Salary Improvement Program (SIP) Instructions
The Salary Improvement Program (SIP) is administered mid-way through the annual budget cycle. SIP is based on guidelines delivered by the Office of Human Resources (OHR). Faculty programs are often college specific and the result of collaboration amongst college deans, the Provost and the University Budget Office. The staff program is based on OHR guidelines and applied university-wide.
The SIP module in CPBS allows you to enter a pay increase for both salaried and hourly employees. Once approved by the Board of Trustees, these pay increases are transmitted to the PeopleSoft HR/Payroll system, to be effective on the university-wide date established for SIP (usually July 1), unless a deferred award option is taken.
This year all awards must be entered into CPBS by May 5, 2008.
The instructions below include information on SIP award types, exceptions to typical SIP entries, and how the SIP cycle works. SIP training sessions include an overview of the SIP process, how to enter your SIP information into the system, and how to retrieve and use SIP budget standard reports using Brio-Hyperion.
- 1.0 The SIP Process
- 2.0 The SIP System
- 3.0 The SIP Screen
- 4.0 SIP Eligibility
- 5.0 SIP Award Types
- 6.0 Deferred Awards
- 7.0 Base Commitment Override
- 8.0 Annotation Field
- 9.0 Batch Load Option
1.0 The SIP Process
Each year, guidelines are developed for a university-wide staff salary improvement program. These guidelines are distributed by the Office of Human Resources to facilitate the administration of the program. Faculty salary improvement program guidelines are developed at a college-specific level to advance institutional faculty pay objectives. College-specific faculty market pay data is provided to college deans by the office of Institutional Research and Planning to inform the award process.
2.0 The SIP System
When you enter the SIP module in CPBS, you will be able to select a department listing by typing in the PeopleSoft Department ID code, or selecting your PeopleSoft Unit ID and Department ID from a drop-down list. The department listing displays all department employees that meet systematically prescribed eligibility criteria.
Editing a SIP record includes checking the SIP eligibility category for each employee, entering regular and/or deferred SIP awards, and possibly recording a note to assist in tracking the SIP process or a base compensation override for special circumstances.
Note that the compensation rate field is populated with the actual compensation rate for those employees flagged as inflated rate paid individuals (AIR). All SIP calculations are based on the actual compensation rate.
The total Effect on Compensation field within the SIP module tells you the final impact of the SIP award on account-level budgets. This impact will not be reflected in account-level budgets until an automated update process has been run toward the end of the budget process.
Any changes after the annual deadline will require separate processing with the HR/Payroll office. SIP awards are uploaded into the PeopleSoft HR/Payroll System in June prior to the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.
Note: Click here to open or download the Excel document SIP Calculation Worksheet (xls) for examples of the calculations on the SIP record edit screen in CPBS.
3.0 The SIP Screen
When viewing the SIP screen, you will see non-editable personnel data from the PeopleSoft HR/Payroll system. If this information is incorrect, you will need to change it through a separate personnel transaction with HR. The job commitment displayed on the SIP screen should correspond with the job commitment displayed in the CPBS workforce planning module.
4.0 SIP Eligibility
Records for employees who are SIP eligible are automatically loaded into the SIP module based on systematically applied criteria (employee is active and in PeopleSoft on March 1st). Records flagged as any one of the following SIP Eligible flags within the CPBS workforce planning screen are loaded into the SIP module. The employment categories for the SIP eligible flag are:
- Non-Faculty Academics (A)
- Faculty (F)
- Exempt Staff (E)
- Non-Exempt (N)
- Not Evaluated or blank (W) - This classification is a system setting used to identify records that have not been evaluated for SIP eligibility. These records were added to PeopleSoft (or changed positions within PeopleSoft) and CPBS after the process was run to set eligibility on March 3rd.
- Executives (Z)- You should never see these records. These employees have SIP awards that are approved by the Board of Trustees and applied centrally.
You may change the eligibility selection to be ineligible and that person’s record will no longer be displayed in SIP module. This should be done if the person is categorically ineligible for SIP, such as individuals on temporary or term appointments. If you need to change a person’s record from ineligible to eligible, please contact Rose Wright rfw1@cornell.edu to have the record set to an 'eligible' employment category.
5.0 SIP Award Types
The SIP award is categorized by three different types that will sum up to a total SIP award.
"Merit" reflects the value of any merit increase and is usually the most commonly used type. This type includes satisfactory performance, discretionary merit, and exceptional performance awards.
Increase to Minimum ("Incr to Min") reflects the value of any increase to the university-wide pay band minimum.
"Equity" reflects the value of any market equity increase.
The total of all three award types is the total SIP award planned for an employee. It is important to use the award categories correctly. Most departments will have the majority of their SIP awards in the "Merit" field.
For salaried employees, SIP awards are entered in whole dollar amounts related to annual rates. For example, a salaried employee making $40,000 with a pay band minimum increase ("Incr to Min") of $1,100 and a merit increase ("Merit") of 3%, should have the following entries:
"Merit" = $1,200
"Incr to Min" = $1,100
"Equity" = 0
Total SIP Award = $2,300
SIP awards for hourly employees should be entered in dollars and cents related to hourly rates. For example, an hourly employee making $15.00 per hour with a merit increase of 4% and a market equity increase of $.30 per hour should have the following entries:
"Merit" = $0.60
"Incr to Min" = 0
"Equity" = $0.30
Total SIP Award = $0.90
When you enter the dollar amounts for the awards, the system will calculate and display the effective percentage increase of the total award. However, you cannot enter a percentage and have the system calculate the dollar amount of the award.
For information pertaining to SIP calculations for faculty on sabbatic, see the Excel document "How to Budget Sabbaticals" (xls).
6.0 Deferred Awards
SIP awards are automatically loaded into the PeopleSoft HR/Payroll system and take effect on the university-wide date selected to start SIP for the fiscal year (July 1). However, in some circumstances, you may wish to enter an award that will start later in the fiscal year. The Deferred Award box in the SIP module is used to record a planned SIP award that will not take place on the university-wide date. Entering a value for a deferred award will affect the calculated job commitment in the workforce planning and financial planning modules once SIP awards are visible in those modules, but will not generate an entry into the PeopleSoft HR/Payroll system.
Deferred awards must be completed using a separate personnel transaction with HR/Payroll in order to make those awards effective on the date you select.
7.0 Base Commitment Override
There is a base commitment override feature available in the SIP module. You may find this necessary to fine-tune the calculation of the overall commitment, or when there are special circumstances (for example, a planned unpaid leave of absence during the fiscal year).
8.0 Annotation Field
The “SIP Note” field is an optional entry field that allows you to enter notations to facilitate the tracking of SIP awards within your department, unit or college. The notation field allows up to 50 characters. The notes are not transmitted to PeopleSoft and will not be reflected in the employee’s record. However, they are transmitted to the workforce planning budget data mart for query and reporting purposes. Central users and others with security for your department are able to see the notations in the budget data mart. Therefore, the notations should be brief and pertain to the calculation of the SIP award. Care should be exercised to not include sensitive comments. You may want to enter notations when calculating awards for employees on leave, on reduced or partial hours, or other special circumstances.
The Office of Human Resources has asked that all eligible employees who are not receiving a salary increase have an explanatory note.
9.0 Batch Load Option
Larger units and colleges may elect to load award data into the SIP system through a batch load process. Requests to use this option must be made no later than March 28 2008; send request to Rose Wright, rfw1@cornell.edu.
For More Information Contact:
Rose Wright
rfw1@cornell.edu