You may not have noticed, but you've been part of a unique "pilot" project related to your personnel records and notices of personnel actions. "The fact that most Customs employees haven't missed receiving an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, when they received their pay adjustments or were reassigned or promoted speaks well for our ground breaking approach," says Robert Smith, Assistant Commissioner, Human Resources Management (HRM).

Customs processes personnel actions using Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rules and regulations, which require agencies to use the SF-50 to notify employees about personnel actions and as key documentation in employees' Official Personnel Folders (OPFs). Now, those rules have been changed for Customs.

Barbara Zakrison, Director, Personnel Systems Group, and Veronica Gilmore, Director, Employee Services Division, with just two pay periods worth of SF-50s.

"OPM has approved Customs as the first federal agency authorized to completely eliminate use of the decades old SF-50 process," says Smith. "Our creative combination of personnel actions' e-mail notifications and employee transcripts does the job better, faster, and more economically."

Before the pilot began in 1997, January's pay adjustment required HRM to distribute about 19,000 paper SF-50s to employees and administrative field offices. The pilot's goal was to explore the potential of eliminating the printing, filing, and distribution of more than 60,000 SF-50s annually.

With OPM's approval, Customs implemented the e-mail notifications and employee transcript pilot process in October 1997 at two Customs Management Centers and Headquarters. The test was expanded in August 1998 to include all Customs employees and has continued with OPM's recent approval.

Says Smith, "The test went exceptionally well. Survey results indicated that the overwhelming majority of Customs employees were satisfied with the new process. Now, OPM has put its stamp of approval on our new process."

All about e-mail notifications An automated e-mail notification of most of your processed personnel actions is sent to you within 2 days after the pay cycle ends. In a few situations such as when an employee enters on duty or separates from Customs or uses extended leave without pay, we mail an Employee Transcript to your home address rather than sending an e-mail notification. The "Subject" line of the e-mail is Notice Of Personnel Action and includes such information as the nature of the personnel action processed (e.g., 894 Pay Adj, 893 Within Grade Inc, 702 Promotion) and the effective date of the action. Total salary, pay plan information, and duty station may be included on certain personnel actions. The e-mail also reminds you that additional information can be found on your next Earnings and Leave Statement and that you may request a transcript dating back to September 28, 1997, by replying to the e-mail. All about employee transcripts An annual transcript is mailed to your home each February and includes a chronological listing and summary of your personnel actions processed in the prior calendar year up to the most recent action. Award information will only appear on your annual transcript. To request a transcript at other times during the year, send an e-mail to Actions, HRM Personnel or contact the Employee Services Division at 202.927.3900. It will include all of your personnel actions dating back to an effective date of September 28, 1997. Other agencies will accept a copy of your last transcript instead of an SF-50 when you apply for their positions. But if you need an even more recent transcript, just request one. The official record of all your personnel actions is stored electronically; when you separate from Customs, a transcript will be filed in your OPF.