Time(Keeping) Marches On As Use of ITAS Expands
Thirteen NIH institutes and 5,000 NIH employees are now using the new NIH Integrated Time and Attendance System (ITAS). The current plan is to have ITAS available to all institutes and centers (ICs) by the end of August 1999. (For background on the development of ITAS, see the article "Coordinated Support for Enterprise Applications—ITAS, A Case Study" in the December 15, 1998, issue of Interface.) The NIH Office of the Director, Office of Human Resource Management (OD), and CIT have collaborated closely to provide ITAS. OD provides expertise on federal timekeeping regulations and processes, while CIT has focused on providing a robust, responsive and fully-accessible application.
Feedback on ITAS has been quite positive. Many using the system have found benefits from enhanced employee involvement in the leave-requesting process. ITAS gives employees greater "real-time" information and control of their leave, and reduces the workload for timekeepers.
ITAS Can Be Deployed Several Ways
CIT has tried to make the deployment and support of the technical components of ITAS as small a burden as possible on IC personnel. Three versions of ITAS are now available for use from either PCs or Macintoshes.
The ITAS Web interface allows NIH employees to perform timekeeping functions—that is, to request leave and to view all their timekeeping information—via their favorite Web browser. Development of Web interfaces for supervisors, timekeepers and administrative officers is now underway.
ITAS Web Pages
OD/OHRM maintains a comprehensive site for both technical and administrative information about ITAS. You can find much more information—including the full IC implementation schedule, answers to frequently asked questions, a tutorial, and status of ITAS—at http://www4.od.nih.gov/itas.
Interface 210 (June 15, 1999)