Naval Air Systems Command employees will become the first to use Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for timekeeping beginning Dec. 3-7.

Once NAVAIR employees enter time and attendance for this initial pay period, they must enter time and attendance data kept manually from Sept. 30 through Dec. 3. Supervisors must certify by Dec. 7 that these timesheets are accurate.

““In certifying time, supervisors are authorizing expenditure of government funds, so certification is required by law,” said NAVAIR Comptroller Ron Runion.

“That’s why Navy ERP will only submit certified time records to the Defense Civilian Payroll System for payment,” Runion added. “Anyone with an uncertified timesheet will be charged annual leave or, in the absence of a leave balance, the system would charge leave without pay for those uncertified hours.”

He noted that in a supervisor’s absence, timesheet approval can be delegated to the next higher level in the chain of command and that each top level executive has an alternate “as a last resort” to ensure employee timesheets are certified.

In addition to this change, Navy ERP will use new numbers to identify personnel, cost centers, and activity types. Crosswalks for these new numbers can be found on the Navy ERP NAVAIR business office site on MyNAVAIR.

“Anyone who needs chargeable objects, particularly for new funding or a new structured established in FY08, can contact their business/financial manager (BFM) for assistance,” added Greg Yellman, department head Programs and Business Analysis, AIR-7.8.

To access the electronic timesheet in Navy ERP, NAVAIR employees should visit https://ep.erp.navy.mil/, click on Employee Self Service (ESS), select time management and then select record working time.

Transition team members noted that the new, Navy-wide system will only allow access to account holders who have completed training.

Three basic courses are required to access timesheets, and these short courses are available online, https://ep.erp.navy.mil, using a common access card. Only Navy personnel who have received a Navy ERP account can access the site.

“Training is easy and absolutely critical to complete immediately,” said Twila Kopaniasz, training lead for NAVAIR’s Navy ERP transition.

“Anyone who has completed it should double check that their name is listed as ‘qualified’ in the Training Qualification report on the Navy ERP NAVAIR Business Office Web site on MyNAVAIR,” she added.

She noted that many employees had completed training but had missed an important step to document the training. “You have to hit ‘set to complete’ for the system to register the training as complete,” she said.

Anyone who has difficulty using Navy ERP should contact the help desk, 301-342-3104 or toll-free, 888-292-5919.

-USN-