Departments are responsible for the timely registration of employees who become entitled to a priority in appointment. To register, departments complete the PIMS electronic Registration Form and submit it to the PSC for activation. Departments also submit requests to update or remove existing registrations. Finally, departments can cancel requests that have not yet been activated by the PSC; such submissions result in the immediate removal of the cancelled request.
The PSC reviews all requests for registration, updates and removals upon receipt,
to ensure the entitlements or changes are valid, before activating the registration
in the priority inventory. Cancelled requests do not require activation by
the PSC. The PSC also registers Ministers' Staffs and Reinstatement priorities.
More information on how to access to the Priority Registration Form are available in part I.
The PSC requires that departments provide supporting documents as evidence of priority entitlement, in addition to the PIMS Priority Registration Form. The PSC also needs the person's résumé and appraisals. A special area is provided in the Registration Form for the résumé. You can paste other documents into the "additional information" section of the form or send them by fax to the appropriate PSC office. The table below lists the documents to be sent. For more details See go to the priority administration web site.
Leave of Absence Returnee
Leave of Absence Replacement
Ministers' Staff
(NOTE: Registration is by PSC only. Departments do not submit registration
via PIMS)
See Guide to the Ministers' Staffs Priority on the PSC's Priority Admin Web site for special procedures. In summary:
Layoffs
Surplus (with a GRJO)
Surplus (Time Limited)
Reinstatement
(PSC Registers, only)
Relocation of Spouse or Common Law Partner
Employee who became disabled
Military / RCMP member disabled on Special Duty Service
Further Information: In addition to the "Notes on Priority Types" (identifying and registering priorities) on the priority administration Web site, you will also see clickable references at the top left of the electronic registration form, as shown. below. They appear on all the online pages of the registration section.
Home Page
User Manual
Determining and Registering Priority Entitlements
Notes on Priority Types
Calculating Equivalencies
Priority Admin References
Registration Actions Definition / Explanations of Options
New Registrations for the initial registration of a person who has become entitled to a priority.
Update / Change Priority Type / Activate "Update" and "Change Priority Type" refer to the addition of information, the correction of errors and omissions and other changes to a previous submission (eg, addresses, name spellings, telephone, résumé) and to situations where a priority person becomes entitled to another priority type (eg, a spousal relocation priority whose job is backfilled becomes entitled to the leave of absence priority; a surplus priority is laid off; etc.).
"Activate" is used only by the PSC's priority officers. They enter a special code to approve and activate a new registration, an update to a previous registration, or a change to a priority type for an existing active registrant.
Cancel / Remove
If an earlier request to register a priority person (or to update a registration) is still in the PIMS Pending file (i.e., a recent request not yet activated by the PSC), the department can directly cancel that earlier request. In such cases, PIMS automatically deletes the cancelled request from the Pending file.
However, if the earlier registration request had been activated, PIMS would so inform the requesting department and the submission will be treated as a request for removal from active status. In that case, a PSC priority officer would review the request and, if appropriate, remove the person from the priority inventory and any outstanding referrals.
Departments would use this section for the following reasons: to cancel a registration sent in error, to rescind the person's priority status if the underlying conditions that led to the priority entitlement no longer exist (eg, leave is cancelled, a declaration of surplus status is called back, etc.), or to remove the person due to such events as death or appointment/deployment not due to priority status. The form shows a full list of reasons.
Do not use Cancel / Remove to report a priority appointment. For this step, complete the Priority Referral Feedback Form if one exists for the position.
If you had not already requested priority clearance, do so now by going to
the PIMS options page; there, choose "Obtain a Priority Clearance" then "Priority
Clearance Only" and select "Appointment of a Priority Person" as
the selection process.
If the person has not been registered, then register the person and report
his or her appointment using the priority clearance form. (If the person
is from another department, contact the home department and the PSC for immediate
registration).
You will find the Registration form easy to fill out. It is largely self-explanatory and there are many drop down lists from which you can select the information required. Some lists will require that you enter the codes manually. For the "equivalent groups and levels" list, you can refer to the reference/help link at the top of the form. If you have questions on the priority types, you can refer to the link for "Notes on Priority Types."
1. Some Hints and Shortcuts
Résumés and Other Documents: You must enter a résumé for the new registrant in a special Résumé field on the Registration Form. You can copy and paste the résumé from your original electronic source into the Résumé field. The same is true of other documents which, however, would be pasted into the Remarks field.
Area of Residence: Choose the area of residence of the priority person from the drop down menu. The locations are listed alphabetically within the PSC regions responsible for the oversight of priority administration, so look initially at those district headings. If the specific area of residence is not on the list, choose the broad area in which the person resides.
As with all Internet-based forms, if you use the scroll wheel on your mouse to move up and down within the form, you MUST BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that none of the drop down lists on the form are "active" (ie., they must not be highlighted). This is because each click of the scroll wheel would change the item that you had selected from that drop down list.
2. Treatment of Registrations by PSC Priority Admin Staff
Registration requests submitted by departments are verified and "activated" by the PSC. First, PIMS places new requests into a Pending file and alerts the PSC Priority Officer via email. The PSC PO opens the pending request, examines the circumstances (including the substantiating documents the department has submitted) and, if he or she agrees that the entitlement is warranted, activates the registration. The PSC priority officer also interviews the priority person and supplements the registration information and coding to match interdepartmental staffing needs. The PSC priority officer also informs priority persons about their entitlement.
Completing the Registration Form:
Once you have opened the PIMS Registration Form, choose the department associated with the person to be registered. Then click on New Registration.
A blank registration form will appear (if you had recently worked with a registration for another person, that person's information may appear if so, type over it to enter the new information and ensure that none of the other person's information is retained.)
Essential fields are identified with a red star.
It is imperative that the originator enter his/her email address correctly on the Registration Form in order to receive a response from the PIMS. To find the correct email address format for your department, consult the Federal Government Electronic Mail Naming Standards.
Please pay special attention to the fields "Recommended Groups and Levels" and "Skills". Ensure that the choices thoroughly represent the interests and background of the priority persons so that they are identified by PIMS for all positions for which they might reasonably qualify.
Note that when a department registers a person in the priority inventory, that action constitutes certification by the department that this person is suitable for reappointment in his or her own department and in other departments or for surplus employees or layoffs to a position for which the person would be able to qualify with retraining as per the Workforce Adjustment Agreements. Employees who are not suitable for retention in the department or public service should be dealt with in other ways (retraining, release, etc.)
Sending the Registration Form:
After you click on the "send" button, the computer will identify any errors or omissions you may have committed by showing you in red type where they occurred on the form. If that happens, correct the errors and resubmit. If there are no errors you will see a "Thank You" message on the screen.
E-mail Confirmation:
You will receive a confirmation letter in your email system directly from the PSC computer, usually within a few minutes of having sent the form. It will include details of the registration information you submitted.
You can use the email to contact the PSC officer by using the forward button and inserting his or her email address.
Please do not use the "Reply" button as you will send a message to the computer system rather than to the officer who can assist you.
When a department submits an update, or a change to a priority type, the request goes into the Pending file and must be activated by a PSC Priority Officer.
NOTE: to cancel a registration request or to remove a priority person from the inventory, use the Cancel / Remove function.
NOTE: for PSC: You can skip the Pending stage by inserting your code and name into the space provided at the bottom of the update/change form.
First: Retrieve the record of the person you wish to update/change. Here's how:
Second: Make the change you want on the record. Here's how:
Third: Complete the field titled, "Confirm Originator's email Address."
Finally: Click "Submit." The request then goes to the Pending file for activation by the PSC.
PIMS will show you any errors or omissions. Otherwise, you will see a "Thank
You" message on the screen and receive a confirmation email with all
the details of your submission.
HINTS: If you leave the search criteria blank, the machine will identify all the pending or active cases for your department (depending on the file you had searched). You could then click on the one you want to update. Or you could use this to verify a list of your department's own priorities.
At the PIMS home (index) page, click on "Register a Priority Person." Enter your department's name, choose Update, and Continue.
On the Search Criteria page, Choose "Search Active Priorities." Do not complete the other fields. Click on "Search" to see a list of all your department's priority persons.
If you do not see a name you were expecting, this has likely occurred for one of three reasons: either the person has been removed (due to priority appointment, or expiry, etc.); a recent registration request has not yet been activated (and so you should search pending priorities instead); or, there has been no previous registration request.
If you submit a cancel/remove request concerning an earlier request which is still in the Pending file, not yet activated by the PSC, PIMS will treat the request as a cancellation and will automatically delete the request from the pending file. There will be no trace of it in the historical record.
If the earlier request has been activated by the PSC the record will be in the Active file and PIMS will treat is a removal from active priority status. In that case, PIMS will place your request into the Pending file, where it will be reviewed by the PSC. If appropriate, the PSC will remove the record from active status and will also remove the person's name from any outstanding referrals that may exist. Records removed from active status become part of the historical record.
Procedure: