OAKS Executive Message
Darlene Wells, OAKS Executive Program Manager

OAKS is picking up its pace in preparation for the July 1 Financials Release!  The Agency Readiness team has just completed Release 6 system demos at DAS and OBM, and the budget reporting overview at OBM.  System Acceptance Testing will draw to a close later this week, immediately followed by the User Acceptance Kick-off on May 1 and the beginning of End-User Training on May 5.  And as Accenture consultants begin to roll off the project, the transfer of PeopleSoft knowledge to state employees and the development of a solid “Steady State” OAKS team become ever more critical.  The program management office is a buzz of activity nowadays but, as I am pleased to report, we are squarely on track toward our next successful implementation.

Modified Hours of Availability for EPM on Saturday, April 12
On Saturday, April 12, OAKS EPM will be available from 7 a.m. - 12 noon.  Normal operating hours on non-payroll Saturdays is 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.  This is a one-time change to accommodate performance testing of the Cognos reporting tool.  EPM will resume the regularly scheduled weekend availability on the next non-payroll Saturday.

FIN and HCM will not be affected by the Cognos testing; they will maintain the usual schedule as posted:
http://www.oakspmo.ohio.gov/oaks/Oaks_System_Availability.asp

President’s Day Holiday - OAKS HCM and FIN Availability
In observance of President’s Day, the State of Ohio has designated Monday, February 18, a state holiday. Due to the holiday, the OAKS Financials (FIN) and Human Capital Management (HCM) systems are available to users over the three-day weekend, but neither the OAKS Help Desk nor the OAKS program management office staff is available for functional support on Monday.

Agencies will be able to send interface files to the OAKS HCM FTP site and the OAKS Batch Team will be running a HCM nightly batch cycle. There will not be a Financials (FIN) batch as well as the FIN FTP site will not be available.

Second release of eBenefits occurred today
Kudos goes to the Department of Administrative Services Benefits Administration Services and Ohio Administrative Knowledge System (OAKS) Program Management Office staff members for another successful launch!   The first release of eBenefits, which occurred in April 2007, allowed state employees to use eBenefits during the open enrollment period to make health care elections. 

Starting today, state employees can now use the OAKS eBenefits Self-Service module to:

• View a summary of your health benefits.
• Add or remove dependents on your health insurance coverage following a life event, such as birth, adoption, marriage or divorce.
• Enroll you and your dependents in health, dental and vision coverage after you become eligible.
• Enroll or waive coverage in the event your spouse loses or gains coverage at his/her place of employment.

NOTE: If you enter your eBenefit pages (using the icons on the OAKS Self Service page), be sure to click the "sign out" button (upper right corner of the page) to avoid making any changes to your enrollment selections.

Job aids for employees to use while initiating life events, enrolling dependents or reviewing their benefits summary are available at http://oakspmo.ohio.gov/oaks/training/supportkit/. If you have a life event, please contact the Office of Employee Services at 466-2136 for further instructions. 

Check out the DAS Time Reporting Web site
The new Time Reporting Web site can be found at http://extranet.das.ohio.gov/oakstimereporting.

This site is a one-stop resource containing all of the information Department of Administrative Services (DAS) employees will need to use the new OAKS time reporting system, which goes live Monday, January 28. The site contains training courses, job aids, simulations and information regarding implementation.

This page will be available for a few months until employees have adjusted to the new system. Please periodically check this site to read new questions and answers added to the “Frequently Asked Questions” section. 

Please be sure to check out this page at http://extranet.das.ohio.gov/oakstimereporting and mark it as a favorite!