The Operational Review should cover the following:

Review personnel management practices of maintaining Employee Personnel Files (EPF), Drop files and Personal/Training files for the following:

Review Workload Management Practices for the following:

Review Administrative, Privacy, Security, and Safety Practices, including the following:

Review Manager's organization effectiveness:

There are four physical servers in the production environment:

The embedded BEA Tuxedo Server Software load balances the work among the three logical application servers. Automatic load balancing between the web portals is employed through the use of F5 load balancer located in Martinsburg.

There are two physical servers in the development and test environment. One contains the logical web servers and application servers, and the other is a database server.

Contingency plans have been created for disaster recovery and fail over.

Online 5081 is an automated way to request access to Information Technology (IT) systems and applications. It gives faster access and automates the process of annual re-certification. To use Online 5081, click on the OL5081 link: https://ol5081.enterprise.irs.gov. View the Online 5081 Quick Reference Guides, Tutorials, User Guides and Re-certification Reference. If you have questions, try the Online 5081 FAQs or call the Help Desk at 1-866-743-5748.

To log into EHSS, an Online 5081 must be completed to get a user ID and password. Ensure your employees have taken the necessary actions. You must approve the employee(s) 5081. Refer to the Online 5081 Manager User Guide on the Online 5081 web site for detailed steps.

Refer to IRM 3.42.7.5, Introduction to e-help Support, for detailed instructions for navigating in EHSS.

EPSS assistors use EHSS as a tool for customer interaction and ticketing. EHSS allows e-help, and IRB to develop a complete view of a customer’s contact history with the Desk. e-help Desk policy requires that each contact with the customer be captured in a new or existing e-case. IRB assistors are not required to create e-cases for tax law inquiries. See IRM 21.3.11.7.1, Escalation Path for Assistance . This policy is necessary for the following reasons:

Efficient customer service: e-cases are as significant to contact management as audit trails are to tax case management. If resolutions are not successful, it would be inefficient to start over with the customer to resolve the issue. Attention must be given to the way we handle each contact (i.e., opening and documenting the e-case with the caller on the line versus entering the data after the caller has hung up). We must work toward increased efficiency.

Growth of electronic products: The implementation of e-services was a primary driver for the design of the e-help Desk. As e-services and e-file continue to grow, issue tracking will become increasingly important. Because of the many products that are now available, duplicate issues/contacts can be made to the e-help Desk that, if tracked, can be resolved simultaneously. For example: One customer can make separate contacts to resolve both an e-file issue and an e-services issue. If follow-up with the customer is required, both issues can be resolved with the same contact.

Documented History for e-services and other new products: New products, specifically e-services, depend solely on information created from e-cases. Documented history for e-services does not exist as it does for e-file. As customers call in with problems, the issues are captured in e-cases. The documented resolutions for the e-cases are captured in the Solutions database.

e-cases are an integral part of the EPSS. Prior to the implementation of EHSS, there was no systemic way to record, track, and identify problems and trends for both e-file and e-services. We must continue to strive to adhere to the policy of capturing each contact with the customer in a new or existing e-case.

Review your own worklist at least once an hour. If there is an e-case on your worklist, either work it or transfer it to a lead or an assistor.

Follow-up to ensure that the e-case has been worked. This can be done by leaving the e-case on your worklist when it is reassigned so that you can monitor it. Another option is to make yourself an Interested Party so that you will know when action is taken on the case.

Once a week, you will receive the Weekly Aged e-case Report. This will allow you to ensure open cases are being worked. In addition, this will help you identify employees needing assistance with their assigned e-cases. See IRM 3.42.7.5.5, Reviewing the Worklist, for assistor instructions.

ERMS is an additional channel for communicating with the e-help Desk and IRB. A mailbox has been created on EHSS and the e-mail address given to the following external customers, among others:

Employees in Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) are internal users. They send e-mail inquiries on behalf of external customers. The e-help Level 2 assistors also use ERMS.

IRB assistors utilize ERMS system to resolve tax law or electronic filing questions and problems.

When the customer sends an e-mail, confirmation is sent advising them that their e-mail has been received by the e-help Desk. They are advised to look for an acknowledgement e-mail containing an e-case number in their Secure Object Repository (SOR) within 30 minutes. The customer is advised that they will be contacted within 48 hours regarding their issue or question.

Appoint members of the workgroup to be responsible for reviewing the worklist and working ERMS e-cases. Review the ERMS worklist at least every hour to ensure that e-cases are being worked in a timely manner. e-cases that result from ERMS should be worked within two (2) hours of receipt.

See IRM 3.42.7.5.6, e-mail Response Management System (ERMS), for assistor instructions.

EPSS is responsible for managing the content of the solutions database. Each product that the e-help Desk and IRB supports has several associated solutions. Before solutions can be added to the database, they must be approved by their Policy Owner.

To maintain the solution database, EPSS has established an EHSS Solutions Board. Board members are selected from the Andover, Atlanta, Austin, Cincinnati, Martinsburg and Ogden sites by the Solution Board lead. The EPSS Policy, Training, and Quality staff will issue an annual solicitation for Solution Board members. Interested assistors and Level 2 employees must submit a complete and properly signed Statement of Interest (SOI) form by the designated due date to be considered for a board position. Although there is no term limit, existing Solution Board members must reapply each year. Solution Board members serve on the board as a collateral duty and remain in their current position and grade.

The Board lead is an analyst from the EPSS Policy, Training, and Quality staff. The Board lead coordinates with Policy Owners to ensure products supported by EPSS have accurate and valid solutions in EHSS.

The responsibilities of the Board members include:

The responsibilities of the Board lead include:

New or revised solutions are necessary for various reasons:

The Policy Owner is responsible for writing the e-help Communication when a solution changes requires immediate notice to the assistors.

The System Administrator/Telephone Analyst (SA/TA) is a valuable resource person regarding the features of the ASPECT system.

Managers must coordinate with their SA/TA on any activity limiting the site's ability to deliver its commitment for scheduled ACD time.

The SA/TA provides assistance on the following:

Supervisors use the Aspect TeleSet to perform the following tasks:

To monitor a call through Aspect, sign on to your TeleSet and perform the following steps:

To notify an employee during a live review, press the "NOTIFY" soft key. This sends a message to the user's TeleSet display instructing them to call you and provides your extension. Do not interrupt a call unless the employee is:

To make an agent available, the agent must be in IDLE state, or in WRAP-UP after pressing the DONE soft key. To make the agent AVAILABLE, press SUPERVISOR, enter 0 and the user's extension, then press ENTER.

Side-by-side monitoring, also known as "double jacking," is used to review telephone calls for training purposes. It can be used to improve work processes or as coaching conducted as part of a performance improvement plan. It is an excellent introduction to the job for new assistors working with experienced employees.

Forecasting and staffing requirements are developed by Program Management (PM) staff analysts for the e-help Desk and IRB. Required staffing for each site is determined by taking into consideration such factors as:

In generating staffing requirements for EPSS, the PM Analyst considers the requirements from an enterprise perspective. Scheduling is done by application (product) based on forecasts for the enterprise. The adherence of each individual site to the schedule is important and impacts the performance of the e-help Desk Operation and IRB.

Site receives a half hourly tool, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheets providing staffing requirements.

The columns represent each half-hourly period for each site. The column for each weekday represents the number of assistors needed to meet the inbound contact demand expected for each scheduled half-hour. To schedule your site according to the requirements shown in the spreadsheet, take the following steps:

Agent Groups are the skilled groups of assistors that provide service to the customer. Applications are the services that we provide. The JOC uses an Intelligent Call Router to distribute calls to appropriate skill groups (agent groups) to provide services (applications) to the customer.

The e-help Desk should always keep AG 709, EH – Lead/Manager, staffed. If a customer requests to elevate an issue, someone should be available in this Agent Group to address the customer's concern.

EHSS reports are created using MS Query Analyzer and formatted using Crystal Reports. They are saved as Adobe.pdf and distributed to managers and internal customers.

Managers should review each report to determine if organizational and/or team goals were met. Determine reason for aged e-cases being open for more than 7 days. If there is no valid reason for the open e-case, managers should discuss it with the assistor. Instruct employees not to use any products that are prefaced by the word "Inactive" on the product report.

Aspect Crystal Reports are used by team managers to determine the status of telephone activity. Some reports are received daily and others weekly.

The EPSS Aspect Telephone System Analyst (SA) runs these reports and automatically schedules them for delivery via e-mail or server. They have the capability of running ad-hoc reports for various time-frames or for a specific type of data. If you need an additional report contact them to have the data pulled from the Aspect system.

Reports are a tool that managers can use to identify areas where the team members excel (adherence, good talk time, and minimal use of wrap time) and areas that need improvement (adherence and improper use of idle reason codes). Reports can be used as a diagnostic tool. They can be used to support your personal observations.

The reports received vary by site. However, at a minimum, each manager should receive the following reports:

Organization, Function, and Program (OFP) codes are recorded by employees on Form 3081, Employee Time Report, to identify work that IRS employees perform daily.

OFP codes have various uses including the preparation of work plans and work schedules. For this reason, it is important that this information is reported consistently and accurately. A complete list of all OFP codes can be found at http://ofp.web.irs.gov/index.asp, Organization Function Program (OFP) Code web site.

Managers must ensure that employees use the correct codes when working telephones, e-mail, and paper. These codes can be found in IRM 3.42.7.3.5, Exhibits 3.42.7-1 and 3.42.7-2 provide a breakdown of each codes' function, program, and title.

Employees should be instructed to make every effort to track and report the time spent on programs accurately. When making assignments, limit frequent program switching, whenever possible, to help employees record time accurately.

QuickAlerts is a free, online service that disseminates mass e-file messages, within seconds, to all "subscribed" individual and business e-file software developers, transmitters, and authorized e-file providers.

Quick Alerts also provide e-file information to assist employees in their job performance and enhance the filing season. :

) There are three categories that the assistor should subscribe to:

As a manager you should, ensure all new employees subscribe to QuickAlerts and verify all returning seasonal still have a subscription to QuickAlerts.

EPSS maintains an all employee Outlook distribution list to send business unit wide communications commonly referred to as e-help Communications. The e-help mailbox has been established to control and maintain a record of e-help Communications. The primary function of e-help Communications is to provide procedural and systemic updates to e-help Desk assistors in a timely and consistent manner. Additional uses of e-help Communications include but are not limited to:

You must contact the Program Management analyst assigned to e-help Communications and request read permissions to the e-help mailbox Inbox and Communications folder. The analyst’s name is in the bottom margin of all e-help Communications.

Managers must confirm that employees receive e-help Communications; this should be done verbally. All e-help Communications are sent to and received by the e-help mailbox with the distribution list in the blind copy line. Provide distribution list updates to the Program Management analyst by e-mail request. Employees to include in the request include new hire and return-to-duty e-help Desk assistors. Updates should also be made when e-help Desk assistors leave the business unit.

PII is taxpayer information or any combination of information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a person that could subsequently be used for identity theft. Some examples of PII include, but are not limited to:

The protection of this information is of vital concern to the Service; every effort must be made to protect it. Ensure that you and your employees review your electronic files and paper holdings for this type of information. Verify that you have only PII in your possession that you have a "need to know" .

You and your employees must follow proper procedures for safeguarding PII information that you have in your immediate possession. PII stored on computer hard drives or transferred to CD-ROMs, jump drives, or other portable media must be encrypted. The FIND-IT Icon on every IRS computer has step-by-step guidance on methods of Encryption.

If a laptop or other electronic device is lost or stolen, it must be reported within one hour to:

The timely reporting of all information losses or thefts to CSIRC and TIGTA is critical to ensure that any needed investigation and recovery can be initiated quickly. This can decrease the possibility that the information will be compromised and used to perpetrate identity theft or other forms of fraud.

Additional information on how to protect PII can be found on the Office of Privacy, Information Protection & Data Security web site, http://irweb.irs.gov/AboutIRS/bu/pipds/default.aspx.