VIU Administration (Excluded) Employee Group
Position Information Form - Guidance
The Position Information Form is used to document a role and provide information to support a
variety of purposes. Because an important purpose for the form is to provide information for job
evaluation, this Guidance describes how raters will use information and how different factors are
weighted. However, the form is used for other purposes including position postings.
Process
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Before completing this form, the supervisor is asked to consult with an HR Advisor.
Consult the Process Overview documentation for the full process
http://www.viu.ca/humanresources/documents/Manager-SupervisorProcessOverviewOct112012.docx.
The supervisor for the role in question is responsible for ensuring this form is completed.
They may ask the employee to prepare a first draft for discussion, but the process should
be collaborative, with the form content being developed and agreed together.
Where there are differences of opinion between the employee and supervisor on different
aspects of the role, these should be resolved before proceeding to job evaluation.
The employee and supervisor should agree on the content of this form before submitting
it to the supervisor’s manager for approval. By signing the form, the manager, supervisor
and employee are all agreeing that the form is representative and accurate, and that they
stand behind the content.
Given there may be stress on the employee through this process, supervisors are expected
to do their part to complete each process step within 2 weeks from when that given step
in the process is started. However, there are often unforeseen circumstances or
complexities requiring consideration that can extend the timeline for job evaluation.
General Guidance
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The focus here is on the job, not the incumbent or any other individual.
Responses that are brief, clear and focused on what is most important are helpful to
evaluators. They get an immediate sense of the most significant aspects of the role.
When responses are lengthy and include lots of less important details, the most important
highlights can sometimes get lost. There are length guidelines included in the document.
At the start of the form there are two questions that provide an overview of the role, to
help evaluators understand the context and nature of the work. After that, the questions
generally align with each of the factors used in the job evaluation, although raters may
consider any part of the form in their deliberations.
All of the tools that the Job Evaluation Committee use for rating are shared. It may be
helpful to review the rating criteria to understand what the raters will be looking for.
To tick a box, double click on the box and change the default value to ‘checked’.
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Action verbs and direct language are powerful. When describing responsibilities, try to
use action verbs at the start of the sentence. Some examples are below.
acquire
administer
advise
analyze
answer
approve
assess
assign
calculate
check
coach
compile
compose
conduct
consult
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control
counsel
deliver
design
develop
direct
disseminate
distribute
edit
ensure
enter
establish
estimate
evaluate
extract
file
hire
implement
inform
initiate
inspect
instruct
interpret
interview
maintain
make
manage
mediate
negotiate
notify
operate
order
organize
perform
plan
prepare
process
program
purchase
recommend
recruit
repair
represent
research
review
schedule
screen
search
sell
supervise
teach
test
train
type
visit
word process
write
You may wish to consult the Guidance for Rating document as well. This document is
used by the Job Evaluation Committee to rate each factor. It will give you a sense of
what the committee is looking for as well as the relative weights of each factor.
Filling in a form such as this one requires some work but should generally be a
straightforward exercise in describing what the role does. If you run into challenges
explaining things or instructions are not clear, ask HR for guidance.
Additional Guidance Per Question
Question
Core Purpose
Provide a brief description of
the core purpose of the role.
What does it exist to do?
How does it contribute to the
Department and align with
the University’s strategic
goals? Please limit your
response to a maximum of
150 words.
January 2013
Guidance and Examples
This question provides evaluators with an immediate sense of
why the role exists and how it contributes – where it fits in to the
bigger picture.
Your answer should be a brief paragraph or a few (2-3) bullets.
This does not need to be a long description.
Example: The Analysis and Support Manager (ASM) leads a
team of technical/professional staff to provide advice/specialist
support. This role ensures that A&S staff are fully trained and
provide accurate and helpful analysis and support. The end
result is that other Departments at the University can get their
work done efficiently.
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Major Responsibilities
What are the typical major
responsibilities of your
position? Consider the
variety of tasks you normally
perform, and list your major
job duties and
responsibilities. Start each
sentence with an action
words to help provide clarity.
For each responsibility,
identify the Frequency and
Priority.
Please limit your response to
a maximum of 8 most
significant responsibilities.
This question provides a deeper look at what this role is
responsible for. The most important responsibilities to include
are those that are either a big part of the job in terms of frequency
or have high priority - rather than providing a long list of smaller
duties or activities. In fact, you are asked to limit your response
to a maximum of 8 core responsibilities.
For each responsibility, use action words (described above) to
provide a short, clear bullet or sentence that explains the
responsibility. Then, add information on Frequency and Priority
to help evaluators understand how significant a portion of the job
it is.
Frequency:
Think about how often you are delivering on the responsibility,
on average. If necessary you can say that it falls between two
ratings by ticking two boxes.
If the scale feels like it doesn’t work for a given responsibility,
feel free add a note in words. (For example: “Catalogue is
produced on a quarterly basis but work goes into it almost
daily”.)
Priority:
Think about how important a given responsibility is to the core
purpose of the job. The “highest” priority items are those that
must get done and take precedence over all others. Often they
are those that have the biggest impact on your own results or
those of others. Lowest priority items are those that are still
worthwhile but can be delayed when higher priority work must
be done.
Sometimes it helps to fill in the responsibilities first and then go
back and assign priority. It is understood that if you have listed
something as a priority it is important (especially since you have
selected a maximum of 8 most important responsibilities), so
think about which are most important within all of those you’ve
included. If you identify most or all as “highest”, it will make it
more challenging for evaluators to really understand what is most
significant.
Example: Acts as a technical reference for the team as well as to staff
and students, and maintains up to date knowledge of own area of
expertise. Frequency 1 (Daily). Priority 1 (Highest).
January 2013
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1. Problem Solving
What are the typical
problems and challenges that
arise in this role? Provide
examples of typical problems
as well as how they are
generally solved. To what
extent are past experience,
precedents, policies, etc.
available? What is the role
of your supervisor when
these problems or challenges
are faced? (Do they advise
you, coach you, act as an
escalation path, etc.?)
Please limit your response to a
maximum of 5 examples.
This question helps raters understand the nature and complexity
of problems that this role needs to solve. It is also about
understanding what guidance exists – whether that’s in the form
of precedents and policies, or a supervisor who can assist.
This is really about the thinking challenge and complexity in the
role. It is weighted at 12% of the evaluation.
You are asked to provide just 5 examples, rather than trying to
describe every problem or challenge. Consider choosing
examples that show the range of problems you solve so that
raters get a full picture.
Example: Dealing with routine technical challenges or
questions on a day-to-day basis. How solved: Using past
experience and past precedent, perhaps adapting slightly to
reflect the exact case. Role of Supervisor: Not involved.
2. Guidance in Decision This question helps raters understand decisions that this role
makes, and the guidance that is available.
Making
What decisions does this role
typically make, and what
guidance is generally
available for those decisions?
Please identify significant
routine decisions and new
decisions without precedent.
For each, identify the
guidance available in the
form of policies, precedents
or advice or supervision from
others.
Please limit your response to
a maximum of 3 examples
under each category.
You can see that it is similar in some ways to Problem Solving.
The difference here is that the focus is on decisions (which are
about responsibility and accountability) rather than the thinking
challenge of problem solving. Like Problem Solving, is also
weighted at 12% of the evaluation.
You are asked to describe two types of decisions – routine and
new decisions without precedent. This is to give raters a sense of
every day decisions you make as well as the things that may only
come up occasionally, but may therefore be more complex as a
result.
Example – Routine: Making day-to-day calls on how to handle
specific situations that are fairly routine and impact just one
student. Guidance available: Past precedent, written policy.
Supervision 4 (Informed after). Frequency 1(Daily).
Example – New decisions without precedent: Changing a
process or practice within the department. Guidance available:
Past practice, log of issues, input/advice from peers. Supervision
1 (Formal approval). Frequency 4 (Annually).
January 2013
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3. Impact of Decisions
What decisions does this role
make that have the most
significant impact? For each,
describe the scope and
timeframe of impact, as well
as the frequency with which
these decisions arise. Add
rows if required.
Please limit your response to a
maximum of 3 examples under
each category.
This question helps raters understand the impact that this role’s
decisions can have in terms of the scope (how broad reaching is
the impact) and the time frame (how lasting is the impact). This
factor is weighted at 12% of the evaluation.
As with the previous question, you are asked to describe two
types of decisions – routine and new decisions without
precedent. While these is a link back to Guidance in Decision
Making, you do not need to use the same examples here – focus
on providing the examples that will be convey the impact of
decisions.
Note that for scope our focus is on the impact to VIU. If a
decision has external impact (on students, the community, etc.),
describe those in terms of the implications for VIU in terms of
reputation, sustainability, etc.
Example – Routine: Determining which case files are a priority
and will receive responses first. Scope 3 (Other Groups at VIU).
Timeframe of Impact 1 (Days). Frequency 1 (Daily).
Example – New decisions without precedent: Dealing with
complex issues or problems, especially involving students. Scope
3 (Other Groups at VIU). Timeframe of Impact 3 (Months).
Frequency 3 (Monthly).
January 2013
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4. Internal Contacts
What other jobs at the
University (not students or
external contacts) does this
role have contact with on a
regular basis, excluding those
that this role may directly
supervise? This may include
individuals, groups or
committees. For each,
identify what must be
accomplished (provide
information, reach a decision
together, influence or advise,
persuade, etc.) Please limit
your response to a maximum
of 4 primary contacts.
5. External Contacts
Who outside the University
staff (students, community
members, committees,
suppliers, etc.) does this role
have contact with on a
regular basis? For each,
identify what must be
accomplished (provide
information, reach a decision
together, influence or advise,
etc.) Please limit your
response to a maximum of 4
primary contacts.
January 2013
This question provides insight into the individuals and groups
within VIU with which this role interacts. This factor is
weighted at 9% of the evaluation.
Here we are concerned about both what roles or groups the
contacts are with, but also what needs to be accomplished
together. What the raters are trying to understand is the
relationships, influence and communication required in the role,
and the internal profile/network for the role.
Note that students are covered under External Contacts.
Example: Other Departments at VIU. What must be
accomplished? Exchange information and share results of
analysis conducted for them. Provide good internal customer
service. Frequency 1 (Daily).
This question provides insight into the external profile and
relationship for the role. External Contacts include students as
well as community members, external committees, suppliers and
others outside of the VIU organization. This factor is weighted
at 9% of the evaluation.
As with the internal contacts, we are concerned about both what
roles or groups the contacts are with, but also what needs to be
accomplished together. What the raters are trying to understand
is the relationships, influence and communication required in the
role, and the external profile/network and relationship risk for the
role.
Example: Prospective VIU students. What must be
accomplished? Provide them with information to support their
decision-making. Leave them with a positive impression of the
organization through customer service. Frequency 1 (Daily).
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6. Supervision
Supervision of People
Who does this position
supervise, formally or
informally?
Functional or Process
Oversight
Some positions have
ownership for standards,
functions or processes.
These positions may own a
process, provide functional
advice and guidance, or
monitor standards. They
may contribute through
committees or other bodies.
What is this position
responsible for in terms of
functions, processes and
standards? What action is
required?
This question concerns the impact that a role has by guiding the
work and decisions of others. The question considers both
“traditional” supervision of people as well as different kinds of
guidance or oversight a role might provide. This factor is
weighted at 10% of the evaluation.
For Supervision of People, we want to understand what roles are
supervised, what their employment status is, what the
supervision includes and how often it takes place. This is
because supervision can be a bigger or smaller part of the job.
Supervising a seasonal student employee once a week by
providing some training and guidance is different in scope than
formally managing a team of people and managing their
performance daily.
For Functional or Process Oversight, we want to understand the
other ways that a role may influence decisions and guide the
work of others. It might include things like sitting on a
committee that sets policy, providing advice in specific domain
to others across the organization, or managing a university-wide
process.
Example – Supervision of People: Project Coordinator. Status
FT (Full time employee). Nature of Supervision: Formal
reporting – hiring, training, assigning tasks, managing
performance. Frequency 2 (Weekly).
Example – Functional or Process Oversight: Responsible for
providing advice across the whole organization in own
functional area, and for ensuring functional standards are met.
Achieves this through advice and influence. Member of VIU
Analysis Standards Committee.
January 2013
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7. Education
8. Experience
What knowledge or skill
is required for this
position?
How would that
knowledge or skill
typically be acquired
through (a) education
and (b) years/ type of
related work experience?
What mandatory
minimum education,
certification or credential
is required?
In a hiring process,
would an equivalent
combination of
education and experience
be considered as an
alternative to the
mandatory minimum
education described
above?
We ask about Education and Experience together because they are
closely related. Both are concerned about the skills and knowledge
required for the role. Education is weighted at 11% of the evaluation
and Experience is weighted at 15%. This question concerns the
impact that a role has by guiding the work and decisions of others.
The question considers both “traditional” supervision of people as
well as different kinds of guidance or oversight a role might provide.
It is important to focus on the baseline required to be successful in the
role, however that is developed/acquired – not the specific
background of the incumbent, or a “wish list” for the ideal candidate.
The first part of the question is intended to provide an explanation of
the knowledge and skill required before exploring how it is acquired.
It is worthwhile to include professional/technical knowledge,
managerial knowledge and specific interpersonal or other skills
required for success.
The second part of the question asks about how the knowledge and
skill are typically acquired. If there’s no single typical way,
examples are helpful. Please describe both the education and the
years and type of experience.
The next two questions provide an understanding of how flexible the
hiring criteria are – whether, for example, a specific credential is an
absolute requirement or rather just a typical way that knowledge of a
domain can be confirmed. Is there a specific minimum mandatory
education or credential? And if so, is it absolutely required, or would
an alternative be considered in some cases?
Example:
Knowledge or skill required: Intermediate analysis skills, day-to-day
guidance and mentoring of others, customer service, understanding
of an academic institution.
How typically acquired: Most analysts in similar roles have a
business, economics or finance degree, as well as 4+ years of
experience in similar roles, with progressive responsibility.
Understanding of an academic institution is valuable but can be
learned on the job if required.
What mandatory minimum education, certification or credential is
required? Relevant degree – typically business or finance.
Would a combination of education and experience be considered?
Yes. Conceivably a candidate could have developed these skills after
studying in a different program, or with more work experience on top
of a diploma or certificate.
January 2013
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This factor looks at the kinds of effort required in this role. Four types of
effort are considered – Light Physical Effort, Heavy Physical Effort, Visual
What kind of effort Effort and Manual Dexterity/Coordination. Altogether, the 4 types of effort
are weighted at just 5% total, so this factor is not a primary driver of the job
is required in this
evaluation.
role? If the effort
required in this
Because many VIU Admin employee group roles are fairly similar in this
role is different
regard, the form is pre-filled with a “norm” or typical level checked off. If
than the Typical
the level for a specific role is different, this should be identified on the form
VIU Admin Role
description, please and an explanation provided. Note that we do not expect the hours per day
to add up to 7 hours. It might be more or less than that.
provide an
explanation of how
It is important to read the descriptions and then to calibrate back to the
it differs in terms
hours per day that the type of effort is actually required. For example,
of the type of
many roles require reading email, spreadsheets and documents throughout
effort and hours
per day. Note that the day. The Visual Effort category is specifically concerned with
“concentrated” effort, such as close and careful analysis of a spreadsheet, or
Effort does not
need to add up to 7 proofreading a document.
hours per day.
Example: (d) Manual Dexterity/ Coordination. Level 3 (Occasional – 2/4
hr/day). Explanation of Differences: This role prepares confidential
correspondence and documents for the VP, and requires specific
keyboarding skills at 60wpm with high accuracy. This work occupies at
least 2 hours per day, on average.
9. Effort
9. Environment This factor looks at the work environment in which this role operates.
What is the work
environment for
this role? If
exposure to
environmental
factors is different
than the Typical
VIU Admin Level,
please explain.
January 2013
Altogether, the 7 types of effort are weighted at just 5% total, so this factor
is not a primary driver of the job evaluation.
As with Effort, the form is pre-filled with a “norm” or typical level for VIU
Admin checked off. If the level for a specific role is different, this should
be identified on the form and an explanation provided. Again we do not
expect the hours per day to add up to 7 hours.
Example: (c) Peak periods requiring accelerated work pace. Level 2
(Limited – 1-2 hr/day). Explanation of Differences: While this role has
peak periods/ deadlines, in practice this is less than ¼ of the time –
generally just the last few days of each month - so that averages out to
perhaps 1.5 hours per day.
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