Experience with Formal Position Classification
The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) coordinated drafts of the Factor Evaluation System (FES), a proposed upgrade to modernize the Position Classification Standard for the General Schedule Classification System (circa 1979). One of the reviewer agencies was the Air Force Human Resources Laboratory (AFHRL) of the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC). My Division – the Computational Sciences Division -- was charged with reviewing the standards in the computer area. My supervisor, Mr. C. R. Rogers and I served as the official reviewers in our division. We read, discussed and agreed the new factor evaluation system seemed reasonable. My position description (attached) for my GS-12 position as a Computer Specialist, Series GS-334, had recently been revised and validated in a desk audit by the local civilian personnel office. We decided to apply the proposed standards and method to my job. Providing the verbiage and appropriate factor points (attached), my position clearly demonstrated that FES worked at the GS-12 level. Our review went forward with a positive recommendation.
We know that our recommendation made it all the up the chain of command. When one reads the benchmark sample given as GS-12, one can tell it is MY POSITION DESCRIPTION appropriately generalized for a wider audience (attached, Computer Specialist Series, GS-334, TS-51, December 1980, page 103-106).
The Job Structuring Technology (JST)
I was not aware that my position description had become benchmark #03 of Series 334, Grade 12 until 1994. At this point I was a contractor coding key works from all GS and WG series as part of the semantic assisted analysis (SAA) database used in the Job Structuring Technology (JST) system. Dr. Walter E. Driskill pointed out the similarity of the description to my old job. Dr. Driskill had been the head of the Air Force Occupational Measurement Squadron’s (AFOMSq) Survey Division from its inception in 1968 to his civil service retirement in 1985. He recognized my position description because my position was the point-of-contact directly supporting the software system used by his staff of 60+ personnel from 1972 to 1980.
The OPM semantic database was augmented to include task lists from 140 Air Force Specialties (1990-1994). When the database was completed, the JST system allowed a personnel specialist to quickly identify the current Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) associated with any work description. Having indexed all Air Force task lists and all OPM General Schedule and Wage Grade, the JST system could also relate any Air Force Specialty to the most appropriate GS and/or WG series. JST was delivered to AFHRL just before the responsible division was being deactivated and was never released for operational Air Force use.