Sub-series consists of data files from the Incumbent System and its antecedents, under a variety of pseudonyms. Since 1973, these related automated information systems have constituted the most comprehensive personnel data base covering the federal Public Service in both content and coverage. Incumbent ultimately became the focus of a series of interconnected computer systems created through the early 1980s (collectively the Personnel Management Information System or PMIS) which served to integrate the many facets of Treasury Board personnel and human resource management activities. Since 1980, Incumbent has served as the primary reporting file on government employees, often used in extract form to verify the accuracy of other data bases. The system is used by Treasury Board for planning and development of policies and programs including mobility analysis, human resources planning, classification audit, compensation, staff relations and collective bargaining, pensions and benefits, development of classification standards, population reporting, pay and benefit analysis, retirement profile analysis, employment and pay equity research, and implementation of the Public Service 2000 renewal initiative begun in 1990. Treasury Board passes on data and analysis extracted from Incumbent to the Public Service Commission and Statistics Canada.
The Incumbent data is extracted from the Public Works and Government Services Pay System. This file is massaged with additional inputs to create and preserve as a logical record a profile of the personal and employment history for each public servant in the federal government. The data elements incorporate multiple fields for appointment data including employee position history, job classification, geographic location, bargaining agent, salary, employment category and level, position data, and employment status. Since the position history field is limited, later records, however, will not contain the entire employment history of a given public servant. The data base is comprehensive in its universe; it includes all employees under the Public Service Staff Relations Act, Section I, Part I. This coverage has varied over the last quarter of a century from approximately 150,000 to 200,000 Incumbents including term employees. Together with extract files fed into downstream automated systems, Incumbent outputs continue to play a vital role in monitoring personnel activities and feeding into the policy development function of the Board throughout the scope of its mandate to manage human resources of the Public Service. The archival record is composed of data base flat files in generic ASCII format, together with the essential documentation package (layouts, field definitions, code books for more complex fields, and user manuals) needed to read and decode the data. This documentation includes but is not limited to the Personal Data Element Dictionary (PDED), the Personnel-Pay Input Manual (PPIM) and official Data Element Dictionaries for various versions of the system. Further details on system milestones will be available through the main Human Resources registries found elsewhere in the main Human Resource, Management Series.
The archival portion of the Incumbent System is composed of several distinct data files which evolved over the life of the system. While the system data files have changed in record layout, content and titles, the two or three key systems files have remained relatively stable in information content. Up to March 1980, the basic master file for the system was known as the Master Output File (MOS). The archival record is composed of monthly snapshots of this core data file together with an annual version of the Turnover file, which records all the changes in status that occurred throughout the previous 12 months and thereby constitutes a comprehensive transaction file. Revisions to the larger system after 1979 resulted in a modified Population Extract File replacing the MOS file and this file evolved through changes to the record layout into the Population Reporting File after 1982. In the meantime, the major changes in 1979-80 resulted in a reconstructed Mobility file replacing the older Turnover transaction file. Major changes since 1982 have been confined to two system modifications. In 1985, in pursuit of greater data accuracy, systems managers introduced two parallel master data files. The new Incumbent Master file (MAS or INC) was the raw extract file derived from the Pay System with which data from other systems was integrated. The systems managers then developed a complex protocol of verification and validation to exclude imperfect and duplicate records and produce a second extracted Population Reporting File (POPREP or PRF).
Though they possess many of the same data elements, telling differences distinguish the Incumbent Master and Population Reporting File. The Incumbent Master is the true comprehensive master file providing historical validation of many fields. The Population Reporting File incorporates a somewhat smaller logical record that is the common electronic workhorse for most computations within the system and the base for electronic migration of extract data to other downstream systems. The Incumbent Population Reporting File was created to standardize this data throughout the federal government and provide a common statistical basis for quantitative analysis. In addition, the Population Reporting File is more readily open to analysis using geographical variables (such as job location, electoral district, and economic region). Finally, the Population Reporting file is very close in record layout to the older Master Output Support File and is certainly the easier file to employ for longitudinal studies incorporating data from the period before 1980. While these two data files involve significant overlap of data elements, they remain sufficiently different to warrant treating each as a separate archival record. For the years 1985 to 1996 both the Master and the Population Reporting File are preserved for comparison, though a few of the fields in the Master file were not deemed of enduring value and, therefore, the documentation of code values was not maintained. The Mobility File (MOB) is an extension or sub-system of the Incumbent Master File which extracts the changes recorded at the time of the monthly updating of the Master file. The Mobility File, thus, incorporates all employee movements into, within or out of the Public service, a complete record of hirings, separations, promotions, demotions, reclassifications, and other internal movements within the whole Public Service. This compact file is composed of three parts, tombstone data, "before condition" data (from where and from what classification the individual came) and "after condition" (to where and what classification he or she went). The annual version is a roll up of twelve monthly files into one covering a single fiscal year (April to March). It is a very useful data file to analyze patterns of change in intra or extra departmental appointments, classifications, or termination of employment.
In 1996, Incumbent managers rationalized the system once again and reverted to one verified and consolidated Master File to replace both the Master and the Population Reporting file. Throughout the life of the system, 1974 to the present, the preserved record has been constructed out of quarterly snapshots of the Master and/or Reporting file and an annual version of the comprehensive transaction file. For the MOS files, monthly versions have been preserved to compensate for the occasionally lost quarterly version and possible data corruption in older files. The exact holdings of each data file and details about number of logical records, record size, record length, block size, blocking factor and date range are recorded in the finding aid. The series receives annual accruals in data base flat files in ASCII format and periodic updates of documentation required to read and understand the newer data. Quantitative research using Incumbent benefits from the longstanding operational preoccupation with data accuracy on the part of the system's creators. The operational system incorporates a multiple stage validation process for primary data input while the whole system is full of cross checks, verification checks and reconciliation procedures (using for example OLIS, the Official Languages Information System, and the Pay System) to ensure that the snap shots preserved in the major system files are as accurate as possible. These procedures are intensified for the quarterly month end versions for March, June, September and December (which are the versions preserved as archival copies for the years after 1980). The Population Reporting and Mobility Files are partially replicated in parallel and compatible files from this older version of the system, the Master Output Support File (MOS) and the Turnover File. With the current archival holdings incorporating data files back to 1974, the potential for longitudinal and other long term quantitative analysis are possible for one of the most dynamic eras in the growth and metamorphosis of the public service as an institution. It must be kept in mind that the older the data file, generally, the lower the degree of accuracy attained. As well, all of the Incumbent data files are subject to the Access to Information and Privacy Acts and to the additional requirement that Treasury Board be consulted regarding any requests for data less than 25 years old. Data must be anonymized before research can be undertaken. (RG55, G0002479-G0002680, G0002752-G0002769)
