separate or retire.
Block 4a

Batch Printing of BAH Dependency Data Forms: The system was updated on 18 September 2015 to allow for printing of BAH Dependency Data forms by Unit or by SPO. Refer to the BAH Dependency Data Form printing guide for the procedure.

Known Issue/Work Around - Housing Allowance or COLA Change on the Last Day of Month: If there is a change that affects BAH, OCOLA, FSH, or OHA and the effective date is the LAST day of the month, DA 9.1 is not prorating the amount correctly. When an entitlement is started or stopped on the last day of the month the system will either debit or credit the previous 15 days.


Example, a married member getting BAH w/DEPN (spouse is only DEPN). Member gets divorced on 5/30. SPO enters a new BAH Row for 5/31 at w/o depns rate. DA will erroneously pay BAH w/o DEPN from 5/16 - 5/31. This only happens on transactions with effective day being the last day of the month.


Until DA programming is corrected, the SPO's are directed to start or stop the entitlement on the 1st day of the following month and make a note on the note pad that the entitlement's true start date is the last day of the previous month. Then submit a PPC Customer Care Ticket informing us of this action and PPC will manually credit/debit the member for the last day of the month accordingly.

Career Sea Pay: Changed auto starts/stops to reflect that Career Sea Pay will not auto-start for personnel reporting PCS to mobile units. The SPO must manually start Career Sea Pay for members assigned to mobile units in nonadministrative positions.

Approval during "Blackout" Exception for Drills, ADT-AT orders and short-term ADOS orders:

THE BELOW ONLY APPLIES TO DRILLS, ADT-AT ORDERS AND SHORT-TERM ADOS ORDERS AND PAY ENTITLEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ORDERS or DRILLS.


Short-Term Orders: If the ADT-AT orders or Short-Term ADOS orders have a begin or end date on/or after the SPO Data Entry/Approval date and BEFORE the Payroll Finalized Date, SPOs are authorized to approve the orders (put in "En route" or "Finished" status) and associated pay entitlements (e.g. BAH). DO NOT approve orders or entitlements on Payroll Finalize Date (it will cause payroll finalize to error out). ONLY orders with a begin data that falls within these specifics date ranges are authorized to be put in an "En route" or "Finished" status.


Drills: Inactive Duty for Training (IDT) Drills, Funeral Honors Duty (FHD), Readiness Management Periods (RMP), and Additional Training Periods (ATP) and any pay entitlements associated with the drills may be approved between the blackout dates. If the IDT, FHD, RMP, or ATP drills have a completed date on/or after the SPO Data Entry/Approval date and BEFORE the Pay roll Finalized Date, SPOs are authorized to approve the drills (put in "Completed - Yes" status (approved for payment)) and any associated pay entitlements (e.g. meals). Do not approve drills or pay entitlements on the Payroll Finalized Date - it will cause payroll finalize to error out. Only drills and associated pay entitlements with a completion date that falls within thse specific date ranges are authorized to be put in a "Completed - Yes" status (approved for payment).


To reiterate...ONLY DRILLS, ADT-AT ORDERS OR SHORT-TERM ADOS ORDERS AND ASSOCIATED PAY ENTITLEMENTS WITH A BEGIN OR END DATE THAT FALLS WITHIN THESE SPECIFIC DATE RANGES ARE AUTHORIZED TO BE APPROVED DURING THE BLACKOUT PERIOD.

Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) (30 June): Updated the "Global Pay Auto-Stops" section. SPOs must stop SGLI for members being released from active duty and transferring to the IRR who will not be drilling. SGLI deduction will continue to accrue for IRR members unless the SPO stops SGLI upon release from active duty.

Officer Uniform Allowance (22 Jun): System is not paying initial uniform allowance for officers. PPC will query the system and make payments to newly appointed officers (since 1/1/15).

Unit Roster - Sea balances are not displaying correctly. This is a known issues. Also, members with CGHRSVW role cannot view the "Sea Time Balances" pagelet. We are submitting a System Change Request (SCR) to allow it.

Reserve Points Calculation for Active Duty: Points for Active Duty are not being reflected correctly on the Reserve Points Statement. The system is adding two additional days to each calculation. System Change Request #38398 has been submitted to have the calculations corrected. There is no need for members or SPOs to report discrepancies at this time.

Career Sea Pay Premium for Officers (01E, O2E, and O3E) (27 May) - Officers in grades O1 - O6 that meet the criteria IAW Coast Guard Pay Manual, COMDTINST M7220.29 (series), Chap. 4-C. are entitled to Career Sea Pay Premium. This includes prior enlisted Officers (identified by Salary Plan OFE and grades O1E, O2E, and O3E). Currently, SPO users are unable to start Career Sea Pay Premium for prior enlisted officers, They receive this error: "Invalid Pay Grade for Career Sea Pay Premium (30003,93)". Workaround: Notify PPC (Customer Care) if you encounter this error (Provide the officer's employee ID and the CSPP start date). PPC (MAS) will manually start the entitlement.

Travel Orders Numbers and Accounting Data No Longer Included on Separation or Retirement Orders

Last Review Date/Negative Number error on CG Department Run - Some users are receiving the an error ("Negative number assigned to an unsigned field")when running the department run report and clicking "Last Review Dt". This error occurs when one of the employees in the report has a future dated employee review date, and therefore the calculation for the "Num Days" column results in a negative number. When the error occurs, the population of the review date and number of days stops at the point of the error and does not post for the remainder of the members on the report. It will not be uncommon for employees to have future dated employee reviews, so this report will be modified to accept a negative number.

Updated description for BAH Code "E". This code must be used when a single member is assigned leased housing and government (DOD or CG) owned Family quarters that have been converted to UPH. A member without dependents is not authorized BAH-Partial when assigned to Government leased quarters or Government family-type quarters. This includes family-type Government quarters that have been converted to single-type unaccompanied personnel housing (UPH) quarters

Updated User Guide: The "Retirement Orders" SPO user guide has been updated to note that Administrative Absences (processing point, job-hunting/relocation time, etc.) must not be entered in the Delay En Route section. List non-chargeable absences in the order notes/remarks.
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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