AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEESNATIONAL VETERANS AFFAIRS COUNCIL #53

Affiliated with the AFL - CIOMid-Term Bargaining Committee

Oscar L. Williams Jr., Chair2nd Exec. V-President29 Lake StreetDanville, IL 61832-6101

Bill Wetmore, Member Willie Haywood, Member3rd Exec. V-President 6th Dist. Rep., NVAC2319 Alava Court 17705 Garden Blvd.Waldorf, MD 20603 Cleveland, OH 44128

Jeff Sladek. Member13th Dist. Rep., NVACVAMC 3601 S. 6th Ave.Tucson, AZ 85723

Stephanie Starks, MemberNational Rep., NVACVAMC PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, PA 19104

July 9,2012

Leslie B. Wiggins, Deputy Assistant SecretaryOffice of Labor Management Relations (LMR)Department of Veterans Affairs810 Vermont Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20420

Subject: VA's time and Attendance System 01ATAS)

Dear Ms. Wiggins:

In accordance with Article 47, Section 2 C., of the Master Agreement the National VA Council#53 is formally demanding to bargain on VAT AS within the Department. Please provide theabove named Mid-Term Bargaining Committee with all information and/or data related to thisVA Handbook. The negotiations of this matter should normally begin no later than twenty (20)workdays after the Management Chief Negotiator in this receives our demand to bargain.

Please cease and desist any implementation until the bargaining obligation has been met. Thenamed NY AC's Mid-Term Bargaining Committee may request a briefmg over the cited subjectabove, before sending any proposals. If you have any questions please call me at (217) 554-4866.

Oscar L. Williams, Jr.Chairperson, Mid-Term Bargaining Committee2nd Executive Vice PresidentNational VA Council #53

cc: Alma L. Lee, President National VA Council #53NY AC Executive Committee

AFGE: Good Government We Are Ready

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRSDeputy Assistant Secretary for

OFFICE LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONSWashington DC 20420

Oscar L. Williams, Jr.2nd Executive Vice PresidentNational VA Council AFGE29 Lake StreetDanville, IL 61832

JUt e 3 1012

Dear Mr. Williams:

Below is information regarding VA's Time and Attendance System (VATAS):

1. What is VATAS?:

• VATAS (VA's Time and Attendance System) is a Commercial-off-the-Shelf(COTS), customizable, Web Based Time and Attendance System that willreplace the current decentralized Enhanced Time and Attendance (ETA)system. ,

• The primary COTS product is Kronos' webTA, and is used by over600,000 federal employees.

• VAT AS will be hosted external to the VA and will be managed by VACentral Office (Payroll/HR Systems Service).

• Nationwide rollout is scheduled to commence April 2013 and is scheduledfor completion in June 2013.

2. Benefits of VAT AS:

• Standardization of time and leave practices throughout the VA.• Time and Leave Data will be sent directly to DFAS.• Ability to generate accurate and consistent ad hoc reporting.• Reduces administrative costs by eliminating manual practices that exist

with the current legacy system.

3. Pilot Sites:

• Tomah Wisconsin (VHA) - Station 676• Reno Nevada (VBA) - Station 354• Santa Fe New Mexico (NCA) - Station 904• Bay Pines Florida (NCA) - Station 830• Austin Texas (FSC) - Station 104

4. Pilot Time Lines:

• October 1,2012 thruOctober 5,2012 - Payroll personnel (and maybeTimekeepers) travel to Financial Services Center, Austin TX to receiveVATAS training (Travel dates are September 30,2012 and October 6,2012).

Page 2.

• November 5,2012 thru December 1,2012 - Pilot Sites will participate inVATAS Pilot

o Two pay periods of testingo Stations will be processing time in VATAS and ETAo Employees will continue to be paid through ETA time and leave

data during pilot• December 2,2012 thru December 15,2012 - Evaluation of pilot site

activities and analysis of data to determine what went well and what needsto be fixed prior to going live.

5. Purpose of Pilot:

• The purpose of the pilot is to ensure that VATAS is able to process timeand leave for the VA. The pilot sites selected represents the full range ofemployees and work schedules for the VA and will test the full capabilitiesof VATAS. The selected sites will process time and attendance data inVATAS as well as in ETA during the pilot phase. Data processed throughVATAS will be sent to a test environment created by VA's payroll providerand will be used to generate mock salary payments. Upon completion ofthe pilot, results generated will be analyzed to determine what additionalchanges will need to be made to VATAS prior to a decision to proceedforth with implementation.

• Participants in the pilot will access VATAS to transact time and leavetransactions as well as continue to process time and leave through ETA.

6. Pilot Responsibilities:

Employee Responsibilities during pilot:• Recording requests for leave in VATAS and ETA.• Verifying time and attendance in VATAS and ETA.

Supervisor Responsibilities during pilot:• Reviewing and approving requests for leave and premium pay in

VATAS and ETA.• Certifying time and leave in VATAS and ETA.

Timekeeper Responsibilities during Pilot:• Ensuring time and leave data is correctly recorded on VATAS

timesheets as well as ETA.• Validating timesheets in VATAS.

Payroll Office Responsibilities during Pilot:• Working DFAS reports in both the production environment and the

VATAS test environment.• Processing corrected timecards in ETA and VATAS.

Page 3.

7. Pilot Training:

• Payroll personnel will be trained on the following VATAS roles during theOctober 1-5, 2012 training:

o Station/Duty Payroll Administratoro Station/Duty Station Payroll Technicianso SupervisorslT&L Approverso Timekeepers

• Payroll personnel will then be responsible for going back to pilot facilityand training additional payroll personnel as well as supervisorslT&Lapprovers, and timekeepers.

• Employees at Pilot sites will be provided access to web-based training onVATAS prior to the start of the Pilot.

8. Pilot Communications:

• Information regarding VATAS will be made available to Pilot sites startingin August 2012. It is anticipated that there will be several additional e-mailcommunications providing information on training and preparation for thepilot.

• All communications will be cleared through LMR/Unions prior to release toPilot Site.

9. Support to Pilot Sites:

• Support from Contractor, Financial Services Center, and VA Central Officewill be available to the pilot sites. As there are multiple locations, thesupport to the pilot sites will be remote from either Austin, TX orWashington, DC.

If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact RoyColes at (202) 461-6105 or Roy.Coles@va.gov. Any further questions should bedirected to Douglas Huth. Douglas can be reached at (303) 324-7754 orDouglas. Huth@va.gov.

Sincerely yours,

ReceivedJUl - 9 '2012 ~~.

Deputy As~~~~etaryfor Labor-Management Relations

Nat'" -,Midlonn llor!!,,", ..